Environmentalists challenge road extension that threatens endangered Western Leopard Toads
A new road in Noordhoek, Cape Town, could drive the local toad population to extinction, says a group of environmentalists.But the City says measures can be taken to maintain toad numbers.that starts in the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday 8 November. A local organisation, the Noordhoek Environmental Action Group , is challenging both the 2019 Environmental Authorisation issued for the road and the 2020 dismissal of their appeal against this EA.
The contested section of new road will run along the south-eastern edge of a wetland of some 50 hectares, commonly called the"Pick 'n Pay reed bed", where it will impact three known breeding ponds used by the endangered toad. "The City is, as a result, significantly constrained in its ability to deliver municipal and emergency services to Masiphumelele."
"It is a matter of record that the wetland adjacent to Masiphumelele is to all intents and purposes 'dead'," Bridgman states."For this reason NEAG and ToadNuts have no objection to the construction of HAE2, the portion of road which is intended to provide a hard boundary between Masiphumelele and the wetland, and end the ever-encroaching shacks on stilts further and further into the wetland.""Roadkill will be an enormous factor.
But they argue that the potential impact of the project on the toads was indeed flagged as an important issue from the outset of the environmental assessment process, and that toad-related impacts were assessed by two"pre-eminent specialists": faunal expert Simon Todd and wetland ecologist Dean Ollis)"through the lens of their two different disciplines".
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