FACILITATING RETURN ON ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTMENT - RESPONSIBLE AND PROFITABLE PORTS BUSINESS,...
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Transcript of FACILITATING RETURN ON ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTMENT - RESPONSIBLE AND PROFITABLE PORTS BUSINESS,...
FACILITATING RETURN ON ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTMENT - RESPONSIBLE AND PROFITABLE PORTS
BUSINESS, UNINTERRUPTED!
Dr Louis CelliersSafe and Sustainable Ports
CSIR – South Africa
African Ports and Maritime Conference in Swakopmund, NamibiaNovember 2011
© CSIR 2010 Slide 2
About the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research
Key areas of relevance to port management:• Environmental health and compliance assessment and monitoring.• Informing sustainable & safe port design and operations.• Environmental planning and management frameworks.
Materia
l Scie
nces a
nd Manufat
uring
Built Envir
onment
Consulting a
nd Analytica
l Servi
ces
Natural R
esource
s and th
e Environment
• CSIR is a parastatal comprising about 2500 staff members. • Has a dual research and consulting role.• Science and technology partner to TNPA for more than 50 years.
Port City – Urban Centre
Port Area &Operations
Hosting Environment
Safe
, sus
tain
able
and
pro
fitab
le p
orts
Rapidly changing and highly dynamic clim
ate
Natural goods and services to society?
How do ports optimise profits and maintain
operations?
Investing in Science and Environmental Assessment and Monitoring
THE PORT TRIPARTITE
© CSIR 2010 Slide 4
• Economic - ports must operate uninterrupted using the opportunities within the hosting environment and avoiding or planning for threats
• Ethical – being a good neighbour to the port city and the hosting environment
Why assess and monitor the natural environment in ports?
© CSIR 2010 Slide 5
• Legal requirements - many countries have established environmental quality objectives for port environments.
• International conventions - many countries are signatories to international conventions for the protection of coastal waters and oceans (e.g. London Convention). * CASE STUDY
Why assess and monitor the natural environment in ports?
© CSIR 2010 Slide 6
• Environmental and human health – many African ports are very important habitats for flora and fauna, and are used by humans for recreational purposes and as a source of food (e.g. fishing).
Why assess and monitor the natural environment in ports?
© CSIR 2010 Slide 7
• A port in southern Africa requires extensive maintenance and capital dredging.
• Original study of contaminants in sediment to determine whether dredging and dredged sediment disposal is environmentally safe was performed by an international company. Conclusion: sediment was significantly contaminated with chromium and nickel, and that further detailed studies and disposal strategies were needed.
• Port operating authority was about to implement an extensive coring program to determine the extent and depth of sediment contamination by chromium and nickel.
• This program was estimated to cost about R5 000 000.
Case Study: Dredging AssessmentEvidenced Based Conclusion: US$ 720 000 saved in 30 minutes
• This ‘story’ has implications for all African ports. • So how did science provide this saving of money?• Understanding metal geochemistry.
© CSIR 2010 Slide 8
• Metals are a ubiquitous, naturally occurring component of sediment.• Wherever there is sediment (or soil) there are metals.• If you want to determine whether sediment is metal contaminated you need to
separate the naturally occurring and anthropogenically introduced concentrations.
• This is achieved through the establishment of baseline metal concentration models.
Case Study: Dredging Assessment
So what?: dredging not required based on data from local metal concentration models!
© CSIR 2010 Slide 9
Case Study: Dredging Assessment
How did this situation arise?• Compared the measured metal concentrations to sediment quality guidelines
developed for Canada!• Sediment quality guidelines are supposed to predict the probability of adverse
impacts to sediment-associated organisms.• FAILED to consider local geology and geochemistry. • These sediment quality guidelines simply do not apply to the east coast of Africa
(at least not of South Africa and the lower portion of Mozambique).
Al (mg.g-1)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Cr (µ
g.g-1
)
0255075
100125150175200225
TEL
PEL
Al (mg.g-1)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Cr
(µg.
g-1)
0255075
100125150175200225
© CSIR 2010 Slide 10
Key message• Sound scientific understanding saved the client a large amount of money in a
very short period of time, the saving was only possible as a result of informed, baseline research that was required to address this specific issue.
• Required the collection and analysis of a large number of sediment samples distant from human activities.
• It is often very difficult to convince port operating authorities that they sometimes need to perform research outside of the port environment to address and identify problems within the port boundaries.
• This simple example has convinced the port operating authority to develop site specific baseline metal concentrations.
Case Study: Dredging Assessment
Key Question: How to spend your savings?
• STRATEGIC (the tripartite systems of the port): planning – design using opportunities and avoiding environmental threats – sustainability of profits.
• TACTICAL: dredging, monitoring of breakwaters, late as possible but not too late (reduce cost - improve efficiency.
• OPERATIONAL: Safe shipping – understanding the physical environment (currents, waves, winds, tides).
Using Science: Evidence-based Decisions
RB42
RB40
RB39
RB38
RB36
RB32
RB31
RB29
RB27
RB25RB24RB23RB21
RB9
RB8
RB7
RB6RB5RB4RB3
RB2RB1
RB18RB17
RB16RB15
RB14RB13RB12
RB11RB10
Land
Mud Flats
Pan
Sand
Shallow water
±0 1 2 3 40.5
Kilometers
32°2'E 32°3'E 32°4'E 32°5'E 32°6'E 32°7'E
28°50'S
28°49'S
28°48'S
28°47'S
SC1SC2
SC3
SC6
SC4 SC5
SC7SC8
SC10
State of Ports Africa: Environmental Management and Water Quality
Objectives• Conduct a rapid assessment and report upon a first African
Environmental State of Ports;• Design a regionally accepted generic framework for establishing Port
Water Quality Management Plans;• Assess capacity in LPPs to implement water quality monitoring in ports;• Strengthen technical and environmental information and best practice
exchange networks; and• Develop and implement best practice guidelines.
Abidjan & Nairobi Conventions & PPP?Inviting PMEASA collaboration
Thank you
Louis CelliersResearch Group Leader: Coastal SystemsNatural Resources and the Environment
+27312422412www.csir.co.za