IN advocating for the protection of African penguin from extinction, BirdLife South Africa and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), will head to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, next month in a landmark litigation.
The environmental organisations, represented by the Biodiversity Law Centre, will go head-to-head against the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment to protect African penguins.
On August 4, 2023, former minister Barbara Creecy announced the continuation of inadequate “interim closures” around breeding colonies at Dassen Island, Robben Island, Stony Point, Dyer Island, St. Croix Island and Bird Island.
The organisations have sought from the court to review and set aside the minister’s decision to put in place island closures at six breeding colonies “which are not biologically meaningful”, citing that the…