Smart Office
Handbook
A guide to greening your office
Biodiversity
Protection
This section aims to provide an overview of the concerns and practices
relating to our local biodiversity. Offices, big or small, can contribute
through considering their impact both directly and indirectly.
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Develop an office biodiversity strategy and action plan: these can vary
from being very simple tasks for the individual office to engage in, to
being long-term commitments as part of large-scale company strategies.
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Include a biodiversity assessment into your eco-audit.
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Incorporate biodiversity into your procurement policy; make sure that
the goods and services you use are biodiversity-friendly and comply
with environmental legislation and policies.
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Ban all products that are not biologically and environmentally safe:
avoid genetically modified produce or products that contain harmful
chemicals that can severely threaten biodiversity and have negative
impacts on human health.
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Identify and dedicate a biodiversity champion in the office (it’s best
to do this at an early stage) who will be responsible for co-ordination,
monitoring and evaluating your biodiversity initiatives.
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, 2009
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Ensure that the biodiversity initiatives are included in your overall
green strategy.
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Quick start
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Cape Town’s Green Map is available
in printed format and in an interactive
online version, accessible at
www.capetowngreenmap.co.za.
By engaging in biodiversity initiatives and promoting awareness of your
local biodiversity, you will improve your company’s green profile and attract
environmentally- and socially-aware staff and clients.
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The Cape Town Green Map promotes a
fresh view of the city’s environment and
aims to remind residents and visitors
to enjoy the natural environment near
to their place of residence and work.
It showcases ways and means to
live, work and play in a manner that
reduces their impact on the fragile
ecosystems within the City.
The most significant threats to our biodiversity are habitat loss (due to rapid
development, especially urbanisation and urban sprawl), invasive alien plant
and animal species, abnormal fires, over-exploitation of natural resources,
pollution, environmental degradation, and climate change. All these threats
are human-induced, and in order to reverse the current trend of biodiversity
loss we must change the way we do things and become more aware of how
our actions impact upon the environment around us.
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www.capetown.gov.za/environment
When speaking of biodiversity we refer to the variety of plant or animal
life in a particular habitat. Cape Town is located within an area of globally
significant biodiversity and unique conservation value. The Cape Floral
Kingdom has approximately 9 600 species of indigenous plants, of which
70 per cent are endemic and 1 406 are listed in the Red Data Book. It is one
of Conservation International’s Global Hotspots of Biodiversity, placing an
international responsibility on our government to ensure its conservation.
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In recognition of the need to effectively
manage and protect this valuable
environment, the Environmental
Resource Management Department
is tasked with leading the
implementation of the City’s Integrated
Metropolitan Environmental Policy
(IMEP) - a framework of strategies
and programmes for environmental
sustainability. One of the department’s
many focus areas is to manage the
various nature reserves within
the City’s boundary.
Cape Town has a unique landscape, and is one of the most beautiful
cities in the world. It is also one of the most diverse cities, from the
perspectives of landscape, biodiversity, culture and heritage; and
these aspects are its key economic assets, making it (among other
things) a popular tourist destination. The City of Cape Town aims to
ensure that these qualities are retained for future generations.
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Cape Town’s unique environment is
its greatest asset, making it one of the
most sought after urban areas in the
world, both to live and work in and
as a tourist destination. Located in the
Cape Floral Kingdom (the smallest and
most diverse of the world’s six floral
kingdoms) the city is a biodiversity hot
spot of international importance.
Biodiversity protection
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Environmental
Resource Management
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Ensure that your office fulfils its biodiversity commitments and
reports back on status and outcomes to stakeholders and staff.
•
Making investments in the biodiversity sector or contributing to
biodiversity conservation could form part of your company’s corporate
social responsibility or responsible investment programmes.
Use non-toxic and
environmentally-friendly
pesticides, herbicides
and cleaning chemicals
at the office.
Things to do
has over 9 000 different plant species
and many animal species, and is also
a global biodiversity hotspot.
Over 70% of the plant species here
are found nowhere else on earth.
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Make sure that you procure biodiversity-friendly goods and services
for your functions and events.
•
Eradicate all alien invasive vegetation from your office landscaping.
Alien plants often require much more water than indigenous plants, and
therefore contribute to our water stress. Invasive alien plants are also a
threat to indigenous biodiversity as they tend to ‘take over’ and change
the indigenous ecosystem. Implement a proper alien invasive vegetation
control programme, ensuring that these plants are effectively controlled
and eradicated in the long run
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Use herbal or non-hazardous pesticides and herbicides, and
environmentally-friendly products that are also safe for human health.
•
Plant locally indigenous plants and have indigenous pot plants.
Live indoor plants also improve indoor environmental quality.
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Do you have freshwater systems, boreholes or wetlands on your office
property or close to its location? Then you should take extra care to
prevent littering, pollution and the use of hazardous and non-biodegradable
products. Wetlands are often home to rich and vibrant biodiversity, and
many living organisms, including ourselves, depend on maintaining the
health of freshwater systems.
Download
Click here to download
a biodiversity audit template.
Click here to download
resources such as posters,
stickers or training material.
At your desk
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Make sure that both indoor and outdoor spaces have bins for proper
waste disposal and recycling, to avoid littering and pollution: If people
throw their rubbish on the ground it will eventually end up in rivers,
wetlands and other natural areas.
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When placing a stationery order, consider goods that are locally
produced and do not contain harmful materials, e.g. plastic rulers that
contain no PVC, pencils containing sustainably-forested (FSC) wood,
non-imported products.
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Re-look at the procurement of furnishings and opt for sustainable
forested timber options, locally manufactured modular units, carpets
and paints with low VOC’s, no PVC... the list is endless, but innovative
ideas can assist with implementation.
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Reality Check
Cape Town is a global urban biodiversity “hotspot”
without parallel. It has fifteen vegetation types
specific to the unique mix of soil, climate,
topography, and oceanic influences found here.
These vegetation types include high levels of
species diversity and endemism, and unique
ecological gradients found nowhere else in
the world. Cape Town is also unusual in that
an entire national park, Table Mountain,
is situated within its boundaries.
Resources
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Smart Office Handbook
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Click here for information about the City of Cape Town’s nature reserves.
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Click here for information about Cape Town’s beaches.
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Click here for the biodiversity section of the Smart Living Handbook
(www.capetown.gov.za/smartlivinghandbook)
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Click here to download your biodiversity audit form.
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Click here to download stickers and posters, which you can print
and use in your office to raise awareness around biodiversity.
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Click here to download training material for your staff.