Engineering News | Columnist | Saliem Fakir

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Saliem Fakir

Fakir is the head of the Living Planet Unit at the World Wildlife Fund South Africa. The unit's work is focused on identifying ways to manage a transition to a low-carbon economy.

Economic lessons from Covid-19

By: Saliem Fakir 8th May 2020 The current pandemic is not a black swan. Those who have been warning about it call it a white swan. Human history is replete with episodes of terrifying pandemics or plagues. London, for instance, suffered multiple episodes of plagues within the space of one century – in 1563, 1603, 1625 and... →

Economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic

By: Saliem Fakir 10th April 2020 There is a lot to learn from the Covid-19 pandemic for climate change, both in terms of how systemic disruption in one part of the world can transmit to other parts of the world. Secondly, the magnitude of the reaction to Covid-19 just shows up the gap in response to climate risks – money can be... →

Why I don’t aspire to be a Twitterati

By: Saliem Fakir 27th March 2020 Somebody asked me the other day if I had a Twitter accounT. I have never fancied myself as a serious fan of Twitter. I am quite cautious about social media. I have a Facebook account but never drop in there that much. I prefer LinkedIn – it is much more professional and the commentary in posts... →

Securing the electricity grid from attack

By: Saliem Fakir 21st February 2020 As the intensity of global geopolitics increases in what is fast becoming a multipolar world, different risks within an energy system have to be taken into account that were previously not envisaged. It may seem entirely far-fetched that South Africa’s electricity system can be the subject of a... →

Climate crisis – there is no safe place anymore

By: Saliem Fakir 31st January 2020 There is a certain irony that, while the Paris Agreement was being debated in Madrid and going through its slow motion of nonaction towards the end of 2019, apocalyptic scenes were playing themselves out in Australia. The Madrid round of global climate negotiations received polite treatment in... →

The circular economy movement and its place in South Africa

By: Saliem Fakir 13th December 2019 The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) hosted a circular economy colloquium in partnership with the European Union from November 19 to 20. The notion of a circular economy may seem like a fashionable new buzzword. In some respects, it has taken on the feel of the newest flavour of the... →

Climate finance must be a mainstream economic issue

By: Saliem Fakir 22nd November 2019 If climate change is a risk to economies, then it has to be placed in the mainstream of economic mainstream, rather than on the periphery. Economic debates are starting to move in the direction of mainstreaming climate change issues as part of broader economic policy, compared with what was the... →

Can AfCFTA help stimulate Africa’s industrialisation?

By: Saliem Fakir 1st November 2019 The Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) was signed last year by the majority of the countries in Africa to create a common market and remove barriers that hinder growth and opportunity across such a vast continent. One of the areas being that could be boosted significantly is... →

Why SA should not install new nuclear capacity

By: Saliem Fakir 11th October 2019 Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has reopened the debate on whether or not South Africa requires nuclear power or not. He has suggested that, slowly but surely, a new plant should be commissioned by 2040 to replace the Koeberg nuclear power plant, which reaches the end of life... →

How science has lost its touch

By: Saliem Fakir 30th August 2019 These days, feelings matter more than facts, despite Hans Roslings’ plea for 'factfulness'. It is not the reasonableness of the argument or evidence presented that matters, but whether the facts or evidence conform to a specific bias or opinion about the world. Social media has been the main... →

Climate change and the future of food production in Africa

By: Saliem Fakir 2nd August 2019 The International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) is the highest scientific body on climate change that provides perhaps the best scientific insight and overview on climate change, variability and vulnerability in the world. The IPCC reviews a considerable body of studies and draws on some of... →

Acclimatising physical infrastructure to extreme weather events

By: Saliem Fakir 21st June 2019 Acclimatising conventional infrastructure to extreme weather Climate change and extreme weather patterns are already a factor in infrastructure and shaping future models of the design, placement, building and upgrading of infrastructure. →

Conservation as cost

By: Saliem Fakir 7th June 2019 The conservation movement has been around for a long time. In its modern version, it can be traced to the curiosity of early explorers like Darwin, Russell, Humboldt and many others. That we think of it as an artifact of civilised life is due to the dominance humans as a species. In Africa, the... →

Independent power producers and Weet-Bix

By: Saliem Fakir 19th April 2019 There is a vociferous attack on independent power producers (IPPs) and renewables in South Africa, despite the energy crisis that the country is experiencing and the fact that the long-term prospects for State-owned electricity utility Eskom look rather bleak. Eskom is a choke point, just as... →

Reflection on proposed splitting of Eskom

By: Saliem Fakir 15th March 2019 The mere mention of the splitting of State-owned electricity utility Eskom into three parts invikes the conclusion that it is a Trojan horse for privatisation. There may be some validity in this assumption, but it is not clear, given Eskom's current woes and its inability to pass costs fully to... →

Building sustainable economies through good governance of extractives industry

By: Saliem Fakir 1st March 2019 A pertinent question remains unanswered: Can mining economies lead to sustainable economies? This is an appropriate question to ask in the context of the yearly parade in Cape Town. I am referring to the Mining Indaba, attracts about 6 000 people from all over the world. For Africa, turning its... →

The Eskom quagmire

By: Saliem Fakir 1st February 2019 As we enter the year 2019, State-owned electricity utility Eskom, once a success story of South Africa's industrialisation programme, is now an albatros around the neck of the National Treasury and hampering the State's efforts to realise the full potential for economic growth. →

Reflections on global conventions in a postliberal order

By: Saliem Fakir 18th January 2019 I was in Sharm-El Shaik, Egypt, in November at a gathering of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) of the Conference of the Parties (COP). This enclave of holiday resorts is characterised by daily jostling by tourists mostly from Kiev. At least four flights a day come and in out of the... →

Africa’s infrastructure and recent climate report

By: Saliem Fakir 30th November 2018 It was my first attendance at the yearly Africa Infrastructure conference, held in Sandton this year on October 9 and 10. Infrastructure has always been an interest of mine but this year it has consumed all my time as I work with a colleague and co-lead Dr Yemi Katerere on the African Ecological... →

Strategic economics in times of uncertainty

By: Saliem Fakir 19th October 2018 In his excellent three-volume work titled Wheels of Commerce, Fernand Braudel describes countries or city states as islands in a world economy. This is a reference to the interconnectedness of the world and our dependence on the world economy. There are always places of gravity and attraction –... →

The industrialisation debate in SA – what are the lessons?

By: Saliem Fakir 21st September 2018 Manufacturing has been in slow decline in the past decade or so. The sector has always been treated as a useful link between mining and higher-value beneficiation. Light and heavy industrialisation were, and in some respects still are, at the core of South Africa's industrial base. Before the... →

Using Douglas North’s institutional economics to understand State capture

By: Saliem Fakir 24th August 2018 Douglas North remains an influential institutional economist and his work on institutional economics can help us understand economic development and long-run growth. North was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1993 and died in 2015. He shared the award with William Fogel. He was one of the founders of... →

SA’s bioeconomy should be multipronged

By: Saliem Fakir 3rd August 2018 The fact that South Africa does not have a White Paper or a holistic bio-economy strategy is the biggest of ironies, given that a vast variety of biological life and biodiversity can be found across the country. This is a sector with the highest labour intensity. The aggregate value of the... →

Will the SDGs help us rewire the economy?

By: Saliem Fakir 29th June 2018 The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the new mantra, and everybody is trying to figure out the best way to leverage them; the question is whether to follow the same old path or to beat a new one. If the underlying premises of an economic system are the same, what can SDGs really solve?... →

The Just Transition debate in South Africa

By: Saliem Fakir 18th May 2018 South Africa is the only country that explicitly includes in its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) a mention of the Just Transition – this is as far as I know. The issue of a just transition raised its head recently when the National Union of Metalworkers South Africa (Numsa) and a... →

Tackling shipping sector’s carbon emissions

By: Saliem Fakir 27th April 2018 Shipping emissions is an area that has not fallen under the rubric of United Nations Framework for Climate Change (UNFCCC). The shipping industry has, by and large, avoided scrutiny of its own contribution to climate change. Given that the shipping industry’s infrastructure will be exposed to the... →

What we must undo in post-Zuma era

By: Saliem Fakir 23rd March 2018 During Jacob Zuma’s Presidency, South African had to contend with racial parochialism, State inaptitude and a gloomy economy. Dystopia became the only legacy the former President would bequath the present and future generations. Gramsci once noted: 'The State was only an outer ditch behind which... →

Tackling inequality in South Africa – the great escape

By: Saliem Fakir 23rd February 2018 There have been clarion calls to clean up corruption in South Africa, but the greater challenge will be clawing back the effects of structural poverty. Influential voices from business have suddenly become activists in relation to corruption but seemingly not activist enough on inequality. Growth... →

Will Ramaphosa be a transformational leader or preserve the status quo?

By: Saliem Fakir 2nd February 2018 The election in December of Cyril Ramaphosa (CR) as African National Congress (ANC) president has brought a sigh of relief to many South Africans. There is both euphoria and trepidation. The sigh of relief is no indication that mass support for the ANC will be forthcoming any time soon. Jacob... →

Rigging the nuclear outcome?

By: Saliem Fakir 15th December 2017 At the time of writing, it appeared nuclear would be ramped through before the African National Congress elective conference, which starts on December 16. New Energy Minister David Mahlobo says we need nuclear. There have been a lot of platitudes about jobs and industrialisation, and that nuclear... →

Inside the green economy

By: Saliem Fakir 10th November 2017 It is often assumed that the green economy only relates to a specific type of technology or shifts in energy demand. The notion of the green economy has been in existence in South Africa for a long time. Conceptually, the green economy notion gained prominence in South Africa after 2007 and many... →

New era of disruption

By: Saliem Fakir 20th October 2017 Perhaps the recent multiple attacks of extreme weather – hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria – do not only tell us that fierce weather is the new normal, but changes in weather, together with other global shifts and crises, are forcing us to acknowledge that we are moving into an era of greater... →

Taking the green out of economy

By: Saliem Fakir 22nd September 2017 There is only one economy, not two. The challenge all societies face today is leaving behind the legacy of an old system. How do we embark on a systems change – a shift from System A to System B? Fundamentally, it is a shift in production and consumption systems. How do we interlink the two to... →

Enviro rights entail more than just the environment

By: Saliem Fakir 18th August 2017 It is important to review where we have come from over the past 20 years and how much has been achieved in that time. South Africa's Constitution makes provision for environmental protection in its Bill of Rights. This follows a long history of environmental issues not having been treated with... →

Decolonising the green economy

By: Saliem Fakir 4th August 2017 On June 13, a good agent provocateur, former National Planning Commission member Mike Muller, proposed in a panel discussion at a Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) conference on sustainable growth and industrialisation that we should decolonise the idea of the green economy. Muller... →

Is science losing its authority?

By: Saliem Fakir 16th June 2017 Scientists have, for a long time, been held in high esteem. Yet scientist struggle to effectively mediate evidenced-based outcomes in highly politicised and contested public policy issues, such as those concerning climate science or whether cellphone cause cancer. The Internet is flattening... →

New vision needed for conservation

By: Saliem Fakir 26th May 2017 A friend of mine, Mark Halle, argues that the world of conservation is going nowhere and that a new vision is needed to take it out of its maelstrom. I agree and often solutions are not found in defensive postures but in the offensive realm. Three things will determine the future of conservation... →

Political entrepreneurship in the energy sector

By: Saliem Fakir 5th May 2017 The expediency for rent-seeking that comes with large capital infrastructure projects is always lurking behind the scenes. The extent to which long fingers can grab as much as possible is largely dependent on procurement design and the ability to complete projects on budget. The more the cost... →

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