Johannesburg — IN 30 years Durban could find itself a high-risk malaria zone all year round, and SA will be facing massive food shortages due to a dramatic reduction in rainfall.

That is just part of the alarming picture painted by the Africa Environmental Outlook, a recent United Nations (UN) Environment Programme report. The cause of the predicted problems is climate change caused by global warming.

With the World Summit on Sustainable Development looming large, Paul Norrish is making a concerted effort to disseminate the message that climate change is everyone's problem, and not just a mess that the world's richest nations should be cleaning up.

He is the campaign manager for the Johannesburg Climate Legacy project, which is hoping to raise $3m to support local initiatives that will permanently reduce carbon emissions contributing to global warming.

The project was conceptualised by SA businesses, including Eskom and Anglo American, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. It has been managed by UK-based Future Forests in association with partners including the International Institute for Energy Conservation, South South North and Energy Cybernetics.

SA has a dismal track record when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, being the world's 14th largest emitter of carbon dioxide. Some of the greenhouse gases are captured and stored by "sinks" like the ocean and forests, but others remain in the atmosphere and trap heat, creating the greenhouse effect.

Culprits include carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, methane and water vapour.

The summit will generate an estimated 300000 tons of carbon dioxide, most of it created by delegates as they fly to and from SA. Airline travel contributes about 15% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, says Norrish, a figure that is set to rise as airline travel increases over the coming years.

Countries that have signed the 1997 Kyoto protocol, which seeks to codify pledges made at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, agree to cap their emissions of greenhouse gases, though not necessarily immediately. SA has signed the protocol, but because it is a developing country, it will only have to cap its emissions from 2012. Even so, Kyoto does not cover airline travel.

The legacy project is therefore asking delegates to the summit to travel "carbon neutral", by buying "Climate Legacy certificates" to offset the carbon they will generate.

They can calculate how much carbon their travel and energy consumption during their stay in SA will generate on the climate legacy's website, www.climatelegacy.com. A $10 certificate is worth about one ton of carbon emissions.

The money will be placed in a trust fund and used to support a variety of projects in SA that encourage efficient use of energy and create jobs.

Proposals include an initiative to equip two mine shafts with energy efficient lighting, by replacing 50000 incandescent 100W light bulbs with 11W lamps. The mining sector is one of the biggest energy consumers in sub-Saharan Africa.

Norrish says a company can expect to see a 30% reduction in its energy bills, and recoup its investment in the new lighting system within three years. And since the bulk of SA's electricity comes from coal-powered generators, less energy consumption means less carbon dioxide emissions about 200000 tons less over a 10-year period.

Another project plans to conduct an "energy audit" of Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, the largest hospital in the southern hemisphere, and reduce its energy consumption.

Norrish says that energy saving steps can be simple, such as alerting people to just how much energy cellphone chargers consume when they are left plugged in 24 hours a day. "Few consumers realise that 95% of the energy used by a mobile phone charger is used when it is not charging. If it was switched off at the socket, we'd all save money and carbon dioxide."

The hospital would also benefit from energy efficient lighting, heating, and boilers, and plans to work with the water affairs and forestry department to reduce its water consumption.

So far the British and Norwegian delegations have undertaken to travel carbon neutral, as have those from the UN Development Programme, UN Environment Programme, World Bank and the Global Environment Facility. Corporate sponsors include Rio Tinto, Procter & Gamble and Shell.

The legacy project is clearly hoping to raise awareness about just how much gunk is spewed out by airline travel, but perhaps more importantly, it is a creative attempt to encourage local industry to start taking steps to reduce their energy consumption long before they are legally obliged to do so under the Kyoto protocol.