Shading her eyes from the fierce glare of the mid-day sun, Nompilo Cele, gazes out in silence over her dry and dusty fields. Cele, a 66-year-old KwaZulu Natal farmer, has seen a lot of changes for the worse in weather and climatic conditions while toiling on her land in Ntshongweni, north of Durban. "I have over the years seen floods and drought ravaging my village which once was considered the provincial maize basket," she said. In good years, her maize would be shoulder high by the end of the growing season. Even in bad years, her crop rustled around her waist she explained. But this year, only a few plants have survived and they are just knee-high, withering in the heat. Maize production on her land has dropped from five tons per hectare to three tons. Experts now believe dry-land maize production could fail entirely in much of southern Africa by mid-century, necessitating a switch to alternative crops.

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Imagine Durban and Greening Durban 2010 co-hosted an open forum on 24th February 2010 to present experiences in greening the Moses Mabhida Stadium.  Ken Woodley provided an overview of energy saving initiatives that were implemented in the building of the stadium.  The energy saving initiatives that were implemented resulted in a 30% reduction in the total potential energy usage of the stadium. The key measures were:

1. Centralised air conditioning chillers
2. Water heating heat pumps
3. Efficient luminaires
4. Lighting control system
5. Management of cooking and mechanical loads
6. Energy management with the use of meters
7. Variable speed drives on electric motors

The Municipality's Business Support and Markets Unit will host the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprise (SMME) Fair on the 3-5 September 2010 at the Durban Exhibition Centre. With the theme 'Unleashing Business Opportunities and Finance', businesses that are interested in participating should register before 30 May 2010, which is the deadline date.

The Fair is an exciting event and small businesses are requested to register for the SMME Fair which will give them the opportunity to network with over 500 exhibiting businesses as well as showcase their brands and create awareness of products and services ranging from arts and crafts, fashion, tourism, manufacturing etc.