THROUGHOUT the world, major sports events are recognised as having a global environmental impact. Large numbers of people travel to and from these events, consume resources and generate waste.

Food, water and energy consumption rise significantly. As a result these events have a significant ecological footprint, particularly as a result of carbon emissions, water usage and the generation of waste.

Following the successful greening of the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympic Games, Germany decided to include environmental considerations in the planning and hosting of the 2006 Fifa World Cup and took active steps to minimise the negative environmental impacts of the event. This was a first for a Fifa event, and subsequently led to Fifa branding this greening approach as Green Goal 2006.

The same has been done for this 2010 Fifa World Cup, the biggest sporting event in the world. It has hit our streets, our stadiums, our community, our culture and our environment and will, in about 70 days’ time, climax with the official opening.

It is a privilege for our city to be one of the nine cities to host this huge sporting event. But, with great privilege comes great responsibility, and in this case the responsibility to steward our natural resources well.

This is not only required by Fifa, but is our moral obligation to the environment that we rely on for survival.

I get excited when I think of the unique opportunity the 2010 World Cup offers us as the Nelson Mandela Bay community to demonstrate to the rest of the country and the rest of the world – through the responsible use of our natural resources – our commitment towards stewarding our natural resources responsibly and in doing so, improve the living environment and livelihoods of people of Nelson Mandela Bay, through practices such as:

Waste reduction, re-use and recycling.

Responsible, efficient use of energy.

Efficient public and non-motorised transport.

Carbon emission reduction.

Responsible, efficient use of water.

Protecting and enhancing biodiversity.

Responsible tourism.

In Nelson Mandela Bay we have tried to do exactly this. If you go to the Nelson Mandela Stadium, you will be able to separate your waste into dry waste and wet waste, the lights will go on as you walk into a room and will switch off if you walk out, and in the bathrooms a number of water saving devices have been fitted.

The water from the North End Lake is currently being rehabilitated for irrigation in and around the stadium, while indigenous, water-efficient vegetation has been used for landscaping around the stadium.

In the FanZone – around St George’s Park – there are recycling stations all over that will enable you to separate your waste into paper, plastic, tin and glass. At the Gelvandale training venue, a storm water return system has been installed to reduce the demand for potable water for irrigation.

All of us are aware of the efforts within our city in terms of improving our public transport system, and increasing cycle- and walkways to encourage non-motorised forms of transport. Where these have required beautification by planting trees, grass or shrubs, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality has made it a requirement that these be indigenous to the area.

On the tourism front, Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism together with the municipality has encouraged the tourism sector to minimise its environmental footprint.

For me, Green Goal 2010 is about more than just the municipality thinking through the environmental consequences of the choices we make in hosting the event and reporting back to Fifa on the initiatives undertaken in an attempt to minimise our environmental footprint. It is about the Nelson Mandela Bay community being able to join forces with the municipality and making changes within our homes, the schools we attend, the business we work for, or the industry we manage.

Why not use the opportunity, as residents, to shift our thinking and do the right thing? Why not start looking past the potential short-term higher capital costs to the longer-term savings and benefits?

Why not start thinking about the legacy we will leave behind?

The world will watch the 2010 World Cup, its eyes will be on South Africa and the attention will be on the nine host cities. What is it that we want to leave them with?

What legacy is it that we want to leave? How great would it not be if, as a community, we could showcase how we came together, how we played the game, and how we scored our own goals, green goals!

Elana Keef is part of environmental management, Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.