What is the potential eco impact of this year's FIFA World Cup?

As sports fans all over the world, as well as players, coaches and managers, wait anxiously for the kick-off of this year's FIFA World Cup, most of the focus for attendees and stars has been on unwanted injuries, getting tickets worth their weight in gold and sorting out flights to catch a match or two in South Africa.

However, such a large-scale event is likely to have a massive impact on the climate of the host nation, an issue that would not appear to be at the forefront of people's minds ahead of June 10th.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is being held in South Africa, a country with a hugely diverse ecological make up and climate. The nation is home to more than 49 million people and is as ethnically diverse as it is environmentally.

Writing for an IPS article published on the Guardian's Environment Network, Daniela Estrada noted that while South Africa has introduced a number of eco schemes ahead of the global football tournament, designed to lower its eco impact, such ideas "clash" with its "overall environmental performance".

She noted that figures from a February 2009 study carried out on behalf of the South African government and its Norwegian embassy revealed that the 2010 World Cup - which is the first global football global to be held on the continent - is likely to leave behind a carbon footprint of millions of tonnes.

This output will be contributed to by local transportation, the work done by the construction sector on stadiums ahead of the event and the amount of energy used by visiting football fans filling up hotels and guesthouses in the country.

As well as this, the amount of carbon dioxide pumped into the environment by those travelling to the tournament from overseas, by plane, train or other methods, will contribute to an overall output which could end up totalling nearly three million tonnes.

Ms Estrada noted that two years ago, the South African government attempted to entice richer residents of some of its wealthy suburbs to utilise the public transport on offer by heavily investing in transport infrastructure in seven cities due to host matches - but this is by no means a surefire way of lowering emissions.

"Among the biggest changes are the creation of a rapid transit system of buses in some cities and the improvement of infrastructure for pedestrian walkways and bicycle circulation. But the latter are very limited and it remains unclear whether the wealthier residents, who normally drive their cars, will accept the cultural changes implied in sharing buses, seats and routes with poorer passengers," she explained.

However, South Africa is not the only nation struggling to marry the hosting of a high-profile tournament with its eco aims and policies, with Brazil facing similar issues.

The South American nation is set to host the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and ahead of the event, the Brazilian government has put in place strict rules around the construction of buildings for the tournament, as well as the renovation of existing football stadiums.

In addition to this, the government has also echoed the sentiments of those in South Africa by noting the importance of putting clean and green transport systems in place to help deal with the influx of people that the event will bring to the nation.

However, the source noted, some may believe these eco attempts to be somewhat futile in the face of the ongoing mass destruction of Brazil's Amazon rainforest, one of the world's most precious and endangered biological havens.

One person who has spoken out against the clearing of Brazil's tropical forests is Fernando Alvez, former goalkeeper for Uruguay and a guest at the GEF Assembly, reported Latin American news source Tierramerica.
He said that putting in place measures to sharply lower the rate of rainforest deforestation in the country is essential ahead of the 2014 event.

However, the sportswear firm brand Nike is at least doing its bit in ensuring that the Brazilian World Cup is as eco conscious as possible - it has announced that teams who wear its strips will be in fact sporting clothing made from recycled bottles.

The Brazilian squad will be playing in Nike strips, as will Portugal and the Netherlands. This is part of the Brazilian government's overall aim to make the 2014 FIFA World Cup the most environmentally-conscious tournament ever held.

Despite the efforts of both Brazil and South Africa, it would seem that their eco moves have yet to satisfy environmental commentators and experts.

Former diplomat and president of the Argentine Academy of Environmental Sciences Raul Estrada Oyuela - who was also head of the committee that came up with the Kyoto climate change protocol - said that both South Africa and Brazil "have a rhetorical attitude that has yet to be demonstrated in environmental management data", the source reported.

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