Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism MEDIUM TERM EXPENDITURE FRAMEWORK 2005/06

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APRM SOUTH AFRICA SELF- ASSESSMENT REPORT
(CORPORATE GOVERNANCE) Presentation to the joint
Ad-hoc Committee on Corporate Governance (APRM)
23 January 2006
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DEAT Context

• A prosperous and equitable society living in
  harmony with its natural resources
• We will do so by leading sustainable development
  of our environment and tourism through
• Creating conditions for sustainable tourism
  growth
• Promoting conservation and sustainable
  utilisation of our natural resources to enhance
  economic growth and poverty eradication
• Protecting and improving the quality and safety
  of the environment
• Promoting a global sustainable development agenda

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Sound Environmental Management Corporate
Governance

• Promoting an enabling environment and effective
  regulatory framework for economic activities
• Ensuring that corporations act as good corporate
  citizens with regard to human rights, social
  responsibility and environmental sustainability

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Enabling environment regulatory framework

• Constitution
• Section 24 stipulates that everyone has a right
• to an environment that is not harmful
• To have the environment protected, for the
  benefit of present and future generations through
  reasonable legislation
• Constitution enshrines rights and
  responsibilities with regard to provincial and
  local government on environmental management

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National Environmental Management Act, 1998

• Provides for procedures and institutions for
  integrated, cooperative governance on national
  and provincial scale regarding environmental
  issues
• Makes provision for the implementation of
  integrate environmental management plans at all
  levels of government
• Imposes the duty to care for the prevention,
  minimising and remediation of environmental
  damage such as pollution and degradation

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National Environmental Management, Biodiversity
Act, 2004

• Establishes SANBI- Manage the planning,
  monitoring and conservation of our biodiversity
  and promote research in a co-ordinated and
  integrated way
• Protection of threatened/protected ecosystems and
  species
• Listing of species if it is of high conservation
  value- trade in listed areas regulated
• Sustainable use of indigenous biological
  resources and fair sharing of benefits from bio
  prospecting
• Control/eradication of alien and invasive species
  and listing thereof

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Environmental Conservation Act, 1979 Associated
Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations

• Some of its provisions replaced by NEMA
• Responsible for environmental impact assessment
  (EIA regulations under the ECA are about to be
  replaced by new regulations to be promulgated
  under NEMA)
• Waste Management (New bill being drafted to
  replace ECA sections dealing with waste
  management)

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Marine Living Resources Act, 1998

• Conservation of marine ecosystem
• Long term sustainable utilisation of marine
  living resources
• Orderly access to exploitation, utilisation and
  protection of marine living resources
• Exercise control over marine living resources in
  a fair and equitable manner

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Related Acts

• National Water Act, 1998legislates the
  development, use and protection of water
  resources. Protection of aquatic and associated
  eco-systems is facilitated. Also addresses the
  pollution and remedies thereof iro water
  resources
• Conservation of Agricultural Resources regulates
  the combating and prevention of erosion, combats
  the weakening of water resources by protecting
  vegetation, combating of weeds and invader
  species. Also regulates grazing capacity, control
  of veld fires and restoration of eroded land

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• Municipal Systems Act explicit references to
  biodiversity and environmental conservation.
• Its chapter 5 provides for the policy need to
  enable district and municipalities to conserve
  and protect the environment in their areas
• Provision for the municipal planning to be
  development oriented
• The planning of municipalities to be aligned with
  and complement the development plans and
  strategies of affected areas
• Consultations required to develop integrated
  development planning frameworks

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Development Facilities Act, 1995

• Promotes the integration of social, economic,
  institutional and physical aspects of land
  development
• Encourages environmental sustainable land
  development practices
• Addresses optimum utilisation of natural
  resources
• Promotes a diverse combination of land uses

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How do we ensure that Corporations are good
corporate citizens?

• Our experience regarding environmental
  degradation
• Long term environmental degradation by the mining
  industry
• Air pollution burning of fossil fuels for
  electricity generation, petrochemical industries,
  iron and steel operations
• High levels of solid waste produced through
  domestic and industrial processes
• Contamination of land by processing industries
• Urbanisation and consequent loss of land with
  high agricultural potential
• Pollution of surface and sub-surface water
  resources

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What we have done

• Over the past two years we established an
  environmental management inspectorate to address
  cases of non-compliance with environmental
  legislation
• NEMA provides for the development of
  environmental management cooperation agreements
  that would facilitate negotiated agreements on
  voluntary compliance by industrial sectors and
  organs of state on environmental management
  commitments
• Many corporations voluntarily seek accreditation
  in terms of the international environmental
  standards such as ISO 14001

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What is our evidence of legislation, policies,
programmes, institutions and resources to
safeguard the environment?

• Legislation develop and implemented as already
  addressed
• The EIA regulate the environmental impact
  assessment processes related to activities
  identified as potentially harmful to the
  environment
• Directives are served on persons alleged to have
  contravened the waste management provisions.
  Provisions exist to identify waste streams that
  require special management and for charges to be
  levied in this regard

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• Air Quality Management All spheres of Government
  are now involved in air quality management-
  requires increased governance capacity and
  localised focus/knowledge. Strengthened
  enforcement provisions and regulatory mechanisms
  and incentives in the form of recognition
  programmes

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Policies and Strategies

• National Strategy for sustainable development
• National growth and development strategy
• Environmental management policy
• National waste management strategy
• Integrated pollution and waste management policy

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Programmes on sustainable environmental management

• Health care risk waste programme
• Recycling programmes for plastic bags, glass,
  tyres and paper
• Africa stock pile programme for removal of
  obsolete pesticides
• Cleaner production strategy
• Programme to remove toxic mercury from Thor
  Chemicals
• Environmental cooperation agreements
• National air quality management programme
• Integrated environmental management tools

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Levels of compliance by Corporations

• Compliance to EIA regulations increases annually-
  5 500 EIA applications received between April and
  November 2005. A further 5 800 for rectification
  for unlawful commencement
• Environmental liability not readily accepted by
  corporations and legal intervention is often
  required to ensure liabilities are taken up
• Larger corporations tend to move towards cleaner
  technologies while smaller corporations still
  present a challenge
• The establishment of the environmental management
  inspectorate appears to be providing a compliance
  incentive

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Citations for Environmental Degradation

• 72 reports of degradation and compliance received
  between April and November 2005, 38 of these
  referred to provinces for further investigations
  and the remainder were investigated by DEAT
• 10 of the investigated cases resulted in
  compliance, 7 resulted in new legal action and 2
  resulted in successful prosecution

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Reports by Corporations on their environmental
performance

• Larger corporations do environmental performance
  reporting
• Provinces and National Departments with functions
  impacting on environment report annually against
  their environmental management plans
• Reporting on performance against permits issues
  in terms of the EIA regulations are required on
  an ad hoc basis- which are provided to the
  national and environmental authority

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State Of the Environment (SOE) in South Africa

• Well established SOE reporting, from 1997
• Environmental reports published are inter alia
  millennium development goals that containing
  reporting on environmental sustainability and
  climate change response strategy, millennium
  ecosystem assessment and the spatial biodiversity
  assessment , state of rivers sectoral report,
  state of environment reports for metropolitans
  Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban
  (cities state of the environment)

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• Corporate sector involved in SOE with imperatives
  of corporate social responsibility and
  triple-bottom-line reporting
• Current state of the environment reporting is
  called SA Environment Outlook 2005 and will have
  this outlook
• State of the environment focused on governance,
  land, biodiversity and ecosystem health, inland
  water resources, marine and coastal resources,
  atmosphere and human settlements

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• Human vulnerability will assess vulnerability to
  environmental change and our ability to cope
• Outlook section will extrapolate the current
  environmental trends to indicate the future state
  for 2025
• And a section options for action

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SOE Continue

• SOE Youth version
• Capacitate youth on environmental governance
• Dedicated to enhance environmental literacy and
  deepening multi-disciplinary environment
  knowledge
• Capacitate youth to issues of environmental
  sustainability
• The youth version of the SEO to be launched in
  2006

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SOE continue

• Sectoral SOE reports are gaining popularity-
  state of coast report which is part of the WSSD
  implementation is nearing completion. State of
  the air report is on the cards, state of the
  rivers has been done and the state of the
  forests.
• In total more than 25 state of the environment
  reports have been published in South Africa in
  the last seven years- thus improving
  environmental governance.

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• THANK YOU