The Department of Environmental Affairs held a National Integrated Coastal Management Programme (NCMP) workshop yesterday, Thursday, 4 July 2013 at Port Elizabeth as part of the consultative process for amendment of the current Integrated Coastal Management Act. The workshop was convened under the theme: “Development of a National Coastal Management Programme in South Africa”.
Addressing the workshop, Dr Razeena Omar, Chief Director for Integrated Coastal Management said that: “the NCMP is a policy directive for a sustainable management of the coastal zone, which includes strategies and plans for the effective implementation of the ICM Act”. She added that “it brings together all the three spheres of government, private sector and coastal communities to effectively implement the IMC Act”.
The NCMP will enable organs of state to plan and set a course for the environmental future of the country by ensuring effective long-term development and management of the coastline. It will also address current management challenges and user-conflicts in the coastal areas which are as results of the wide variety of activities and uses of the coast.
In the past coastal management practices tended to be fragmented and uncoordinated, resource-centred rather than people-centred. The Government, through the Department of Environment of Environmental Affairs, recognised such shortcomings and therefore enacted the Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) Act (No. 24 of 2008) (hereafter referred to as the “ICM Act”), which is a holistic approach that maximises the benefits provided by the coastal zone. It provides statutory requirements for integrated coastal and estuarine management in South Africa to minimise the conflicts and harmful effects of activities on the environment.
Stakeholders raised issues such as access into the coastal zones by the communities; storm water management, enforcement and monitoring of regulations aimed for coastal management. Their inputs and considerations will be taken into account in the development of an updated draft National Coastal Management Programme, which will be circulated for a second phase of comment by the public in due course.
Working together we can do more to sustainably use and protect our coastal areas.
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