Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment, Ms Barbara Creecy, delivers Budget Speech to National Council of Provinces
Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy on Tuesday outlined a number of initiatives being implemented by the Department in collaboration with the provinces and the district and local municipalities to ensure environmental services reach all sectors of society.
Minister Creecy confirmed the country’s commitment to contributing its fair share to the global climate change effort, highlighting the role the Presidential Climate Change Coordinating Committee will play in overseeing co-ordination of necessary policies to meet a long-term net zero emissions target and advise on opportunities presented by the transition to a low-carbon development and the pathways to achieve it.
To achieve this, the Department had supported all district municipalities to develop climate change adaptation strategies through the ‘Let’s Respond Toolkit’. This would ensure climate change is mainstreamed into the Integrated Development Plans, or IDPs, of the 44 district municipalities. Training on the Coastal Climate Change Vulnerability Index and Decision Support Tool in 3 coastal district Municipalities.
Minister Creecy said it was clear from the latest the State of Environment update, that South Africa’s air quality, particularly in the national priority areas, needs urgent and significant attention.
“Let me reiterate that this is a concurrent function and we will never succeed in improving air quality at community level without the hard work of all spheres of government,” said the Minister.
Air quality monitoring stations presently being operated, maintained and managed by the Department until 2022 will be handed to local governments once there has been capacitation and practical on-the-job training, coordinated with the support of the South African Weather Service and the National Association for Clean Air.
“As part of the Department’s zero tolerance on compliance and enforcement approach, we have taken a tough line with Eskom and Sasol, and issued several Compliance Notices. In this regard, the department will not be issuing any exemptions to compliance with minimum emission standards, so all facilities will need to comply by 2025,” said the Minister.
A concerted effort was being made to ensure all sectors operating within the Priority Areas meet compliance and enforcement requirements related to air quality and emissions standards. The department would continue to support the development of Environmental Management Inspectorate capacity at the local authority level to deal with matters related to air quality.
The Minister said a drive has been launched to reposition the country’s protected areas for the New Deal for People with Nature.
‘The present state of protected areas in South Africa is marred by serious funding and capacity constraints, which leads to considerable fragmentation, duplication and inefficiency of management arrangements within the protected areas system,” said the Minister. “In light of this, I have kick-started a process of investigating the rationalisation of protected areas by focusing on, amongst others, the reduction of fragmentation of functional responsibilities and the overlap of functions between different organs of state, improving conservation management and capacity of protected areas management agencies and enhancing cooperative governance in the management of protected areas”.
Provinces and local government are key role players in this process.
The Biodiversity Economy is expected to create 110 000 new jobs by 2030 and contribute an additional R47 billion to GDP.
Through the National Wildlife Donation and Custodianship Policy Framework, which guides the review and implementation of Provincial Game Donation and Custodianship Policies, 15 000 head of game are expected to have been released as part of the wildlife transformation programme by the 2023/24 book year.
The department is also supporting emerging game farmers with related infrastructure, such as game fencing, water, game capture and translocation costs to the tune of R810 million over the next three years.
A total of R251 has been committed to the development of the bioprospecting and biotrade programme in the next three years so communities can participate meaningfully in this industry.
Minister Creecy said the Integrated Coastal Management Act has placed an obligation on local government to facilitate access to beaches through public servitudes and made it an offence for anyone to prevent access to beaches. Because local government has not been able to implement these provisions due to capacity challenges, the department has prioritised implementation with provinces and municipalities, to facilitate access incrementally along South Africa’s coastline.
Apart from dealing with marine litter, the department supports municipalities to carry out their functions by funding waste management licences for unlicensed landfill sites. This process will enable Municipalities in 7 sites from various Municipalities in the Free State, North West, Mpumalanga and Eastern Cape to access funding from various funders to ensure that landfill sites comply with their waste management licences. This will be enhanced by providing training to improve the management of landfill sites.
Furthermore, the DFFE together with Provincial Departments of Environment, will be providing support in implementing projects and programmes in Districts across the country to realise an environment that is not harmful to health and to have the environment protected from the pollution that may arise from waste. A key Programme in this regard is the Municipal Cleaning and Greening programme that would be implemented in all the municipalities.
The involvement of Local and Provincial Authorities is thus critical if we want to advance aquaculture in order to promote local and rural economic development. We need to collectively explore local markets for fish and aquaculture products so that local jobs are created within the value chain.
To access the Minister’s speech, click on: https://www.environment.gov.za/speeches/creecy_budgetspeech_ncop
Media enquiries:
Albi Modise
Cell: 083 490 2871
