State Of The Environment Reporting In Durban

Date commenced: 1994
KPI addressed: Programme 3: Ensure the long-term sustainability of the natural resource base               

Background

The first state of the environment report (SOE), which was largely qualitative, was completed in June 1996, in order to gain a better understanding of the city’s environmental status. Understanding the environmental status of the city was vital towards the development of Environmental Management System (EMS). The second state of the environment report was quantitative and initiated through the Cities Environmental Reports on the Internet (CEROI) project which facilitated comparative global reporting through the development of a simple state of the environment report template for the Internet.

The 2003-2007 Integrated Development Plan (IDP) establishes sustainable development as the core goal for local government in Durban. The Environmental Management Department (EMD) of the Development Planning Environment Management Unit has initiated regular quantitative SOE reporting for the eThekwini Municipality in order to provide the environmental information required for city-wide sustainability reporting (i.e. reporting that evaluates environmental, social and economic conditions in the city).

The issue of environmental sustainability is particularly critical where the environment continues to act as a key service provider, meeting people’s basic needs such as:

• Climate regulation;
• Flood attenuation;
• Recreation;
• Food, water and air;
• Building materials and fuel; and
• Waste-treatment.

The EMD has structured State of Environment reporting in
eThekwini Municipality so that the process:

• Contributes to the IDP review and outcomes-setting process;
• Highlights trends (positive and negative) through indicators for environmental performance;
• Initiates the use of internationally and nationally accepted environmental indicators; and
• Communicates information about the city and its quality of environmental management to local, provincial and international stakeholders.

SOE reports typically include information on:

• The condition of the environment (including background to environmental issues and trends in environmental quality);
• The causes of environmental change; and
• What authorities and individuals are doing to improve environmental conditions, whether this is effective, and what more could be done.

The three fundamental characteristics of SOE reports are:

• The interpretation, assessment and integration of high quality
• data to generate meaningful information;
• The development of spatial and temporal trend information;
• The provision of linkages between biophysical and socio- economic considerations within a sustainable development context.

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