Photo: groundWork
On 12 January 2012, the Centre for Environmental Rights made submissions to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Water and Environmental Affairs on the South African Weather Service Amendment Bill, 2011 on behalf of groundWork, the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance and the Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance.
Many civil society and community organisations are particularly concerned about the offence the Amendment Bill proposes if an air pollution-related warning (which is not defined in the Bill) is issued without written permission of the South African Weather Service. For the reasons we set out in the submissions, if the Bill is passed in its current format, this offence is likely to have negative implications for the environment, public health, and particularly, civil society participation in environmental governance.
Public hearings on the Bill will be held in Parliament on 24 and 25 January 2012.
The South African Weather Service Act, 2001, as well as the South African Weather Service Amendment Bill, 2011 are available here.
Read more about the Centre’s work on pollution, waste and land use here.
Stop treading water: What civil society can do to get water governance in South Africa back on track
The effective governance of South Africa’s scarce water resources plays a crucial role in the realisation of the Constitutional rights to a healthy environment and to have access to sufficient water. There is severe stress on water resources and their management, and the State faces extreme capacity and other challenges in meeting its obligations in relation to water governance.
In November 2011, with the support of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Centre hosted a gathering of civil society representatives and key experts in water governance, whose inputs were the primary source of this report.
In this report, we identify some of the most pressing challenges for water governance, and make recommendations on how civil society can become involved… Continue reading...