OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape TownLEONARD NDZHUKLA, Delmas | Monday 7.30pm.
THE National Assembly has approved legislation designed to co-ordinate government’s approach to environmental management. However Environment Minister Pallo Jordan has agreed that it is a watered-down version of what was originally envisaged.
Democratic Party MP Mike Ellis said that the National Environment Management Bill is a “rather pale shadow” of the plans that emerged from the consultative national environmental policy process, which cost R10 million.
Gone, said Ellis, were an envisaged mandatory advisory council, the idea of making the principles of sustainable development binding on all central and provincial government departments, and a plan to give all citizens access to environmental information.
Jordan said democracy sometimes means watering down or even pulling the teeth of legislation. He advised Ellis not to despair, as he hopes to legislate on a number of other issues — including clean air, integrated pollution management, protected areas and coastal zone management — in the not-too-distant future.
Jordan said the bill provides the legislative framework for government to ensure environmental rights in the Constitution are protected. It gives people access to the judiciary to protect their rights, ensures transgressors are liable for costs arising from harm to the environment, and gives effect to co-operative government as envisaged in the Constitution.
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