The draft National Environmental Management Biodiversity Bill will go to Cabinet within the next fortnight, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) said on Tuesday.
Briefing members of the National Assembly’s environmental affairs and tourism committee, DEAT biodiversity and conservation executive manager Pamela Yako said the measure, if approved, could enter the parliamentary process by April 15.
A recently-completed period of public consultation had attracted 86 submissions on the bill, and these had led to a redraft of the document, she said. Among other things, the bill caters for biodiversity planning and monitoring, the protection of species and regulation of trade, and the management of alien and invasive species.
Issues raised during the public consultation process included, among other things, the functions of the National Biodiversity Institute and its role in ”bioprospecting”. Bioprospecting is the search for genetic plant material to benefit commerce and industry.
On Tuesday, green organisations told Sapa they would wait for the appearance of the final draft before commenting.
Earlier this year, an earlier draft of the bill was described by conservationists as ”sloppy, outdated and weakened by glaring omissions”.
Meanwhile, a final draft of the National Environment Management Protected Areas Bill is also expected to go to Cabinet soon, before steering the same route through Parliament as the biodiversity bill. – Sapa