Date: 22/09/2003
Source: Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Title: Moosa: Environment Conservation Act Amendment Bill, NA
SPEECH BY THE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM, MR MOHAMMED VALLI MOOSA, INTRODUCING THE ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION ACT AMENDMENT BILL IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, 22 September
Introduction
Madam Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to introduce to this House the Environment Conservation Act Amendment Bill.
Madam Speaker, the Environment Conservation Act Amendment Bill deals with matters relating to waste management and pollution control. These are so-called "brown" issues as opposed to a "green" issue such as the debate on the Protected Areas Bill.
Our Bill of Rights includes an environmental right, which obliges Government to ensure a healthy and sustainable environment and better quality life for all of South Africa's people. This Bill must be seen in the context of the broader environmental law reform program, which seeks to give effect to this right.
This particular Amendment Bill is also informed by government's general policy on integrated pollution control as reflected in the White Paper on Integrated Pollution and Waste Management (N227/2000 in Government Gazette 20978 dated 17 March 2000). In order to achieve such integration, as well as to consolidate and improve the various and disparate provisions in our statute books on waste management, my department is working on comprehensive waste management legislation which will be tabled before this House next year. These amendments, along with the other waste management provisions of the Environment Conservation Act of 1989, passed by the previous government, will be subsumed and synthesised into this new integrated Bill. These particular amendments before you today, Madam Speaker, must accordingly be regarded as a limited set of measures that require urgent attention, and will be followed by a cohesive legislative framework to deal with the waste problem in our country.
These amendments introduce for the first time some innovative approaches in conservation management. One of the amendments before you deals with economic incentives, which will complement the orthodox "command and control" approach to combating pollution problems with a more subtle financial incentive based approach. I will elaborate on this when I deal with the specific amendment below.
It is generally accepted that while South Africa has a sophisticated body of environmental laws on its statute books, comparable with the best in the world, we have not always been successful in policing and enforcing these laws. In the last few months we have made considerable progress in meeting these deficiencies through, for example, the establishment of an environmental court in Hermanus to deal with abalone poaching. In the area of waste management, just this week you will have been aware of media reports that officials in my department have swooped in on an illegal toxic waste dump in the Eastern Cape owned by the Mandara Trust. Such action reflects an increasing commitment by my department to ensure that polluters are brought to book, and that our environmental laws are practically implemented.
In order to strengthen our capacity to enforce our environmental laws, I will be tabling before you during this session of Parliament amendments to the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), 1998 (Act 107 of 1998), which will bolster our enforcement-related capacity.
The Amendment Bill before us today contains three separate matters and consequent amendments to the Environment Conservation Act.
Section 1: The first amendment: Transfer of administration of waste sites
The first amendment provides for the transfer of the administration of waste sites from the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry to myself, the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. It has been a long-standing anomaly that section 20 of the Environment Conservation Act, 73 of 1989, passed by the previous government, which provides for the regulation of waste disposal sites, is administered by the Department of Water and Forestry. Of course the Minister of Water Affairs has a keen interest in maintaining the quality of our scarce water resources; however it is anomalous because the Department of Environmental and Tourism has been designated as the lead agency for pollution control and waste management. The administration of waste sites goes well beyond affecting the nation's water resources. These include the negative effects on the environment as well as to human health of incidents such as Thor Chemicals and Chloorkop. This particular amendment which has been discussed extensively between the respective ministries and departments, will come into effect on a date to be fixed by the State President (see section 4) to enable the necessary administrative infrastructure to be put in place. The Department of Water Affairs will continue to play a pivotal role in administering the section, as that department's concurrence has to be obtained before a waste disposal site permit is issued.
Section 2: The second amendment: Compulsory charging and other financial measures
The second amendment gives the Minister the power to make regulations to use financial mechanisms to encourage the reuse, reduction or recycling - the so-called three Rs - of specific waste types. This provision, which I will only be able to invoke with the concurrence of the Minister of Finance, will enable my department to impose compulsory deposits, or a fee, or a related financial measure on specific waste types. The revenue raised thereby will be used to further encourage recycling and associated job creation. A compulsory deposit system will significantly improve the collection and return of particular types of waste such as glass or tyres; similarly a compulsory charge on a particular waste item will encourage the re-use of that particular waste item rather than its discard as the successful plastic carrier bag initiative of my department has demonstrated. This regulatory power will of course also help to finance the collection of specific waste types, such as second hand vehicle tyres, which litter our country side. It will thus also create jobs in the informal sector. My department has already had very constructive talks with the glass container and tyre manufacturing industries, and the proposals they have drawn up are merely awaiting these amendments.
Section 3: The third amendment: Regulating products
The third and final amendment, Madam Speaker, gives the Minister the power to make regulations to control certain products that may have a harmful or detrimental affect on the environment or human health if and when they reach the waste stream. The most prominent and contentious substance in this regard is asbestos. Members of the Portfolio Committee have played a central role in highlighting the very serious impact of asbestos on the health and livelihoods of our people. It is clear that we have to act to prohibit the use of asbestos on an urgent basis. Moreover as South Africa adopts new and fast-developing international conventions on hazardous substances such as the Convention on Prior Informed Consent Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (the Rotterdam Conventions) we need domestic legal instruments to enforce these obligations in our domestic law. The passing of this amendment will enable the department to take its rightful role in the context of the suite of actions which other departments are taking in this regard.
Madam Speaker, the enactment of these amendments is to ensure a better quality of life for all South Africans.
I thank the members of the Portfolio Committee for their support and hard work in processing these amendments.
Issued by: Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, 22 September 2003
Source: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (http://www.environment.gov.za)
Source: Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Title: Moosa: Environment Conservation Act Amendment Bill, NA
SPEECH BY THE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM, MR MOHAMMED VALLI MOOSA, INTRODUCING THE ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION ACT AMENDMENT BILL IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, 22 September
Introduction
Madam Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to introduce to this House the Environment Conservation Act Amendment Bill.
Madam Speaker, the Environment Conservation Act Amendment Bill deals with matters relating to waste management and pollution control. These are so-called "brown" issues as opposed to a "green" issue such as the debate on the Protected Areas Bill.
Our Bill of Rights includes an environmental right, which obliges Government to ensure a healthy and sustainable environment and better quality life for all of South Africa's people. This Bill must be seen in the context of the broader environmental law reform program, which seeks to give effect to this right.
This particular Amendment Bill is also informed by government's general policy on integrated pollution control as reflected in the White Paper on Integrated Pollution and Waste Management (N227/2000 in Government Gazette 20978 dated 17 March 2000). In order to achieve such integration, as well as to consolidate and improve the various and disparate provisions in our statute books on waste management, my department is working on comprehensive waste management legislation which will be tabled before this House next year. These amendments, along with the other waste management provisions of the Environment Conservation Act of 1989, passed by the previous government, will be subsumed and synthesised into this new integrated Bill. These particular amendments before you today, Madam Speaker, must accordingly be regarded as a limited set of measures that require urgent attention, and will be followed by a cohesive legislative framework to deal with the waste problem in our country.
These amendments introduce for the first time some innovative approaches in conservation management. One of the amendments before you deals with economic incentives, which will complement the orthodox "command and control" approach to combating pollution problems with a more subtle financial incentive based approach. I will elaborate on this when I deal with the specific amendment below.
It is generally accepted that while South Africa has a sophisticated body of environmental laws on its statute books, comparable with the best in the world, we have not always been successful in policing and enforcing these laws. In the last few months we have made considerable progress in meeting these deficiencies through, for example, the establishment of an environmental court in Hermanus to deal with abalone poaching. In the area of waste management, just this week you will have been aware of media reports that officials in my department have swooped in on an illegal toxic waste dump in the Eastern Cape owned by the Mandara Trust. Such action reflects an increasing commitment by my department to ensure that polluters are brought to book, and that our environmental laws are practically implemented.
In order to strengthen our capacity to enforce our environmental laws, I will be tabling before you during this session of Parliament amendments to the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), 1998 (Act 107 of 1998), which will bolster our enforcement-related capacity.
The Amendment Bill before us today contains three separate matters and consequent amendments to the Environment Conservation Act.
Section 1: The first amendment: Transfer of administration of waste sites
The first amendment provides for the transfer of the administration of waste sites from the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry to myself, the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. It has been a long-standing anomaly that section 20 of the Environment Conservation Act, 73 of 1989, passed by the previous government, which provides for the regulation of waste disposal sites, is administered by the Department of Water and Forestry. Of course the Minister of Water Affairs has a keen interest in maintaining the quality of our scarce water resources; however it is anomalous because the Department of Environmental and Tourism has been designated as the lead agency for pollution control and waste management. The administration of waste sites goes well beyond affecting the nation's water resources. These include the negative effects on the environment as well as to human health of incidents such as Thor Chemicals and Chloorkop. This particular amendment which has been discussed extensively between the respective ministries and departments, will come into effect on a date to be fixed by the State President (see section 4) to enable the necessary administrative infrastructure to be put in place. The Department of Water Affairs will continue to play a pivotal role in administering the section, as that department's concurrence has to be obtained before a waste disposal site permit is issued.
Section 2: The second amendment: Compulsory charging and other financial measures
The second amendment gives the Minister the power to make regulations to use financial mechanisms to encourage the reuse, reduction or recycling - the so-called three Rs - of specific waste types. This provision, which I will only be able to invoke with the concurrence of the Minister of Finance, will enable my department to impose compulsory deposits, or a fee, or a related financial measure on specific waste types. The revenue raised thereby will be used to further encourage recycling and associated job creation. A compulsory deposit system will significantly improve the collection and return of particular types of waste such as glass or tyres; similarly a compulsory charge on a particular waste item will encourage the re-use of that particular waste item rather than its discard as the successful plastic carrier bag initiative of my department has demonstrated. This regulatory power will of course also help to finance the collection of specific waste types, such as second hand vehicle tyres, which litter our country side. It will thus also create jobs in the informal sector. My department has already had very constructive talks with the glass container and tyre manufacturing industries, and the proposals they have drawn up are merely awaiting these amendments.
Section 3: The third amendment: Regulating products
The third and final amendment, Madam Speaker, gives the Minister the power to make regulations to control certain products that may have a harmful or detrimental affect on the environment or human health if and when they reach the waste stream. The most prominent and contentious substance in this regard is asbestos. Members of the Portfolio Committee have played a central role in highlighting the very serious impact of asbestos on the health and livelihoods of our people. It is clear that we have to act to prohibit the use of asbestos on an urgent basis. Moreover as South Africa adopts new and fast-developing international conventions on hazardous substances such as the Convention on Prior Informed Consent Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (the Rotterdam Conventions) we need domestic legal instruments to enforce these obligations in our domestic law. The passing of this amendment will enable the department to take its rightful role in the context of the suite of actions which other departments are taking in this regard.
Madam Speaker, the enactment of these amendments is to ensure a better quality of life for all South Africans.
I thank the members of the Portfolio Committee for their support and hard work in processing these amendments.
Issued by: Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, 22 September 2003
Source: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (http://www.environment.gov.za)
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