5 October 1999
The Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Valli Moosa and the MECs for Environmental Affairs will have an extraordinary meeting in Gauteng next month to work on the implementation of the draft White Paper on Integrated Pollution and Waste Management.
This follows the decision by the national department and all provinces to give priority to brown issues.
Opening the first MINMEC of Environmental Ministers since the elections in Cape Town today, Minister Moosa said that his department would be targeting "brown" issues such as pollution because South Africans must become more conscious of their environment and start playing an active role in cleaning up the areas they use and live in.
"Green issues have always been attractive and there is no shortage of people working on natural or ecological issues. We now need to place brown issues on the agenda. We cannot call ourselves environmentalists if we have waste in our streets and polluted air in many of our cities", Minister Moosa said
The extraordinary meeting in November will be open to representatives of local government and SALGA to work on a sustainable strategy on dealing with all forms of waste from plastics and bottles to dangerous waste such as medical waste.
MINMEC also supported the draft White Paper on Sustainable Coastal Development. The draft White Paper will now go to Cabinet.
MINMEC was also informed that the World Parks Congress had chosen the Durban International Convention Centre for their 2002 conference.
Inquiries: Didi Moyle 082 808 5108