National Marine week
National Marine Week is celebrated every year during the third week of October. Its purpose is to create awareness on the marine and coastal environment, the promotion of sustainable use and conservation of these resources, for the benefit of all both present and future generations. As custodian of the marine resources in South Africa, the Department of Environmental Affairs is the lead driver for National Marine Week.
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People and Parks Conference
The 4th People and Parks Conference is to be held from 29 August - 1 September 2010 with the intention of reflecting on the first seven years of the People and Parks Programme. The conference aims to showcase best practices, progressive actions, activities, projects and community sentiments in an attempt to derive lessons learnt, and an action plan for future People and Parks activities.The relationship between protected areas and their neighbouring communities is becoming increasingly complex in South Africa as institutions attempt to reorientate protected areas away from an isolationist position, towards a more integrated one. The role of the wildlife economy to rural livelihoods is increasingly gaining recognition, as is the importance of traditional knowledge and local natural resource management systems to protected area management. Developing a reciprocal relationship between protected areas and their neighbouring communities is thus pivotal to the sustainable future of both protected areas and rural communities.
The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) is increasingly dedicated to facilitating dynamic and beneficial relationships between protected area management authorities and rural communities and they have held a number of conferences and events since the World Park Conference that was held in Durban in 2003 to promote the notion of people and parks.
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The Launch of the Clean Fires Campaign:
The Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs, Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi officially launched the Clean Fires Campaign in 2008 at Saul Tsotetsi Sports Centre in Sebokeng. The Clean Fires Campaign was a national high-profile outreach event to roll out the Department of Minerals and Energy’s Basa Njengo Magogo fire -making methodology in national priority areas (Vaal Triangle Airshed Priority Area and Highveld Priority Area) in winter 2008. Our target is to reduce air pollution in low-income settlements where people use coal as a primary source of energy. The campaign is aimed at raising the awareness of households that use coal fires for cooking or heating and motivating the community to make Their fires in a better way.
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Global Climate
Change: DEA web pages providing information and documents
on climate change
These pages are new and have been developed in order to provide
a comprehensive resource of information, links and publications
on climate change and ozone layer protection and the action
being taken to address these issues both globally and here
in South Africa.
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12th Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) in Johannesburg, South Africa
The African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) was established in December 1985, following a conference of African ministers of environment held in Cairo, Egypt . Its mandate is to provide advocacy for environmental protection in Africa; to ensure that basic human needs are met adequately and in a sustainable manner; to ensure that social and economic development is realized at all levels; and to ensure that agricultural activities and practices meet the food security needs of the region.
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