NEIP: NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS PROGRAMME
Phase 4: Implementation Plan
The fourth phase of this project entailed the development
of an implementation plan that can be used by DEAT to actually
implement the use of the environmental indicators in South Africa.
The implementation plan provides details on the following issues:
- Data collection procedures
(including the legal requirements for providing access to
state of the environment information, instructions on how
to go about accessing existing data and how to collect new
data);
- Conceptual information system
design (including information on data collection,
system architecture, user interface, archiving and security);
- An implementation plan (including
a plan for establishing data collection mechanisms, determining
data standards and procedures, determining data conversion
routines, developing a user interface and developing the
system;
- Costs of implementation (including
hardware and software);
- Funding mechanisms (including
novel ideas on sponsorship and contributions in kind to
ensure that the programme can continue to exit independently
of donor funding);
- Use and interpretation of
the indicator set (including information on how the indicators
can be used to fulfil international and national reporting
obligations, the relevance of the indicators at provincial
and local level, aggregation and use of the indicators in
SOE reporting).
The implementation plan for the National Environmental Indicators
Programme is documented in the Phase
4 report. Additional documents that were produced during
the National Environmental Indicators Programme can also be
obtained from the Resources page
Stakeholder participation
The indicator selection process should always be a participatory
process that involves various different stakeholders. Stakeholders
are often able to provide excellent insight into what needs
to be measured through indicators, and have a diverse range
of views and expertise that contributes to selecting the best
set of indicators. In addition the Bellagio
Principles call for openness and broad participation in
the assessment of sustainable development.
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South
Africa and its provinces |
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The National Environmental Indicator Programme involved stakeholders
extensively throughout the process. Stakeholder workshops were
held for each phase of the project, with stakeholders not only
receiving information on the project, but also contributing
valuable information to the process and playing a key role in
shaping the outcome of the process. In addition, many stakeholders
participated in the actual process of selecting the indicators.
Each of the nine provinces of South Africa were also visited
as part of the stakeholder consultation strategy.
The stakeholders represented a wide variety of organisations,
including:
- National, provincial and local government departments;
- Academic institutions and research organisations;
- Industry and commerce;
- Non-governmental organisations;
- Private individuals.
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