Roles:

To provide environmental information in support of effective environmental management and public participation in environmental governance.

Components:

There are 3 directorates under the umbrella of this chief directorate, namely:

• Directorate: Environmental Information and Reporting



This directorate has two subdirectorates: Environmental Information and State of the Environment.

Mission:

• To compile a National State of the Environment Report for South Africa.
• To monitor and report on progress towards sustainable development in South Africa.
• To develop and maintain national geo-referenced environmental data sets to aid decision making.
• To develop and maintain a clearing house facility.
• To develop a strategy for sustainable development.


• Directorate: Information Management and Communications Services

This directorate contains the subdirectorate of information management and technology which will not be dealt with here and the subdirectorate Communication and Information Services.



• Directorate: Environmental Capacity Building

The environmental capacity building directorate is a new directorate established to facilitate and co-ordinate capacity building programmes in all environmental and tourism spheres. Increasing capacity will enable South African society to implement environmental policies effectively and to participate in good environmental management.

Mission:

The directorate: Environmental Capacity Building undertakes to:

• Co-ordinate environmental learning, skills and capacity to empower all South Africans to effectively participate in sustainable development and sustainable resource use.
• Facilitate more effective environmental governance by strengthening the capacity of all spheres of government to enable the implementation of environment and tourism policies.

Functions:

• To undertake a national needs assessment for environmental capacity building.
• Establish and manage a financial mechanism for funding of capacity building initiatives.
• To ensure appropriate support for environmental learning in existing curricula and programmes.
• To influence the setting of environmental learning standards and the development of environmental qualifications.
• To develop and maintain an efficient information system.
• To manage capacity building and skills development programmes.
• To establish national co-ordinating mechanisms to enable holistic Capacity Building.
• To build the capacity of Environmental Capacity Building Staff.
• To ensure the inclusion of Environmental Capacity Building in all relevant policies.

Components:

The Directorate contains two subdirectorates: Environmental Education and Agenda 21

Contact details:

NAME:       Ms Tiny Madiba
TEL:         (012) 310 3653
FAX:        (012) 322 6287