Data issues
1. There is no centralised digital database for gaseous emissions and air quality
in South Africa. The database maintained by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism is incomplete
and not accessible to the public. The databases on energy consumption previously
maintained by the National Energy Council are no longer kept up to
date. Data in general are slow to be processed, resulting in the use
of information which is several years out-of-date. Future State of
the Environment Reports, as well as many other studies, could be
much more efficiently executed if all the emissions data required in
terms of the air pollution legislation and the UNFCCC obligations on
a national basis were held in a single database which was accessible
to researchers and policymakers.
2. Air quality data are nominally collected by many local
authorities. However, of the 94 stations currently measuring
sulphur dioxide, 25 stations in 8 towns have no data, or insufficient
data. The usual reason given is lack of human capacity. Political
commitment at local level is required to maintain air pollution
monitoring systems, and formal and informal training of operators is
required.
3. Data from the national sulphur dioxide network are not
available as hourly values, which are needed to calculate health
impacts. The real-time data stations are not networked or readily
accessible. A large fraction of the sulphur dioxide, ozone and
nitric oxide data collected nationally is held by private
corporations or parastatals such as Eskom. It has not been possible
to gain access to most of these data within the period available to this
study, despite substantial efforts although there were exceptions. This is partly because there is
little culture of data sharing in the interests of public
information, and partly because the data volumes are large.
4. Respiratory diseases, the most direct results of poor air
quality, are not notifiable in South Africa, therefore no specific
conclusions can be made about the incidence of these diseases in
certain areas. This information can, therefore, only be determined
by epidemiological studies or analyses of clinic and hospital
records. Both are expensive and time consuming.
5. There is insufficient monitoring and study of natural or
agricultural ecosystems to be able to determine if impacts are
occurring due to air pollution or acid deposition.
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There is also information about Climatic and Atmospheric Change in the following reports:
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Metropolitan reports:
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Copyright © 1999 Department of Environmental
Affairs and Tourism. All Rights Reserved.
Site maintained by the Directorate Environmental Information and Reporting
Last update: October 1999
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