Responses

Air quality in South Africa is currently regulated by the Atmospheric Pollution Prevention Act of 1965. This legislation is widely recognised to be out of date with respect to approaches to air quality management and measurement, and inadequate for the present situation. A process has been initiated during 1999 which will lead to new air quality legislation within a few years. The Integrated Pollution Management initiative at national level has delivered a discussion document, aimed at waste minimisation and at preventing the diversion of pollution from one medium (eg. water) to another (eg. air), which can occur if a fragmented approach is followed. The Energy White Paper has many sections which relate directly or indirectly to emissions ( http://www.gov.za/whitepaper/1998/energywp98.htm ).

The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEA&T) has only a limited number of air pollution control officers. No provisionis made in the  new The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEA&T) structures to provide for more control officers, which will hamper efforts to police air pollution.

In terms of the Environment Conservation Act of 1989, now replaced by the new Environmental Management Act of 1998 (see Policy), all significant new developments in South Africa are required to undertake Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA's) before they are approved http://www.oneworld.org/saep/subject/law_policy/lawpol.html. These assessments invariably include air quality studies, where appropriate. To prevent creeping loss of air quality due to the incremental effect of lots of individually-small impacts, Strategic Environmental Assessments of the entire ‘air bubble' of major regions have increasingly become standard practice.

Eskom, the major user of coal in South Africa (more than 45% of total national coal consumption), has for many years had electrostatic devices fitted to their chimneys to reduce particulate matter (smoke) emissions. In addition, they began to fit bag filters to their power stations in 1994. As a result, the concentrations of particulates at ground level have declined. Only minor removal of sulphur dioxide occurs, as it is regarded as too expensive to retrofit the existing power stations with flue-gas desulphurisation equipment. The chimneys are designed to emit well above the ground inversion layer in order to provide better dispersion. The sulphur dioxide concentrations at ground level have remained constant and well within allowable limits.

A massive electrification programme by Eskom aims at replacing coal and wood as a domestic energy source, and thus improving indoor air quality in townships and informal settlements. Nearly 1 million households have been electrified since 1994, but coal and wood remain important fuel sources for reasons including customary domestic activities. Research has been conducted into low-smoke coal, but the product has not yet been widely adopted.

In 1990, South Africa became a signatory to the Montreal Protocol, the purpose of which is to limit the emissions of substances harmful to the ozone layer, and which has been highly successful (see Table 1.2).

Since South Africa is a climatically-sensitive region, the issue of climate variability and potential climate change is taken seriously at the national level. An interdepartmental committee on climate change commissioned reviews on the subject (Shackleton, et al 1996). South Africa signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1994, and ratified it in 1997. South Africa has established a National Committee on Climate Change (NCCC), comprising of representatives from a number of affected sectors and government departments as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), to advise the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism on the issue. The National Committee on Climate Change (NCCC) is overseeing a process whereby studies are being undertaken on the emission of gases which contribute to global warming by South Africa (this study is completed but data have not been published yet); the impacts which climate change may have on agriculture, water resources, biodiversity, human health and other sectors (completion in 1999); and the options for adaptation to, and mitigation of these impacts (completion in 2000). It is also overseeing a process of climate change policy development and public communication policy process, which has delivered a Discussion Paper, with a policy document currently in preparation.

>     Climatic and Atmospheric Changes: Outcomes

There is also information about Climatic and Atmospheric Change in the following reports:
Metropolitan reports:
	Cape Metropolitan Council (1998 edition)		Durban Pilot Study
	Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council (1999 edition)		Greater Pretoria Metropolitan Council (1999 edition)