Context for State of Environment Reporting (SOER)

Sustainable Development

At the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio in 1992, the Heads of State and senior government officials of 178 countries addressed several issues of environmental sustainability. Sustainable development requires development to occur in a manner, which is not exhaustive to the environment. This requires that development be balanced with the competing demands of environmental protection. The World Commission on Environment and Development, convened by the United Nations General Assembly in 1983 defines sustainable development as 'development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'.

The indicators that were identified in Rio through which sustainable development could be reached included Agenda 21, a statement on the management, conservation and sustainable development of all forests, formulation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Conventions on Biological Diversity and Desertification. In principle, these guidelines provided the basis for:

• Rights and responsibilities of nations to pursue human development and well-being,
• The blueprint on how to make development socially, economically and environmentally sustainable, and
• Economic development and maintenance of all forms of life.

The focus on the needs of the developing world was fundamental in the formulation of Agenda 21. Agenda 21 is an international plan of action for sustainable development. A commitment was made that the global partnership would provide the economic indicators to achieve sustainable development and that the richer nations would endorsed their responsibilities to guide developing nations in their tasks to achieve a balance between population, consumption, technology and environmental change.

Sustainable Development in South Africa

At the UN General Assembly Special Session (RIO+5) in 1997, South Africa committed itself to have its national sustainable development strategy in place by the year 2002. South Africa has since 1995 actively participated in meetings of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.

In terms of the National Environmental Management Act 1998 (NEMA), Section 26, all levels of government in South Africa are required to submit reports on their progress in terms of sustainable development practices every year. Section 26 (2) of NEMA requires the Minister of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism to compile an Annual Performance Report on Sustainable Development to meet the Government's commitment to Agenda 21. Section 31 of NEMA, which governs access to environmental information, states that:

"Access to information held by the state is governed by the statute contemplated under section 32(2) of the Constitution ...a) every person is entitled to have access to information held by the state and organs of the state which relates to the implementation of this Act and any other law affecting the environment, and to the state of the environment and actual and future threats to the environment, including any emissions to water, air, or soil and the production, handling, transportation, treatment, storage and disposal of hazardous waste and substances."

The inclusion of sustainable, people-centred development as a principle in national policies and legislation, serves to confirm South Africa's commitment to sustainable development as fundamental for achieving a better quality of life for all. Monitoring this progress is achieved through State of Environment reporting.