The Efficacy of Section 2(4)(l) of the National Environmental Management Act in the Context of Cooperative Environmental Governance

Wetlands are regulated by a plethora of specific environmental management Acts (SEMAs). The mandate of these Acts sits within various environmental affairs departments. Thus, the same resource is regulated and managed by a series of different legislation and environmental administrators. The National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 (NEMA) is the national environmental framework Act and stresses in its purpose the need for cooperative environmental governance (CEG) which, arguably, raises no concern for the way wetlands are currently regulated and managed, as long as this is done in a manner that promotes CEG. Section 2 of NEMA sets out a series of sustainable development principles that all organs of state must apply in all matters relating to the environment; “environment” is read throughout to include wetlands. Section 2(4)(l) is dubbed the “co-operative governance principle” and mandates the “intergovernmental co-ordination and harmonisation of policies, legislation and actions relating to the environment”. With this in mind, this note, by way of a document analysis, seeks to ascertain whether legislation and policies and action relating to the wetlands regulation and management are in fact coordinated. The presented findings indicate that coordination is lacking, which consequently adversely affects the management, conservation and protection of wetlands in South Africa. The recommendations aim to bring about law reform to improve coordination that bolsters wetlands management as well as their conservation and protection, while simultaneously promoting the objectives of section 41 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (the Constitution).

A Critical Appraisal of the Legal and Institutional Arrangement for Wetlands Management in South Africa.

Policies and institutional frameworks are some of the entering points in mainstreaming the sustainable management of ecosystems such as wetlands. Wetlands are ecological systems that have been internationally acclaimed as natural and cost-effective mechanisms to mitigate disaster risks and address the negative impacts of climate change while providing local livelihoods. However, the continuous degradation of wetlands in many parts of the world including South Africa is concerning and this can be linked to ineffective legislative and institutional arrangements for wetlands management. Using questionnaires, key informant interviews and field observation, this paper assessed the legal and institutional frameworks for the sustainable management and conservation of protected, private and communal wetlands in South Africa. The results indicated that fundamentally there was no direct wetland legislation in South Africa and this is happening more than 47 years after South Africa signed and ratified the Ramsar Convention on the wise-use and conservation of wetlands. The results also indicated that there was poor coordination of important wetland stakeholders. Thirdly, there were many Expanded Public Works Programmes (EPWPs) with overlapping functions in the management of wetlands in South Africa The key recommendations were that a national policy on wetlands should be enacted in South Africa like is the case in Uganda and that all the EPWPs be unified under a single control structure with defined roles and monitoring systems like the case with Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) in the USA. The study further recommend that effective wetlands forums be put in place and the dysfunctional ones be rejuvenated. Lastly, policy makers should be made more conscious on the beneficial functions of wetlands in providing livelihoods, reducing disaster risks and adapting to climate change in South Africa

Local knowledge and practices about fire use in wetlands management Argentina. A comparative study of fire regimes in two wetlands in Santa Fe province

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The protected areas system in Brazil as a baseline condition for wetlands management and fish conservancy: the example of the Pantanal National Park

ABSTRACT Considering the need for the Brazilian government to develop tools for environmental monitoring for biodiversity conservancy purposes in the national protected areas system, this paper focuses on determining reference site metrics (or baselines) for adapting the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) based on the fish assemblages in the Pantanal National Park (PNP). The habitats in the PNP were grouped into four categories: main rivers, corixos (channels connecting the floodplain), permanent bays, and temporary bays. Fish samplings were performed at 12 points during the dry season (Oct-Nov 2010 and 2011). 146 fish species were identified from the total 18,954 individuals collected with standardized fishing gear. There was no association between the structure of the fish assemblage and categories, suggesting a theory on homogeneity of habitats. The final IBIPNP consists of nine metrics, most of them were framed in excellent class, some in fair, and none in poor. There was no significant difference in IBIPNP scores between the two sampled years. This approach provides a direct application for wetland management purposes.