Environmental Management

A partnership was initiated after a visit by the Swedish delegation to South Africa in July 2005 and a three year project started up and was funded by SALA/IDA. Two of the three project years have been carried out.

The project focuses on three areas that are important for the development and management of environmental work within an organization, in this case the Nelson Mandel Bay Municipality (NMBM). These areas/issues have been on the Gothenburg agenda since the early 1990’s.

The three areas are:

  • development of a State of Environment Report (SoER) together with objectives and indicators for the follow-up – this will be updated on a regular basis
  • implementation of an environmental management system (EMS) related to the products, activities and services rendered by the municipality
  • implementation of a Green Procurement Policy for the municipality – the aim of which would be to demonstrate the municipality’s commitment to considering and minimizing the environmental consequences of its activities. 

During the meeting in NMBM in March/April 2009 the climate change issue was discussed and how to involve this issue in the 3rd year of the “Environmental Management Project”. This can be done by implementing climate change issues in the three areas mentioned above and through these results and experiences develop a climate change policy.

The following results are expected from the project and the 3rd year:

  • implementation of one pilot project that would showcase the functioning of the EMS system in the municipality
  • the development of a State of the Environment Report for the municipality
  • development and adoption of a Green Procurement Policy by the municipality
  • implementing climate change issues in the areas above and through these results and experiences start the development of a climate change and responsive policy.