Environmental Implementation and Management Plan (EIMP) 2015/2020.

The focus of this Environmental Plan is primarily Chapter 3 of National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) requiring the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) along with other organs of state that exercise functions that may affect the environment and that perform functions involving the management of the environment to prepare environmental implementation plans (EIPs) and/or environmental management plans (EMPs). The content of the 2015/2020 DEA Environmental Implementation and Management Plan (EIMP) is guided by sections 13 and 14 of NEMA and the 2014/2019 Guidelines for the preparation of environmental implementation and management plans that were issued in terms of Chapter 3 of the Act. In line with NEMA requirements, the current DEA EIMP outlines how the department will: coordinate and harmonise the environmental policies, plans, programmes and decisions of the department in its exercise of functions that may affect the environment or powers and duties aimed at the achievement, promotion, and protection of a sustainable environment, and of provincial and local spheres of government, in order to: minimise the duplication of procedures and functions; and promote consistency in the exercise of functions that may affect the environment; give effect to the principle of cooperative government in Chapter 3 of the Constitution; secure the protection of the environment across the country as a whole; prevent unreasonable actions by provinces in respect of the environment that are prejudicial to the economic or health interests of other provinces or the country as a whole; and enable the Minister to monitor the achievement, promotion, and protection of a sustainable environment.
Sustainable development refers to the selection and implementation of a development option, which allows for appropriate and justifiable social and economic goals to be achieved, based on the meeting of basic needs and equity, without compromising the natural system on which it is based. Such development is promulgated in principle 3 of NEMA, as development which is socially, environmentally & economically sustainable. In addition principle 4(a) which highlights the importance of taking into consideration and incorporating all relevant factors including biodiversity, ecosystems, waste, pollution, impacts and people’s rights in the development planning processes, guarantees sustainable development. Furthermore, in addressing the country’s developmental challenges on poverty, unemployment, inequality, the NDP’s 2030 vision is one of a transition to an environmentally sustainable, climate change resilient, low-carbon economy and just society. Hence the DEA EIMP puts forward relevant policy issues to assist the process of facilitating this transition. The EIMP is organized according to the following parts, namely, Part A: Strategic Overview (which includes the vision, mission, values, programmes and regulatory frameworks), followed by Part B: Environmental Implementation Plan component of the department’s consolidated environmental implementation and management plan (EIMP) which is the environmental implementation plan (EIP) as envisaged in section 13(1) of NEMA; then Part C: Environmental Management Plan and conclude with Part D: Monitoring and Evaluation as well as an Annexure of 34 Environmentally sustainable development indicators. Providing leadership in environmental management, conservation and protection towards sustainability for the benefit of South Africans and the global community.
In addition, this Plan establishes the link with National Policies, Acts of Parliament and Regulations related to the following issues: Biodiversity and Heritage Resources; Oceans and Coastal Environmental Management; Climate Change and Air Quality Management; Chemicals and Waste Management; etc.