south durban basin multi-point plan case study report - NILU

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7.1.3 Is industry committed to improving air quality? The results shown in Figure 15 not surprisingly show that industry’s perception of their performance differs from the other main stakeholder groups, with representatives from major industry believing that they are showing commitment, whilst the opinion of government and NGO’s is not as strongly in favour. Overall, over 50% of respondents felt that industry was showing some commitment (Fig. 16). However, there was general consensus that the focus thus far has been on larger industry, while smaller industries have been ignored and are carrying on as business as usual; it’s a matter of what they can get away with. However, the cumulative impacts PG / 26 Figure 15: Response rating of different stakeholder groups to whether industry is committed to improving air quality. of a large number of smaller industry can outweigh the impacts of larger industry. Big industry has been driven more by international pressure than local authority pressure, and has the resources to implement improved measures. There was general consensus among representatives from government and community that industry will only make improvements if pushed to and will not invest wilfully, the environment is usually only considered last. Even when there is commitment, it needs to be transferred into action, and it’s a long road to solutions (Chetty, pers. comm.). Change will not happen overnight. Improvements are often tied in with upgrades to increase production, i.e. are financially driven, and according to their own timeframes and economic imperatives. View from Wentworth reservoir westward to Jacobs and Mobeni east.
Figure 16: Overall stakeholder opinion of whether industry is committed to improving air quality in South Durban “Having the data has meant so much” (Dixon Lowe, Sapref) 7.1.4 Is there transparency with regard to access to information? While sectors from the government and industry felt that there was suffi cient transparency with regard to access to information, the NGO’s felt that this was not always the case (Fig. 17), and it depended on what detail of information was required. Problem areas include the following: • There is no response from City Health if monitoring results queried. • Community representatives felt that website results are insuffi cient to inform, and there is a need for more interpretation at community level. • Information under the old SO2 committee was more available, and there was monthly interpretation of data, which is lacking under the present system • Data quality control checks arouse suspicion. Figure 17: Response rating of different stakeholder groups to whether there is transparent access to information. 7.1.5 Is there suffi cient feedback of information? It was generally felt that the data monitoring system was running well and “Having the data has meant so much” (Dixon Lowe, Sapref, pers. comm.). But some felt there could be more mileage gained from the data. While there is feedback to government, industry and NGO’s through the Inter Governmental Co- ordinating Committee (IGCC) and Stakeholders Consultative Forum (SCF) meetings, there is a lack of feedback to the community at large. Initially there was feedback of information, • Dispersion modelling has still not been effectively and effi ciently implemented. • The Chemical Industry is still hiding behind the National Keypoints Act No. 102 of 1980. but there have been no quarterly feedback meetings over the past two years. There is a need for more accessible venues to give feedback to the community and NGO’s would like to see other staff (apart from the programme manager) coming into the area and interacting with the community, to explain what they are doing and progress made. There has been a series of multi stakeholder engagements as part of the AQMP development process, the most recent of which has been May 2007, during which a number of presentations were made on the various air quality initiatives being undertaken by the Municipality. South Durban Basin Multi-point Plan Case Study Report 2007 PG / 27
Page 1 and 2: A Governance Information Publicatio
Page 3 and 4: SOUTH DURBAN BASIN MULTI-POINT PLAN
Page 5 and 6: minimization aims as well as afford
Page 7 and 8: 2. AN OVERVIEW OF SOUTH DURBAN 2.1.
Page 9 and 10: 3. MULTI-POINT PLAN “THE STORY”
Page 11 and 12: centre, and that proper planning wa
Page 13 and 14: Meeting sessions facilitate feedbac
Page 15 and 16: the MPP monitoring sites and meteor
Page 17 and 18: Figure 8: Location of MPP air quali
Page 19 and 20: for local smoke control regulations
Page 21 and 22: 5. STATUS OF AIR QUALITY IN SOUTH D
Page 23 and 24: Figure 13: Exceedances of the 24-ho
Page 25: of SO2, however the following issue
Page 29 and 30: Key comments from the community •
Page 31 and 32: contributions from sugar-cane burni
Page 33 and 34: APPENDIX 1: STAKEHOLDERS INTERVIEWE

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