CHAPTER 3: BACKGROUND – THE CURRENT STATE OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE
3.3 The current state of environmental and climate governance
The environmental management branch has developed from consisting of a single staff member to a fully-fledged department, which today is called the Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department (EPCPD). The department is divided into four branches; the Biodiversity Impact Assessment Branch, the Biodiversity Planning Branch, the Climate Protection Branch and the Policy Implementation Branch. Their core areas of responsibility are to protect the biodiversity of the city region, by considering for example building plans and development planning; to oversee the MCPP and ensure that appropriate mitigation and adaptation strategies are implemented; and to ensure that other municipal departments and decision makers also take environmental considerations into account in their strategies, programmes and policies3.
The municipality’s website lists 15 projects that have been, or are currently being implemented by the EPCPD (See box 3.1). By considering these projects the modes of governing which are dominant in eThekwini municipality can be established. The most striking feature of this list of projects is that it holds a strong focus on biodiversity conservation, with projects such as the Buffelsdraai Community Reforestation Project, the Giba Gorge Environmental Precinct and the Roosfontein Nature Reserve.
These projects are largely related to the city’s management of the Durban Metropolitan Open Space System (D’MOSS), which is a system of open spaces that encompasses high biodiversity areas linked together by other open spaces in the city. This group of projects can be considered a form of self- governing, as it involves the management of municipally owned land, as well as the regulation of proposed developments on that land that falls into the D’MOSS. Some of the other projects on the
3 Accessed from
http://www.durban.gov.za/City_Services/development_planning_management/environmental_planning_clim ate_protection/About_Us/Pages/default.aspx, 27.05.2012
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list, such as the community adaptation projects and the green roof project, can be considered a different form of self-governing as these serve as municipal demonstration projects. A final group of self-governing projects is the extension of the Expanded Public Works Programme into the Working for Ecosystems programme and the Working for Fire programme, in which the municipality employs disadvantaged and unemployed people to provide services that protect the environment, such as the removal of alien plants, and managing fires. It is interesting to notice that this first sub-group of projects is not directed at climate protection specifically, but fits into the general environmental protection category.
The second sub-group of projects falls into the governing through enabling mode. One of the key tasks of the EPCPD is to “promote the importance of biodiversity, ecosystem goods and services and climate protection in order to gain administrative, political and public support for the conservation of the natural resource base and the implementation of climate change protection initiatives”4, which can entail educational and awareness raising programmes. In the governing through enabling category the Greening Durban 2010 programme, and the subsequent Event greening programme provide good examples. As a host of the FIFA World Cup in 2010, Durban committed to labelling the event ‘carbon neutral’ through waste, water and energy efficiency and carbon offsetting.
As a part of the Greening Durban 2010 programme, the city also produced a Green Guidelines Series which provided information about water and energy efficiency, sustainable waste management and green landscaping. This series is a clear example of the governing through enabling mode, as the local authorities provide the population with information on how to implement green changes, without following up with any regulations to ensure that this actually happens. It is interesting to notice that the projects that are specific to climate protection generally seem to fall into the governing by enabling category. There is also an example of governing by provision in the municipality; the orange bag system. Durban Solid Waste (DSW) implemented a pilot project in 2007, where they provided the citizens of the Highway area with orange garbage bags that was to be used for paper and plastics only. As the pilot was a success the project was subsequently rolled out and is now a standard service for all households in the Durban area3. The collection of recycled plastic and paper is a clear case of governing by provision. However, other goods, such as glass and cans, still have to be delivered at recycling centres if a citizen wants to recycle these.
4 Accessed from
http://www.durban.gov.za/City_Services/development_planning_management/environmental_planning_clim ate_protection/About_Us/Pages/default.aspx, 27.05.2012
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Considering the above examples it is evident that the current modes of governing in eThekwini municipality resemble those of the UK and Germany, where self-governing and governing through enabling are more prominent forms of climate and environmental governance5. This can be a reflection of the political difficulty of prioritising climate protection policies in the face of a range of other development challenges, which are still persistent in eThekwini, as well as in the rest of the country. It can also indicate a lack of political will in the city to address environmental and climate issues, or simply a lack of capacity. Scott et al (forthcoming) argue that the environmental capacities within the municipality are divided, with the EPCPD being mainly responsible for adaptation measures, and the Energy Office focusing on climate change mitigation, and both of these being driven by ‘environmental champions’ despite internal resistance. In addition to this division, every department that deals with environmental issues has its own officers dedicated to environmental education, resulting in “a mosaic of environmental education actors who organize awareness campaigns and other environmental interventions independently … each positioning themselves within their field of specialty (sic)” (Scott et al, forthcoming, p. 27). If uncoordinated this can lead to confusion and contradicting information, something that can contribute to a less accepting environment for stronger climate protection policies. Scott et al (forthcoming) also argue that many
5 It should however be pointed out that there are certain exceptions such as the orange bag programme and the inner city public transport system ‘The People Mover’.
Box 3.1 List of EPCPD projects
1. Buffelsdraai Community Reforestation Project 2. Community Adaptation Projects
3. Conversion of D'MOSS from a Policy of Council to a component of the Town Planning Scheme
4. Giba Gorge Environmental Precinct 5. Greening Durban 2010
6. Green Guidelines 7. Green Roof
8. Integrated Assessment Tool 9. Municipal Adaptation Plans 10. Roosfontein Nature Reserve 11. State of Biodiversity Reporting 12. Town Planning Scheme Amendments 13. Working for Ecosystems
14. Working on Fire 15. Event Greening
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of the current initiatives do not adequately take into account the linguistic, cultural and socio- economic differences between the various groups of people in Durban, and that programmes aimed at creating awareness around climate change are thus often applicable only to a minority of the population. However, Scott et al’s (forthcoming)review is only based on a selection of the awareness- raising programmes implemented by the city, and do not consider the full list of projects listed in box 3.1 above. The community adaptation projects for instance, included the planting of various types of food crops in communities on the outskirts of the city, with the aim of identifying which crops will be viable to cultivate in a future, warmer climate. To ensure that the communities were also involved,
‘cook-offs’ were arranged together with the communities, where various recipes using the tested crops were prepared, and the communities were able to taste and respond to the new foods. The community adaptation project was completed in 2010, when the Greening Durban 2010 programme was initiated.
The Greening Durban 2010 programme became the beginning of the larger Event Greening programme of the city. When South Africa declared that the 2010 FIFA World Cup would be a carbon neutral event, Durban – as one of the host cities – instigated a series of projects to help achieve this goal. Among them was the Buffelsdraai Landfill Site Community Reforestation Project, the building of a stadium with energy and water efficient solutions, and rainwater harvesting; all examples of self- governing. In addition to this there was the Green Guideline Series mentioned above, which aimed to promote greater sustainability in the hospitality, business and domestic sectors for the World Cup and beyond (Scott et al, forthcoming). The Green Guidelines aimed to promote awareness, and educate its readers about how to act more sustainably, thereby enabling them to change their behaviour in a more climate friendly direction. The Event Greening programme continued the year after, perhaps particularly motivated by the city being the host of COP17. In relation to the climate conference the city went beyond just attempting to reduce the carbon impact of the event as they had done the year before, they also attempted to measure this impact. This was done both through an official carbon foot printing exercise as well as through committing to develop an ecological foot printing tool, to raise awareness of the full environmental impact of the conference. The EPCPD also engaged with other departments such as waste and transport, to ensure that the conference venues were retrofitted for energy efficiency. Lastly, the EPCPD arranged the COP17/CMP7 Responsible Accommodation Campaign, aimed at providing the hospitality sector with all the necessary knowledge to “adopt “responsible tourism” and green approaches in their businesses”6. The Campaign was created as an awareness raising pilot project, and encouraged adherence to the
6 Accessed from
http://www.durban.gov.za/City_Services/development_planning_management/environmental_planning_clim ate_protection/Projects/Pages/Event-Greening.aspx , 27.05.2012
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National Minimum Standards for Responsible Tourism (NMSRT) which were published by the National Department of Tourism (NDT) at the same time as the Campaign was rolled out.
Figure 1: The Green Guidelines
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In reviewing the state of environmental and climate governance in eThekwini, a pattern of change can be identified, from broader environmental governance towards a more specific focus on climate change governing. While the focus of the EPCPD is still largely directed towards biodiversity and conservation, the focus on awareness raising and education on climate change and protection has increased parallel to the development of the Event Greening programme. What is interesting to observe here is that the city’s mode of environmental and climate governance has grown from being largely self-governing to involve a growing number of educational programmes, i.e. forms of governing through enabling. One of the most recent examples of this form of governing is the Campaign, which aimed to educate and motivate the hospitality sector to adopt greener practices.