By Nangamso Mabindla
2 July 2004

BUFFALO CITY launched its Integrated Environmental Management Plan at the East London city hall on Thursday 1 July.

The aim of the environmental-management plan is to create an eco-friendly municipal district.

One such project, the Coastal Zone Management Plan, aims to keep the city's 68 kilometres of coastline free of pollution and degradation.

Buffalo City's executive mayor, Sindisile Maclean, said the plans were vital to the municipality's planning.

"We need to have a deeper understanding of our environment," Maclean said.

The plan will also help the municipality ensure that public spaces, beaches, parks and historical sites are maintained in an environmentally friendly way.

Luleka Simon, the councillor for the environment and sustainable development, showed slides that revealed to the audience the dangers of living in a city that was not environmentally friendly.

"We have our clean-city campaigns to ensure that our city is the cleanest in the province."

She also said Buffalo City had the clean-city award to show for its commitment to environmental issues.

"We have a beautiful coast and we need to make it safe for sea creatures, surfers and other people who use it for enjoyment," Simon added.

The manager of amenities, Willie Maritz, said it was crucial that Buffalo City took great care of its 15 estuaries.

One such estuary, that of the Nahoon River, is to be the focus of a pilot project in caring for ecologically sensitive areas.

"We need to promote Nahoon as site of world significance with regard to the early history of humankind," Maritz said. "We also need to kindle an appreciation of the cultural and natural history of the area."

One way to protect the Nahoon estuary - also known as the Dassie Trail - would be to declare the area a municipal nature reserve. In doing so, the municipality would provide the city, its citizens, schoolchildren and tourists with a safe, tranquil and educational nature reserve, Maritz said.

Other strategies would be to recycle paper and to pay people to sort material at waste sites.

Joe Jordan, from the office of the Eastern Cape's MEC for environmental affairs, commended the municipality for putting into place structures that will ensure a safe environment.

He pledged the support of his department to "ensure that these objectives are implemented".