By Nangamso Mabindla
6 June 2006

BUFFALO City celebrated World Environment Day, 5 June, by promising to guard the environment for future generations.

The municipality has recently drawn up an Integrated Environmental Management Plan to coordinate the efforts of the various departments in protecting the City's environmental assets.

According to the City's communications manager Darby Gounden, the plan was compiled with input from a wide range of interested parties: the different municipal departments; provincial and national regulators; Buffalo City councillors; environmental specialists; local NGOs; and members of the public.

"The first step of the Integrated Environmental Management Plan process was to compile a State of the Environment report detailing Buffalo City's environmental assets, its environmental issues, and the cause of the issues," Gounden said.

The report highlighted Buffalo City's diverse environmental assets, many of which are highly sensitive and require careful management to ensure the city's residents continue to benefit from them now, and in the future.

Included in the assets are the city's 26 coastal estuaries, the coastal dune forests that protect and stabilise the sand dunes, the freshwater sources, and the recreational beaches – potentially the city's most valuable tourism asset.

"These environmental assets provide us with a number of socially important and economically valuable services, including tourism sites; recreational, educational and spiritual opportunities; and sources of food and water," Gounden said.

"They also, in some cases, help to protect us from natural disasters, in particular floods."

According to Gounden, the next step in the process of implementing the Integrated Environmental Management Plan was to draw up suitable strategies – including setting priorities – to tackle the various environmental issues identified.

The issues include:

• Pollution control and waste management
• Fresh and marine water quality
• Conservation of biodiversity
• Alien eradication
• Public open space management
• Coastal zone management
• Sanitation
• Public awareness and environmental education

According to Gounden the finalisation of the Integrated Environmental Management Plan is just the first step in Buffalo City's quest to ensure the coordinated, efficient and effective environmental management with our city.

"At the end of the day, the responsibility for protecting our environment rests on the shoulders of each and every one of us who call this beautiful city our home. All citizens of Buffalo City have a responsibility to become custodians of our environment, and the valuable natural assets that it provides for all of us," said Gounden.