Environmental Services

Environmental Management advances environmental sustainability and resilience for socio-economic development through the protection and promotion of sustainable use of natural resources in support of accelerated economic recovery.

The main sub-functions are:

• Policy Co-ordination and Environmental Planning
  • Develops instruments, mechanisms and institutions to ensure sound co-operative environmental governance, in the implementation of sustainable development frameworks.
  • Conducts environment research in order to generate knowledge that would support sound decision making resulting in innovative approaches to the management of the environment.
  • Provides sustainability monitoring and reporting through generation, management and dissemination of environmental information for improved decision making and on-going strategy development.
  • Facilitates climate change management within the province.
• Climate Change Management
  • Climate Change Management meets the strategic outcomes of minimizing or eliminating the risks to the impacts of Climate Change by embarking on a concerted and cohesive plan that will address the impacts of Climate Change through scientific and technological means based on mitigation, adaptation, and increased awareness to vulnerable communities.
• Environmental Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement
  • Achieves effective, integrated and co-ordinated compliance monitoring and enforcement of environmental legislation in the province.
  • Conducts investigations relating to environmental crimes.
• Environmental Quality Management
  • Facilitates environmental impact mitigation and promotes sustainable development;
  • Facilitates air quality management;
  • Supports municipalities in the processing of Air Emission Licensing
  • Promotes the waste management hierarchy (waste minimization, cleaner production, reuse/recycling, treatment);
  • Provides management, strategic and specialist support and direction for pollution and waste management programmes in KwaZulu-Natal.
  • Conducts investigations relating to environmental crimes.
• Coastal and Biodiversity Management
  • Contributes to the protection of strategic water resources in the province;
  • Controls the spread of invasive alien plants in communal, public and private terrestrial biomes; and
  • Coordinates, facilitates and promotes effective integrated coastal management for sustainable coastal development and resource use.
• Environmental Empowerment Services

  Environmental Empowerment Services empower the citizens of KwaZulu-Natal to participate in environmental matters and decision making so as to ensure the sustainable use and protection of the environment of KwaZulu-Natal through appropriate capacity building and empowerment mechanisms.

  • Promote awareness of environmental rights and responsibilities
  • Implement Environmental Education programmes to assist with the integration of EE into formal education structures; and
  • Build environmental capacity within the Province