Narend Singh on environmental challenges in SA

JUNE marks National Environment Month in South Africa, focusing on environmental awareness and action against plastic pollution.

- NADIA KHAN

Narend Singh, the Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, discusses the pressing environmental issues facing the country, the initiatives in place to combat them and the role that society can play to make a difference.

Q. What are the pressing issues impacting the environment?

A. The impact of pollution on the marine environment is one of the issues.

Chronic pollution such as domestic and industrial wastewater, stormwater, and solid waste affect both estuaries and the ocean.

Estuaries are vulnerable to the impacts of both chemical and solid wastes that enter the systems upstream which flow into the ocean.

Effluent and chemical discharges from industries into our streams and rivers also eventually end up in the sea.

Q. What is a major pollutant of concern?

A, Plastic pollution which washes from river systems onto beaches and has a significant impact on our coastal ecosystem services.

Moreover, marine pollution is greatly exacerbated by activities such as ships dumping waste directly and illegally into the ocean and incidents where cargo is lost at sea.

In terms of the discharge of wastewater, we regulate the discharge through the coastal waters discharge permit process. These permits provide effluent limits to protect the marine environment and require the permit holders to monitor the effluent before it enters the marine environment.

Annual environmental monitoring is also required to be conducted by the permit holder to monitor the impact of the effluent on the receiving environment.

Our environmental monitoring Inspectors also do regular environmental audits to monitor and assess if permit holders adhere to permit conditions. We have also demonstrated a proactive approach to plastic pollution through scientific studies on plastics and our outreach and awareness programmes.

Q. What is the environmental concern in KwaZulu-Natal?