Background

The Mpumalanga Department of Agriculture & Land Administration, formerly known as the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment (DACE), commissioned the CSIR to undertake their provincial State of the Environment (SoE) report study. The study comprised a four-phased approach, outlined below:

1. Update of the 2001 Mpumalanga SoE report & Identification of environmental issues;
2. Indicator development;
3. Compilation of the 2003 Mpumalanga SoE report; and
4. State of the Environment training programme.

The 2003 SoE report represents the output of the third phase of the project.

Purpose of an SoER ? A SoE report basically should address the following questions: What is happening to the environment ? Why is it happening ? What are we doing about it and what can we do about it ? What will happen if we don't act now ?

PSIR Reporting Framework

The most accepted way of doing SoE reporting in South Africa is according to the Pressure - State - Impact - Response (PSIR) framework, using environmental issues as a base. The 2003 Mpumalanga SoE report also uses the PSIR framework, where indicators were used to describe the pressures, state, impacts and responses surrounding certain environmental issues. An environmental issue can be defined as a topic of strategic concern that will influence the sustainability of the province. It is important to realise that not all issues are equally important at any given moment, and that the issues being considered may change over time.

The 2003 Mpumalanga State of the Environment report has been prepared in accordance with other SoE reports produced in South Africa so as to allow comparisons between the different reports.

The Report was made in Cooperation with:
The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT)  Our mission is to lead sustainable development and tourism for a better life for all, by: Creating conditions for sustainable tourism growth and development. Promoting the sustainable development and conservation of our natural resources. Protecting and improving the quality and safety of the environment. Promoting a global sustainable development agenda.
GRID-Arendal GRID-Arendal provides environmental information, communications, and capacity building services for information management and assessment. Established to strengthen the United Nations through its Environment Programme (UNEP), our focus is to make credible, science-based knowledge understandable to the public and to decision-making for sustainable development
The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD)    NORAD's purpose is to assist developing countries in their efforts to achieve lasting improvements in political, economic and social conditions for the entire population within the limits imposed by the natural environment and the natural resource base.
The provincial SOER reports are created, maintained and published with Publikit® Publikit is a complete Internet publishing system with a unique template technology for easy handling of complex information structures and methodologies. Customizable templates, "Intelli-Sense" and extensive help functions makes it possible for anybody to create, publish and maintain information on the Internet.