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South African
River Health Programme |
State of the Rivers Report
Crocodile, Sabie-Sand & Olifants River Systems |
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1.3 State of Environment Reporting |
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State of the Environment (SOE) reporting was promoted at the United Nations Conference on Environment & Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, in response to a call for improved environmental information for decision-making.
In South Africa, the national Department of Environmental Affairs & Tourism initiated a programme of SOE reporting by producing the first national report, on the Internet, and city reports for Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria. SOE reporting will soon be a statutory requirement, and regular updates will be required.
SOE reports are designed to:
Provide information to Government and agencies for improved decision-making in sustainable development
The purpose of SOE reports is to answer questions about our environment such as:
What changes are taking place in the condition and functionality of the environment?
In order to answer these questions, most SOE reports use a "Pressure-State-Response" framework, which describes the pressures on the environment, the current state and trends in environmental conditions, and the policies and actions in place to manage the environment. This way of presenting information is easy to understand, especially if specific indicators are used to measure changes in pressures, states and responses. In South Africa the national State of the Environment report expands this concept to include "Driving Forces", the human activities which create environmental pressures, and "Impacts", the consequences for sustainability and human livelihoods.
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