Deputy Director-General M Kekana: opening session of the 18th Air Quality Lekgotla

Remarks by Deputy Director-General Climate Change And Air Quality, Maesela Kekana: 18^th Air Quality Lekgotla opening session

02 September 2024

Chairperson of the meeting, Ms Lulama Daniels, from the Eastern Cape Province  
Ms Cynthia Nong, the National Air Quality Officer  
Dr Patience Gwaze,  
Provincial and municipal air quality officers,  
Representatives from sector departments,  
SALGA representatives,  
Other government representatives and all other members.

It is my great pleasure to address this Lekgotla, especially as we celebrate 20 years of implementing the National Environmental Management Air Quality Act. This year marks 18 years of the Annual Air Quality Governance Lekgotla, a gathering that has shaped our quest to fulfil our constitutional mandate. Since 2023, we have held this Lekgotla during the first week of September to also commemorate the United National International Day for Clean Air and Blue Skies. We applaud those municipalities that are also commemorating this day to raise awareness in their communities on air quality issues. Too many South Africans live with the disastrous consequences of air pollution, and these consequences are particularly acute for the most vulnerable. Several reports suggests that Air pollution results in the premature death of tens of thousands of South Africans every year. South Africans are not alone in this. It is reported that internationally, millions die every year from air pollution, and there is more and more robust scientific evidence of the dire consequences of air pollution for human health, and its negative impact on our economies and communities. Globally, air pollution currently reduces life expectancy by 2.2 years according to the UN, and by significantly more in pollution hotpots, and addressing the air pollution crisis is essential to achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

The very complex challenges in improving air quality are also not unique to South Africa. Other developing countries, and especially those who like South Africa have economies which are energy-intensive and heavily dependent on coal, including our BRICS partners India and China, face similar challenges. Tackling the problem requires a cross-government, integrated approach, good data and good science, and robust institutions. Solutions must meet a range of national development goals and policy objectives, and our challenge is to find solutions which accommodate all these objectives. This takes time, and we can draw lessons from the Chinese experience in Beijing. Beijing, once considered the most polluted capital city globally, has reduced air pollution by 70% since 2013. This was the outcome of a programme which was put in place in 1998, almost three decades ago. Again, an integrated approach was vital to this success, and action and support at every level of government. This is why this lekgotla is so important. We cannot afford to underestimate the challenges we are faced with, but we can draw inspiration from the progress which we have made so far.

This year marks twenty years since we began implementing the National Environment Management Air Quality Act, and we must take stock, to recognize the very significant progress we have made, and soberly assess the very complex challenges which lie ahead.

The DFFE's latest State of Air report provides a comprehensive assessment of progress and challenges, and I will highlight a few areas in which we have made significant progress:

• Robust institutions: we have, over two decades, and under often-difficult circumstances, implemented NEMAQA and its associated institutional arrangements, replacing the archaic, pre-Constitutional legislation that was in place in 1994. In line with our Constitution, air quality management functions were decentralised from the national department to provincial and local government. While provincial and local government have built the necessary capacity to undertake these functions, more efforts are needed to match the scale of resources to air quality challenges, especially for local and provincial governments in air pollution hotspots. This is a considerable challenge in the current fiscally constrained environment, and we need to innovate.

• Effective regulation: we have put in place the current licencing system, coupled with minimum emissions standards and obligatory reporting. This is in itself a massive achievement and is the core of our efforts to address air pollution. We are building on decades of experience internationally. We need to improve our ability to effectively monitor compliance and undertake enforcement actions where necessary.

• Better data and transparency: as above, we now have an increasingly comprehensive database of atmospheric emissions reported by industry, and to understand the impacts of these emissions for air quality, our National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Network has expanded to over 130 government-owned stations. The monitoring network is providing valuable insights into our air quality status and broadening our understanding of air quality trends. We've made strides in making this information accessible to the public through the South African Air Quality Information System (SAAQIS), and communities can now access real-time air quality data, fostering awareness and enabling informed decision-making. However, we must do more, and make our resources go further – we need to explore innovative technologies to enhance our monitoring capabilities, reduce the cost of monitoring and improve our coverage, to ensure that all citizens are better-informed on the quality of the air that they breathe.

All these achievements must be put to work in meeting the current challenges - the situation of quality of air in the priority areas of Vaal Triangle, Highveld and Waterberg-Bojanala continues to be significantly challenging in relation to our national ambient air quality standards. On 26 August 2024, the regulations for the enforcement of priority areas air quality management plans came into effect. The obligations prescribed by these regulations are not in themselves novel emission control mandates but aim to enforce air quality management plans and enhance co-ordination of existing regulatory tools and requirements to achieve the successful implementation of air quality management plans for the benefit of the communities within the priority areas. The department will be hosting a dedicated Priority Area Summit during next month, for government to assess and establish readiness for the effective implementation of these regulations.

In closing, while we have achieved many landmarks in the implementation of the National Environment Management Air Quality Act over the past 20 years, there are many challenges we still need to address, and in many senses, while we have equipped ourselves with many of the tools we need, the real challenges still lie ahead. Our ability as a sector to consolidate existing resources and find additional resources for this vital work, and to ensure that air quality goals are entrenched in relevant areas of policy and implementation will determine our future successes.  
 

I wish you well in these important deliberations.  
 

Thank you.

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E-mail: pmbelengwa@dffe.gov.za