Transcript Vote 30: Environmental Affairs 2014/15 Budget

Vote 30: Environmental Affairs
2014/15 Budget
Dr Scotney Watts
Research Unit
1st July 2014
Department of Environmental Affairs
• Department is organised into seven Programmes.
• Each programme is subdivided into sub-programmes or entities
1) Administration;
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
Legal, Authorisations, Compliance and Enforcement;
Oceans and Coasts;
Climate Change and Air Quality;
Biodiversity and Conservation;
Environmental Programmes; and
Chemicals and Waste Management.
2014/15 Budget
• Overall, the 2014/15 Budget for the Department rose by R461.6
million (nominal) and by R130.7 million (real Rand terms),
relative to the 2013/14 Budget.
• Intra-departmental variation:
 Administration decreased by R123.9 million (nominal) and
R162.0 million (real Rand)
 Climate Change and Air Quality decreased by R6.1 million
(nominal) and R19.4 million (real Rand)
Administration
Sub-programme
Budget
20/13/14
2014/15
Nominal
increase/
decrease
Real
increase/
decrease
Management
92.6
103.2
10.6
4.6
Corporate Affairs
182.5
177.9
-4.6
-15
Environmental Advisory Services
103.2
109.6
6.4
0.0
Financial Management
48.1
53.8
5.7
2.6
Office Accommodation
294.1
153.9
-140.2
-149.2
Environmental Sector Coordination
56.9
55
1.9
5.1
Total
777.3
653.4
-123.9
-162.0
Overall, these represent -15.9 nominal per cent change; -20 real per cent change.
Administration
(cont...)
• The Department should clarify, which specific functions (e.g.,
strategic objectives or performance indicators) within the
Corporate Affairs sub-programme would be negatively affected
by the current budget cut.
• How does the Department envisage mitigating this impact?
Legal, Authorisations and Compliance
Sub-programme
Budget
20/13/14
2014/15
Nominal
increase/
decrease
Real
increase/
decrease
Legal, Authorisations and Compliance
Management
6.5
5.9
-0.6
-0.9
Compliance Monitoring
15.8
19.5
3.7
2.6
Integrated Environmental Authorisations
43.1
50
6.9
4
Enforcement
26.1
24.2
-1.9
-3.3
Corporate Legal Support and Litigation
8.2
8.8
0.6
0.1
Law Reform and Appeals
13.6
14.2
0.6
-0.2
Total
113.3
122.6
9.3
2.1
Overall, these represent 8.2 nominal per cent change; 1.9 real per cent change.
Legal, Authorisations and Compliance (cont...)
• How would the Legal, Authorisations and Compliance
Management sub-programme cope with the reduced budget in
the current financial year?
• Which strategic objectives, performance indicators or targets are
expected to be affected by this reduced spending focus?
• Why the reduction in the Enforcement sub-programme at a time
when the environmental sector is under immense pressure from
pollution; and natural resource degradation, destruction and
depletion?
• The Department should clarify how enforcement is to be
maintained in the face of these challenges.
Oceans and Coasts
Sub-programme
Budget
20/13/14
2014/15
Nominal
increase/
decrease
Real
increase/
decrease
Oceans and Coasts Management
6.8
7.5
0.7
0.3
Integrated Coastal Management
34.1
48.9
14.8
11.9
Oceans and Coastal Research
110.8
113
2.2
-4.4
Oceans and Coasts
161.5
182.8
21.3
10.6
Specialist Monitoring Services
5.0
5.3
0.3
0.0
Total
318.2
357.4
39.2
18.3
Overall, these represent 12.3 nominal per cent change; 5.7 real per cent change.
Oceans and Coasts Programme (cont...)
•
The potential of the oceans and coasts to meet sustainable
development objectives is enormous (UNCED, JPOI & the Rio+20
Conference).
• Budget increased in real Rand terms by R18.3 million over the
previous 2013/14 financial year.
• However, the Oceans and Coastal Research actually decreased by
R4.4 million in real terms.
• The Specialist Monitoring Services sub-programme realised no
increase in budget.
 How would this affect ocean and coastal research project surveys,
establishment of observational platforms and ecosystem process
studies?
 Clarify how things would be done differently in the Oceans and
Coastal Research and the Specialist Monitoring Services to
account for this low budget?
Climate Change and Air Quality
Sub-programme
Budget
20/13/14
2014/15
Nominal
increase/
decrease
Real
increase/
decrease
Climate Change Management
6.3
6.8
0.5
0.1
Climate Change Mitigation
7.6
7.8
0.2
-03
Climate Change Adaptation
3.9
4.3
0.4
0.1
Air Quality Management
36.5
37.6
1.1
-1.1
South African Weather Service
162.9
152.5
-10.4
-19.3
International Climate Change Relations
and Negotiations
9.1
9.5
0.4
-0.2
Climate Change Monitoring and
Evaluation
7.4
9.3
1.9
1.4
Total
233.8
227.7
-6.1
-19.4
Overall, these represent -2.6 nominal per cent change; -8.3 real per cent change.
Climate Change and Air Quality (cont...)
•
Overall, the Climate Change and Air Quality Programme saw real
percentage decline of more than eight per cent in the current
2014/15 financial year.
 This resulted in the reduction in budget of more than R6 million
(nominal) and R19 million (real Rand), respectively.
• How would South Africa’s fair contribution to the global effort to
stabilise greenhouse gas (GHG) in the atmosphere be achieved in
the face of reduced spending focus on the Climate Change
Mitigation sub-programme?
• Which specific mitigation actions outlined in the departmental
Strategic Plan would be affected by this reduction most?
• How does the Department ensure that this reduction does not
compromise climate change mitigation measures?
Climate Change and Air Quality (cont...)
• The reduction in transfer over the medium-term by the
Department to SAWS was to give effect to Cabinet-approved
budget reductions. This was expected to have a minimal effect
on service delivery as the organisation would be able to raise
revenue to compensate for the cuts.
 Explain for the benefit of the Committee the manner in which
SAWS
expects to raise revenue to counter this cut in
departmental transfer.
Biodiversity and Conservation
Sub-programme
Budget
20/13/14
2014/15
Nominal
increase/
decrease
Real
increase/
decrease
Biodiversity and Conservation Mgt
15.4
14.8
-0.6
-1.5
Biodiversity Planning and Management
23.6
24.7
1.1
-0.3
Protected Areas Systems Management
43.6
45.9
2.3
-0.4
iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority
28.8
30.6
1.8
0.0
SANParks
237.4
274.1
36.7
20.7
SANBI
208.7
226.2
17.5
4.3
Biodiversity Monitoring and Evaluation
4.6
5.8
1.2
0.9
Biodiversity Economy and Sustainable Use
14.8
14.7
-0.1
-1.0
Total
576.7
636.8
60.1
22.9
Overall, these represent 10.4 nominal per cent change; 4.0 real per cent change.
Biodiversity and Conservation (cont...)
• How would the strategic objective to ensure that “biodiversity is
conserved, protected and threats mitigated” be achieved, if
spending focus has diminished on critical sub-programmes such
as Biodiversity and Conservation Management; Biodiversity
Planning and Management; and Protected Areas Systems
Management in the current financial year?
• What specific activities under this strategic objective would
stagnate in the current financial year?
• Explain how “fair access and equitable sharing of benefits from
biodiversity” would be promoted in the context of reduced
budget in the Biodiversity Economy and Sustainable Use subprogramme.
Biodiversity and Conservation (cont...)
• Please explain what constitutes a successful natural resource
based project in the context of “People and Parks”.
 How does the Department expect those natural resourcesbased projects in Bushbuckridge, Awelani and the one in the
Transfrontier Conservation Area to be successful from the
surrounding communities’ view point?
 How would the zero budget increase (in real terms) for the
iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority affect its ecological
restoration activities and general operations in safeguarding the
integrity of the Wetland Park?
Environmental Programmes
Sub-programme
Budget
20/13/14
2014/15
Nominal
increase/
decrease
Real
increase/
decrease
Environmental Protection and
Infrastructure Programme
1 328.1
1 331.1
3.0
-74.7
Working for Water and Working on Fire
1 506.5
1 965.9
459.4
344.6
Green Fund
250.0
250.0
0.0
-14.6
Environmental Programmes Management
4.9
6.2
1.3
0.9
Information Management and Sector
Management
32.3
45.2
12.9
10.3
Total
3 121.8
3 598.3
476.5
266.4
Overall, these represent 15.3 nominal per cent change; 8.5 real per cent change.
Environmental Programmes (cont...)
• The budget allocation to the Environmental Programmes rose
by R266.4 million in real terms over the previous 2013/14
allocation to facilitate creating the desired job estimates, inter
alia.
• Notwithstanding,
the
Environmental
Protection
and
Infrastructure Programme and the Green Fund realised real
Rand budget cuts of about R75 million and R14 million,
respectively.
 What justifies these reductions, and what are the likely impacts?
 How would the reduction in the Green Fund affect projects and
innovation critical for transitioning to a green economy?
Environmental Programmes (cont...)
• How would the budget reduction in the Environmental Protection
and Infrastructure Programme affect attaining of the strategic
objective of “improved socio-economic benefit within the
environmental sector”?
• What are the key achievements of the Green Fund in terms of
climate change mitigation and adaptation, thus far?
Chemicals and Waste Management
Sub-programme
Budget
20/13/14
2014/15
Nominal
increase/
decrease
Real
increase/
decrease
Chemicals and Waste Management
4.9
5.2
0.3
0.0
Hazardous Waste Management and
Licensing
10.6
14.9
4.3
3.4
General Waste and Municipal Support
30.6
27.3
-3.3
-4.9
Chemicals and Waste Policy, Evaluation and
Monitoring
11.6
16.9
5.3
4.3
Chemicals Management
8.0
7.8
-0.2
-0.7
Total
65.7
72.2
6.5
2.3
Overall, these represent 9.9 nominal per cent change; 3.48 real per cent change.
Chemicals and Waste Management (cont...)
• The spending focus (budget) in the Chemicals and Waste
Management Programme over the medium-term would be on
developing an appropriate legislative framework and building
capacity.
• Thus, the bulk of the Programme’s budget is concentrated in the
Hazardous Waste Management and Licencing; and Chemicals
and Waste Policy, Evaluation and Monitoring sub-programmes.
• Ironically, the General Waste and Municipal Support subprogramme experienced budget cut, notwithstanding the
capacity constraints at this sphere of Government.
Thank you!