Capacity building for effective municipal environmental management in South Africa

Sustainable urban management and development is a critical issue for the 21st century that needs to be addressed by strong, decentralized local governments. The pervasive weakness of local governments and the lack of capacity of municipal institutions are major impediments to sustainable development and require capacity building initiatives at various levels. This paper discusses a municipal environmental management capacity building programme in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. It provides details of the municipalities, the municipal environmental management function, officials and councillors that participated, as well as environmental management initiatives in participant municipalities. Norms for quality education that was adhered to during the programme are also discussed. Programmes like these can go a long way towards improving the environmental management capacity in local authorities, enabling them to address relevant issues effectively. The success of sustainable development initiatives depend on the way municipal management, their partners and other spheres of government, act coherently and with common purpose in addressing specific local challenges. Note: when used in this article, sustainable development means the integration of social, economic and environmental factors into planning, implementation and decision-making so as to ensure that development serves present and future generations. Environmental management refers to the management of human activities to mitigate actual or prevent potential impacts on the environment. In relation to sustainable development, it only focuses on environmental factors.