Report on Biodiversity Planning and Natural Resource Management Workshop : Durban, South Africa, 24 - 28 May, 2005

Partners: eThekwini Municipality; the Decentralised Cooperation Programme of Unitar; Cifal, Durban; Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University.
 
Objectives

To examine and review:

• The role of biodiversity planning in ensuring sustainable urban development.
• The tools available to ensure the protection of biodiversity in urban areas (e.g. environmental legislation, environmental impact assessments, resource economics).
• The role of climate change as a significant challenge to the sustainable protection and management of biodiversity.  
• The tools available to local government to address climate change.

Outcome

• Development of urban open space systems that ensure the protection of a sustainable supply of goods and services.
• Appropriate environmental assessment of developments that impact on the natural resource base.
• Strengthen policy formulation in the area of environmental management and climate disruption specifically implementation of GHG reducing projects.
• Development of environmental legal frameworks that ensure natural resource protection. 

Number and profile of participants

Twenty-seven delegates from 10 countries and six provinces from South Africa, comprising senior government staff; representative from the external organisations; Secretariat of State Nepad Committee, councillors, town planners, municipal heads; coordinators in the departments of urbanisation and municipal managers.
 
Contact person at Cifal Durban : Thula Mathaba (cifalcoordinator@durban.org.za)