‘NDP lacks green focus’

THE NATIONAL Development Plan fails to recognise that ecosystems are the foundation of a resilient future economy, says environmental group WWF-SA.

Reacting to the revised draft of the blueprint for SA’s development for the next two decades, handed to President Jacob Zuma last week by Planning Minister Trevor Manuel, pictured, WWFSA said the plan’s treatment of environmental matters was an improvement on previous drafts.

However, its failure to ensure the resilience of ecosystems weakened the likelihood of the plan’s success.

Green issues were generally treated as if the environmental integrity of the water and food production systems of SA were somehow detached from, and in opposition to, the goals of social and economic development, said WWF-SA chief executive Morné du Plessis.

“Little mention is made of the necessity of investing in sustaining ‘ecological infrastructure’, the cornerstones upon which economic and social stability depend,” he said.

WWF- SA was heartened by the fact that the plan clearly acknowledged that SA’s economy was currently far too resource intensive and posed a central challenge to achieving the objectives laid out in the document.

However, the plan appeared not to build on existing environmental policy and this could present problems during implementation, Du Plessis added.