Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa has
invited public comment on the norms and standards for
biodiversity management plans for ecosystems (BMP-E), says the
Department of Water and Environmental Affairs. “The purpose of
these norms and standards is to guide the development of BMP-E,
providing a consistent approach to BMP-E across the country
while being sufficiently flexible to accommodate the variability
of ecosystems and their management requirements,” the Ministry
says in a statement. These norms and standards for BMP-E have
been designed for terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems and are
not intended for estuarine and marine ecosystems. They may,
however, be suitable for some marine ecosystems. The National
Environmental Manage-ment: Biodiversity Act (10 of 2004)
provides for building management plans (BMPs) to be developed
and published for an ecosystem, an indigenous species or a
migratory species. While the Act provides broad requirements for
BMPs, it is not specific about the conten