Air Quality Consultants, in partnership with Zanokuhle Environmental Services (a leading South African consultancy) is advising the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) in South Africa on its Air Quality Management Planning (AQMP) process. The project will assess the current effectiveness of the AQMP process and then advise on the development of a National AQMP Support Programme to assist DEA in harmonising AQMP procedures and ensure consistency in developing AQMPs in South Africa. Air Quality Consultants has played a major role in undertaking appraisals of the AQMPs completed to date, and in compiling and evaluating the results of a questionnaire that was sent out to AQMP practitioners and relevant stakeholders. The outcome of this work will feed into subsequent revisions and unification to the existing Manual for Developing and Implementing Priority Area Air Quality Management Plans and the National Air Quality Management Planning Manual (that ZES and AQC helped develop in 2007).
As part of this project, Stephen Moorcroft, a Director of Air Quality Consultants, recently attended a two-day capacity building workshop in Pretoria on 17-18 November 2011. Attended by DEA officials from Priority Areas, AQMP and Implementation sub-directorates, Stephen gave a number of presentations on international best practice, drawing heavily on the UK experiences to date.
