A National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Management System for South Africa

Authors

  • L.B Stevens 1. Gondwana Environmental Solutions, 562 Ontdekkers Road, Florida, Roodepoort, 1716, South Africa., 2. Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom, 2520, South Africa
  • J Goodwin Aether, Oxford Centre for Innovation, New Road, Oxford, OX1 1BY, UK,
  • E Salisbury Aether, Oxford Centre for Innovation, New Road, Oxford, OX1 1BY, UK,
  • C Ahlgren Aether, Oxford Centre for Innovation, New Road, Oxford, OX1 1BY, UK,
  • P Mangwana Climate Change Monitoring and Evaluation, Department of Environmental Affairs, Environment House, 473 Steve Biko, Arcadia, Pretoria, 0083, South Africa
  • M.V Nierop Gondwana Environmental Solutions, 562 Ontdekkers Road, Florida, Roodepoort, 1716, South Africa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17159/2410-972X/2017/v27n2a7

Keywords:

National system, GHG inventory, institutional arrangements, stakeholders, datasets, quality control

Abstract

South Africa has committed to reducing its contribution to the global GHG budget. It ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol. The UNFCCC stipulates that Non-Annex 1 countries are required to submit inventory reports every two years as part of their Biennial Update Reports (BURs) or National Communications (NCs). To assist with this increased reporting a National GHG Inventory Management System (NGHGIS), with new internal procedures and capacities, is
being developed. The NGHGIS has been designed to ensure transparency, consistency, comparability, completeness and accuracy of the GHG inventory. It ensures the quality of the inventory through planning, preparation and management of inventory activities. The NGHGIS has been set up in a web-based, collaborative platform that allows for document management, sharing and storage. The main components of the NGHGIS are the (a) organisational structure; (b) inventory preparation work plan where responsibilities are assigned; (c) data supplier and stakeholder lists; (d) input datasets (linked to the stakeholder list) providing information on required data, MOU’s, and data due dates; (e) quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) objectives, checks, logs and tools; (f) emission calculation method statements; (g) GHG inventory outputs which include estimation files, a trend viewer and a public website; and (h) improvement plans. In addition to the web-based system, new institutional arrangements and data flows have been proposed, the legal landscape has been mapped, draft MOUs for data suppliers have been drawn up and a detailed QA/QC plan has been developed. The final stage of the NGHGIS is the development of the data collection plan and technical guidelines for the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) and Waste sectors. The centralised NGHGIS will reduce the loss of information, improve continuity between inventories and assist in the timely completion of inventory updates.

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Published

2017-12-03

How to Cite

Stevens, L., Goodwin, J., Salisbury, E., Ahlgren, C., Mangwana, P., & Nierop, M. (2017). A National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Management System for South Africa. Clean Air Journal, 27(2), 44. https://doi.org/10.17159/2410-972X/2017/v27n2a7

Issue

Section

Research Article