Amendments plug Met Services loopholes
Mpho Mokwape | Thursday April 10, 2014 12:27
The changes are meant to make systems at the Department of Meteorological Services efficient for improved customer service. The Minister of Wildlife and Tourism, Tshekedi Khama said a closer look at the 2009 Act revealed deficiencies that needed correction to enable the Department of Meteorological Services to effectively carry out its functions.
These deficiencies, Tshekedi said, included loopholes in the licensing process, which resulted in people outside the department being given responsibility.
Other weaknesses include the Act’s failure to give the department the authority to regulate the import and export of ozone depleting substances and its inability to position the department as a focal point to several international instruments.
“The proposed amendments will introduce, among other things, a new provision for technical and administrative support for the National Committee on Climate Change,” he explained.
The committee is in the process of developing Botswana’s Climate Change Policy, as preliminary studies indicate that the country’s semi-arid climate could worsen in future.
The amendments passed on Tuesday provide for the establishment of the Designated National Authority.
Khama said the amendment of the Act would position the department as a focal point for the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the Vienna Convention on the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, and the implementation of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its conventions.