There is a need to ensure that the environmental information collected throughout the Local Agenda 21 programme is made as readily available to all stakeholders and decision-makers within the Durban Metropolitan Area (DMA) as possible. Participation in the Cities Environmental Reports on the Internet (CEROI) Project is one of the avenues being utilised to achieve this objective.

The aim of this project is to develop a simple and easily understood State of the Environment Report template for the Internet which facilitates the production of visual, easy-to-understand and comparable reports about the state of the urban environment. This project is being co-ordinated at an international level by UNEP/ GRID-Arendal (United Nation's Environment Programme/Global Resources Information Database) in partnership with ICLEI's (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives) Cities 21 campaign.

Involvement in this project will provide Durban with the opportunity to more widely disseminate the information collected for the State of the Environment and Development Report and related Local Agenda 21 Phase 2 projects (e.g. SEA, D'MOSS etc.). The Internet report will give an overview of the human-induced impact on the environment in the DMA, indicate the present state of the environment and current trends and pressures, as well as society's responses to these urban environmental problems. The report will be another a tool, within the city's environmental management system, for reporting on the progress made in achieving stated sustainable development objectives and fulfilling statutory planning and environmental obligations.

Twenty-three pilot cities around the world are involved in the pilot phase of this project and it is intended that through the experiences of these cities it will be possible to standardise cities State of Environment reporting in order to facilitate assessment of trends at the global level. The project is being undertaken using funds provided by UNEP/HABITAT, the Norwegian Research Council, and the Norwegian Ministry of Environment. In South Africa the project is co-ordinated by the national Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and involves the metropolitan areas of Durban, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town.

For more information, visit the CEROI website