The Resource Efficiency and Clean-up Production Network Portal (RECPNP) developed by industrial sustainability programme the National Cleaner Production Centre of South Africa (NCPC-SA) is expected to be live by June, reveals NCPC-SA director Ndivhuho Raphulu.

Speaking to Engineering News Online on the sidelines of the Africa Energy Indaba in Sandton, Raphulu explained that before the site went public, White Papers and articles submitted by countries participating in the establishment of the portal had to be verified.

He explained that about 15 countries on the continent were involved in the initiative and that each country submitted five or more articles, only a few of which were peer-reviewed. This means most of the information still had to be verified as well as translated, as the information was submitted in a myriad of languages, and information would otherwise get lost in translation.

The RECPNP was an information-sharing portal involving all 155 NCPCs worldwide that sought to share lessons learnt from different countries in terms of innovation, as well as research and development in sustainable development.

Raphulu noted that the African part of the portal’s development, which was being developed in collaboration with the African Union Technical Committee on Environment and Sustainable Production, cost about €350 000.

The global initiative also included Latin America, Asia, Europe and North America, and cost about €6-million, which was provided by the European Union. “Each region has a version [of the portal] and information on regional energy, water, material and waste projects are fed to each other.”

Raphulu explained that anyone visiting the portal would, for example, be able to research information on specific projects anywhere on the continent.

The portal, which was already running internally in South Africa, and already active in Latin American and Western Europe, would also provide companies with access to information on what they needed to successfully run a project in the different regions of the world.

The NCPC started developing the global portal three years ago. “We are trying to speed up Africa, Asia and Central Europe,” added Raphulu.

Together with the Department of Environmental Affairs, NCPC-SA was also currently running the Switch Africa Green initiative, which supported six countries in Africa in achieving sustainable development by engaging in their transition towards an inclusive green economy.