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Raising the bar on Environmental Impact Assessments

Publish date: 18 June 2019
Issue Number: 610
Diary: Legalbrief Environmental
Category: Policy

Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) are a key requirement for many large projects. ‘However, recent papers on the required Climate Change adaptation pathways by the IPCC, and the IPBES paper on the significant loss of biodiversity due to land-use change, highlight the need for EIAs to become more adaptive to these global threats,’ write Stephen Stead, director of Visual Resource Management Africa, and academic Robert Fincham, in a Daily Maverick analysis. ‘EIA is a complex and costly process, which is not without its blemishes,’ they argue. ‘As for many large projects, an intensive EIA process that is managed by skilled and ethical Environmental Assessment Practitioners (EAPs), well-qualified EIA specialists and balanced government authorisation, is more likely to achieve sustainable development as an outcome,’ they posit. ‘However, as with any complex process, it can be manipulated to ensure short-term gains for a few, at the long-term expense of the environment and our people,’ they write. ‘Perhaps we need to tighten up on the EIA process, and the following suggestions are offered to initiate a debate about EIA standards,’ they note. ‘Firstly, standards and accreditation are important,’ they state. ‘After starting the process in 2011, the Environmental Assessment Practitioner Association South Africa (EAPASA) was finally promulgated in 2018 (Notice No 41434 in Government Gazette 632 of 8 February 2018) as the single Registration Authority for EAPs in SA. This is a significant move forward for EIA quality assurance in SA,’ they note. ‘This registration process should also become mandatory for EIA specialists,’ Stead and Fincham recommend. ‘Secondly, no EAP or client should be allowed to remove an EIA specialist from an EIA process without following a rigorous and transparent process,’ they opine. ‘Thirdly, it is fundamental to the EIA process and ensuring sustainable development in SA, that the DEA decision-making processes are not subjected to political interference. Ultimately, civil society needs to get more involved to ensure that environmental governance processes become more accountable and adaptive,’ they state. In conclusion, Stead and Fincham quote Belinda Reyers, Professor of Sustainability Science at Stellenbosch University, who recently stated, ‘we need development that is good for people AND good for the planet’. ‘If this vision is to become a reality, we do need to close any gaps undermining socio-ecological sustainability assessment processes and increase standards and accountability of all environmental practitioners,’ they write.

Full analysis on the Daily Maverick site

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