The government is busy changing environmental legislation to ”streamline” further the way environmental impact assessments (EIAs) are carried out, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk announced on Monday.
”For some time now it has been apparent that using EIAs as the only means of dealing with environmental impacts is severely limiting and creates huge system problems,” he said in a speech prepared for delivery at an International Association for Impact Assessment conference in Somerset West.
Amendments to the National Environmental Management Act, currently before Parliament, would, once implemented, ”make provision for the introduction of a wider set of environmental impact management tools”.
Included among these is the proposed introduction of environmental management frameworks (EMFs).
EMFs involve the compilation of information and maps specifying the environmental attributes of particular geographical areas, including the sensitivity, extent and significance of such attributes that have to be taken into account by local authorities.
”There is currently a trust spearheaded and largely funded by our department to ensure that EMFs are done for areas that are under severe development pressure, or where there are biophysical and environmental attributes and issues that require special attention.
”EMFs have huge benefits for development because they embody a pro-active approach. EIAs are reactive in the sense that they are only undertaken once a development proposal has been formulated.
”EMFs pro-actively look at the characteristics of an area and highlight the specific aspects that enable land use planners to take better decisions.”
Van Schalkwyk said compiling an EMF is an expensive exercise, but it provides a proper foundation for all aspects of land use, and ”once it is in place, the benefits are obvious”.
There are also plans to integrate EIA applications with the municipal infrastructure grant process. ”[This] has been an area of concern for some time, and has caused many unnecessary delays and frustrations.
”It has often happened that a project has been planned in great detail, and only when the contractors have been selected, it is realised that the development also need an EIA authorisation.
”Therefore I am pleased to announce that our department has appointed a service provider to evaluate the two procedures to identify areas of possible overlap and duplication, and to propose a procedure that would meet the needs of both sets of requirements in one process.”
The project will be concluded in this financial year, Van Schalkwyk said. — Sapa