Date: 24/11/2008

Source: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism

Title: SA: van Schalkwyk: Speech by the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism delivered at the opening of the conference "ten years of Environmental-Impact Assessments in South Africa"

It has been more than a decade since the implementation of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as a regulatory tool for managing the environmental impacts of new developments in South Africa. It is therefore now an appropriate time to reflect on and learn from the challenges we have faced, celebrate our successes and commit ourselves to improve even further on our achievements.

The aim of this conference is also to bring all stakeholders together to develop a strategy that will help us move from an Environmental Impact Management (EIM) system solely reliant on EIA to a dispensation where we use a variety of instruments in an integrated manner.

History of EIA in South Africa

In April 2008 we marked 10 years of regulating EIA in South Africa. However, implementing these regulations and measuring them against the stated objectives revealed a number of shortcomings and deficiencies in the system.

We responded to this by promulgating new EIA Regulations in terms of National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) and tried to achieve improvements. This was the first step in a new EIA system for South Africa. When we introduced the EIA regulations to Cabinet in 2006, I committed the environmental authorities to a review of the EIA system with the aim to refine it into an efficient and effective EIM system. This entailed both efficiency in terms of cost and time and effectiveness in meeting the objectives of sustainable development.

Law reform process

We have followed up the regulations with a number of legislative amendments, which were approved by Parliament last week, as well as amendments to the regulations themselves. This was done in order to realise our vision of a new system which will truly give effect to the principle of integrated environmental management.

The amended regulations, aimed at further streamlining the process and providing clarity regarding requirements, will be published for a last round of public comment by mid January, after which it will be finalised and promulgated.

The law reform process has also yielded another very important achievement with the inclusion of mining activities in the NEMA environmental impact management regime. This decision makes mining part of the system, meaning that an environmental authorisation will be required as a pre-condition for a mining permit. Mining will accordingly be subject to the same processes as other activities. This includes the appeal, refusal and enforcement provisions contained in NEMA. In terms of mining activities and EIAs, the Minister of Minerals and Energy will issue the environmental authorisation and the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism is the appeal authority.

Capacity development

When we began to implement EIA regulations, severe constraints in terms of capacity and skills, both at provincial and national level, came to the fore. We therefore embarked on a detailed capacity audit and needs analysis survey, which revealed a number of problems. These included that approximately 44% of all EIA positions overall on provincial and national level were vacant for the past three quarters, although on national level the vacancy rate is only about 10%.

In addition, staff turnover was very high and although the vast majority of EIA officials were highly qualified, very few had more than two years experience in their current position.

We took a number of steps to address the problems identified in the survey, amongst others:
* The backlog elimination drive, the ECA backlog has been reduced by 87%
* Training more than 350 officials have undergone training
* The development of six national sector guidelines, four national general and procedural guidelines and various provincial guidelines and standard operating procedures and
* The development of environmental management frameworks.

In addition to this, we have to continue to find ways to attract and retain skilled environmental professionals and use our capacity optimally.

Decision support and administrative tools
Decision support tools and administrative systems are as important in ensuring timeous and high quality processing of EIA applications as adequate human resource capacity.

One of the achievements we are very proud of in this regard is the finalisation of the National Environmental Authorisations System (NEAS). This web-based system tracks all EIA applications in the country and it has now been implemented in all provinces for the capturing of applications. We are currently still resolving some accessibility problems in the North West and Free State.

I am confident that by the end of the financial year, all NEMA EIA applications will be captured on the system. By 1 July 2009 any applicant, environmental practitioner or member of the public will be able to track the process. This includes obtaining information such the location, nature of the application, contact details of the assessment practitioner and details of the case officer from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) and where possible the provincial website.

Regulating the Environmental Assessment Practitioner Industry
Excellent progress has been made in terms of the regulation of the industry thanks to the commitment of environmental practitioners to improving the quality of work undertaken.

I am pleased to say that thanks to dedicated professionals who gave freely of their time and expertise, we have now agreed on a general qualification with the assistance of the South African Qualification Authority (SAQA). I am also expecting an application for the establishment of the first registration authority for environmental professionals in this country before the end of the year. It is accordingly envisaged that a registration authority will be in place towards the middle of 2009. This will be followed by steps to enforce the compulsory use of registered practitioners.

Development and implementation of environmental impact management instruments other than EIA

As mentioned earlier, it is envisaged that the improved EIM system will continue to utilise EIA where it is the most appropriate instrument, but we have realised that one of the shortcomings of the current system is the sole reliance on EIAs. Accordingly, a study was commissioned on the efficiency and effectiveness of EIA. The detailed findings of the study will be presented at the conference, but I would like to highlight some pertinent matters.

The review has confirmed that a more strategic approach to EIM is required and that there is a definite need to move away from an "EIA only" system to one based on true integrated environmental management.

The study and our department's review of EIA statistics also revealed that in the ten years that we have been implementing these regulations, we have received more than 57 000 applications, of which approximately 27 000 were EIAs.

This comes down to more than 5 000 applications a year or 400 a month. These figures emphasise the fact that the implementation of the regulations have made a positive contribution to the economy and created many hundreds of jobs in both the private and public sector.

The development and utilisation of instruments other than EIA with a specific emphasis on strategic spatial instruments such as SEA, bio-regional planning, spatial development frameworks and environmental management frameworks - will be a key component of the EIM strategy.

Governance and environmental impact management

When we committed to a new EIM system in Cabinet, we also pledged to take a serious look at the governance elements of such a system. Governance operates on two levels.

Firstly, we have to ensure that cooperation and coordination between government departments is improved, especially in terms of integrating licensing and permitting processes. Secondly, we also had to explore mechanisms other than regulation to encourage environmentally responsible behaviour. This could include self or co-regulation or voluntary systems.

The concept of self or co-regulation will be tested through an initiative of the off-road industry. Under the leadership of the National Off-road Working Group (NOW), a strategy for co-regulation has been formulated that can be used as an example for others to follow.

Today I am proud to say that unilateral government action might not be necessary, as representatives of the sector have come forward with a highly professional and responsible response. They have succeeded in formulating a representative strategy that opens the way for co-regulation. I am pleased to announce that the above strategy has been approved and it will be launched during the first quarter of 2009.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all stakeholders who have been involved in these processes over a number of years for their hard work. Without the partnerships we have forged, much of the work we have done in order to safeguard our environment would not have been possible.

This conference will provide us with the opportunity to discuss and seek resolutions for the future of EIA. The EIM strategy and recommendations from this conference will be regarded as the first round of public consultation and will lay the foundation for the development of a new national EIM Strategy and Action Plan.

I wish you a most successful dialogue and thought-provoking conference.

I thank you.