A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, 2018 / South Africa has implemented regular amendments to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations in an attempt to improve the effectiveness of the process. One way of evaluating effectiveness is to assess the quality of EIA reports submitted for decision-making. This study aimed to assess whether the amendments to the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), (Act no 107, 1998) EIA regulations in 2014 have contributed to better EIA report quality in South Africa in comparison to the previous EIA system. As such, a sample of 26 EIA reports, 16 under the 2010 EIA regulations and 10 under the 2014 EIA regulations, were reviewed using an adapted version of the Lee and Colley review package. The findings of this research revealed that overall report quality improved under the 2014 EIA regulatory system compared to the 2010 system. Furthermore, an improvement in the 2014 EIA report quality indicates that the decision-making process is more well informed and holistic, which further indicates an improvement in effectiveness of the EIA process. Key amendments to the 2014 EIA regulations that have an influence on EIA report quality include appendix 2 which outlines the objective, scope and content of a scoping report, appendix 3 which outlines the objective, scope and content of an EIA report, appendix 4 which outlines the content of an EMPr, and appendix 6 which outlines the content of a specialist report. It is thus concluded that amendments to the EIA regulations have in fact influenced report quality. These findings differed from those of other studies undertaken on EIA quality under the 2006 EIA system in comparison to the 1997 EIA system. Key words: Environmental Impact Assessment, Effectiveness, Environmental Impact Assessment Report, EIA Report Quality, EIA Regulations, National Environmental Management Act. / XL2019

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Also available in print.

Thesis (Honors)--Liberty University Honors Program, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis discusses the role of Environmental Impact Assessments in the implementation of the concept of sustainable development within the realm of North-South tensions regarding responsibilities for environmental conservation. Environmental Impact Assessments provide opportunities for realizing sustainable development not only because they operationalize the integration principle of sustainable development by facilitating the equilibrium between development and environmental conservation objectives, essential for ecological sustainability, but also because, in allowing for public participation in the assessment process, they promote the realization of the civil right of participation in public affairs, an essential component of good governance required for sustainable development to thrive. However, the thesis scrutinizes the reality in developing countries of adopting Environmental Impact Assessments. They are not yet accorded a lot of value because it is foreign technology imported from the North, which must be adopted often as a conditionality to that much needed development assistance, which often does not take into account cultural realities in developing countries and which inadvertently plays a role in the growth of Third World debt, corruption and erosion of sovereignty in the Third World. It argues, therefore that the utility of Environmental Impact Assessment in the realization of global sustainable development is limited by the existence of these realities unless modifications are made in the implementation of Environmental Impact Assessments in developing countries.

Thesis (M. Env. Studies)--University of Adelaide, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [i]-vi).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2002. / Thesis submitted to the Division of Science and Engineering. Bibliography: p. 377-398.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--State University of New York at Buffalo, 2000. / Chair: Li Lin. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MSc)--Macquarie University, Graduate School of the Environment, 1998. / Bibliography: p. 115-127.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--New Jersey Institute of Technology, 2006. / Advisers: Daniel J. Watts, Lisa B. Axe, Reggie J. Caudill. Includes bibliographical references.