Magister Legum - LLM

Biodiversity considerations form an essential component of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), especially in areas with both a high biodiversity value and development pressure such as the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) in South Africa. Limited research has been conducted within the South African context on the quality of biodiversity inputs to EIA. The aim of this research was to evaluate the quality of biodiversity input to EIA in the CFR. To address this aim, a customised review package was generated to evaluate the quality of 26 Biodiversity Impact Assessment (BIA) reports in the CFR. The results were then compared with international trends of biodiversity input to EIA in order to show how prevalent such trends are within an area with high biodiversity value. This comparison showed that the quality of biodiversity input to EIA in the CFR generally concur with inadequacies identified in international EIA literature. Typically, significant weaknesses identified during the review were the lack of public participation and an insufficient evaluation of alternatives. Specialists also failed to develop adequate monitoring programmes. Furthermore, a very pertinent limitation was that, in general, assessments are conducted during inappropriate seasons and over insufficient time periods. However, some variations to the international trends are also present within the Region. For example, a particular strength was that a precautionary approach was adopted by most of the specialists to avoid negative impacts on biodiversity. In addition, specialists did not merely focus on lower levels (species and habitats) of biodiversity, but incorporated ecological processes in assessment techniques. The inadequacies identified in this dissertation pose particular challenges for biodiversity management and conservation practices. The development and implementation of mechanisms such as Best Practice Guidelines and improved biodiversity related legislation is proposed to improve biodiversity input to EIA. / M Environmental Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Floodplain lakes are strongly regulated by river connectivity because floodwaters exert strong influence on the water balance, the physical, chemical and biological limnological conditions, and the influx of contaminants. The Peace-Athabasca Delta (PAD) in northern Alberta (Canada) is a hydrologically complex landscape and is an important node in the upper Mackenzie River Drainage Basin. The ecological integrity of the PAD is potentially threatened by multiple environmental stressors, yet our understanding of the hydroecology of this large floodplain remains underdeveloped. Indeed, ever since the planning and construction of the WAC Bennett Dam (1960s), concerns have grown over the effects of upstream human activities on the lakes of the PAD. More recently, concerns over the health of the PAD have intensified and come to the fore of national and international dialogue due to water abstraction and mining and processing activities by the rapidly expanding oil sands industry centred in Fort McMurray Alberta. Currently, widespread perception is that upstream human activities have reduced water levels and frequency of flooding at the PAD, which have lowered nutrient availability and productivity of perched basin lakes, and have increased supply of pollutants from oil sands. However, these perceptions remain based on insufficient knowledge of pre-impact conditions and natural variability. Current and past relations between hydrology and limnology of PAD lakes are mostly undocumented, particularly during the important spring freshet period when the effects of river flood waters are strongest. Similarly, knowledge of the deposition of oil-sands- related contaminants in the PAD remains insufficient to determine whether anthropogenic activities have increased the deposition of important oil-sands-related contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) relative to natural processes. Such knowledge gaps must be filled to achieve effective monitoring, policy and governance concerning impacts of industrial development and the protection of human and environmental health within the PAD and Mackenzie drainage basin. This thesis examines the effects of river flooding (and the lack of) on water clarity, nutrients, chemistry, phytoplankton abundance, epiphyton community composition and the deposition of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) in lakes of the Peace-Athabasca Delta. To determine the role of flooding on contemporary epiphytic diatom communities (an abundant and diverse guild of primary producers in PAD lakes), a field experiment was conducted examining the community composition and abundance of epiphytic diatoms in four PAD lakes. Two of these four lakes had received floodwaters that spring and two had not. Epiphytic diatom communities in each lake were sampled during the peak macrophyte biomass period (summer) from two macrophyte taxa (Potamogeton zosteriformis, P. perfoliatus var. richardsonii) and from polypropylene artificial substrates previously deployed that spring. A two-way analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) test identified that epiphytic diatom community composition differed between lakes that flooded and those that did not flood. From the use of similarity percentage (SIMPER) analysis, diatom taxa were identified that discriminate between flooded and non-flooded lakes. The relative abundance of ‘strong flood indicator taxa’ was used to construct an event-scale flood record spanning the past ~180 years using analyses of sedimentary diatom assemblages from a closed-drainage lake (PAD 5). Results were verified by close agreement with an independent paleo-flood record from a nearby flood-prone oxbow lake (PAD 54) and historical records. Comparison of epiphytic diatoms in flooded and non-flooded lakes in this study provides a promising approach to detect changes in flood frequency, and may have applications for reconstructing other pulse-type disturbances such as hurricanes and pollutant spills. Additionally, this study demonstrates that artificial substrates can provide an effective bio-monitoring tool for lakes of the PAD and elsewhere. To improve our understanding of the hydrolimnological responses of lake in the PAD to flooding, repeated measurements over three years (2003-05) were made on a series of lakes along a hydrological gradient. This allowed the role of river flooding to be characterized on limnological conditions of lakes and to identify the patterns and timescales of limnological change after flooding. River floodwaters elevate lake water concentrations of suspended sediment, total phosphorus (TP), SO4 and dissolved Si (DSi), and reduce concentrations of total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), DOC and most ions. River flooding increases limnological homogeneity among lakes, because post-flood conditions are strongly affected by the river water properties. After floodwaters recede, limnological conditions become more heterogeneous among lakes in response to diversity of local basin influences (geology, slope, vegetation, depth, fetch, and biological communities and processes), and limnological changes occur at two distinct timescales. In the weeks to months after flooding, water clarity increases as suspended sediments and TP settle out of the water column. In the absence of flooding for many years to decades, evaporative concentration leads to an increase in most nutrients (TKN, inorganic N, and dissolved P), DOC and ions. Contrary to a prevailing paradigm, these results suggest that regular flooding is not required to maintain high nutrient concentrations. In light of anticipated declines in river discharge, limnological conditions in the southern Athabasca sector will become increasingly less dominated by the short-term effects of flooding, and resemble nutrient- and solute-rich lakes in the northern Peace sector that are infrequently flooded. To determine the roles of the Athabasca River and atmospheric transport as vectors for the deposition of PACs in the PAD, sediment cores spanning the last ~200 years were collected from three lakes within the delta. A closed-drainage basin elevated well above the floodplain (PAD 18) was selected to determine temporal patterns of change in PAC concentration due to atmospheric deposition and within-basin production of PACs. Known patterns of paleohydrological changes at the other two lakes (PAD 23 and 31) were used to assess the role of the Athabasca River in delivering PACs to the Athabasca Delta during the ~200 year. Well- dated sediment core samples were analysed for 52 alkylated and non-alkylated PACs (method EPA 3540/8270-GC/MS). Sediments deposited in the non-flood prone lake (PAD 18) contained lower concentrations of total PACs compared to sediments deposited during flood-prone periods in the other study lakes, and were dominated by PACs of a pyrogenic rather than bitumen origin. Multivariate analysis of similarity tests identified that the composition of PACs differs between sediments deposited during not flood-prone and flood-prone periods. Subsequent Similarities Percentage (SIMPER) analysis was used and identified seven PACs that are preferentially deposited during flood-prone periods. These seven PACs are bitumen-associated, river-transported and account for 51% of the total PACs found in oil-sands sediment. At PAD 31, which has been flood-prone both before and since onset of Athabasca oil sands development, identified no measureable differences in both the proportion and concentration of the river-transported indicator PACs in sediments deposited pre-1940s versus post-1982. Our findings suggest that natural erosion of exposed bitumen along the banks of the Athabasca River and its tributaries is the main process delivering PACs to the Athabasca Delta, and that the spring freshet is a key period for contaminant mobilization and transport. Such key baseline environmental information is essential for informed management of natural resources and human-health concerns by provincial and federal regulatory agencies and industry, and for designing effective long-term monitoring and surveillance programs for the lower Athabasca River watershed in the face of future oil sands development. Further monitoring activities and additional paleolimnological studies of the depositional history of PACs and other oil-sands- and non-oil-sands-related contaminants is strongly recommended. Overall, results of this research identify that river flooding exerts strong control on physical, chemical and biological conditions of lakes within the PAD. However, contrary to prevailing paradigms, the PAD is not a landscape that has been adversely and permanently affected by regulation of the Peace River and industrial development of the oil sands along the Athabasca River. Instead, data from contemporary and paleolimnological studies identify that natural processes continue to dominate the delivery of water and contaminants to the delta. Regular and frequent flooding is not essential to maintain the supply of nutrients and productivity of delta lakes, which has been a widespread paradigm that developed in the absence of objective scientific data. Instead, nutrient concentrations rise over years to decades after flooding and lake productivity increases. During the thesis research, novel approaches were developed and demonstrated to be effective. Namely, new artificial substrate samplers were designed for aquatic biomonitoring that accrue periphyton and can identify the occurrence of flood events. Also, paleolimnological methods were employed to characterize the composition and concentration of PACs supplied by natural processes prior to oil sands industrial activity, which serves as an important benchmark for assessing industrial impacts. These are effective methods that can be employed to improve monitoring programs and scientific understanding of the factors affecting this world-renowned landscape, as well as floodplains elsewhere.

Socioeconomic study is a procedure that ensures that the likely positive and negative impact of a new project on the socioeconomic life of a community is taken into account. It has become a crucial part of sustainable development process. The understanding of socioeconomic study procedures is an increasing necessity for all those involved in the process. Similarly, proper knowledge of the function of socioeconomic study during the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process is of paramount importance for the mitigation of the likely effects of the new development. Furthermore, as the world is gradually growing into a global village, it has become increasingly imperative that organizations integrate the people in their operations' areas in the overall objective of their businesses. Community engagement (CE) is a partnership process that can be used to assess and manage the problem affecting the well-being of a community because of a new development. This research work used the SWOT matrix technique to develop a management framework that companies can use to manage their weaknesses and threats because of inadequate community engagement strategy. To achieve this, the work evaluated the extent to which socioeconomic study is integrated into the EIA processes. It also assessed the extent to which oil companies are using community engagement as a development strategy. The findings of this dissertation revealed that oil explorations in the Niger Delta area have affected the well-being of the people both positively and negatively. Unfortunately, their negative impact outweighed their positive impact. Although they carry out socioeconomic studies, they have been neglecting the recommendations reported in the socioeconomic study document by experts. The level of community engagements therefore has also been very poor. SWOT matrix technique was used to develop the management framework for each company based on the perceived strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the companies as revealed in this research. This should serve as a guide for the companies in their CE strategies. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Socioeconomic study is a procedure that ensures that the likely positive and negative impact of a new project on the socioeconomic life of a community is taken into account. It has become a crucial part of sustainable development process. The understanding of socioeconomic study procedures is an increasing necessity for all those involved in the process. Similarly, proper knowledge of the function of socioeconomic study during the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process is of paramount importance for the mitigation of the likely effects of the new development. Furthermore, as the world is gradually growing into a global village, it has become increasingly imperative that organizations integrate the people in their operations' areas in the overall objective of their businesses. Community engagement (CE) is a partnership process that can be used to assess and manage the problem affecting the well-being of a community because of a new development. This research work used the SWOT matrix technique to develop a management framework that companies can use to manage their weaknesses and threats because of inadequate community engagement strategy. To achieve this, the work evaluated the extent to which socioeconomic study is integrated into the EIA processes. It also assessed the extent to which oil companies are using community engagement as a development strategy. The findings of this dissertation revealed that oil explorations in the Niger Delta area have affected the well-being of the people both positively and negatively. Unfortunately, their negative impact outweighed their positive impact. Although they carry out socioeconomic studies, they have been neglecting the recommendations reported in the socioeconomic study document by experts. The level of community engagements therefore has also been very poor. SWOT matrix technique was used to develop the management framework for each company based on the perceived strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the companies as revealed in this research. This should serve as a guide for the companies in their CE strategies. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The theme of this thesis is that ecologically sustainable coastal management (ESCM) is achievable through the application of law. Once the legal principles and the administrative structures that that law supports have been put into place a framework is created within which the goal of ecologically sustainable development - 'Development that improves the total quality of life, both now and in the future, in a way that maintains the ecological processes on which life depends' can be realised. This thesis approaches the task by analysing the components of ecologically sustainable development (ESD), synthesising them into a set of principles for achieving ESCM and then, by using a comparative approach, devising a number of recommendations, which, if followed, will enable ESCM to be achieved. While the focus is on ESCM, the recommendations could be applied with minimal adaptation, to most, if not all, natural resource management. The thesis is divided into five Parts. Part A looks at the function of law in ESCM and proposes a theoretical model for a legal and administrative regime to be tested in the remaining Parts. Part B considers the context for ESCM and the policies and approaches followed by the different jurisdictions compared throughout this thesis, in addressing sustainable development, with emphasis in chapter four on devising the principles for ESCM. These principles are then developed and analysed in the remaining Parts of the thesis. Part C looks at the current constitutional legal regime for the coastal zone in each jurisdiction and then moves on to consider the first two of the principles for ESCM, international responsibilities and integrated coastal zone management, linked together in this part by the direct dependence on law as the agent for management Part D is about the four remaining principles of ESCM - the practical instruments for achieving ESCM. These are environmental impact assessment, public participation, coastal planning and economic instruments. In the last Part, Part E, the suggested principles for ESCM are brought together and, by a comparison of the various legal and administrative mechanisms used in the jurisdictions reviewed in this thesis, recommendations for achieving ESCM are drawn up. It is suggested that implementation of these recommendations will achieve ecologically sustainable coastal management.

The establishment of protected areas (PAs) has been the key national strategy in biodiversity conservation, through preserving the unique wildlife and ecosystems in Indonesia. As well as their status as sites rich in biodiversity, PAs are also important for socio-economic interactions. Hence the management of PAs has been fraught with technical, social and economic problems. To ensure greater local participation and support in tropical forest conservation initiatives, it is vital to understand how local stakeholders perceive them. This research was undertaken in Gorontalo Province by examining the views of local stakeholders through a combination of qualitative interviews and quantitative ranking exercises. The findings revealed that respondents only understood the concept of biodiversity on a general level. Most respondents defined biodiversity in terms of its elements; only a few were able to describe the interactional attributes, by which biodiversity functions within the ecosystems. Their appreciation of forest biodiversity was primarily due to economic and ecological benefits they derive from local forests. Accordingly, respondents ranked the provision of ecological services from the forests as the strongest reason for protecting it. Using Wood et al. (2000) analytical framework to examine the root causes of biodiversity loss, the findings indicated respondents’ familiarity with human-induced forces resulting in the degradation and loss of natural forests, and they understood how these affect local biodiversity, both within and beyond the forest. Some critical disconnections between national policy in forest conservation and the reality of the local use of forest resource became apparent. At the core of these disconnections was an unequal share of benefits of such policy to local stakeholders. They identified extraction of species and physical alteration of the forest ecosystem as direct drivers of forest loss; these were perceived as rooted in poverty, institutional failures in forest management, ignorance of the wider forest functions, and conflict of development policies at the local level. The main reason for biodiversity loss can be summed up as widespread and persistent failure to properly understand, quantify, or value the goods, services, functions and capital value of the natural forests, at both national and local levels. Overall, most respondents held negative attitudes towards protected forests and their positive attitudes towards conservation activities were linked with tangible benefits they enjoy from the forest. A key finding of this study is that the conservation of biodiversity cannot be considered in isolation from broader patterns of natural resource use and the socio-political context in which people carry out their lives. This study suggests that the implementation of the centrally-controlled and preservationist conservation approach in Gorontalo has been ineffective in achieving conservation goals. This is due to the lack of a clear connection between this policy and the reality of local forest users.

Maud Island (Te Hoiere - "a long paddle or mighty pull") is a moderately sized island of 309 hectares, located in the Pelorus Sound (41°, 02 'S, 173° 54 'E) Marlborough, at the north-east end of the South Island of New Zealand. It has a long history of human modification and impacts since its colonisation by Maori and early Europeans. The vegetation of Maud Island has been studied in the 1980's and again in the early 1990's. The objectives of this study were to (1) describe how the vascular plant communities vary in species composition across Maud Island, (2) determine which environmental factors are important predictors of the variation in species composition of Maud Island plant communities, and (3) describe the pattern of succession of the plant communities on Maud Island over the last twenty years. In this 2001 study, I comprehensively sampled the vegetation on Maud Island using a Reconnaissance Description Procedure in a total of 158 plots across the island and compared these results to previous descriptions. I also retook photos at permanent photo points to provide a visual comparison of vegetation change. In total, 219 plant species were identified; 177 species occurred within the plots and 42 additional species were observed while walking around the coastline and walking tracks. Six dominant plant species occurred in over 70% of the plots. They were Pteridium esculentum, Pseudopanax arboreus, Hebe stricta var. stricta, Melicytus ramiflorus, Ozothamnus leptophylla and Coprosma robusta. Two-Way Indicator Species Analysis resulted in the description of eight different plant communities on the island. Detrended correspondence analysis showed a high degree of turnover in species composition among these communities. Canonical correspondence analysis showed that slope and moisture were particularly important predictors of variation in plant species composition. The environmental factors that best predicted to variation communities were slope, moisture, and a gradient in historical disturbance. Comparisons of present and past vegetation maps and photos (ground and aerial) showed, in terms of the successional pathways of the vegetation on Maud Island, that over time, the vegetation is reverting from short stature grassland and scrub to predominantly forest scrub and young secondary forest.

The late 1960s witnessed an unprecedented interest in the environment. One of the intellectual characteristics of this period was the rise of ecocentrism, a form of ecological reasoning that challenged the domination of anthropocentric environmental thinking and practice. The thesis briefly reviews the evolution of ecological forms of reason, and then poses two questions. The first question asks: "What is ecological reason and how does the literature conceptualise it?" This leads to a theoretical analysis of the forms of ecological reason discernable in the literature, and results in a 'matrix of ecological reason'. The three primary forms of ecological reason are described as 'Technocentric Ecology', 'Discursive Ecology' and 'Eco-social Ecology'. They differ in respect to different dimensions of ecological reason, the forms of communication employed (drawing here on Habermas), and the level of commitment to anthropocentrism or ecocentrism. This 'matrix' highlights the contested nature of ecological reason in the literature, and demonstrates that there is, yet, no clear agreement on what it means, or should mean. The second question examines the ecological rationality of environmental practice. The 'matrix' is employed in three case studies of environmental decisions that take place under the New Zealand Resource Management Act (RMA), and investigates the forms of ecological reason expressed in these decision processes. The results of this analysis show that Eco-social Ecology barely registers in these case studies, while the other two forms of ecological reason. Technocentric Ecology and Discursive Ecology are both highly visible in the rationality of the RMA, but with two important qualifiers. First, although there is a commitment to Discursive Ecology on the part of many professionals, there is also much concern that this form of reason undermines quality environmental decisions. Thus, there is significant ambiguity as to the role of the community (an important dimension of Discursive Ecology). This leads to the second qualifier. There is an uneasy relationship between these two forms of reason, at both the theoretical and practice level. This tension underpins the competing visions of the RMA as a scientifically driven process and as a community process. This thesis argues that this tension does not provide for a secure marriage of these two visions.

The objective of this article is to present the importance of implementing the Closure Planfor Mineral Projects. To this purpose, the author studies and analyzes success stories of closing mining projects, in particular, focuses its analysis on Colombian and Peruvian cases. / El objetivo de este artículo es dar a conocer la importancia de la implementación del Plan de Cierre de Proyectos Mineros. Para tal fin, el autor parte del estudio y análisis de casos exitosos de cierre de proyectos mineros, en particular, centra su análisis en los escenarios colombiano y peruano.