The impacts of golf courses and golf estate developments are great and definite. Proof of this can be seen in several Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), that have been submitted to the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Conservation (GDACE) in terms of the Environmental Conservation Act (ECA) (1989) and the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) (1998). The question is how to limit these impacts on the environment. Guidelines on how to manage and mitigate these impacts are of fundamental importance, to ensure the conservation of the environment. These guidelines should set principles for the management of the environment from cradle to grave, for future golf course and golf estate developments. The main objective of this study was to develop guidelines for Environmental Management Plans (EMP) specifically focused on golf course developments in the Gauteng Province. To achieve this, a comprehensive study was conducted on the factors pertaining to the environmental process by evaluating previous EIA reports and the associated EMP’s as well as the supporting documentation. The EMP’s were evaluated and several shortfalls were identified. The EIA scoping reports were then appraised and ranked accordingly. The scoping reports assess the impacts on the environment. These impacts must be mitigated in the development process. These impacts and mitigation measures must be documented in an EMP. Hence, the connection between the EIA scoping reports and the EMP’s. Several inadequacies were recognized with respect to the inclusion of all the mitigatory measures for all the impacts as identified in the EIA scoping reports. The conclusions drawn in the evaluations were used to develop the guidelines for EMP’s. The guidelines given here will assist in future compilations of EMP’s for golf courses. It is highly recommended that GDACE and environmental consultants adopt this standard in preparing and evaluating applications. / Prof. J.T. Harmse

The purpose of the current research project was to undertake a thorough quantitative and qualitative survey of the vegetation on Ngamba Island. Based on the results of this survey suggestions are made for future management of the chimpanzees on the island. It was assumed that the introduction of chimpanzees onto an island that was previously not inhabited by this species would have an (to be defined) impact on the environment in general, and the vegetation cover, in particular. The woody vegetation was sampled and analysed using the varying quadrat plot method. This method gives the following results per (a) species, (b) stem growth form and (c) height class: 1. Canopy regime at different height levels; 2. Total projected canopy cover, and 3. Density. The results of the vegetation analysis showed that at this stage the forest structure on Ngamba Island still represents a healthy secondary rain forest cover. A major impact chimpanzees have on the woody vegetation cover of Ngamba Island is that they defoliate and destroy trees of all height classes. The number of mature trees that a parent tree produces per fruiting period might often be as little as < 1. Even though chimpanzees act as seed dispensers in their natural habitat the impressive number of seeds dispersed by each individual chimpanzee is therefore put into perspective by the very low final recruitment rate. Resulting from the above it is postulated that the impact of the Ngamba Island chimpanzees as seed dispersers for selected woody vegetation species is of low importance if not negligible. It is by far outweighed by the destruction caused to the secondary rain forest cover of the Island by this newly introduced species. Using different approaches and calculations to estimate the necessary home ranges for chimpanzees in a confined habitat the areas calculated range from 5-56 hectare per chimpanzee. Even though, there is an 11.2-fold difference between these estimates they indicate nevertheless, that Ngamba Island with an area of 42.40 ha of secondary rain forest cover and 16 adult and 17 juvenile chimpanzees is already highly overstocked. In summary the impact the newly introduced species of chimpanzees on Ngamba Island will have over time on the secondary rain forest cover of their forest refuge is that of continuing destruction. Using a rate of destruction of about 0.50 ha per chimpanzee per year the secondary rain forest cover of Ngamba Island will be completely destroyed in 53 years with a stocking density of 16 adult chimpanzees. Increasing stocking density – also through maturing of the juvenile chimpanzees currently present on the Island into a adulthood – will increase the rate of destruction of the woody vegetation cover of Ngamba Island proportionally. / Dissertation (MSc(Wild Life Management))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Animal and Wildlife Sciences / unrestricted

Nitrogen (N) is critical to the quantity and quality of agricultural yields. Excess N fertilization is costly, both economically and environmentally (nitrate leaching, eutrophication, greenhouse gas release, soil degradation). This research identifies zones that could substitute the field-long N-rich strips by using spatial analysis of the nitrogen sufficiency index (NSI) and the relation with Apparent Electrical Conductivity (ECa), Elevation, Slope and Soil. NSI calculated from ECa grouped into three classes was capable of minimizing the effects on NDVI. Correlation coefficients (R) between three-class NSI and NSI calculated from the nearest ECA values were very high for all the fields with values between 0.82< R <0.94, with the highest coefficients associated with fields in 2005 and 2007. Meanwhile, three-class NSI coefficients were consistently significant in relation to the NSI reference, with an average of R=0.79 for all the fields. The highest coefficient was detected for 2007, with R=0.89, whereas the lowest values were associated with 2006 (R=0.67). In the case of elevation grouped into four classes, the correlation results were not statistically significant, with overall average values of R<0.70. The maps elaborated from the NSI for ECa grouped into three classes show a high level of accuracy compared to the NSI reference map. The new N-rich zones not only can contribute to mitigating the environmental impact of agricultural practices (reducing 77% of N inputs) but also be an accurate source of data for the analysis of NSI and within-field N variability.

Mrs. D.C. Schoeman

Environmental Impact Assessments ("EIA") have been regulated for the last 12 years in South Africa, initially through the Environment Conservation Act 1989, and since 2006 through the National Environmental Management Act 1998 ("NEMA"). The former applied the standard of "substantial detrimental effect" to the environment in determining whether an authorisation should be granted. NEMA requires the authority to take into account environmental management principles. These principles inter alia require that development must be socially, environmentally and economically sustainable. This is also known as sustainable development ("SD"). Administrative officials tasked with considering EIAs have been given legislative direction with respect to the environmental issues which need to be assessed. They have been given no direction on how to assess socioeconomic issues. Notwithstanding this there have been an increasing number of decisions based on socio-economic factors, notwithstanding that the environmental impacts have been determined to be acceptable. In Fuel Retailers Association of South Africa v Director-General: Environmental Management, Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment, Mpumalanga Province and Others the Constitutional court held that SD must be applied by environmental authorities when they consider applications for EIA authorisation. However a careful analysis of NEMA and the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, highlight that our administrators and courts have adopted a one dimensional and ultimately inaccurate interpretation of the application of SD. This is prejudicing the fulfilment of the objective of EIA, namely the determination of the acceptability of a project's environmental impacts. Whilst SD does have a role to play in the EIA process it is more defined, and does not take the central role the Constitutional Court has indicated. The aim of is to determine whether there are adverse impacts associated with a project. If there are, then ordinarily authorisation should be refused. However the authorities are enjoined to go a step further. They must determine whether the identified adverse impacts can be satisfactorily mitigated, and whether any positive socio-economic factors would accrue Page (iii) should the project be authorised. If both are answered in the affirmative, then a positive decision is appropriate. This is the balance which NEMA calls for, and this is the correct application of SD in an EIA. The broader application of SD espoused by the Constitutional Court is achieved not through the environmental authorities in the EIA process alone, but through the constitutional principle of cooperative governance. All authorities with an interest in a particular project must apply the principle of SD within the scope of their administrative functions. The environmental authorities consider the environmental impacts, the planning authorities consider the socio-economic impacts, the agricultural authorities determine the project's impacts on agricultural land, etc. The outcome of their individual decisions can then collectively be assessed to determine whether a project is sustainable or not. There are various measures which can be employed to address the interpretational deficiency which has now manifested. These include improving cooperative governance principles and practices in decisionmaking; undertaking strategic environmental assessments; and a dedicated Sustainable Development Act. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Centre for Human Rights / unrestricted

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As a result of increasing interest in sustainable development, the subject of this report is the exploration of methods to analyse the environmental impact of car components. The project is conducted as a case study, and the theory section is a literature study where several scientific articles about life cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental analysis are examined alongside previously performed LCAs, books about the subject, and ISO standards. The ISO14040-series provides a structure for the basic methodology used in this report, both to organise the theory section as well as the resulting process. The theory concludes with a 7-step process for conducting life cycle investigations, primarily for car components. The first step contains the ISO standard’s requirements of defining goal and scope. Steps 2-6 then process the data collection of different phases during the life cycle and the 7th and final step is a compilation and calculation of the data. The developed process aims to provide a fast and simple way of analysing the environmental impact for a product as the development work is progressing. To validate the functionality of the process and to further refine the process, it is used to perform an analysis of energy use and CO2 emissions during the life cycle of an active car bonnet device. This validation includes definitions of goal, scope, functional unit, and a Process Flow Chart in the first step.Steps 2-6 includes the data collection for raw materials, additional processes, use phase, end-of-life, and the transports related to the manufacturing of the investigated product. The last step of the validation is to compile the product’s energy use and CO2 emissions. The study also provides a suggestion for a table, called Life Cycle Eco Data Table, to use when conducting a life cycle investigation using the process, to get an overview of the environmental data. The conclusion is that the developed process is easy to use and aspires to high quality as it is based on scientific research.

The yearly production of shoes has, the last decades, increased by a significantly amount. The increased production have put pressure on the environment, and therefore it is important to decrease the environmental impact from the shoe industry. Icebug is a shoe company, that want to run their business with environmental sustainability and thereby they need to possess knowledge of their shoe production, and its environmental impacts. A method to estimate the environmental impact from products is the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. An LCA therefore have been performed for the shoe model Ivalo2 M Bugrip, one of the most sold models from Icebug. The result from the LCA show that the materials with the highest environmental impact was suede and rubber. The suede was the material with the highest environmental impact per weight unit. Therefore Icebug should decrease or replace the suede, with a material that has similar properties. The rubber was the most represented material within the shoe, and even if the environmental impact, per weight unit, was higher than most of the materials, Icebug should remain the rubber, because of its durability properties. The nylon plastic had high environmental impact, compared to the other plastics, whereby Icebug should decrease or replace the nylon. The environmental impact from the electricity was high. Therefore Icebug should try to decrease the energy consumption, and invest in renewable energy at the assembly factory. To decrease the resource depletion, recycled plastics and recycled rubber could be the best option. / <p>2018-12-11</p>

In the recent years, environmental regulations enforced by federal,state, and local agencies have increasingly addressed water quality issues through progressively more stringent regulations. These regulations have raised concerns in the blue crab industry because processors are now subject to regulations under which new processors are unable to meet the effluent limitations with current processing techniques. This study focuses on the mechanized processing of crab claws. Currently, processors use a brine bath, referred to as the Harris Claw machine, to separate crab claw meat and shell, nd this process yields a waste water which is significantly high in pollutant strength, and is untreatable by biological methods due to the toxicity associated with the high chloride concentrations found in the waste stream. Several alternative crab claw processing systems were developed and evaluated in terms of the meat product yield, the meat product quality, and the wastewater characterization. Two alternatives involved the use of dense media, a 22.5% Staley 1300 corn syrup solution with 5.0% salt and a 30.0% Staley 1300 corn syrup solution, to separate the crab claw meat and shell. These methods, in full scale tests, produced meat yields comparable to that of the brine solution and improved the overall taste of the meat product. However, the effluents had significantly higher BOD5 concentrations. Another alternative to the Harris Claw machine, involved the design, characterization, and testing of a hydraulic separator system (HSS). The HSS was tested on a small scale, but was found to have a meat yield comparable to the Harris Claw machine. The HSS significantly improved the flavor of a final meat product, although the HSS meat product had a significantly lower shelf life than the Harris Claw machine meat product. The waste water quality was improved, because the HSS eliminates the problems associated with a high chloride ion concentration and potentially reduces overall water consumption. / Master of Science

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