Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is recognised worldwide as a tool for identifying the
potential adverse effects of a proposed development on the environment. Very little attention
has been given to determining the actual environmental effects resulting from a development.
The need for EIA follow–up (i.e. monitoring, auditing, evaluation, management and
communication) was identified and would form the building blocks within the EIA process.
Follow–up provides information about the consequences of an activity and presents
opportunities to implement adequate mitigation measures. EIA follow–up is not developed to its
full potential even though the need for it is acknowledged and supported in legislation, scientific
journals and scientific books. EIA follow–up necessitates feedback in the EIA process to ensure
lessons learnt and outcomes from past experiences can be applied in future actions. Follow–up
is only a legal requirement if conditions are specified in the environmental authorisation (EA).
Of particular concern to follow–up is the accuracy of prediction and secondly, the level of
compliance to conditions set out in the authorization and management plans. This study will
focus primarily on critically analysing predictions and compliance from the construction phase of
a high profile mega shopping mall project, namely the Mooi River Mall (MRM), with an analysis
to gauge the actual effect and contribution of the EIA process to decision making and
implementation practices. Multiple data sources were used to determine the accuracy of
predictions and legal compliance level of the Mooi River Mall.
The Mooi River Mall's accuracy of predictions (66%) and legal compliance (83%) suggest that
some of the impacts were unavoidable; that mitigation measures were either not implemented
or identified or that EIA follow–up served its purpose in the form of implementing effective
auditing programmes to monitor legal compliance. / Thesis (M.Sc (Environmental Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/4635 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Jordaan, Ilse |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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