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
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:7168 |
| Date | 14 May 2008 |
| Creators | Botha, De Wet |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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