This dissertation critically reviews the quality of South African environmental authorisations through
the application of a methodology adopted from the Lee and Colley (1999) environmental impact
assessment (EIA) report review package. The literature review shows that to date limited research
has been conducted on the quality of environmental authorisations nationally. Anecdotal evidence
suggests that environmental authorisations are of weak quality; hence the development of guidelines
on the compilation of environmental authorisations by the Department of Environmental Affairs
(DEA). In this dissertation, the quality of the environmental authorisations is critically reviewed
against the requirements of the National Environmental Management Act (Act No. 107 of 1998) and
departmental guidelines. The research concludes that only 64% of reviewed authorisations are
deemed satisfactory, while 36% were unsatisfactory. When the basic assessment report (BAR) and
scoping and environmental impact assessment (S&EIA) process authorisations are compared it is
concluded that the there is a minimal difference in quality. The BAR achieved a 69% satisfactory
rating while the S&EIA process achieved a 61% satisfactory rating. The dissertation concludes by
making recommendations to improve the quality of authorisations. / M (Environmental Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NWUBOLOKA1/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/14480 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Caddick, Andrew Brian |
| Source Sets | North-West University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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