Three decades of EIA streamlining: Lessons from South Africa

Due to high development demands, environmental impact assessment (EIA) systems internationally are under increasing pressure to simplify, streamline and demonstrate efficiency. South Africa, as a country, has decades of experience in finding solutions to this challenge. Here we aim to provide a crit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Impact assessment and project appraisal 2023-05, Vol.41 (3), p.205-211
Main Authors: Alberts, Reece C., Retief, Francois P., Roos, Claudine, Cilliers, Dirk P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Decision making
effectiveness
efficiency
EIA
Environmental impact
Environmental impact assessment
Intervention
Legislation
Norms
Screening
South Africa
Streamlining
Time use
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Summary:Due to high development demands, environmental impact assessment (EIA) systems internationally are under increasing pressure to simplify, streamline and demonstrate efficiency. South Africa, as a country, has decades of experience in finding solutions to this challenge. Here we aim to provide a critical reflection on the different streamlining interventions implemented over time. Five key interventions are covered, namely: exemptions, refined screening activities, norms and standards, stricter time frames, and the introduction of strategic instruments. We conclude that although well intentioned, attempts at continually refined and expanded legislation, policy, guidelines and protocols have had the opposite effect, by making the system inefficient, overly complex and confusing. Two pragmatic recommendations are made, namely: (i) to provide for more discretion in decision-making, especially during screening, and (ii) to provide for an exit decision after scoping.
ISSN:1461-5517
1471-5465
DOI:10.1080/14615517.2023.2173852