Streamlining SIA and DRA for the 21st century - perspectives from South Africa

Abstract

Despite considerable improvements in social impact assessment practice, theshortfalls and neglected status of social impact assessment persist. Integrated impactassessments have been suggested to address some of these shortcomings. Due to itstransdisciplinary nature, disaster risk assessment has been identified as an emergingarea that could assist social impact assessment in managing social changes and risksand improving community resilience. Emerging research from South Africa and abroadhave shown that social impact assessment–disaster risk assessment integration offersopportunities for streamlining and improved practice across four areas, that is,theoretical discourses, legislative and statutory provisions, practitioner perspectivesand combined methodologies. The resulting streamlined social impact assessment anddisaster risk assessment will be more suitable for 21st-century challenges, allowing forenriched social impact assessment practice, contributions to social sustainability andstrengthening of the social resilience of at-risk communities. From observations ofthe South African context, we suggest that streamlined social impact assessment anddisaster risk assessment will optimally address the challenges of developing sustainablyand enhancing the resilience of at-risk societies in the 21st century in South Africa, theglobal south and also the rest of the world