A critical evaluation of environmental assessment tiering in South Africa

Abstract

Environmental assessment (EA) plays an essential role in understanding the implications of our actions and the measures we implement to avoid unacceptable impacts. Internationally, tiering between policies, plans, programmes and projects contributed to the effectiveness of EA. In South Africa, EA is the foundation of the Environmental Right as contained in South Africa's Constitution to achieve ecological sustainability whilst promoting justifiable social and economic development. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate EA tiering in South Africa critically and share the results to improve EA practice for similar contexts internationally. To achieve this research aim, a conceptual and theoretical understanding of tiering in EA and the Theory of Change internationally, was developed. An evaluation framework for the functioning of EIAs within a tiered EA system in South Africa was developed to evaluate tiering within the South African EA system. Three case studies were evaluated on how EIAs functioned within the strategic context provided by Strategic Environmental Assessments and Environmental Management Frameworks, augmented by interviews of specialists in EA. The research found that EA tiering in South Africa is not functioning well. Tiering in EA is not addressed in any meaningful way in legislation, and the current institutional arrangements to support its implementation are inadequate. Through policy and law reform and capacity building, EA practices can be improved to use tiering in EA effectively to achieve sustainable development outcomes. The research findings apply to similar circumstances internationally where tiering in EA is not addressed in legislation and institutional resources are limited to support the implementation of EA tiering.