Beyond Public Particpation: The disjuncture between South Africa's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Law and Sustainable Development

Abstract

One of the key strategies for achieving sustainable development is the use of the process of evaluating the potential environmental impacts of development activities. The procedure of environmental impact assessment (EIA) implements the principle of integration which lies at the core of the concept of sustainable development by providing a process through which potential social, economic and environmental impacts of activities are scrutinised and planned for. Sustainable development may not be achieved without sustained and legally mandated efforts to ensure that development planning is participatory. The processes of public participation play a crucial role in ensuring the integration of the socio-economic impacts of a project into the environmental decision-making processes. Public participation is not the only process, nor does the process always ensure the achievement of sustainable development. Nevertheless, decisions that engage the public have the propensity to lead to sustainable development. The public participation provisions in South Africa’s EIA regulations promulgated under the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 show a disjuncture between the idea of public participation and the notion of sustainable development. The provisions do not create a framework for informed participation and leave a wide discretion to environmental assessment practitioners (EAPs) regarding the form which participation should assume. In order for environmental law, specifically EIA laws, to be effective as tools to promote sustainable development the laws must, among other things, provide for effective public participation. The judiciary must also aid in the process by giving content to the legal provisions on public participation in the EIA process.

Socio-economic and political barriers to public participation in EIA: implications for sustainable development in the Maldives

“…Redclift 2005;Ganesh 2007), there is broad agreement that the primary focus of sustainable development, as with EIA, is to ensure that economic development is undertaken without compromising social and environmental values (Dovers & Handmer 1992;Iyer-Raniga & Treloar 2000). Consequently, a number of scholars have identified sustainable development as a key objective of EIA (Sadler 1999;Murombo 2008;Sinclair et al 2008;Saeed et al 2012). 1 The extensive, parallel sets of scholarship on EIA and on sustainable development has demonstrated the importance of meaningful public participation both to ensure the integrity of the EIA process as well as to realize the potential for achieving sustainable development (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development 1992; André et al 2006;Sneddon et al 2006;Murombo 2008).…”

“…Consequently, a number of scholars have identified sustainable development as a key objective of EIA (Sadler 1999;Murombo 2008;Sinclair et al 2008;Saeed et al 2012). 1 The extensive, parallel sets of scholarship on EIA and on sustainable development has demonstrated the importance of meaningful public participation both to ensure the integrity of the EIA process as well as to realize the potential for achieving sustainable development (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development 1992; André et al 2006;Sneddon et al 2006;Murombo 2008). While there are many ways of achieving meaningful participation, one of the most robust forms of participation derives from a process based on the principles of deliberative democracy (Baber & Bartlett 2005).…”

Group discussions on how to implement a participatory process in climate adaptation planning: a case study in Malaysia

“…Regarding communication and knowledge gaps, Murombo (2008) highlighted the fact that public participation can be hampered due to the issue of language, since in most cases project documents use technical and complex language that may not be understood by all interested stakeholders and citizens. Similarly, Lindenau and Böhler-Baedeker (2016) stated that inappropriate tools, such as an unadapted type of involvement for each stakeholder group, may lead to an ineffective participation.…”

The value of litigation to women environmental human rights defenders in South Africa

“…84 Legal mobilization theorists thus criticize the materialist approach on the basis that the value of PIL cannot be reduced to a favourable outcome in court, and instead emphasize the indirect, symbolic and political impact of PIL. Understood in this way, PIL is recognized as valuable because it can strengthen grassroots movements, focus campaigns for change, amplify previously unheard voices and shift the power dynamics between the various players 80 See the discussion in Stuart Wilson, 'Litigating Housing Rights in Johannesburg 's Inner City: 2004-2008' (2011 involved. 85 In addition, litigation can promote unity between groups that may have had differences in the past.…”