An Analysis of the Roles of the Practitioners in the Implementation of the Environmental Impact Assessment in South Africa

Abstract

Various national, domestic, and international legal instruments provide for the significance of ensuring that, prior, during, and after any proposed or completed project, a thorough EIA must be carried out, to establish the extent of the impact and the effect of such a developmental project would have on the environment. To accomplish this, the role of Environmental Assessment Practitioners (EAP) became more imperative. This paper looks at the various roles of these practitioners, their professional advice based on their assessments, whether a project should get the go-ahead to continue or not, stating and indicating the imminent risks to the environment, how to mitigate them, and if need be how to abate the project.

Keywords

• developmental projects
• impact and effect assessments
• environmental impact practitioners
• south africa