Environmental Impact Assessment in South Africa

Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT: SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT
Environmental Impact Assessment: South African Context
Student’s name
University
Author’s note

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT: SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................2
1.1. About the UN Sustainable Development Goals – 2030....................................................3
2. Methodology............................................................................................................................4
2.1. Research Philosophy and Research Design......................................................................4
2.2. Data Collection and Analysis............................................................................................5
3. Results......................................................................................................................................5
3.1. Gaps in the Attainment of the SDG’s...............................................................................5
Source - http://www.statssa.gov.za/MDG/SDGs_Country_Report_2019_South_Africa.pdf...11
3.2. Legislations Governing the Attainment of the SDG’s....................................................11
Discussion......................................................................................................................................12
Recommendation and Conclusion.................................................................................................16
References......................................................................................................................................18

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1. Introduction
In the light of the imminent challenge posed against sustainable development, it is argued
that Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) could play an instrumental role to deliver
sustainable development. Environmental Impact Assessment is a systematic assessment protocol
to evaluate both the positive and negative impact of any plan, project, policy or program that
may have an effect on the environment. Such assessment programs, especially pertaining to
policy and plans, are commissioned by organs of state and contribute significantly in the decision
making and policy approval. It is internationally applied as a preventive measure to ensure
proposed actions are socially equitable, economically viable and environmentally sustainable.
The central purpose of Environmental Impact Assessment is to provide the policy makers an
indication of the likely consequences of the operations. Thus, EIA serves arguably as a tool to
deliver sustainable development as it decides the fate of all the relevant policies, plans, projects
and programs that may disrupt the natural system or damage the environment (Glasson and
Therivel 2013).
The purpose of the present research is to evaluate how Environmental Impact Assessment
within the jurisdiction of South Africa delivers on the SDGs. The country is one of the leading
nations to support and ratify the sustainable development goals when it was proposed in the

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United Nations in 2015. Besides, it also took a pioneering role to define eight long-term
development objectives for the continent of Africa. The country also takes pride in aligning its
National Development Plan (NDP) with the Sustainable development goals (Sdgcafrica.org
2019). However, there is always scope for revision and correction given the changing nature and
demands of the global challenges. Hence, the present research paper will undertake an
examination of Environmental Impact Assessment provisions and practices in South Africa, and
determine its efficacy in delivering to the realization of the SDGs.
1.1. About the UN Sustainable Development Goals – 2030
In the month of September in 2015, the 2030 Agenda for the attainment of Sustainable
Development was adopted formally by the UN General Assembly (Hacking 2019). This agenda
includes 17 SDG’s or sustainable development goals as they are commonly known. By building
on the vital principle that ensures that just about no one is left behind in the road to development,
the Agenda for Sustainable Development for the year of 2030, emphasizes the use of what may
be termed as a holistic approach for the achievement of universal sustainability or sustainability
for one and all (Hacking 2019).
The Environmental Impact Assessment Method as initiated in 1969 has been recognized
over the years as being a key tool for the attainment of sustainability in different parts of the
world, and as such, it can successfully be used for the attainment of the UN sustainable
development goals or the SDG’s as well (Morrison-Saunders et al. 2020). At the Rio
Declaration of 1992, it was recognized by the UN body, that EIA constitutes a national
instrument that can be put to use for the achievement of sustainability development goals
(Morton et al. 2017). According to Principle 17 of the Rio Declaration of 1992, the EIA is a
national instrument that can be used for the implementation of all types of projects that are likely

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to induce a significant and adverse environmental impact and which are also subject to decisions
that are undertaken by national authorities (Saeed et al. 2016). In the year of 2002, the United
Nations Environmental Plan highlighted the need for the environmental impact assessment to
emphasize more on the integration of health and social impacts (Renda 2017).
2. Methodology
South Africa has been chosen as the proposed jurisdiction to conduct the Environmental
Impact, since the country is one of the advanced systems in terms of comprehensive policies and
planning in the continent of Africa. It has risen since to become a relatively prominent country
among all the developing African nations and has since taken significant steps towards
sustainability development through its programs and policies. Also, the availability of
information pertaining to policy declaration and EIA development in South Africa makes it a
viable scope for Environmental Impact assessment. The major goals of the country pertaining to
achieve sustainable development encompass social, economic and environmental impacts
(Department of Environment RSA 2016).
2.1. Research Philosophy and Research Design
At the outset of the study, the conceptual framework of positivism was chosen for
undertaking the research work. Positivism is a research philosophy that allows the investigator to
arrive at an understanding of a research subject based on available figures and facts. As such,
detailed primary and secondary information on the subject of SDG’s as accomplished in South
Africa, were studied in detailed using the research philosophy of positivism. The research design
chosen for this project is the descriptive or analytical design, that allowed the researcher to

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analyse in sufficient detail, the steps taken by the South African administration to achieve SDG’s
and the gaps that have ensued in this respect (Sandham et al. 2019).
2.2. Data Collection and Analysis
In order to understand whether or not the EIA truly serves as an effective instrument for
achieving the SDG’s, this research took recourse to detailed primary and secondary research on
the subject of the SDG’s and progress pertaining to their accomplishment, in South Africa. As
such, a wide array of books, journal articles and chapters in refereed volumes were studied in
order to arrive at an understanding of the steps taken by the South African administration to
achieve the SDG’s. Primary research was conducted by looking at the country reports on
sustainable development as published by the South African government, the most prominent of
these being the country report on the attainment of SDG’s as published in the year of 2019. The
data retrieved from primary and secondary sources have first been tabulated and then discussed
and analysed thematically.
3. Results
3.1. Gaps in the Attainment of the SDG’s
Sustainable Development Goal Gaps in Accomplishment
SDG 1 - To end poverty in all its forms Between 2013 and 2018, poverty reduction
took place in South African from 28.9 percent
to 29.5 percent. The gap of approximately 70.5