EIA TRIGGERS & LISTING NOTICES
EIA TRIGGERS & LISTING NOTICES
THE RELEVANCE OF LISTED ACTIVITIES IN EIA
The Environment Conservation Act which preceded the current National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 (NEMA), identified a number of activities “which will probably have a detrimental effect on the environment” under section 21 of the Act.
These activities which formed part of the very first version of the EIA Regulations, were the activities which could not commence until an environmental authorisation had been obtained.
These were the Listed Activities or EIA Triggers.
The purpose behind the listing of activities requiring prior environmental authorisation has therefore been to ensure that, the potential impact of activities which may have a detrimental impact on the environment were assessed in detail before any decision could be taken to authorise them.
After screening a proposed development project for EIA triggers, an Environmental Assessment Practitioner (EAP) notes the individual EIA triggers as per the listing notices, in the Basic Assessment Report, Scoping Report and/or Environmental Impact Report.
The listed activity (EIA Trigger) as contained in the Listing Notice, forms the basis for the Environmental Impact Assessment.
The EIA triggers as per the listing notices are not there for show.
It is therefore imperative for the EAP, as a minimum, to assess the potential environmental impacts associated with the specific listed activities which triggered the need for the EIA in the first place.
The impact assessment must deal with those aspects related to each of the listed activities.
For example, if the listed activity is related to the removal of indigenous vegetation, the impact assessment must cover those aspects relating to:
the identification of the indigenous vegetation,
the conservation status of the indigenous vegetation affected,
the removal or damage (and the extent thereof) to be caused to the vegetation,
it’s existing use by the local community,
the type of habitat or ecosystem supported by that type of vegetation, among others
If the EIA places little or no focus on aspects relating to the affected indigenous vegetation, that should raise a few eyebrows as to the completeness and relevance of the EIA process undertaken by the EAP.
It is considered reckless, if not misleading ( and thus an offence in terms of the EIA Regulations) for an EAP to ignore or downplay the assessment of impacts associated with the specific EIA trigger(s).