Environmental Compliance Monitoring (Part 1)

Introduction

In South Africa (and elsewhere in the world) project developments are in general issued with some form of Environmental Authorization (EA) - previously known as a Record of Decision (RoD) following a successful environmental impact assessment process (be it a Basic Assessment or full Scoping-EIA).

Contained within such an Environmental Authorization (EA) are various requirements stipulated by the authorizing Department (e.g. DEADP) upon the Applicant (Developer). One section in particular lays out the requirements for monitoring, evaluating and reporting on environmental compliance in relation to National, Provincial and Local legislation and regulations, as well as in relation to the requirements contained within the EIA, the Environmental Authorization (EA) and the mitigation measures contained within the approved Environmental Management Plan (EMPr).

In most cases the Environmental Authorization (EA) will refer to the appointment of either an independent (or not) full-time or part-time Environmental Control Officer (ECO) who is suitably qualified and experienced to monitor, evaluate and report on environmental compliance to the stipulated Department, Environmental Monitoring Committee (EMC) and/or Project Team.

The environmental compliance monitoring aspect is the practical, on-the-ground step for environmental management to ensure the academic research, planning and management recommendations are actually implemented - thus mitigating the negative environmental and social impacts that were identified (e.g. protection of wetlands, prevention of hazardous waste pollution), whilst enhancing the positive impacts/opportunities that were conceptualized to add value to the project and its stakeholders (e.g. biodiversity offsets).

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