Evaluating the quality of environmental impact reporting for proposed tourism-related infrastructure in the protected areas of South Africa: A case study on selected EIA reports

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is an important planning tool to strengthening environmental policy decisions by encouraging the sustainability of development projects that may lead to adverse environmental impacts and large-scale environmental degradation. The South African National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) (Act No. 107 of 1998) and the 2010 EIA Regulations (GNR 543 and 546) provide minimum requirements for environmental assessment that is classified as basic environmental impact assessment, amongst other instruments. In this case study, the quality of Basic Environmental Impact Assessment Reports (BEIARs) compiled for planned tourism-related infrastructure in and around the Protected Areas (PAs) of the Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces of South Africa was examined. To achieve this goal, the case study adopted a modified Lee and Colley Review Package. The findings of this case study showed that 92% of the BEIARs performed satisfactorily in terms of overall quality while only 54% attained 'exceptionally good' quality meanwhile a high proportion of BEIARs were of borderline quality. Moreover, although the degree of legal compliance was relatively high as compared in other EIA studies in South Africa, the more descriptive assessment tasks were conducted typically well as compared to other tasks that required more analytical capabilities. The case study also pinpointed other areas in need of further improvement and refinement so that planned tourism-related facilities do not cause long-term environmental damage in the protected areas of South Africa.