Balancing environmental sustainability with economic and social demands is always challenging, and South Africa is grappling with an ever more complex regulatory framework as it tries to walk this line.
The country has a well established legal foundation for assessing and managing environmental impacts, and this is regularly updated, extended and modified. Among recent changes to environmental regulations are those aimed at allowing
renewable energy developments to be fast tracked, as well as a focus on the implementation of biodiversity offsets.
SRK Consulting partner and principal consultant Chris Dalgliesh highlighted that environmental impact assessment (EIA) processes are differently affected particularly if the proposed project is in a renewable energy development zone (REDZ) or a strategic transmission corridor – areas earmarked for the development of infrastructure of this nature.
Read the full article on Engineering News.
