The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), in collaboration with the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, provincial environmental affairs departments and other relevant sector stakeholders, will launch a national stakeholder consultation on proposed reforms to South Africa’s Environmental-Impact Assessment (EIA) system.

The multi-sector stakeholder consultation process will run from March 11 to April 24, with sessions to be held in each province.

The proposed reforms aim to strengthen the ongoing sector-led initiative to improve the efficacy of the EIA process, allowing flexibility to apply other instruments, and modernise and strengthen the country’s environmental governance framework.

EIAs are highlighted as a cornerstone of South Africa’s environmental management system.

They give effect to Section 24 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to an environment that is not harmful to health or wellbeing, while promoting sustainable development.

However, the current EIA process has tended to operate independently of complementary environmental instruments, constraining their ability to demonstrate integrated sustainability outcomes, the DFFE points out.

Listed activities automatically determine the type of assessment required, with limited flexibility to respond to the specific environmental risk or sensitivity of a proposed development, it adds.

The environmental sector is now proposing a more flexible, risk-based screening approach.

This screening will assess the nature, scale, and environmental context of a proposed development and determine the appropriate level of assessment required.

This means that projects with significant environmental risk, particularly in sensitive environments, will continue to undergo full EIAs, including specialist studies and public participation; projects with low or insignificant environmental impacts may follow a shorter assessment route or exit the process earlier, where appropriate; and environmental authorities will apply defined criteria and risk-based tools to ensure decisions remain evidence-based, transparent and accountable.

Environmental authorisation requirements, public participation provisions and appeal rights will remain in place.

The proposed reform encourages the broader adoption of environmental management instruments such as norms, standards and environmental management frameworks, where these instruments are better suited to managing specific environmental risks, the department explains.

It says that this supports a more integrated and strategic environmental management system and is aligned with strengthening sustainability outcomes while improving regulatory efficiency.