Sustainable development and the environment: lessons from the St Lucia environmental impact assessment

Abstract

The environmental impact assessment (ETA) on the effects of the proposed mining on the Eastern Shores of Lake St Lucia was arguably the largest and most transparent yet undertaken on the African continent. It assessed the consequences of proposed mining in coastal dune systems in northern KwaZulu-Natal, in an area regarded as very important for conservation Public opposition to the mining, and participation in the EIA, reached unprecedented levels. The EIA took place during a time of profound political change in South Africa, and in an environment with differing cultures, making the assessment of impacts and their relevance to different groups exacting. The author’s ability to make clear and meaningful recommendations with regard to the adoption of future options was hampered by the lack of a strategic regional planning framework, by changing political factors, and by the lack of rigorous scientific models on which to base the prediction of impacts. The material produced by the EIA was reviewed by a panel of eminent lay people, who in turn made a recommendation to the government of South Africa not to allow mining. Their recommendation represents an example of the application of the precautionary principle, and was made both because of the perceived value of the area ('the sense of the place') and because of the inability to make exact predictions of the magnitude of expected impacts and the degree to which they could be mitigated. There are several important lessons that can and should be learnt from this exercise. These relate to the importance of wide scoping and early identification of the important issues; the way in which EIAs of this nature have to deal with uncertainties and ignorance; the role of 'intangibles'; and the need for new paradigms in relation to the accepted models of the management of conservation areas in developing regions characterised by overpopulation and abject poverty.