Chairperson and hon members who are with us today, we know that when we make laws it is a journey. It is a journey that we have to walk, along with the citizens of our country, and the destination is when we implement that law and it changes the lives of people.
As we implement, we start realising that there are some gaps here and some weaknesses there and then we have to correct things. That is what is being addressed by our Constitution.
In order to give effect to the constitutional right to a safe environment, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism reviewed environmental legislation in 1996. The review resulted in the development and promulgation of the National Environmental Management Act of 1998, Nema, as the overarching framework legislation for environmental management.
Chapter 5 of Nema introduced the framework for integrated environmental management and the enabling mechanism for replacing the environmental impact assessment regulations, which had been introduced in 1997 through provisions of the Environment Conservation Act of 1989.
Although titled "integrated environmental management", the scope and provisions included in the Act of 1998 very much limited integrated environmental management to one tool only, the environmental impact assessment, EIA. During 2006 the drive towards a more efficient and effective environmental impact management system for South Africa was initiated.
This project of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, together with our provincial partners, aims not only to rationalise the use of EIAs, but to introduce a system truly based on integrated environmental management. This system will include a streamlined EIA process; the introduction of tools other than the EIA for environmental management; improved co-operation and co-ordination between the organs of state; an integrated environmental authorisation process; and bringing all economic activities, including mining, into one central environmental management system.
As a first step in this regard, in 2006 Nema-based EIA regulations were promulgated. Although improving on many of the deficiencies identified through the implementation of the former EIA system, that is, the EIA regulations of 1997, many of the mechanisms to streamline EIAs could not be introduced as the principal Act either by implication prohibited it, or did not enable such provisions in subordinate legislation. It accordingly became evident that amendments to the principal Act were required.
The amendments referred to above were subjected to a long and extensive consultation process, first through the process run by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, and then through publication by Parliament in August 2007, followed by public hearings and various deliberations by the portfolio committee responsible for environmental affairs and tourism. That is why I said that it is a long journey that we have to walk together.
After this extensive process the portfolio committee is satisfied that the amendments introduced through this Bill are, firstly, necessary; secondly, will greatly improve the efficiency of EIAs and other future tools without compromising on effective environmental management, and lastly will bring mining into the environmental management system governed by the National Environmental Management Act in a pragmatic way.
In terms of improved efficiency, this is achieved in four ways: firstly, the introduction of enabling provisions to introduce new and often more appropriate tools; secondly, provisions for exclusions and exemptions based on set criteria; thirdly, provisions for improved co-ordination and co- operation between government institutions; and fourthly, provisions for integrating environmental or related authorisation processes.
These provisions are critical to address, in a responsible manner, the various development initiatives emanating from the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa, Asgisa, and are also specifically important at this point to address the various interventions required to implement the electricity response plan. These include the ability to manage and control impacts through norms and standards, to prescribe requirements through guidelines and to issue integrated environmental authorisations, to mention just a few of the opportunities that the amendment will offer if and when enacted. This improved efficiency can, however, not be at the cost of effective environmental management and the protection of the environmental rights enshrined in the Constitution. To ensure effectiveness in this more efficient system, the amending Bill introduces various checks and balances. They include, amongst other things, minimum requirements for environmental authorisations, qualifying any discretion that the Minister or competent authority may have, and limiting exclusions and exemptions to certain provisions of the Act only and subjecting them to meeting strict criteria. In addition, provisions around public participation have been strengthened substantially.
The Bill further enables co-operative governance by introducing mechanisms for various types and levels of co-operation agreements and, through recognising other regulatory processes, the current situation of regulatory duplication in some instances can now be avoided.
Chair, a fundamental shift in the amendment is the introduction of the environmental authorisations, not only as the outcome of an EIA or any of the potential new processes introduced by Chapter 5, but also applicable to the authorisation, licensing, or permitting processes emanating from any of the specific environmental management Acts, for example the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, the National Environment Management: Air Quality Act, and the National Environmental Management: Waste Management Bill.
This, in turn, enables integrated environmental authorisations. In other words, a developer that currently may require two or more different authorisations from the environmental authority will, in future, be able to obtain all authorisations through a single process instead of going from pillar to post.
The Bill, however, also goes further and enables integrating authorisation processes with other government regulatory processes such as planning, water, heritage-related permits, permissions or authorisations.
This aspect of the amendment then brings me to what I believe is a major and important achievement of the law reform process, the inclusion of mining in the Nema environmental impact management regime. Mining was introduced in the 2006 EIA regulations after the Minister of Minerals and Energy granted consent that it be listed as an activity to be subjected to