
ETC-Africa specializes in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Applications, Environmental Management plans and related environmental compliance projects. ETC-Africa also has significant experience in water use licenses, sustainability planning / reporting, carbon footprint management and mining license applications. We are based in Durban, Richards Bay, Ballito and Amanzimtoti (KwaZulu-Natal) and undertake projects locally, nationally and internationally.
Environmental Consulting
- Environmental Risk Analysis & Planning
- Environmental Management & Compliance
- Environmental Impact Assessments (Full scoping and EIA’s as well as BAR)
- Environmental Management Plans
- Environmental Control Officers
- Sustainability Planning
- Water Use Licenses
ETC-Africa are members of the International Association For Impact Assessment and have many years experience in managing EIA applications as independent environmental practitioners. Under the EIA regulations an independent environmental practitioner needs to be appointed to undertake the process on your behalf, this ensure a neutral approach and professional opinion on the impact assessment.
Water Use Licensing
- Taking from a water resource
- Storing water
- Diverting the flow of water in a watercourse
- Irrigation of land with waste water
- Disposing of water containing waste
- Altering the bed, banks, course or characteristics of a watercourse
FAQ around the EIA process
Under the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) certain activities or developments are required to get environmental authorization before work / building can proceed. An EIA is the process of identifying all the environmental risks associated with a particular development and ensuring that the risks are mitigated, managed or removed from the equation. An EIA report needs to be written up by an Independent Environmental Practitioner and submitted to the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs (In KwaZulu Natal) - in some cases the application will need to be reviewed by other departments.
There are two different types of EIA's
- A Basic Environmental Assessment
- Full Scoping and Environmental Impact Assessment
There are three "Listing Notices" which guide and identify which projects require an EIA. These notices identify what are called "trigger activities" - if your project includes any specific activity that is listed as a trigger activity, you will need environmental authorization before you proceed.
Listing Notice 1 identifies trigger actives where the impacts are generally well understood. These activities only require a Basic Environmental Assessment
Listing Notice 2 identifies trigger activities where the impacts could be considered broad and not well understood. These activities require a Full Scoping Report and Environmental Impact Assessment
Listing Notice 3 identifies trigger activities which are specific to a particular province or region.
Copies of these listing activities are available for download below.
A Basic Assessment can take between 4 and 6 months to complete whilst a Full Scoping and EIA can take up to twelve months to complete
Step 1: An Initial Application to undertake a Basic Environmental Assessment gets submitted to the department - receipt of this application is acknowledged within 14 days and a departmental reference number is issued
Step 2: A Public participation process is mandatory. This includes putting up signboards, advertising the project in local press and circulating a background information document to all stakeholders and interested parties. Interested and affected parties can register to be involved or make comment on the project.
Step 3: A Draft Basic Assessment Report is circulated to interested and affected parties as well as certain government departments, this could include Water Affairs, KZN Wildlife and local government. Stakeholders have 40 days to review the draft and submit any comments
Step 4: Upon approval of the draft, the final report is submitted to authorization. This can take up to 30 days
Supporting Documents: All Environmental Impact assessments need to include certain supporting documents, these include (but not limited to)
- EMP, an environmental management plan which outlines how the project will be implemented and managed, during construction, during day to day management and during decommissioning (if applicable)
- Specialist reports, any specialist reports such as ecological assessments, or geotechnical reports which back up the EIA need to be included, these are often drawn up by specialist third party consultants.
- Site plan and maps.
- Declaration by the landowner, if you do not own the land where the EIA will take place, a special approval from the landowner will be required
There is a mandatory application fee payable to the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs (KZN) for EIA submissions as of 1 April 2014. These are R2000 for a Basic Assessment and R10 000 for a full scoping and EIA.
Our costs as consultants vary from project to project and depends on the nature of the project, how many specialist reports may be required and complexities of the EMP