IAIAsa Unleashing the future of Integrated Environmental Management

CES attending IAIAsa in Rustenburg

We thoroughly enjoyed our attendance of IAIAsa and found the quality of presentations to be very high. It was emphasized in many of the sessions how important a role environmental specialists play and how our input empowers authorities to make informed decisions. Nuleaf was one of the conference sponsors and highlighted CES as one of their Very Important Clients (VICs). We connected with many other attendees: Jongo met with some of the specialists she coordinates with, Amanda met with her ex DFFE colleagues and other contacts, and Ted got together with some of his ex-Rhodes University students.

It was great to experience the seriousness of all authorities represented at the conference to deal with the different challenges being faced, e.g. Mpumalanga’s concerns that wind farms may pose great risks to avifauna and critical biodiversity areas in their province. Invitations to collaborate and share in information were made. The Endangered Wildlife Trust has updated some species related information and Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) has invited all Environmental Assessment Practitioners (EAPs) and specialists to work with them to improve on environmental management in general and decision-making specifically.

Our overall impression was that the discipline of environmental impact assessments is of an exceptionally high standard in South Africa, and the proactive and supportive inputs from various environmental NGO’s, the DFFE and provincial competent authorities goes a long way to ensuring best practice in EIA, and sound decision making.