Abstract
M.A.
The Environmental Management Program (EMP) is a tool that is frequently used
in the management of environmental impacts associated with economic
activities. It exerts great influence in many environmental decisions affecting
most of the economic sectors in South Africa. This can be ascribed to the fact
that EMP is often the only tool used for the management of the environmental
impacts inherent to these activities. It is therefore of great importance that this
tool should be effective in all respects. An effective EMP can contribute greatly to
the practice of environmental impact management in that it will enhance the
exploitation of natural resources in a sustainable manner, thus stimulating
economic activity.
It is incontrovertible that no tool will be and remain effective if it can not be
evaluated in accordance with accepted scientific norms. Such a process of
evaluation should improve the adaptability of EMP to the manifold requirements
of the changing and dynamic environment to Which it applies, in a way that will be
uncomplicated in its application. Lastly, the quality of any environmental
management tool should be evaluated in order to protect the credibility of the tool
by ensuring that it is always applied effectively
One of the major problems currently encountered with EMP is that there exist
virtually no generally accepted measures aimed at evaluating the quality and
effectiveness of this tool. This study therefore attempts to fill this gap by
formulating a set of criteria that can be used for the evaluation of EMP.
The set of evaluation criteria developed in this study was derived from a literature
study regarding the definition, concept, structure and nature of EMP. This
discussion lead to a list of characteristics and requirements regarding EMP. This
list of characteristics and requirements were then clustered into areas with
commonality and were subsequently used to devise and structure the set of criteria. The evaluation criteria thus arrived at, were then employed in the
formulation of a simple questionnaire that can be used generally to evaluate
EMP.
The process for the evaluation of E P formulated in this study is illustrated by
applying it to a specific case study. A relatively small refractory and ceramic clay
quarry was chosen for this purpose. It was selected because EMP plays such an
important role in the management of the environmental impacts in the mining
sector. It is the belief of the author that the recommendations and conclusions
flowing from this application of the proposed evaluation process might be useful
to improve this specific EMP, as well EMP in the mining sector in general.
It is furthermore believed that the proposed evaluation process and the
demonstration thereof in this study will lead to a better perspective on the
practice of EMP as an effective environmental impact management tool.