Undergraduate - UnitAZA2546 - Environmental impact assessment

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	South Africa School of Social Sciences
Offered	Not offered in 2015
Coordinator(s)	Mr Marshall Mdoka

Synopsis

This unit uses case studies from the Southern Africa region and international situations to examine processes used for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), the compilation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and the effect of both on the public. It also examines the processed by which the potential environmental consequences of development proposals are analysed and evaluated. This is done from a positive and negative perspective. The unit goes on to explore legislative frameworks for environmental decision-making (EDM) from a global perspective and in so doing considers other decision-making tools such as cost-benefit analysis, environmental audits and environmental management plans (EMPs)

Outcomes

Familiarise with EDM making and values in EIA
Familiarise with EIA institutional, legal and policy provisions, particularly in SADC countries.
Grasp the interface between project and EIA life cycles.
Explain stages in the EIA process.
Explain the importance of public participation in EIA.
Describe methods used in undertaking EIA.
Identify impacts and possible mitigation measures in EIA.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 50%
Exam: 50%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.