1,721,013 research outputs found
A review of EIA report quality in the North West province of South Africa
No full texthttp//dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2007.07.00
The contribution of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to decision making for biological pest control in South Africa the case of Lantana camara
No full texthttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2009.12.01
The effectiveness of state of the environment reporting (SoER) at the local government sphere - a developing country's experience
No full textState of the environment reporting (SoER) is a well-established and widely applied environmental management tool in the South African context. Despite a wealth of knowledge about conducting and preparing SoERs, there is a paucity of research on the effect SoER has had on decision-making at the local government sphere. This study investigated the effect of SoER on decision-making for a sample of municipalities in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. The methodology relied on interviews with key role players, which include the ��environmental function�' as well as ��other functions�' responsible for infrastructure development and planning within the municipalities. The results show that notwithstanding the extensive time and resources spent on SoER, it appears to have had a limited effect on decision-making, especially beyond the environmental function. Recommendations to improve the influence of SoER on decision-making in developing countries include improved clarity on the purpose and home of SoER within municipalities, adequate budget and capacity, and effective cooperative governance both within the municipalities, and with other spheres of government
The performance of environmental impact assessment in the explosives manufacturing industry in South Africa
No full textExplosives manufacture in South Africa is a major component of the chemical and mining industry, and as an important producer of hazardous chemicals it is also a potential contributor to significant environmental impacts. Environmental authorisation of explosives manufacturing activities is based primarily upon the quality of information made available in the Environmental Impact Report (EIR), but the quality of EIR for explosives manufacturing projects has never been investigated. A modified version of the Lee and Colley review package was used to determine the EIR quality of a sample of four explosives projects. The findings reveal that the EIRs were of a generally satisfactory quality, but with some areas of weakness that are readily linked to potentially significant environmental impacts, pointing to limitations in the EIA process regarding the production of explosives. Recommendations include improved training of EIA practitioners, the use of quality review checklists and external specialist review, development of guidelines and the use of risk assessment as additional tools to the EIA regulations.http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscinet/jeap
The quality of environmental impact reports for projects with the potential of affecting wetlands in South Africa
No full textIn South Africa certain development activities, which may have a substantial detrimental effect on the environment, require an environmental impact assessment (EIA), including projects with the potential of affecting wetlands. A key element of the EIA process is the submission of an environmental impact report (EIR) for review in order to determine whether the report is adequate and/or whether a greater quantity of information is required before the project can be authorised. The information available to decision-makers in the EIR is a major determinant in the outcome of wetland protection and/or destruction. The quality of 4 environmental impact reports of large projects with the potential of impacting on wetlands was assessed using an EIA report quality review checklist. It is concluded that the quality of the 4 reports was generally satisfactory but certain areas were found to be poorly performed, i.e. identification and evaluation of impacts to the potential detriment of the wetlands for which the EIAs were performed To improve the quality of the reports for projects with the potential of affecting wetlands it is recommended that a quality review checklist be used by EIA practitioners and authorities as an additional tool to the EIA regulations and the integrated environmental management series. This should assist in ensuring that key aspects are addressed before submission to the relevant authority, and will also contribute to establishing a baseline of EIR quality for evaluation of wetlands EIA practice under the new regulations promulgated in 2006.http://search.sabinet.co.za/WebZ/Authorize?sessionid=0&next=ej/ej_content_waters.html&bad=error/authofail.htm
Participatory rural appraisal approaches for public participation in EIA: lessons from South Africa
Full text linkPublic participation in environmental impact assessment (EIA) often falls short of the requirements of best practice in the move towards sustainable development, particularly for disadvantaged and marginalized communities. This paper explores the value of a participatory rural appraisal (PRA) approach for improved public participation in a sample of EIA’s for photovoltaic projects in South Africa. PRA was conducted post facto making use of selected PRA tools. Findings show that a great deal more information was obtained by the PRA approach, confirming the perceived weakness of traditional PP for vulnerable and disadvantaged communities. It is concluded that a PRA approach has considerable potential for improving meaningful public participation, which should improve EIA, build capacity in those communities, and enhance livelihoods and sustainable resource us
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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