Assessing the scope of effectiveness of stakeholder engagement in the development and implementation of the Environmental Management Plan for the Berg Water Project in the Western Cape Province, South Africa
This research assesses the scope of stakeholder engagement and its effectiveness in the development and implementation of an Environmental Management Plan at project level. The theoretical basis of this research is the methodological premise that stakeholder engagement encourages quality environmental decisions and further promotes acceptable interventions for environmental management purposes towards sustainable development. A case study of the Berg Water Project is used to explore this premise through an evaluation of the scope and effectiveness of engagement of stakeholders in the formulation and implementation of the construction environmental management plan, to satisfy conditions of authorization. Focus is placed on the scope of stakeholders and their issues, and evaluation of the effectiveness of the engagement process in considering the issues during decision-making processes. The scope focuses on who was involved, the context in which they were involved, and the extent to which they were involved. An engagement framework is used to assess the effectiveness of the engagement process, including project institutions for stakeholder engagement, levels and methods of engagement applied, and their contribution to an effective Environmental Impact Assessment process with regard to its review areas of procedural, substantive and transactive effectiveness. The assessment seeks insights on how issues and concerns relating to activities of engagement were dealt with, and the extent to which issues raised through engagement contributed into project decisions. Evaluation of activities applies a stakeholder mapping and analysis concept found in stakeholder engagement literature in order to establish the suitability of level of engagement and methods of engagement. Logistical support for the engagement process is also assessed to establish how the support, or lack thereof, affected engagement effectiveness. An assessment is made of project documents within formation on stakeholders engaged during the environmental impact assessment process leading to the production of the construction environmental management plan, and information obtained from 45 interviewees from stakeholders who were engaged. The engagement process is accepted to be significantly inclusive as it covered a wide spectrum of stakeholders and gave them an opportunity to voice their concerns, and the outcomes indicated that the engagement process was adequate. Some notable weaknesses of the engagement process included failure to establish clear roles and responsibilities of the environmental monitoring committee-the entity which represented the interested and affected parties, failure to establish explicit engagement targets, and failure to identify potential trade-offs of environmental, economic and social expectations of stakeholders. By and large the effectiveness of engagement during the project was found to rest on commitment by project authorities to prioritize economic benefits for the local community, and the communication of relevant messages to stakeholders. Important lessons can be derived from this research towards improving the theory and practice of Environmental Impact Assessment. Firstly, explicit legal and funding requirements for stakeholder engagement are important prerequisites which should be imposed on project implementers regarding how they conduct the engagement process. Secondly, the presence, composition and functioning of a formal entity which represents the interests of identified interested and affected parties can broaden the range of issues that can inform project decisions. This entity should have clear roles which satisfy engagement objectives through scheduled activities which receive adequate logistical support. Thirdly, a communication approach should be devised to enable communication of relevant messages and ensure feedback mechanisms which inform and can improve the process. Lastly monitoring and auditing during the engagement process should have been done to assess satisfaction of substantive outcomes of engagement and environmental impact assessment beyond mere process compliance.
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Department of Environmental and Geographical Science