IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ONE ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEM PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS MEETING OF 30 JANUARY 2018

Problem Statement Prior to 8 December 2014 - environmental aspects of mining activities were regulated in terms of the MPRDA Notwithstanding, some construction activities related to mining trigger listed activities under the EIA regulations Undesirable situation - both laws had their own process and information requirements leading to: Unnecessary duplication environmental impacts covered under both pieces of legislation Challenge for cooperative governance Confusion in the mining sector No alignment and no integration Not efficient – time, resources and costs

IMPLEMENTATION OF ONE ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEM In 2010, the “Strategy for Sustainable Growth and Meaningful Transformation of South Africa’s Mining Industry” was adopted The Strategy identified amongst others fragmented licensing mechanisms as one of the key binding constraints to the global competitiveness of the industry In 2008 the Minister responsible for Water and the Environment and the Minister responsible for Mineral Resources came to an agreement to align the environmental function of mining The agreement entailed Environmental function of mining to be regulated under NEMA Processing and approval timeframes to comply to MRPD Appeal authority would be Minister of Environment

IMPLEMENTATION OF ONE ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEM The legal process has been completed, environmental aspects of mining is legislated under NEMA Environmental impact assessment undertaken under the NEMA provisions – uniformity Implementation of the environmental function – Environmental Authorisation and compliance The regional offices of DMR are responsible for the review and making recommendation on EIA – decisions are taken at Head Office The Minister of Environmental Affairs is the Appeal authority Regulations under the National Water Act have been promulgated - ensures alignment of timeframes for review of EIA and Water Use Licences and the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Act

STATUS OF IMPLEMENTATION Applications are being submitted to the regional offices of DMR and are being assessed by the DMR Environmental Officers The three Departments meet to discuss implementation issues “WG 5 Implementation Meetings” once a quarter WG 5 Meetings Training on EIA is undertaken once per quarter Induction training Advanced training Outsourced training – training provided at the level of NQF 8

STATUS OF IMPLEMENTATION DEA is responsible for providing national figures of EIAs process to Outcome 10 The three Departments meet to discuss implementation issues “WG 5 Implementation Meetings” once a quarter WG 5 Meetings Training on EIA is undertaken once per quarter Induction training Advanced training Outsourced training – training provided at the level of NQF 8

LINK TO NEMALA BILL Change proposed to NEMA to compel the simultaneous submission of applications; Water use Licence, MPRD mining right and Environmental authorisation Simultaneous submissions ensure the full utilisation of one process for information gathering to inform all decision-making relating to the proposed development and to allow for the issuing of integrated licences and authorisations