The role of practitioners in facilitating the public participation process: A review of EIA in renewable energy projects

Abstract

The public participation process is a crucial part of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in renewable energy projects. The role of Environmental Assessment Practitioners (EAPs) in ensuring that this process is carried out as mandated by environmental legislation is equally important. Globally there has been a significant increase in renewable energy projects to support the transition to a low carbon economy. The role played by EAPs and the associated challenges they face when conducting public participation in EIA, particularly in renewable energy projects, has recently been the subject of studies across the globe. The aim of this study was to assess the practice of public participation in South African renewable energy projects, and to explore the role of practitioners in facilitating this process. The methodology employed involved reviewing the documentation from four renewable energy projects, this included the environmental impact reports, public participation reports, and background information documents. Legislation, in particular, the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), EIA regulations, and NEMA public participation guidelines were reviewed and studied. Furthermore, structured interviews were conducted with EAPs to address the study's objectives. Results indicated that the public participation guidelines and EIA regulations provide clear and concise requirements that EAPs should meet when conducting public participation. However, there is a key contention on the parts of the EIA regulation that give discretion to EAPs in some activities of the public participation process. The findings indicate that to a greater extent EAPs meet the requirements of public participation. EAPs also face some challenges that are unique to renewable energy projects such as lack of public knowledge, the dispersed nature of settlements in the location of renewable energy projects, and lack of public interest when it comes to the participation of Interested and Affected Parties (I&APs) in renewable energy projects. Also, the Covid-19 restrictions on public gathering had both negative and positive impacts on the public participation process. However, on the positive side these restrictions encouraged the use of social media apps and other internet platforms. The conclusions indicates that the EIA regulations and public participation guidelines provide clear and concise requirements for public participation which are implementable and has led to EAPs being able to meet most of these requirements when conducting public participation. One of the key points of contention however was the discretion given to EAPs when it comes to certain practices in public participation. An example is the issue relating to language barriers, wherein minority groups were left out, because communication was only being made in Afrikaans and English. It is recommended that concerning the issue of discretion the regulation should be revised to determine the limitation of this discretion, for example when it comes to language barriers, a multilingual clause should be included in the regulation wherein it makes it mandatory for EAPs to make information available in the language of all registered I&APs to accommodate minority groups. It is further recommended that community engagement and education be promoted when it comes to renewable energy projects to minimise the disinterest of the community in participating due to misconceptions and lack of information. A change in practice is suggested to accommodate all those participating in meetings. As such translation and interpretation services should be offered to ensure meaningful discourse and contribution to decision making. It is suggested that future studies be employed to address some of the issues that emanated from this study, but where not thoroughly investigated, such as an investigation into the role of education coupled with awareness creation in changing the public’s attitude towards renewable energy projects. Additionally, an in-depth study maybe conducted that compares and contrasts the different practices and regulation approaches to public participation in renewable energy projects across different regions and contextual circumstances.