Publikationsdatum:
2021-05-19
Beschreibung:
This paper investigates the question of what influence human beings have
had on biodiversity in the region of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. A historical analysis
has been made of human impact on local ecosystems and species accompanied by statistics
on the reduction of habitats and systems caused by urbanisation, cultivation, silviculture
and state dams. The major causes of biodiversity loss are identified as being habitat
destruction or modification and extractive utilisation. The most important problem is that
the government of South Africa does not have an effective environmental management
system to ensure wise decision-making. The result has been sectoral ministries empowered
with the dual role of both exploiting and preserving natural resources. In 1989 guidelines
for Integrated Environmental Management were produced by the Department of
Environmental Affairs with an environmental impact assessment procedure. However, the
procedure is weak because cumulative and synergistic impacts of development are poorly
considered, because the land-use planning framework at the regional and even subregional
scale is incomplete, and because there is generally poor understanding of how
various land-uses impact on biodiversity. What is more, the procedure hasn't been given
force of law due to the worry that the country cannot afford expensive assessment
procedures when economic growth is the priority.
Beschreibung:
Published
Schlagwort(e):
Ecological balance
;
Environmental impact assessment
;
Biodiversity
Repository-Name:
AquaDocs
Materialart:
Report
,
Non-Refereed
Format:
73293 bytes
Format:
application/pdf
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