Promoting Participation is a programme focused on assisting civil society organisations (CBOs) in effective participation in environmental licensing and other decision-making processes, particularly environmental impact assessment (EIA) processes. Future projects include:
Support Materials: Assessment and distribution of existing support materials and preparation of Beginners’ Guides to key licensing processes.
Advice: Advising CSOs, communities and members of the public who cannot access or afford other advice on effective participation in environmental decision-making processes. The Centre provides ad hoc advice to a wide range of stakeholders, and - when they meet our strict case selection criteria (see below) – represents CSOs and communities.
Expert Panel: Building a Civil Society Environmental Expert Panel of scientists, engineers and economists who can assist environmental NGOs and CBOs.
Policy & Legislative Development: Legal input to authorities and/or Parliament into draft policy and legislation where required.
In addition to basic advice available to all stakeholders, hands-on advice and support on particular environmental licensing and other decision-making processes will be provided in prioritised cases. Such prioritisation will be done with reference to the Case Selection Criteria developed with the assistance of an expert reference group to assist the Centre in selecting priority cases on which to spend its limited resources. These criteria can be downloaded here.
Please note that one of those selection criteria is whether the Centre has funding available or can access funding to cover the costs of the case. This means that, for any particular case (assuming that the case meets all the other criteria), the Centre and the organisation that brings the case to the Centre will have to raise funds to cover the legal costs involved.
In 2011, the CER partnered with the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) on a project designed to expand the capacity of our Promoting Participation programme. This programme was aimed at facilitating effective civil society participation in environmental decision-making.
The CER-WESSA project entailed working with communities, community organisations and NGOs who are interested and affected parties in particular licensing applications (typically EIAs under NEMA or the MPRDA), providing advice, guidance and support (including sourcing experts where required). The project manager is Andy Gubb, assisted by a full-time project officer, Junaid Francis, based at the CER.
The licensing applications were selected according to the Centre’s case selection criteria and other considerations. Two key projects were taken on during this period, namely the proposed Karoo Shale Gas Exploration and developments affecting water resources of the Nylsvley Floodplain, which entailed amongst other things a series of community environmental rights workshops in the Karoo and Limpopo.
Promoting Participation
Promoting Participation is a programme focused on assisting civil society organisations (CBOs) in effective participation in environmental licensing and other decision-making processes, particularly environmental impact assessment (EIA) processes. Future projects include:
In addition to basic advice available to all stakeholders, hands-on advice and support on particular environmental licensing and other decision-making processes will be provided in prioritised cases. Such prioritisation will be done with reference to the Case Selection Criteria developed with the assistance of an expert reference group to assist the Centre in selecting priority cases on which to spend its limited resources. These criteria can be downloaded here.
Please note that one of those selection criteria is whether the Centre has funding available or can access funding to cover the costs of the case. This means that, for any particular case (assuming that the case meets all the other criteria), the Centre and the organisation that brings the case to the Centre will have to raise funds to cover the legal costs involved.
Resources and links:
Collaboration with WESSA in 2011
In 2011, the CER partnered with the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) on a project designed to expand the capacity of our Promoting Participation programme. This programme was aimed at facilitating effective civil society participation in environmental decision-making.
The CER-WESSA project entailed working with communities, community organisations and NGOs who are interested and affected parties in particular licensing applications (typically EIAs under NEMA or the MPRDA), providing advice, guidance and support (including sourcing experts where required). The project manager is Andy Gubb, assisted by a full-time project officer, Junaid Francis, based at the CER.
The licensing applications were selected according to the Centre’s case selection criteria and other considerations. Two key projects were taken on during this period, namely the proposed Karoo Shale Gas Exploration and developments affecting water resources of the Nylsvley Floodplain, which entailed amongst other things a series of community environmental rights workshops in the Karoo and Limpopo.