National Environmental Management Laws Amendment Bill, 2017 Table of comments by the Centre for Environmental Rights

The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) provides a detailed table of comments and proposed amendments to the National Environmental Management Laws Amendment Bill, 2017. The document focuses on strengthening environmental compliance, improving financial provisioning for rehabilitation, and ensuring public participation in administrative processes across several South African environmental acts, including NEMA, NEMPAA, NEMBA, NEMAQA, NEMICMA, and NEMWA.

• The CER argues that Section 24G of NEMA, which allows for the legalization of activities commenced without authorization, acts as a "perverse incentive" for developers to bypass legal processes. They propose increasing the maximum administrative fine from R5 million to R10 million to create a proper disincentive for illegal activity.
• The CER proposes expanding the definition of "financial provision" to include not only applicants and holders of environmental authorizations but also holders of EMPRs and EMPs under the MPRDA. They further suggest replacing "rehabilitation" with "mitigation, remediation and rehabilitation" to encompass wider concepts like biodiversity offsets.
• Regarding the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act (NEMPAA), the CER recommends an outright prohibition of all extractive activities in protected environments. They oppose the current provision that allows such activities with Ministerial consent, arguing that protected areas must be shielded from the significant impacts of prospecting and mining.
• The CER advocates for the mandatory inclusion of public participation in the review and renewal of atmospheric emission licences under NEMAQA, stating that such requirements are necessary under the Constitution and the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA).
• The CER strongly opposes the proposed deletion of subsections (2) and (2A) of Section 47 of NEMA, which require regulations to be tabled in Parliament before final publication. They argue there is no duplication of legal requirements with the Interpretation Act.
• The CER objects to the proposed "deeming" of old-order Environmental Management Plans (EMPs) and Programmes (EMPRs) approved under the MPRDA as NEMA environmental authorizations. They argue this inappropriately blurs the distinction between environmental impact assessment and environmental management and lowers environmental standards.
• The CER proposes that the National Contaminated Land Register (NCLR) must continue to include "investigation areas" and not just confirmed contaminated land. They argue that removing investigation areas reduces transparency and hinders the public's ability to track potential risks to health and the environment.
• The CER recommends that the Minister responsible for water affairs be explicitly authorized to access financial provisions if a holder fails to rehabilitate or manage impacts on water resources, noting that the Minister responsible for mineral resources is currently the only authority with this power.
• The CER suggests the insertion of a new section in NEMPAA to regulate the use of land in buffer zones around protected areas, noting that current policies are not binding and that high-impact developments, such as mining, are being granted in these zones.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (n.d.). National Environmental Management Laws Amendment Bill, 2017 Table of comments by the Centre for Environmental Rights. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CER-Table-of-Comments-for-PPCEA-submission_NEMLAB-4-19-April-2018.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. National Environmental Management Laws Amendment Bill, 2017 Table of comments by the Centre for Environmental Rights. n.d. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CER-Table-of-Comments-for-PPCEA-submission_NEMLAB-4-19-April-2018.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=National Environmental Management Laws Amendment Bill, 2017 Table of comments by the Centre for Environmental Rights |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CER-Table-of-Comments-for-PPCEA-submission_NEMLAB-4-19-April-2018.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centreforenvironmentalrightsndnational, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{National Environmental Management Laws Amendment Bill, 2017 Table of comments by the Centre for Environmental Rights}}, institution = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CER-Table-of-Comments-for-PPCEA-submission_NEMLAB-4-19-April-2018.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }