03 Aug 2016

The Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Mr Tshekedi Khama, has officially launched the Botswana Environment Assessment Practitioners Association (BEAPA).

The environmental assessment legislation was first introduced in 2005, through the Environment Impact Act of 2005. The association was consequently established in 2011 following  review of the act.

Officiating at the launch that was preceded by BEAPA’s annual general meeting in Gaborone on Tuesday, Mr Khama said whilst the practice of environmental assessment was relatively new in Botswana, “we haven’t done as well as we could have done, when you consider that certain countries like the United States started way back in the 1960. 

We still have a challenge today on what’s right and what’s wrong, pertaining to the environment. And I was listening with interest. 

The first thing that the chairman decided to lead to was the subject of waivers,” he said.

The minister expressed concern that his ministry was inundated with requests or applications for exemptions from developers or the business community, adding that the request for waivers had become a norm, rather than an exception.

What also bothered him, he said, was that practitioners should work together, adding that the quality of their submissions was why people came looking for waivers.

“There is no other reason. Or the developer hasn’t considered the EIA. And then, all of a sudden, the one thing we don’t need to do is the EIA. That one we should just waive,” he said.

The idea of an EIA, Mr Khama said was a huge challenge considering the benefits of an environment assessment as a sustainable development tool. 

To address this, he said his ministry was in the process of reviewing the EA Act 2011 and one of the things that would be considered was the issue of exemptions, particularly providing detailed guidelines on conditions in the revised Act on how waivers could, if necessary, be granted.

Currently, he said the environmental condition of Gaborone, as a city, and its surrounding areas were a shame, as illegal dumping had become the norm, adding that Environmental Assessment Practitioners had a role to play there, “because nine out of ten times that project has had a EIA and you were involved” ENDS