Heritage Cases

The forestry sector of the Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) is planning to play its part in the promotion of rural economic development in South Africa. To this end, DAFF has been promoting plantation development in the rural areas of KwaZulu Natal and also in the Eastern Cape. The intention of this afforestation promotion is to provide socio-economic development opportunities for the rural areas of the province, where a large number of potential applicants have been identified as interested in partnering with one of the larger corporate forestry companies to develop a portion of their land for timber production. Furthermore, it is intended at providing a sufficient supply of roundwood in the country, which is projected to be in short in the near future. Areas that were identified for the implementation of this project are where there is water available for such development. According to legislation, prior to such a development an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) needs to be done. The purpose of this EIA is to assess the components of the project that are listed activities by the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) which will need to be mitigated or avoided. Via this EIA process an information will be provided to the competent authorities a decision may be taken whether the project should be authorized or not. If it is authorized, conditions under which such authorization is provided will be articulated. One of such components that need assessment is protection of heritage resources.