DVA 2601 SOCIAL_IMPACT_ESSAY.

TITLE: Analyse how Social Impact Assessment has been used in South Africa. Then discuss which principles and practice should be followed by the countries of the South. TABLE OF CONTENT 1. INTRODUCTION 2. DEFINITION OF SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT 3. HISTORY OF SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA 4. PROBLEMS OF SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT IN SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT 5. PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF SIA TO BE FOLLOWED BY THE COUNTRIES OF THE SOUTH 6. CONSLUSION SOURCES CONSULTED INTRODUCTION Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is globally recognized as a principal tool in environmental management, entrenched in domestic and international law (Ortolano and Shepherd 1995, Morgan 2012). Fundamental to EIA practice is consideration of the interrelationships between the social, economic, and biophysical aspects of a project (IAIA 1999), and early principles for the design and development of effective EIA processes. Fuller (1999:57) acknowledged that their scope should extend to “all aspects of a proposal, including cumulative effects, interrelated socioeconomic, cultural and health factors and sustainability implications.” In practice however, EIAs have dealt predominantly. For the purpose of the essay will analyse how Social Impact Assessment (SIA) has been used in South Africa. Will then also discuss which principle and practice of SIA should be followed in countries of the South. In the essay we will began by defining the concept of Social Impact Assessment, and secondly discuss the purpose of SIA, and thirdly we will look at the history of SIA in South Africa, fourthly we will discuss the problems of SIA in South African context and lastly we will discuss which principles and practices of SIA should be followed by the countries of the south. The essay will conclude with a brief summary of the overall discussion. THE CONCEPT OF SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT According to Vanclay and Burdge (1998) Social impact assessment can be defined as the process of assessing or estimating, in advance, the social consequences that are likely to follow from specific policy actions or project development, particularly in the context of appropriate national, state, or provincial environmental policy legislation. Social impacts include all social and cultural consequences to human populations of any public or private actions that alter the ways in which people live, work, play, relate to one another, organize to meet their needs, and generally cope as members of society. Cultural impacts involve changes to the norms, values, and beliefs of individuals that guide and rationalize their cognition of themselves and their society. While SIA is normally undertaken within the relevant national environmental policy framework, it is not restricted to this, and SIA as a process and methodology has the potential to contribute greatly to the planning process. SIA research provides a direction for understanding the process, and guidance in the management of social change in advance of the