Francois Retief

Myth Busters: Reflections on strategic assessment in South Africa

Francois Retief
Associate Professor, School of Environmental Sciences and Development,
North West University, South Africa

Abstract:
South Africa has a proud history of environmental assessment in general and strategic assessment in particular, spanning almost two decades. Similar to Australia our country has incredible natural resources, magnificent landscapes, mineral riches, and treasured biodiversity. But ours is also a semi-arid, water-scarce country in which people and the environment balance on a very fine edge. It is a context where sustainability cannot be considered lightly because it deals with pressing short term survival issues as well as longer term concerns with quality of life. This presentation reflects on the contribution strategic assessment has made to sustainability within the South African context. It highlights lessons learned and importantly, certain myths around the application and effectiveness of strategic assessment. In many ways strategic assessment has evolved and positioned itself to confront some of the most hard hitting questions facing society, such as: where is our energy going to come from?, how should we manage our water resources?, how are we going to deal with population growth and increasing consumption?, etc. Because of the importance of these questions, the need for strategic assessment has never been greater.

Back to SAS 2010 : Papers & Presentations