Screening Report on Development of Low Cost Housing

Environment and Ecological Conditions of the Site 7 Weather and Climatic Conditions of the Site 7 Topography of the Site 7 Geomorphology and Geology 7 Aquatic and Vegetation Ecosystems 7 4. Regulation Frameworks 9 Supreme Law: The Constitution of 1996 9 EIA Regulations, 2014 9 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, 1975. South Africa Biodiversity Act, 2004. South Africa Waste Act, 2008 10 5. Conclusion 11 References 12 Figure 1. Brentwood Park lies within latitude -33059’0” and longitude 18039’30” with the City of Cape Town being the main administrator. Close to Brentwood Park is Driftsands Nature Reserve, which is a Provincial Nature Reserve formalized in accordance to Section 6(1) of the Nature and Environmental Conservation Ordinance of the 1974 and managed by the Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality (Celliers et al. Figure 2. Driftsands Nature Reserve It is situated about 30 km on the east side of Cape Town Metropolitan on R300 and National Route 2 in the Province of Western Cape.

It is a higher priority conservation area to the City of Cape Town Administration characterized by Mediterranean climatic conditions with dry and warm summers. The importance of these conditions to this screening process is to help identify sensitive areas. Weather and Climatic Conditions of the Site Brentwood Park and its neighboring areas are characterized by Mediterranean-based climatic conditions. During the summer season, the area is warm with dry and cool weather conditions. The warmest period in the year reaches a mean monthly temperature of 280 and the lowest period reaches 100. The area receives rainfall during the month of June to August with an annual rainfall of approximately 538mm. The Kuils River is canalized, modified and urbanized since the river provides clean and fresh water.

The nature of this particular river offers a haven for rich fauna and flora as well as a natural and man-made infrastructure for managing, treating and conveying storm water and effluent wastewater treatment (City of Cape Town, 2009). The catchment area where Brentwood Park is closely located is estimated to be approximately 66700 ha. It is an area that hosts close to 2000 wetlands on only a land sized close to 3000 ha with dunes wetlands and granite-based wetlands. This water catchment draws water from Kuils, Earste and Bottelary rivers (City of Cape Town, 2009). EIA Regulations, 2014 The main and national law that offers’ guidelines on matters of environment management – National Environment Management Act (NEMA), 1998. This Act requires an individual or entity to acquire an authorization before undertaking any project.

To have a permit to carry out any development project, the provision of the Act states a need to provide an EIA report. However, the Act states that a preliminary report or screening report can be offered to determine if a project requires full assessment study. As part of this Act, there are regulations related to Environment Impact Assessment amended in 2014 which provides a clear procedure to follow when applying for a permit. In this case, due to Brentwood Park being located within an area that is characterized with rich biodiversity, the project must adhere to provisions of this act and that includes aspects of NEMA, 1998 to conduct an EIA study to receive an environment authorization (RSA (Republic of South Africa), 1998).

South Africa Waste Act, 2008 Waste Act of 2008 is derived from the provisions of NEMA, 1998 to govern the waste management in the country. The Act support hierarchy system of waste management as the best approach with the main focus on promoting production that is cleaner, less waste, reusing, recycling and treatment. The Act was established as a requirement of the Constitution to promote a cleaner environment and ensure that citizens of South Africa have access to the healthy environment. To ensure that all requirements of NEMA are followed in respect to waste production to disposal, this Act is relevant to project site at Brentwood Park especially being close to a waste sensitive ecosystem (RSA (Republic of South Africa), 1998). Colenbrander, D. R. Breetzke, T.

Oelofse, G. Towards increased degrees of integrated coastal management in the City of Cape Town, South Africa. Mukheibir, P. Ziervogel, G. Developing a Municipal Adaptation Plan (MAP) for climate change: the city of Cape Town. Environment and urbanization, 19(1), 143-158. RSA (Republic of South Africa).