Unique features of environmental impact assessment (EIA) in protected areas (PAs) – towards best practice principles

Protected areas (PAs) preserve ecological system integrity and biodiversity but are threatened by anthropogenic drivers of biodiversity loss such as land use change, direct exploitation of natural resources, land fragmentation, pollution, climate change, and invasive alien species. Internationally, environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a key policy instrument that guides development decisions that affect PAs, especially in the southern African region. This paper aims to identify unique features of EIA in PAs by using South African PAs as a case study towards developing best practice principles. We achieve this through conducting a workshop attended by 81 individuals representing six stakeholder groups, namely, consultants, government entities, protected area management, environmental NGOs, and academics. The results show that EIA within this PA context uniquely requires a more ecocentric ethical framing, rather than an anthropocentric framing of sustainable development. Moreover, PAs face unique governance arrangements, different stakeholder engagement expectations, and experience a greater likelihood of impacts being judged to be significant with limited mitigation options apart from avoidance. Five best practice principles are recommended to incorporate these unique features into EIA decision making affecting South African PAs, although they are also transferable to other similar country contexts where socio-economic development pressures threaten PAs.