Bronwen Griffiths, MSc, PrSciNat (Environmental Science)
DURATION: 5 Hours
Validation: Category 1 (0.5 CPD Credits)
Target Market
Environmental management professionals or process controllers, including:
- Environmental Managers within client organisations;
- Environmental Monitors within engineering consultants – both design and supervision (construction) phases;
- Environmental Officers – within contractor teams, this could be covered by safety and health officers;
- Environmental Control Officers – those undertaking compliance checks with environmental authorisations;
- Environmental Auditors – regulatory review and auditors of environmental authorisations, and, ISO 14001 compliance and Environmental Management System development; and
- Specialists involved in environmental permitting processes;
Brief description
The course is set at a preliminary or review level to set the context of environmental permitting within South Africa. The level of detail is limited and rather seeks to highlight principles and concepts, and thus will serve (a) more junior professionals, (b) those indirectly working with environmental legislation and permitting, or, (c) as a review for more senior professionals.
The course aims to provide a high-level overview of environmental legislation of relevance to development in general within a South African context.
That is, the course serves as a primer on how Environmental Management and Permitting is integrated into South African legislation. The legislative consideration is in terms of those legislative tools and/or permits most commonly encountered. This consideration is not exhaustive due to the sheer complexity of such linkages – both direct and indirect. It will however provide a sound footing of what needs to be considered for design and construction, and later moving into the operational phase of a development. Information is provided on the life cycle of development from: obtaining materials to use in a development project (i.e. materials sourcing), the development itself through the design, construction, operation, and, eventually the decommissioning phases thereof.
Importantly, the course seeks to provide guidance on the roles and responsibilities of the key role-players in the process. Note that this information is of relevance to those undertaking – directly or indirectly – the planning or concept development, design, implementation, and, the control of developments during their active lifespan from an environmental viewpoint.
Course outcomes
Understanding and review of:
- Understanding of environmental permitting context;
- Understanding of key terms used in permitting parlance;
- Overview of key environmental legislation linking into environmental permitting; and
- Understanding of key roleplayers and responsibilities.
Duration
| Module | Topic | Duration (hr : mm) | Running total (maximum) (hr) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intro | Introductory video – presenter and course | 00:15 | 0.25 |
| Lesson 1 | Aim, Intent and Context of Environmental Permitting | 00:30 | 0.75 |
| Lesson 2 | Key definitions or “language” of environmental legislation | 01:00 | 1.75 |
| Lesson 3 | Key legislation | 02:00 | 3.75 |
| Quiz | Review (30 questions) | ± 00:30 | 4.75 |
| TOTAL | ± 4.75 hrs |
Bio / Resume
Bronwen Griffiths has operated across a range of sectors within the environmental field, dominantly permitting and related processes, functioning as a project manager, and provision of ecological specialist knowledge. She is a trained ecologist with a Masters of Science from the University of the Witwatersrand, and, is a registered Professional Natural Scientist (PrSciNat): Environmental Science.
Bronwen is currently a freelance environmental specialist, operating as WEB Environmental Consultancy. She was previously a senior environmental consultant (6.5 years) with Royal HaskoningDHV, a multi-national engineering consultancy, as regional environmental lead for the Western and Eastern Cape (sharing Northern Cape). This was preceded by a year as chief environmental scientist at AECOM, and, over a decade of running her own small-scale environmental consultancy with highlights of Environmental Manager for City of Joburg Metropolitan Municipality (CoJ), and a few months as Acting Assistant Director at the Gauteng Department of Agriculture & Rural Development (GDARD). Her career began at GDARD as an environmental officer.
Bronwen functions as environmental assessment practitioner and project manager. She has dealt with a range of environmental projects both in type and scale from: feasibility, EIAs, environmental management post-authorisation, and, cross-linked to all aspects of spatial planning. Bronwen has authored / co-authored various guideline documents (Department of Environmental Affairs, GDARD, CoJ, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport).
