Ex post facto authorisation in South African environmental assessment legislation: a critical review

One of the fundamental tenets underlying environmental assessment both internationally and in South Africa is that it is anticipatory in nature in that it is essentially an evaluation of the effects likely to arise from a major project or other action significantly affecting the natural or artificial environment. Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is therefore a systematic and integrative process for considering possible impacts prior to a decision being taken on whether or not a proposal should be given approval to proceed. This article argues that the current legislative basis for environmental assessment in South Africa, namely Part V of the Environment Conservation Act 73 of 1998 (ECA) and regulations made under it, reflects this philosophy. It argues that the phenomenon of ex post facto or retrospective environmental authorisation is ultra vires and thus not permissible under the current legislative regime. Finally the article outlines and assesses the environmental assessment regime under the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 (NEMA) and recent amendments to it under the NEMA Amendment Act 8 of 2004, which will in future govern the environmental assessment process. The amending Act introduces a new section 24G into the anticipated environmental assessment regime which will permit ex post facto or retrospective environmental authorisation. The authors argue that this is an unwelcome development which will militate against the purposes underlying environmental assessment

Ex post facto authorisation in south african environmental assessment legislation: A critical review

One of the fundamental tenets underlying environmental assessment both internationally and in South Africa is that it is anticipatory in nature in that it is essentially an evaluation of the effects likely to arise from a major project or other action significantly affecting the natural or artificial environment. Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is therefore a systematic and integrative process for considering possible impacts prior to a decision being taken on whether or not a proposal should be given approval to proceed. This article argues that the current legislative basis for environmental assessment in South Africa, namely Part V of the Environment Conservation Act 73 of 1998 (ECA) and regulations made under it, reflects this philosophy. It argues that the phenomenon of ex post facto or retrospective environmental authorisation is ultra vires and thus not permissible under the current legislative regime. Finally the article outlines and assesses the environmental assessment regime under the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 (NEMA) and recent amendments to it under the NEMA Amendment Act 8 of 2004, which will in future govern the environmental assessment process. The amending Act introduces a new section 24G into the anticipated environmental assessment regime which will permit ex post facto or retrospective environmental  authorisation. The authors argue that this is an unwelcome development which will militate against the purposes underlying environmental assessment

Effects of electrical stimulation of dorsal raphe nucleus on neuronal response properties of barrel cortex layer IV neurons following long-term sensory deprivation

Abstract: Objective To evaluate the effect of electrical stimulation of dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) on response properties of layer IV barrel cortex neurons following long-term sensory deprivation. Methods: Male Wistar rats were divided into sensory-deprived (SD) and control (unplucked) groups. In SD group, all vibrissae except the D2 vibrissa were plucked on postnatal day one, and kept plucked for a period of 60 d. After that, whisker regrowth was allowed for 8-10 d. The D2 principal whisker (PW) and the D1 adjacent whisker (AW) were either deflected singly or both deflected in a serial order that the AW was deflected 20 ms before PW deflection for assessing lateral inhibition, and neuronal responses were recorded from layer IV of the D2 barrel cortex. DRN was electrically stimulated at inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs) ranging from 0 to 800 ms before whisker deflection. Results: PW-evoked responses increased in the SD group with DRN electrical stimulation at ISIs of 50 ms and 100 ms, whereas AW-evoked responses increased at ISI of 800 ms in both groups. Whisker plucking before DRN stimulation could enhance the responsiveness of barrel cortex neurons to PW deflection and decrease the responsiveness to AW deflection. DRN electrical stimulation significantly reduced this difference only in PW-evoked responses between groups. Besides, no DRN stimulation-related changes in response latency were observed following PW or AW deflection in either group. Moreover, condition test (CT) ratio increased in SD rats, while DRN stimulation did not affect the CT ratio in either group. There was no obvious change in 5-HT2A receptor protein density in barrel cortex between SD and control groups. Conclusion: These results suggest that DRN electrical stimulation can modulate information processing in the SD barrel cortex

The Lingering Environmental Impact of Repressive Governance: The Environmental Legacy of the Apartheid Era for the New South Africa

This article aims to explore the historical link between contemporary environmental problems and the environmental, economic and political policies of the apartheid government. The analysis draws on an examination of the detrimental environmental impacts of the apartheid era and how international isolation impacted on governmental environmental management in the country, before turning attention to the way in which the ANC government has managed the South African natural and human environments in the period after 1994. The article shows that despite many important new developments since 1994, that there are high levels of continuity between the environmental management practices of the old and the new regimes. This state of affairs negatively impacts on the ability of the ANC government to provide every South African citizen with the clean and safe environment guaranteed to all within the 1996 Bill of Rights.This article also appeared unchanged as a chapter in the following edited collection: Jan Oosthoek and Barry K. Gills (eds), _The Globalization of Environmental Crisis_ (Abingdon: Routledge, 2008), pp. 109-120

A Significant but Rather Mild Contribution of T286 Autophosphorylation to Ca2+/CaM-Stimulated CaMKII Activity

Autophosphorylation of the Ca(2+)/calmodulin (CaM)-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) at T286 generates partially Ca(2+)/CaM-independent "autonomous" activity, which is thought to be required for long-term potentiation (LTP), a form of synaptic plasticity thought to underlie learning and memory. A requirement for T286 autophosphorylation also for efficient Ca(2+)/CaM-stimulated CaMKII activity has been described, but remains controversial.In order to determine the contribution of T286 autophosphorylation to Ca(2+)/CaM-stimulated CaMKII activity, the activity of CaMKII wild type and its phosphorylation-incompetent T286A mutant was compared. As the absolute activity can vary between individual kinase preparations, the activity was measured in six different extracts for each kinase (expressed in HEK-293 cells). Consistent with measurements on purified kinase (from a baculovirus/Sf9 cell expression system), CaMKII T286A showed a mildly but significantly reduced rate of Ca(2+)/CaM-stimulated phosphorylation for two different peptide substrates (to ~75-84% of wild type). Additional slower CaMKII autophosphorylation at T305/306 inhibits stimulation by Ca(2+)/CaM, but occurs only minimally for CaMKII wild type during CaM-stimulated activity assays. Thus, we tested if the T286A mutant may show more extensive inhibitory autophosphorylation, which could explain its reduced stimulated activity. By contrast, inhibitory autophosphorylation was instead found to be even further reduced for the T286A mutant under our assay conditions. On a side note, the phospho-T305 antibody showed some basal background immuno-reactivity also with non-phosphorylated CaMKII, as indicated by T305/306A mutants.These results indicate that Ca(2+)/CaM-stimulated CaMKII activity is mildly (~1.2-1.3fold) further increased by additional T286 autophosphorylation, but that this autophosphorylation is not required for the major part of the stimulated activity. This indicates that the phenotype of CaMKII T286A mutant mice is indeed due to the lack of autonomous activity, as the T286A mutant showed no dramatic reduction in stimulated activity

Wpływ osadów ściekowych na plantacjach Salix na zawartość węgla rozpuszczonego w glebie

Labile fractions of organic matter can rapidly respond to changes in soil and they have been suggested as sensitive indicators of soil organic matter. Two labile fractions of organic carbon in the soils amended with fresh municipal sewage sludge in two rates (equivalent of 60 kg P ha-1 and 120 kg P ha-1) were studied. Soils under studies were overgrown with Salix in Germany, Estonia and Poland. In Polish soils application of sewage sludge increased the content of both labile organic carbon fractions (KMnO4-C and HWC) for a period of one year. Estonian soils were stable and no distinct changes in labile organic carbon fractions occurred.Labilne frakcje materii organicznej mogą być wyrazem zmian zachodzących w glebie i stanowią one wskaźniki jakości materii organicznej. Badano dwie frakcje labilnego węgla organicznego w glebach nawożonych osadem ściekowym w dwóch dawkach (będące równoważnikiem 60 kg P ha-1 i 120 kg P ha-1). Badane gleby były porośnięte gatunkami wierzby krzewiastej w Niemczech, Estonii i Polsce. W badanych glebach w Polsce zastosowanie osadów ściekowych spowodowało wzrost obu analizowanych frakcji węgla (KMnO4-C i HWC). Natomiast gleby estońskie były stabilne i nie stwierdzono zmian w labilnych frakcjach węgla organicznego