The Environmental Impact Mitigation Hierarchy as a Hierarchy of Risk

Abstract

The general acceptance in South Africa of the environmental impact mitigation hierarchy as a hierarchy of desirability has meant that offsetting, the final option in the hierarchy, is regarded, at best, as the least desirable option and often as an undesirable option. Indeed, in all of the published South African government guidelines on biodiversity offsetting, offsetting is referred to as the ‘option of last resort’. This paper proposes that considering the environmental impact mitigation hierarchy as a hierarchy of risk may address the apparent current policy ambivalence and may contribute to the more efficient and effective consideration and use of all the options in the hierarchy.