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community involvement — English
The partaking of all the members of a community in the decision-making and execution of the decisions about the environment or any other aspect of the region in which they live. Popularly put, it means that whatever is done is in agreement with the wishes of the interested and affected parties (IAPs) – including the people who live here, that is, the local population. Community involvement is part and parcel of modern day democratic governance. The South Afican Constitution (Act number 108 of 1996 [see “environmental management”]) even makes provision for the involvement of the local community in environmental decision-making and that is very specifically and unambiguously described in the environmental legalisation of the country (NEMA, number 107 of 1998). In fact, the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), number 107 of 1998, makes community participation an imperative in environmental management. The people have to have a say in whatever development is being planned for their area. Besides decision-making people have the right to be involved in developments and should have the opportunity to benefit from the developments by means of having, for instance, a preferential employment right, a preferential right to establish guesthouses or the right to sell their wares and handcraft there.
