Basic environmental assessment
“ Successfully linking the sustainable development of rural communities and their resource base with the positive aspects of what the 21st century demands and has to offer.”
Environmental & Rural Solutions cc (ERS) offers rural environmental and tourism planning consulting services in the northern part of the Eastern Cape and Southern KZN. The partners have been involved in development in the Southern Drakensberg, Eastern Cape and Lesotho area for over 15 years.
ERS is a small but dynamic organisation providing hands-on planning and implementation of projects for a range of clients, including village-based groups, private concerns, engineering firms, academic institutions and Government. The focus of the support is on providing a customised service that respects local, natural and cultural environments while providing a professional service and realistic recommendations.
ERS has worked extensively with local government in integrated development planning and in preparation of sector specific environmental and tourism plans derived from the IDPs.Public consultation and social facilitation
ERS staff members have the competency to conduct public participation processes connected to specific development projects. Social facilitation is carried out as part of environmental assessments, or consultative forums with stakeholder groups to collect opinions for analysis and forward planning for different community projects financed through government or international development agencies.
Resource and land use management planning
A number of local municipalities in the Eastern Cape have sought the services of ERS to work with Physical Planners to incorporate environmental concerns into spatial development frameworks and land development frameworks, this as a strategy toward ensuring the ability of the environment to provide the necessary services to sustain development. It is hoped that this approach will lead to proper planning and resolution of environmental and planning conflicts.
Tourism planning, product development and project implementation – based on the Fair Trade concept