In this Notice, any word or expression to which a meaning has been assigned in the Act shall have the meaning so assigned, and unless the context otherwise indicates—

"bioregional plan"

means the bioregional plan contemplated in Chapter 3 of the NEMBA;

"buffer area"

means, unless specifically defined, an area extending 10 kilometres from the proclaimed boundary of a world heritage site or national park and 5 kilometres from the proclaimed boundary of a nature reserve, respectively, or that defined as such for a biosphere;

"construction"

means the building, erection or establishment of a facility, structure or infrastructure that is necessary for the undertaking of a listed or specified activity but excludes any modification, alteration or expansion of such a facility, structure or infrastructure and excluding the reconstruction of the same facility in the same location, with the same capacity and footprint;

"dangerous goods"

means goods containing any of the substances as contemplated in South African National Standard No. 10234, supplement 2008 1.00: designated "List of classification and labelling of chemicals in accordance with the Globally Harmonized Systems (GHS)" published by Standards South Africa and where the presence of such goods, regardless of quantity, in a blend or mixture, causes such blend or mixture to have one or more of the characteristics listed in the Hazard Statements in section 4.2.3, namely physical hazards, health hazards or environmental hazards;

"development setback"

means a setback line as defined or adopted by the competent authority and where none has been defined or adopted it will be assumed that no setback line applies;

"Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations"

means the regulations made under section 24(5) of the Act;

"estuary"

means the estuarine functional zone as defined in the National Estuaries Layer, available from the South African National Biodiversity Institute's BGIS website (http://bgis. sanbi.orq);

"expansion"

means the modification, extension, alteration or upgrading of a facility, structure or infrastructure at which an activity takes place in such a manner that the capacity of the facility or the footprint of the activity is increased;

"Gauteng Agricultural Potential Atlas"

means the Gauteng Agricultural Potential Atlas, 2006, which can be obtained from the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development;

"Gauteng Conservation Plan"

means the Gauteng Conservation Plan (C-Plan) which can be obtained from the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development;

"indigenous vegetation"

refers to vegetation consisting of indigenous plant species occurring naturally in an area, regardless of the level of alien infestation and where the topsoil has not been lawfully disturbed during the preceding ten years;

"industrial complex"

means an area used or zoned for bulk storage, manufacturing, processing or packaging purposes;

"National Protected Area Expansion Strategy (NPAES)"

means South Africa's national strategy for expansion of the protected area network, led by the Department of Environmental Affairs and developed in collaboration with national and provincial conservation authorities. The NPAES sets targets for protected area expansion, provides maps of the most important areas for protected area expansion, and makes recommendations on mechanisms for protected area expansion. Focus areas for protected area expansion are identified in the NPAES. They are large, intact, unfragmented areas of high importance for land-based protected area expansion, suitable for the creation or expansion of large protected areas;

"NEMBA"

means the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, 2004 (Act No. 10 of 2004);

"NEMPAA"

means the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act, 2003 (Act No. 57 of 2003);

"phased activities"

means an activity that is developed in phases over time on the same or adjacent properties to create a single or linked entity through interconnected internal vehicular or pedestrian circulation, sharing of infrastructure, or the continuum of design, style or concept by the same proponent or his or her successors;

"protected area"

means those protected areas contemplated in section 9 of the NEMPAA and the core area of a biosphere reserve and shall include their buffers;

"sites or areas listed in terms of an International Convention"

means any area and its buffer, unless specifically defined, of 5 kilometres extending from its listed boundary, listed in terms of an international convention but does not include world heritage sites, and shall include but not be limited to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971);

"systematic biodiversity plan"

is a plan that identifies important areas for biodiversity conservation, taking into account biodiversity patterns (i.e. the principle of representation) and the ecological and evolutionary processes that sustain them (i.e. the principle of persistence). A systematic biodiversity plan must set quantitative targets/thresholds for aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity features in order to conserve a representative sample of biodiversity pattern and ecological processes;

"the Act"

means the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998);

"urban areas"

means areas situated within the urban edge (as defined or adopted by the competent authority), or in instances where no urban edge or boundary has been defined or adopted, it refers to areas situated within the edge of built-up areas; and

"watercourse"

means—

and a reference to a watercourse includes, where relevant, its bed and banks;

"wetland"

means land which is transitional between terrestrial and aquatic systems where the water table is usually at or near the surface, or the land is periodically covered with shallow water, and which land in normal circumstances supports or would support vegetation typically adapted to life in saturated soil.

[Regulation 2 amended by Regulation 21 of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998) Amendments to Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, 2010 and Listing Notices]