ENGINEERING GEOSCIENCE & GEOHAZARDS
The Geoscience Amendment Act (no. 16 of 2010) mandates the Council for Geoscience as a custodian and curator of all geotechnical information in South Africa, and to act as the national advisory authority in respect of geohazards and a complete geotechnical risk profile related to infrastructure development, by advising and assisting government, State institutions, parastatals, private organisations and the general public In areas where ground is hazardous, The Council for Geoscience provides advice to take all necessary and appropriate steps to ensure that adequate and sufficient geotechnical investigations are performed prior to any housing and/or infrastructure development.
The Engineering Geoscience and Geohazards Programme offers specialised capability through which Council for Geoscience carries out services and expert consulting in the areas of geohazards and ground stability for purposes of judicious land use, disaster avoidance & management sustainable human settlement and infrastructure development.
The Council for Geoscience has gained great expertise in the capability to identify and describe rock and soil types, rock mass and soil formation characteristics and groundwater conditions, as well as the recognition and description of phenomena such as sinkholes, flooding, erosion, slope failures, ground heave, subsidence and collapse. Additionally, the role of the Engineering Geoscience and Geohazards function is to monitor, assess and conduct targeted research on a wide range of natural hazards to ensure that policy makers and the public understand the need to enhance their preparedness, response capacity and resilience. The function plays an important role in developing models, methods, information and tools to analyse hazards, risks and impacts related to infrastructure development. In this way, the Council for Geoscience contributes to the Economic Infrastructure, Environmental Sustainability, Resilience and Inclusive Rural Community focus areas within the NDP 2030.
