Emeritus Professor Richard Fuggle

Richard Fuggle

Richard Fuggle is a South African by birth.  His schooling and undergraduate training took place in Kwazulu-Natal.  He undertook graduate studies at Louisiana State University, USA, and obtained his PhD in 1971 from McGill University, Canada, for a thesis dealing with the radiative warming and cooling of Montreal’s atmospheric boundary layer.

Fuggle held the Shell Chair of Environmental Studies at the University of Cape Town from 1973 until his retirement in 2006.  He has retired from active involvement in academic pursuits and from student supervision.

Fuggle was Director of the School of Environmental Studies (SES) between 1973 and 1979; Director, Environmental Evaluation Unit (EEU)1980-2006; and first Head of the new Department of Environmental and Geographical Science (EGS) from January 1980 until December 2000.  EGS was formed by the amalgamation of the old Geography Department, that focused on regional geography and teacher training, and the SES with its focus on environmental management.

Fuggle introduced the theory and practise of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to South Africa through his research and teaching at UCT and by chairing the committee of the erstwhile Council for the Environment that formalised EIA in South Africa.  With colleagues from the University, he undertook some of the earliest EIAs in the country.  

At UCT he taught inter alia environmental assessment and professional environmental ethics in honours and master’s Programmes as well as in Executive Short-Courses.  He taught climatology and environmental resource management to undergraduates.

The books, Fuggle and Rabie Environmental Concerns in South Africa: Technical and Legal Perspectives, 1983 and Environmental Management in South Africa, 1992 (and subsequent editions) were amongst the first South African academic textbooks dealing holistically with South African environmental issues.

Apart from academic pursuits Fuggle has had wide international experience. As a consultant to the World Bank’s Inspection Panel he undertook environmental reviews in Albania, Argentina, China, Colombia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Uganda, and Paraguay.  He was Environmental Advisor to the Caspian Development Panel and reviewed and inspected the environmental and social impact components of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey.  He also served on international advisory panels for projects in Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Tanzania, and Tajikistan.

In South Africa Fuggle chaired the committee of the Council for the Environment that pioneered Integrated Environmental Management in South Africa and was responsible for the team that produced the first set of guideline documents for South African environmental assessments.  He served on several South African Commissions of Enquiry into controversial projects with environmental impact, inter alia: The development of Saldanha Bay as an iron ore and oil and gas terminal; the Overberg Weapons Test Range; the South Coast Off-shore Oil and Gas Development; the Table Mountain Cableway Upgrade; the Cape Point Redevelopment; and for the aborted establishment of an SABC Complex on Devils Peak. 

Richard Fuggle is a Founder Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa, and was formerly a Registered Natural Scientist, and Certified Environmental Impact Assessment Practitioner.  He is a past President of the International Association for Impact Assessment and has received both national and international awards for his contributions to the advancement of Environmental Assessment.