Environment in South Africa Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Located at the southern tip of Africa, with a population of approximately 47 million, South Africa is a country known for both its racial division and its peaceful transition to democracy. Apartheid, or “separateness,” was the official policy used by the white nationalist government to entrench racial discrimination in all areas of life in South Africa between 1949 and 1994. The 1950 Group Areas Act spatially segregated different race groups from each other, typically through forced removals of the black, Indian, and so-called colored populations into underdeveloped areas on the periphery of cities and towns or into designated rural areas called “homelands.” Unequal access to educational and employment opportunities, restricted movement, and the criminalization of antiapartheid protest further divided the country.

Since the election of the African National Congress (ANC) as the country’s first democratic government in 1994, South Africa has taken up the challenges of poverty reduction and the provision of basic services, housing, education, employment, and social services in historically disadvantaged communities. New problems such as dramatically high HIVIAIDS infection rates and rising crime present further challenges.

Programs such as the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) and the Growth Equity and Redistribution (GEAR) macro-economic policy have been used to initiate change through either people-driven or economic growth-focused programs, respectively. Key legislative changes for postapartheid transformation were initiated by the introduction of the Constitution in 1996, which includes a widely acclaimed bill of rights. Extensive local government restructuring now ensures the prioritization of community-based development and reconstruction. A national policy for black economic empowerment attempts to address economic inequality. All policies and development planning tools emphasize public involvement so that communities are included in decision making.

Although the dominant focus of change in South Africa is people-centered, there is recognition that South Africa’s rich natural resources and scenic beauty must be maintained and protected. Good environmental quality is recognized as key to improving citizens’ quality of life and necessary for the growth of tourism and other industries. Many poor communities rely directly on the environment for their survival and have historically been located alongside polluting industry, such as in the South Durban Industrial Basin, causing conflict over the negative effects of pollution and access to resources.

Environmental problems such as overgrazing, soil erosion, and the pollution of local water supplies commonly arise from the impacts of overuse by poor communities with minimal basic services, little income, and insecure land tenure. The pressures of industry and sprawling urban development contribute to growing problems of air, water, and land pollution; loss of agricultural land; and decreasing biodiversity. Furthermore, South Africa suffers from a severe pressure on freshwater resources, especially as the most industrialized areas of the country have minimal natural water supplies and must have water supplied to them via elaborate interbasin transfer schemes. Historically, preservationist conservation practices excluded communities from having access to the natural resources that they have traditionally relied on for sustenance, medicine, and cultural practices.

In order to address these problems holistically, sustainability principles have been widely adopted within South Africa, beginning with the Constitutional right to a nonharmful environment. Recently many new environmental laws have been passed to update, expand, and consolidate the previously inadequate environmental legislation. Legislation such as the National Environmental Management Act of 2000 advocates the use of sustainability principles, dispute resolution, and community empowerment as key environmental management practices. Currently new community and partnership-based conservation methods are being introduced to enable communities to benefit from protected areas. In 2004 the World Summit on Sustainable Development was hosted in Johannesburg, encouraging further steps toward sustainability and improved quality of life.

Bibliography:

Patrick Bond, Unsustainable South Africa: Environment, Development and Social Protest (University of Natal Press, 2002);
Roddy Fox and Kate Rowntree, , The Geography of South Africa in a Changing World (Oxford University Press, 2000);
Alan Lester, Etienne Nel, Tony Binns, South Past, Present and Future (Prentice Hall, 2000);
Susan Parnell, Edgar Pieterse, Mark Swilling, and Dominique Wooldridge, , Democratising Local Government: The South African Experiment (University of Cape Town Press, 2002).