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Policy responses to the challenges associated with environmental change, including more frequent and severe climatic events, have interlinked environmental and social impacts. Less attention has been afforded to the latter, and specifically to the question of not just whether but how such responses create or entrench inequality. This paper examines policy responses to drought events in California, United States, and the Western Cape Province, South Africa, in terms of their effects on inequality, revealed in relationships to water access networks. We use concepts of water justice and hydraulic citizenship to evaluate how and why these policy responses reproduced water injustices in the two settings. We focus particularly on two mechanisms linking responses to widened inequalities: values‐reinforcement and strategic communication. Using interviews, policy documents, and media reports, we employ process tracing methods to illustrate these mechanisms through which drought policy impacts hydraulic citizenship experiences, manifesting water injustice. We contribute to emerging examinations of environmental policy responses and maladaptation by demonstrating how concepts of hydraulic citizenship and an emphasis on mechanisms can help us better understand and identify experiences of water injustice. We note policy implications and areas for future research, highlighting droughts as consequential policy sites for advancing social and environmental justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The escalating levels of CO2 emissions from the transportation sector have been observed to exert deleterious effects on human well‐being and environmental sustainability. To mitigate these emissions, it is imperative to consider the potential contributions of environmental policies and financial innovation. Thus, this study examines the effects of financial innovation and environmental policy (environmental tax–environmental technology) on transport‐related CO2 emission (TCO2E) for BICS (i.e., Brazil, India, China and South Africa), which are characterized by substantial industrialization, rising TCO2E and growing environmental concerns. The analysis is complemented by including control variables, notably economic growth and the transition to cleaner energy, to offer a nuanced and holistic perspective on the dynamics governing this critical subject matter. The research adopts a novel econometric approach cross‐sectionally augmented auto‐regressive distributed lags for benchmark estimation and fully modified ordinary least squares–dynamic ordinary least squares for robustness analysis from 2000/Q1‐2018/Q4. The findings revealed that financial innovation and economic growth bolster TCO2E and decrease environmental quality in the region. In contrast, environmental tax, environmental innovation and energy transition decrease TCO2E. Based on findings, policy suggestions relating to implementing a carbon tax, promoting green financial innovation and others are discussed to decrease TCO2E. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protected areas have long been the leading strategy to combat habitat fragmentation. However, studies have shown that this traditional approach can create habitat islands where populations are isolated, leading to their eventual extinction. As a result, conservation strategies have shifted to include more landscape-focused methods, including conservation corridors and ecological networks. However, what is not yet known is the extent to which South Africa's legislative and policy frameworks support this move. We identified and reviewed legislation and policies on conservation and protected areas in South Africa between 1976 to 2021 and outlined their shortcomings regarding a shift towards landscape-focused initiatives. None of the seven acts reviewed describe, protect, or enforce progressive landscape-based conservation methods. South Africa's environmental legislation is embedded in establishing and creating traditional protected areas while disregarding other methods. Moreover, the non-statutory policies reviewed were monotonous and had a limited scope that failed to provide an integrated and coordinated approach to conservation. Despite the plethora of protected area legislation and policies, South Africa's conservation approaches remain uninspiring and steadfast in traditional methods and have failed to evolve in 45 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper my thought experiment leads me to posit that South Africa's environmental governance often results in what I term "hollow environmentalism". This term describes the inevitable long-term outcome of promulgating laws and policies that are idealistic and seem symbolic and that at times fail to achieve their intended objectives or environmental promise. On a narrower scale, hollow environmentalism can also manifest when such symbolic environmental laws and policies lead to judicial decisions that lack substantive ecological justifications, perhaps even resembling symbolic judgments. I substantiate this argument through four key considerations. I commence with a reality check on environmental governance, emphasising that the state is not a neutral actor, necessitating closer scrutiny of state decisions. This leads me to the conclusion that governance stands at a critical juncture. I argue that the symbolic nature of our environmental laws, broadly speaking, often makes it challenging for the state to fully meet the lofty ideals it presents, thereby also complicating court decisions in these matters. Next, I align my thoughts with recent literature on adjudication in the context of the climate crisis. This literature stresses the need for courts to be bold and innovative in their judicial roles, given the precarious nature of stabilising environmental disputes. In the penultimate section I bring the discussion to a close by suggesting two interconnected possibilities to address hollowness in the face of climate change: "sunsetting" and "substitution". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic growth-environment nexus explores the relationship between economic growth, as understood in the neoclassical free market or neoliberalism economic theory context, and its implications for the environment. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is considered one of the most successful environmental policy instruments to deal with the consideration of environmental implications of development decisions. Because the economic growth-environment nexus is central to discourses in EIA it is helpful to gain an improved understanding of different perspectives manifesting and influencing EIA practice. This paper aims to identify pluralism in perspectives on the economic growth-environment nexus in EIA practice. This is achieved by applying the Q-method to EIA practice in South Africa and involve the sorting of 36 statements by 16 respondents. The results show pluralism and distinct patterning with four key perspectives emerging namely: the deontological perspective, neoliberal progression, EIA polarisation and new conservationist perspective. We hope this research contributes towards a growing understanding of how different perspectives on the economic growth-environment nexus might influence EIA practice and decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The marked PDF has been uploaded for reference and acceptance of grammatical changes] Post-apartheid South African legislation for the protection and management of the ocean environment, has been dominated by the language of sustainable development. Deeply embedded in the notion of sustainability is that of resilience. I propose in this paper, through the medium of the ocean and the Dwesa-Cwebe community in the Eastern Cape Province, that the expectation for human resilience in the age of climate change and global warming is promoted as a reasonable and necessary condition. I will argue that coastal communities, as citizens, are expected to perform resilience within the national rhetoric 'for the greater good,' to support a development narrative which uses environmental protection to veil a government policy of economic gain over social equality. To explore the above claims, I turn to a case study focused on a ground-breaking judgement in the Supreme Court of Appeals which saw fishers gain access to Marine Protected Areas on the grounds of customary rights. A close reading of the judgement together with a historical view of the legislative framework support the argument that the neoliberal legislative frameworks used to govern today continue to be informed by their predecessors conceptualised in the colonial and apartheid eras. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on apartheid South Africa’s participation in United Nations-organized international environmental initiatives in the 1970s in order to reassess contemporary and historiographical views that the country was an extremely reluctant participant in UN-led environmental initiatives in the 1970s because it threatened the country’s policy of uncontrolled economic growth and promoted the environment as a political issue, and because the country was not allowed to participate in many of these UN initiatives owing to its isolation within this world body. Utilizing archival evidence, this article clearly demonstrates that the processes whereby the country decided whether or not to participate in specific UN-organized international environmental initiatives in the 1970s were very complex and conflicting, and in general did not result from a lack of governmental commitment to address the country’s multiple environmental challenges. The main argument of this article is that South Africa’s limited participation in UN-organized international environmental initiatives in the 1970s resulted from two reasons, namely the mutual distrust between the country and the UN, which reached new lows as the 1970s progressed, and the prevailing South African foreign policy strategy of deliberately keeping a low profile in order to avoid confrontation on the international stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes and discusses a multi-scale spatial planning method implemented simultaneously at local and national level to prioritize ecosystem management actions across landscapes and seascapes. Mismatches in scale between the occurrence of biodiversity patterns and ecological processes, and the size and nature of the human footprint, and the different levels and scope of governance, are a significant challenge in conservation planning. These scale mismatches are further confounded by data resolution disparities across and amongst the different scales. To address this challenge, we developed a multi-resolution scale-linked marine spatial planning method. We tested this approach in the development of a Conservation Plan for a significant portion of South Africa’s exclusive economic zone, adjacent to the east coast province of KwaZulu-Natal (the SeaPlan project). The study’s dataset integrated the geographic distribution of 390 biodiversity elements (species, habitats, and oceanographic processes) and 38 human activities. A multi-resolution system of planning unit layers (PUL), with individual PUs ranging in resolution from 0.2 to 10 km, was designed to arrange and analyse these data. Spatial priorities for conservation were selected incrementally at different scales, contributing conservation targets from the fine-, medium- and large-scale analyses, and from the coast to the offshore. Compared to a basic single-resolution scale-unlinked plan, our multi-resolution scale-linked method selects 6% less conservation area to achieve the same targets. Compared to a multi-resolution scale-unlinked plan, our method requires only an additional 5% area. Overall, this method reflects the multi-scale nature of marine social-ecological systems more realistically, is relatively simple and replicable, and serves to better connect fine-scale and large-scale spatial management policies. We discuss the impacts of this study on protected area expansion planning processes in South Africa. This study showcases a methodological advance that has the potential to impact marine spatial planning practices and policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the life histories of two environmentally engaged unionists in South Africa, who were decisive for formulating the environmental programmes of their respective trade unions. Their experiences of participating in the resistance against apartheid in universities and factories taught them the necessity to connect different struggles and equipped them with the knowledge and ability to connect the fight for workers’ rights with the fight against environmental degradation. Both activists experienced the difficulty of integrating ‘the environment’ politically and practically into a trade union agenda. The labour movement has traditionally experienced nature as a place outside of work to be enjoyed for recreation. While nature constitutes an indispensable condition for labour, it has been privately appropriated by Capital. For environmental policies to form an integral part of union agendas, nature needs to be wrestled away from its appropriation by Capital and understood as an inseparable ally of labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using policy cycle model as a heuristic, this article studies Indian, Brazilian, and South African engagement with Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) by (a) comparing NAMA policy process and (b) identifying factors driving or limiting the framework’s domestic application. India largely remained uninterested in NAMAs, Brazil aligned its domestic climate policy and NAMAs, while South Africa had a more nuanced engagement when formulating NAMAs. Four factors influenced these countries’ NAMA engagements: the level and necessity of international support, the availability of domestic policy provisions to tackle climate change, the domestic institutional capacity to coordinate interministerial functioning, and the role of individuals in the institutional apparatus. As an international climate policy framework, studying NAMA engagement provides learnings for nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement for designing the instrument, ensuring clarity on support provisions for ratcheting up ambitions, and enhancing institutional capacity, to expedite transition from policy formulation to implementation and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An environmental management framework (EMF) is a uniquely South African environmental management tool legislated since 2006. Although the tool has been widely applied there has been no empirical research on the overall extent and status of EMF practice. The aim of this paper is to describe the extent and status of EMF practice between 2006 and 2015 through a combination of survey methods. The ‘extent’ of practice is described against the number of EMFs, the lead agents, spatial distribution, scale, time frames and accessibility of information, while the ‘status’ is discussed in relation to the legal mandate of EMF and the number of adopted and gazetted EMFs. The research results show that 53 EMF projects were initiated between 2006 and 2015 and that practice varies significantly in terms of lead agents, spatial distribution, scale and time frames. Moreover the research shows that just over half of the EMFs have been gazetted and that access to information in the public domain is limited. Finally, recommendations are made for future research around the quality and effectiveness of EMF. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examines asymmetries in the nexus among energy use, pollution emissions and real output in South Africa using a nonlinear ARDL model advanced by Shin et al. [48]. The findings suggest the presence of asymmetries in the nexus among the indicated variables in the short and long run. Negative and positive shocks of the variables have different effects in sign and magnitude. The findings further show that both energy use and CO2 emissions affect real output; therefore caution is needed when advocating energy and environmental policies in South Africa, and the presence of asymmetries in the relationships among these variables should be taken into account. Further studies are needed to shed more light on asymmetries in the nexus among these important variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resilience has either been assessed on system or individual scale so far. Ignoring the other scale may potentially change the interpretation of resilience in socio-ecological systems (SES). Thus, this paper argues that the co-evolution of both resiliencies must be studied to capture multi-scale complexity. We attempt to close this gap by assessing resilience at both scales of a village community in Thaba Nchu, South Africa. Villagers use a commonly managed rangeland for beef cattle production. An agent based model of household interaction coupled with a biophysical model of the rangeland measures the resiliencies of the SES towards a shock, a stress and a policy intervention. Currently, the SES remains in a stable attractor in terms of SES resilience. Household resilience, however, degrades in a process of structural change. A drought scenario shows improved SES resilience but structural change at household level accelerated. An increase in the number absentee herders increases the likelihood for SES collapse by eroding social embededdness. Finally, an introduced basic income grant demonstrates that the SES is able to cope with an increased number of appropriators. However, interaction of the policy intervention with an exogenous stress translates into an increased probability of SES decoupling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After 100 years of academic Geography in South Africa, the emerging field of Environmental Assessment (EA) has occupied an important position vis-a-vis Geography. In this paper the contribution of Geography to practice and research in EA is investigated for South Africa. Firstly, Geography core competences are compared to the requirements for training Environmental Assessment practitioners, followed by reflection of the utility of Geography competences for Environmental Assessment research. It is evident that Geography competences are fundamental to EA practice, that EA skills are taught in some Geography curricula, and that the greater part of published EA research is produced by Geographers. We conclude that Geography as a discipline has embraced the environmental sustainability challenges by engaging actively in EA training and research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper offers a reflection on 15 years of policy change in the City of Cape Town aimed at fostering sustainability from the perspective of a City practitioner. The persistent continuation of unsustainable outcomes, despite ongoing policy reforms, is understood as a combination of the emergence of wicked problems, within a changing local government mandate, in the absence of a transformation of institutional structures, tools and approaches. While the approach to policy reform in Cape Town has focussed on reducing substantive uncertainty through its knowledge-based approach, we show that in the context of an expanding local government mandate, sustainability becomes an aspect of many departments’ directive resulting in strategic uncertainty. The untransformed traditional line-function-based structure of local government in turn works against integration between departments (fundamental for addressing non-linear wicked problems), thus promoting institutional uncertainty. In addressing this combination of strategic and institutional uncertainty, our findings indicate that integration has to happen in the policy stage in order for sustainability principles to be implemented in relevant departments; that implementation requires resourcing across the institution, and ought to be included in departments’ targets; and that competing and conflicting rationalities underpin the policy–practice gap. It is suggested that a first step in breaking down the strategic and institutional uncertainties would be to foster shared values through creating deliberative spaces within the City in which debate, discussion and learning can occur. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There has been never-ending debate concerning the right to a healthy environment and the extent to which the law has provided for or guaranteed the right in national and international contexts. Whilst some countries have expressly recognised the right to a healthy environment in their constitutions and subsidiary laws, others have relied on regional instruments and treaties to guarantee such rights, especially where domestic legislation is either lacking, inadequate or ineffective. This article will contend that constitutionalising (rather than regionalising before a human rights commission or treaty) environmental rights domestically would improve environmental outcomes in Nigeria. To further buttress the constitutionalisation argument, this article will undertake a critical analysis of the right to the environment in South Africa which has constitutionalised the right to the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A carbon tax will form the central carbon pricing instrument in South Africa. The country, however, is also in the process of setting specific short-term emissions limits at a subnational level. Additional mitigation policy instruments will thus be required to meet these targets. Although it is possible to combine sector-level quantity targets with a broad-based carbon tax, this article finds that this greatly complicates mitigation policy design, increasing both the information requirements and the likelihood of unintended consequences. The trade-offs between economic efficiency (optimized by the use of a broad-based price set by a carbon tax) and environmental effectiveness (optimized by using instruments that ensure emissions reduction targets are met) are ever present. A clear understanding of subnational quantity targets and an appreciation of the characteristics of the instruments to achieve such targets (quantity-based instruments, QBIs), the framework through which the instruments are combined, and their possible interactions, are required for effective policy making. Three possible frameworks for combining instruments are identified in the article, and some specific implications of interaction between particular QBIs and a carbon tax are suggested. Policy relevance This article explores the interaction of a carbon tax with mitigation policy instruments to meet subnational emissions targets in the South African context (where both a carbon tax and subnational emissions targets are currently being developed). As international negotiations progress towards countries accepting binding GHG emissions restrictions, quantity-based mitigation policy approaches become more important. In countries where a broad-based emissions trading scheme (ETS) is not feasible in the short to medium term, combining a broad-based carbon tax with subnational emission targets provides an alternative mechanism for achieving the economic efficiency and emissions certainty benefits derived from an ETS. This paper considers the mechanisms through which such a combination of instruments can be achieved. Three possible frameworks for combining instruments are identified, some specific implications of interaction between particular QBIs and a carbon tax are suggested, and guidelines and concept tools are presented to assist policy-makers in designing efficient and coherent mitigation policy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The environmental movement in South Africa is plural and diverse, but lacks a strong centre or unified framing. How can we explain and understand this, and what consequences does it have for ecological politics in South Africa? There are many environmental grievances, extensive resources available to potential social movements, and a broadly favourable political opportunity structure. On the other hand, prominent environmental organisations have faced a number of limits, obstacles and challenges that have prevented the formation of a strong, unified and popular ‘green’ movement. Movements on land, housing, and service delivery, however, have thrived in comparison, and, while they tend not to self-identify as environmental movements, they should be regarded as important elements of broader progressive environmental struggles in South Africa. Consumption may also become a powerful framing issue for environmental justice movements, and its relevance to contemporary South Africa is illustrated through a controversial township youth phenomenon known as ‘pexing’. While it is important to ensure that South African environmentalism does not become inward-looking and nationalistic, a strong environmental movement is essential for driving a political transformation on to a more environmentally sustainable development path. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article ascertains the underlying causes of the persistence of unsustainable settlement patterns and trends in post-apartheid South Africa. Despite positive development planning policy intentions in the post-apartheid South Africa, glaring deprivation and spatial inequality has persisted. The article is grounded in a chronological analysis of demographic, functional and regional economic dynamics at the different epochs of South Africa's history as well as the settlement policy and planning intentions. Its main finding is that the persistence of unsustainable settlement patterns and trends in post-apartheid South Africa is largely a result of misplaced settlement policies and strategies. They give knee-jerk responses to global, regional, national and local dynamics shaping settlement patterns and trends. The recommendation is that development planning initiatives should be informed by the dialectics of settlement facets at local, regional, national and global levels for them to deal decisively with the historical problem of unsustainable patterns and trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change poses challenges to the socio-economic life globally, though in varying degrees. Southern Africa is one of the regions that has shown signs of changes in climate. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007), temperatures in the region have risen by 0.5 degrees Celsius over the past hundred years. In addition, climate change has resulted in fifteen incidents of drought in Southern Africa between 1988 and 1992. This has consequently had a negative impact on the socio economic life of the inhabitants of the region. While climate change is an issue that requires attention from all spheres of government, it is posited in this article that the local sphere of government needs to be the focal point for redress as it is the sphere closest to the people. Mutanga, Pophiwa and Simelane (2013: 165) note that insufficient human and financial resources, inability to adapt technologically and politically driven climate change related programmes are some of the challenges faced by municipalities in tackling climate change. Capricorn District in Limpopo Province, South Africa has agriculture as one of its critical economic activities; thus climate change is a serious concern in the area. The article seeks to investigate how local government is responding to the climate change phenomenon. The Capricorn District Municipality is used as a case study. It must be noted that, although this municipality is not a typical representation of how the other local authorities in the country are responding to climate change, it however sheds significant light on how this phenomenon is viewed at this sphere of government. The guiding questions are:to what extent is climate change viewed as a challenge by local authorities?Secondly,what measures are local authorities taking to address both the causes and effects of climate change?It is postulated that local government in South Africa is not effectively proactive and innovative in dealing with climate change. There is a need for policies and mechanisms in municipalities that address challenges that are posed by climate change. This is only possible if both elected and appointed officials treat the issue as a priority. Interviews were conducted with key informants and official documents were consulted in order to gather data that would either support or refute the suggested hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the case of the proposed Pondoland National Park in South Africa, which is in the center of policy debates about biodiversity conservation, development, and resource rights in the Wild Coast area of South Africa. It explores whether the making of the case for the conservation of the Wild Coast, which relies on global environmental discourses, has ideologically and practically clarified local poor people's resource rights. It does this by tracing the genealogy of the Pondoland National Park discourse, which originates from scientific research and individual and group lobbying, to help explain the disjuncture between post-apartheid environmental policy discourses and what takes place in practice. The paper concludes that the reliance on global environmental discourses in research done in support for the Pondoland National Park complicates the role of the nation-state in terms of environmental governance, and that this can negatively affect the poor and powerless residents of the area in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under Apartheid, marginalised groups had limited power to influence decisions contributing to environmental injustices. Democracy witnessed civil society as 'inclusive' to engage in formal decision-making. This paper examines the ability of the state and industry to effectively implement formal participatory decision-making spaces, including the ability of civil society to engage in these spaces. This paper presents viewpoints from stakeholders in Durban to examine engagement amongst civil society, the state and industry for participatory democracy. Investigations reveal that tokenistic participatory processes by provincial/local government and industry during development processes, government use of industrial consultants for decision-making, and fragmentation between some local community groups due to acquisition of industrial funding has not effectively included marginalised citizen's into participatory processes to inform decisions. Despite a democratic transition, participatory democracy for environmental justice is limited. This paper suggests that government and industry need to engage proactively with civil society before decisions are made on development processes, rather than as an afterthought. It is also suggested that consultants used during development processes be chosen in consensus between civil society, industry and government. Community coherence against industrial risks will also be better achieved if industrial funding was administered through a community fund with an appropriate monitoring system of how funds are used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the rise in militarized approaches towards conservation, as part of a new 'war for biodiversity'. This is a defining moment in the international politics of conservation and needs further examination. The claims that rhinos and elephants are under threat from highly organized criminal gangs of poachers shapes and determines conservation practice on the ground. Indeed, a central focus of the 2014 London Declaration on the Illegal Wildlife Trade is the strengthening of law enforcement, and recent policy statements by the US government and the Clinton Global Initiative also draw the link between poaching, global security and the need for greater levels of enforcement. Such statements and initiatives contribute substantially to the growing sense of a war for biodiversity. This article offers a critique of that argument, essentially by asking how we define poachers, and if militarized approaches mean conservationists are becoming more willing to engage in coercive, repressive policies that are ultimately counterproductive. Further, this article examines how the new war for biodiversity is justified and promoted by referring to wider debates about intervention in a post-Cold War era; notably that the international community has a responsibility towards wildlife, especially endangered species, and that military forms of intervention may be required to save them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The drivers of invasion success of alien species remain, to some extent, a matter of debate. Here, we suggest that the services (the benefits humans obtain from a species) provided by alien plants could predict their invasion status, such that alien species providing more services would be more likely to be invasive than not. The rationale for this expectation is that alien species providing multiple services stand a better chance of being introduced in various numbers and multiple times outside their native range (propagule pressure theory). We investigated this hypothesis on alien woody species in South Africa. First, we defined 12 services provided by all the 210 known naturalized alien woody plants in South Africa. Then, we tested for a phylogenetic signal in these services using a DNA barcode-based phylogeny. Finally, we tested for potential links between the services and invasion status by fitting GLM models with appropriate error families. We found a phylogenetic signal in most services, suggesting that closely related species tend to provide similar services. Counter-intuitively, we consistently found that alien non-invasive species tend to provide more services, or even unique services, in comparison to alien invasive species. Although alternative scenarios are plausible to explain this unexpected finding, we speculate that harvesting alien plants for human benefits may limit their invasion ability. This warrants further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]