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Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) depends on partnerships between stakeholders from government, the private sector, civil society, academic and research institutions, and internati...

Given the broad (economic, social and environmental) objectives of a green economy, and the limitations associated with mainstream measures of economic performance (such as gross domestic product), an alternative or expanded set of indicators is required for measuring progress toward a green economy. This article develops a composite index for measuring green economic performance, based on 26 indicators across the economic, social and environmental dimensions. The index will enable comparison of a country's green economic performance both over time and relative to other countries. Furthermore, the index is constructed in such a way as to allow for disaggregation (i.e. for scores on individual components to be seen at a glance), such that areas of specific concern can be easily identified and addressed, and progress in each area monitored over time. The index was tested on data from 193 countries, and the resulting country rankings were assessed.

Currently, green economy literature lacks practical techniques and tools to inform implementation in specific sectors, including agriculture. There is need for practical, hands-on materials to provide clear guidance on green economy implementation. Operationalising the green economy requires contextual information that builds a broad understanding of what the concept entails; and operational information that provides process-level guidance on how to actually run a project. Contextual understanding enables informed application of the concept to any project situation; while process-level information is critical for minimising doubts in project implementation. Implementation entails integrating and acting on diverse factors, including green economy principles, sector-specific issues, local development issues, and global concerns. Integrating these different factors in a systematic way to ensure that projects meet agricultural and green economy imperatives is challenging. This chapter presents a green economy project implementation framework which integrates theoretical aspects of a green economy presented in Chaps. 1– 3 of this book, with practical aspects presented in Chap. 4. The framework includes a process for consolidating all the issues that are relevant to a project into a number of manageable considerations; and a methodical process for applying these considerations in a way that i ntegrates agricultural objectives and green economy principles.

The term ‘green economy’ is defined in several ways; and there could be confusion in what exactly it means. For green economy implementation, it is important to have full understanding of the green economy concept and its principles and other terms and concepts that are linked to it. This chapter highlights the origins, definitions, and principles of the green economy and its meaning in different cultural, political, and socio-economic settings. Agriculture is a key sector for a green economy and is the focus of this book. It is important to recognise the attributes that make agriculture particularly relevant to a green economy. Furthermore, since some agricultural practices are incompatible with green economy principles, the incompatibilities need to be analysed to get a balanced view of the place of agriculture in a green economy. The chapter ends by attempting to resolve potential confusion between green economy implementation in the agriculture sector and related concepts such as green agriculture, sustainable agriculture, conservation agriculture and climate smart agriculture; by showing how these different terms are distinct from and related to each other.

The biophysical environment is critical for agriculture and is a key consideration in green economy implementation. The green economy espouses low carbon development, conservation of natural resources, and minimising damage to the environment; whilst still meeting human needs. There are potential tensions and trade-offs between agriculture as a primary sector, which generally has negative impacts on the environment, and green economy environmental principles. Green economy projects have to address these tensions. Agricultural practices determine how agriculture impacts on the biophysical environment and agriculture’s socio-economic outcomes. Practices which undermine the integrity of the natural resource base pose risks to the environment and to long term agricultural productivity and sustainability. Agriculture can be compatible with green economy principles if it adopts practices which are profitable, sustain the environment; and deliver sustainable social benefits. This chapter discusses the biophysical factors that influence crop production including the impacts of crop production on the biophysical environment, climate challenges and their implications for green economy implementation. The alignment of agricultural practices with the environmental principles of a green economy, including making adjustments to and selecting practices and methods which are sustainable and based on agroecological principles; and therefore compatible with green economy principles are also covered.

The economic, social and environmental costs of food waste are being increasingly recognised. Food waste consists of both edible and inedible components. Whilst wastage of edible food is problematic for obvious reasons, there are also costs associated with the disposal of the inedible fraction to landfill. This is the third in a series of papers examining the costs of food waste throughout the value chain in South Africa. The previous papers focused on the edible portion of food waste. In this paper, costs associated with inedible food waste in South Africa are estimated, in terms of the value foregone by not recovering this waste for use in downstream applications, such as energy generation or composting; as well as costs associated with disposal to landfill. Opportunity costs are estimated at R6.4 (US$0.64) billion per annum, or R2668 (US$266) per tonne. Adding this to the previous estimate for edible food waste of R61.5 billion per annum (in 2012 prices; equivalent to R65 billion in 2013 prices) results in a total opportunity cost of food waste in South Africa (in terms of loss of a potentially valuable food source or resource) of R71.4 (US$7.14) billion per annum, or R5667 (US$567) per tonne. Thereafter, estimates of the costs associated with disposal of this food waste to landfill, including both financial costs and externalities (social and environmental costs), are taken into account. These costs amount to R255 (US$25) per tonne, giving rise to a total cost of food waste in South Africa of R75 billion (US$7.5 billion) per annum, or R5922 (US$592) per tonne. This is equivalent to 2.2% of South Africa’s 2013 GDP.

Globally, there are social, economic and environmental challenges related to sustainable development; these challenges include climate change, the need to feed a rapidly increasing population, high rates of poverty and environmental degradation. These challenges have forced us to rethink the way in which development takes place, resulting in the emergence of the concept of a ‘green economy’. A green economy results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing risks to the environment. It is based on principles which integrate social, economic and environmental considerations. South Africa has adopted the principle of green economic growth, and agriculture is one of the sectors that will drive this growth. Agriculture could address some of the sustainable development problems, but there are challenges related to resource availability, environmental impacts of agriculture and climate change. For agriculture to support a green economy it has to be productive, contribute to economic growth and not undermine the environment, social and cultural systems. The information base and policies required to support a green economy in general, and/or an agriculture-supported green economy have not yet been developed, as the green economy is an emerging concept in South Africa as well as globally. The generation of such information requires analysis and synthesis of green economy principles and agricultural imperatives into generic principles and practices for facilitating agriculture’s contribution to the green economy. In this paper, we conduct this analysis and synthesis and highlight the defining aspects of an agricultural green economy.

The green economy concept promises to provide a concrete roadmap to the implementation of sustainable development while delivering significant social and economic benefits and reduced environmental risks. However, the concept of a green economy is still being debated and the emerging discourse has yet to be fully interpreted within the industrial, institutional and socio-economic realities of many countries, including particularly emerging and developing nations. This paper traces the origins of the concept, providing the context for its current traction globally, and then introduces three emerging agendas around the green economy: ‘the incrementalist discourse’, ‘the reformist discourse’ and ‘the transformative discourse’. The paper ends with a discussion of the application of key themes within these discourses in the context of southern Africa and considerations as the green economic debate evolves.

Food waste is problematic for a number of reasons, including the loss of a potentially valuable food source or resource for use in other processes (e.g. energy generation or composting), wasted resources and emissions in the food supply chain, and problems associated with the disposal of organic waste to landfill. This paper quantifies the household food waste stream in South Africa, in order to draw attention to the magnitude of the problem. In addition, it estimates the economic (monetary) value of the wasted food, as well as the costs associated with disposing putrescible food waste to landfill, in order to highlight the associated costs to society. Costs associated with the loss of a potentially valuable food source are valued using a weighted average market price of the wasted food. Costs associated with the disposal of food waste to landfill are quantified based on estimates of the financial and external costs associated with landfilling. For household food waste alone, the costs to society associated with these two food-waste related problems are estimated at approximately R21.7 billion (approximately US$2.7 billion) per annum, or 0.82% of South Africa's annual GDP. These costs are therefore significant, particularly considering that household food waste accounts for less than 4% of total food losses across the food supply chain.

The external (environmental and social) costs of landfilling (e.g. emissions to air, soil and water; and 'disamenities' such as odours and pests) are difficult to quantify in monetary terms, and are therefore not generally reflected in waste disposal charges or taken into account in decision making regarding waste management options. This results in a bias against alternatives such as recycling, which may be more expensive than landfilling from a purely financial perspective, but preferable from an environmental and social perspective. There is therefore a need to quantify external costs in monetary terms, so that different disposal options can be compared on the basis of their overall costs to society (financial plus external costs). This study attempts to estimate the external costs of landfilling in the City of Cape Town for different scenarios, using the benefits transfer method (for emissions) and the hedonic pricing method (for disamenities). Both methods (in particular the process of transferring and adjusting estimates from one study site to another) are described in detail, allowing the procedures to be replicated elsewhere. The results show that external costs are currently R111 (in South African Rands, or approximately US$16) per tonne of waste, although these could decline under a scenario in which energy is recovered, or in which the existing urban landfills are replaced with a new regional landfill.

Global sustainable development depends on the capacity of natural, social and economic systems to adapt to external stimuli. However, building this adaptive capacity in the developing world context of sub-Saharan Africa will require substantial investment in these systems, which most countries in this region simply cannot afford. Given that their social, economic and environmental security depends on developments in developing countries, we argue that developed countries should assume a leading role in making such investments in developing countries, in order to secure their own long-term well-being. This will require cooperative governance between developed and developing countries, and targeted investment in a number of key areas. This calls for a new global contract between rich and poor nations in order to achieve global stability and sustainability. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

This paper presents results from a survey of waste management authorities aimed at identifying the opportunities and constraints associated with implementing economic instruments (EIs) for solid waste management (SWM) in South Africa (SA). Almost all respondents felt that EIs could lead to reduced waste generation and increased diversion of waste from landfill to recycling, and that they should eventually be implemented in the field of SWM in SA, although opinions varied as to the appropriate timeframe for implementation. The general consensus was that a number of fundamentals had to be in place first, including promulgation of the Waste Management Bill (which has since been promulgated as the Waste Act), political will, education and awareness, capacity and infrastructure development, cost recovery in waste management practices, and enforcement of existing instruments, such as the Minimum Requirements for landfill design and operation. Based on these and other issues raised by respondents, a number of recommendations are made for further research.

Sustainable natural resource management requires inputs from both the natural and the social sciences. Since natural and social systems are inter-related and inter-dependent, it is essential that these data can be integrated within a given analysis, which requires that they are spatially compatible. However, existing environmental and socio-economic monitoring networks tend to observe, collect and report socio-economic and biophysical data separately; with the result that much of these data are spatially incompatible, adding to the complexity of objective and consistent resource management. We present an approach for overcoming spatial incompatibilities between socio-economic and biophysical data; based on a meta-modelling approach using Geographical Information Systems and an application of a water-use simulation model. The method is developed and applied to the irrigation agriculture sector in the Inkomati Water Management Area in South Africa. Agricultural census data, which are measured on a magisterial district scale, are integrated with geo-referenced land-cover data, which are independent of political boundaries. This allows us to increase the resolution at which data on the economic value derived from irrigation water are presented, from coarse magisterial district scale to a finer 'meso-zone' scale, enabling more efficient allocations of irrigation water within magisterial districts.

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is a policy concept aimed at extending producers’ responsibility for their products to the post-consumer stage of their products’ lifecycle. This paper examines various approaches to implementing EPR for various types of packaging waste in South Africa, focusing in particular on their effectiveness in stimulating the recovery of post-consumer packaging material for recycling. In particular, the approaches adopted in the plastic bag, steel beverage can, glass and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) industries are examined. It is found that voluntary industry initiatives (as in the can, glass and PET industries) can be effective in stimulating recovery in a developing country context. By contrast, in the South African case, mandatory, government-imposed regulations (as in the plastic bag industry) have not been effective in stimulating recovery. However, this does not imply that voluntary initiatives are always more effective than mandatory regulations. Instead, it is likely that the differing results for plastic bags as opposed to other packaging waste streams in South Africa can be explained by the differing characteristics of the former; in particular, their reusability (particularly for bin liners) and low recycling value relative to the other waste streams. In addition, in the case of glass and PET, a major incentive behind the voluntary initiatives was the desire to avoid punitive regulations like those imposed in the plastic bag industry. It could therefore be argued that mandatory regulations in the plastic bag industry had the indirect effect of stimulating recovery in the glass and PET industries.

This study estimates the costs associated with reduced water quality and withdrawal of Blue Flag status in Margate, Kwazulu-Natal, based on travel costs and contingent behaviour (reported change in visits contingent on a hypothetical scenario). Costs associated with hypothetical loss of Blue Flag status (based on reduced visits) range between R17 and R25 million per annum. Interestingly, Blue Flag status was withdrawn shortly after completion of the survey, owing to reduced water quality. This study therefore provides an estimate of the associated welfare losses, and of the benefits of actions to improve water quality and restore Blue Flag status.

Evidence that the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) may be explained by trade patterns casts doubt on the oft-stated conclusion that economic growth automatically leads to environmental improvement. Trends in net exports as a proportion of consumption for both USA and UK trade with SACU were examined for various dirty industries. Some evidence of pollution haven effects is found, although a similar trend for clean industries suggests that this effect is weak. However, even a general shift in manufacturing industries from North to South (as opposed to a shift in specifically dirty industries) may explain the EKC to some extent. The environmental Kuznets curve describes a relationship that has been found empirically between per capita income and certain indicators of environmental degradation. At early stages of development, the levels of certain pollutants rise with increases in per capita income, while at higher levels of development, environmental degradation is seen to decrease with further increases in per capita income. These results give rise to an inverted U-shaped curve relating economic growth to environmental degradation, reminiscent of the relationship hypothesised by Simon Kuznets (1955) between economic growth and income inequality. One of the criticisms of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis is based on the observation that many of a developed country's manufactured goods are produced abroad. The argument asserts that the improvement in environmental quality at higher levels of per capita income can be explained (at least in part) by this tendency of developed countries to import manufactured goods from less developed countries. Thus, the EKC indicates that pollution is shifted to developing countries rather than abated as a country reaches higher levels of development. One version of this argument is the so-called pollution haven hypothesis (PHH), which contends that pollution intensive manufacturing relocates from developed to developing countries where environmental regulations are assumed to be less stringent. This paper aims to assess the extent to which this is the case for the United States and the United Kingdom in their trade relationships with the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) region. The paper is organised as follows. Section 1 addresses the context and importance of the research, and briefly outlines its goals. Section 2 summarises previous literature on the issue of trade and the EKC. Section 3 explains the research methodology adopted, whilst section 4 presents the results. The results are discussed in section 5, while section 6 concludes.

Literature on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is examined, focussing on the possibility that the EKC may be explained by trade patterns. If significant, this trade effect would cast doubt on the oft-stated conclusion that economic growth automatically leads to environmental improvement. Research has been insufficient, although a number of promising approaches have been developed. Although evidence on the pollution-haven hypothesis is mixed, there is enough to suggest that the EKC development path may not be available to today's developing countries. Other problems cast doubt on whether the EKC exists in any relevant sense at all.

We review the potential contributions of environmental and resource economics (ERE) to the achievement of sustainable development in developing countries; and highlight the limitations associated with applying ERE within a developing-country context, using examples from South Africa. We fInd that ERE has much to offer in helping to overcome the challenges associated with sustainable development in developing countries, but that the developing-country context needs to be taken into account before applying tools and methods that were designed with the developed-country context in mind. In particular, the unique and often complex socioecological context of developing countries needs to be considered and integrated into policy and management prescriptions.