The CONNEPP process has identified a wide range of environmental concerns of people from all sections of our society. South Africa faces enormous challenges in addressing these issues. Not only do we have to solve many problems created by previous generations, but we also have to meet the future needs of all the people in the country through a system that will be economically and environmentally sustainable.
This section outlines environmental issues. Given the wide range of issues raised in the consultative process it is not possible to deal in detail with each one. Instead the Green Paper presents broad categories that cover the many detailed and specific issues raised. These categories have been used for convenience and do not reflect an order of priority.
All the issues outlined below identify important areas that national environmental policy must address. Policy must adopt principles, set out objectives and actions and, where necessary, establish priorities to address these issues.
Readers should note that:
South Africa's economy and society have been shaped by centuries of colonial rule that culminated in the apartheid system. This has had an enormous negative impact on the interaction between people and the environment, particularly for those denied citizenship rights and, in many cases, forced to live in degraded environments. The history has shaped the nature of government and the environmental policies it has pursued.
Some of the characteristics of our country which reflect the inadequacies of previous development and environmental policies are described below.
South Africa has a growing population of nearly 43 million. It is likely to double in around 30 years at the present rate of growth.
There is a large income disparity between rich and poor. Government owns half the economy and ownership of the remainder is highly concentrated in the hands of a small minority of the white population. A large proportion of the workforce is unemployed and jobs in the formal economy are not increasing.
Poor people in urban and rural areas have limited access to water, energy, land and other resources. Services such as sanitation, waste removal, transport and housing have either not been provided or have been of poor quality. Infectious diseases due to lack of clean and/ or adequate water supplies, sanitation and waste removal services are a major cause of deaths in early childhood.
Some of the worst air pollution in the country occurs in and around households that use wood and coal as their primary energy source, and in highveld areas of Mpumalanga where many of the country's coal-fired power stations are located. Air pollution results in acute and chronic respiratory infections, the second largest cause of early childhood deaths.
Apartheid policies have had a number of negative environmental impacts.
The black majority were denied the vote, disempowered and dispossessed. They were forcibly removed from commercial farming land to overcrowded and under serviced rural and urban settlements. Often they had to live close to industrial areas and waste dumps, exposing them to environmental hazards. Survival sometimes demanded unsustainable and environmentally damaging patterns of resource use.
At present eight major metropolitan areas contain almost half the country's population. Urbanisation is rapid due to exclusion from farming land and overcrowded, under serviced and degraded rural environments. There is a massive backlog in the provision of housing and other services in urban areas.
Metropolitan areas occupy 6% of the land and, at current rates of urbanisation, almost 30,000 hectares of agricultural land is lost to urban settlement each year.
Urban areas produce more than 15 million tonnes of solid waste a year, yet only a tenth of waste disposal sites are licensed. There is little control over illegal waste dumping. Around 800,000 tonnes of liquid waste are disposed of each year as run off into freshwater systems and the sea.
The apartheid state was authoritarian and secretive. A major objective was to exclude black people from meaningful political participation.
The majority of the population were excluded from decision making on the use and allocation of resources and services
Nature conservation areas were developed at the expense of local communities. The system led to forced removals and exclusion of communities from the management and benefits of conservation.
Most people were denied access to effective education and training.
One of the gravest legacies of apartheid has been the lack of access to education by the greater part of the population.
Secrecy, lack of participation in decision making and lack of access to information by citizens characterised the apartheid years. This impacted particularly harshly on poor communities with few social rights and little access to legal procedures to protect their environment.
There is widespread view that environmental issues in South Africa have had low priority, being narrowly defined as relating mainly to nature conservation. This is reflected by a failure to integrate environmental concerns into economic planning and decision making at all levels in society. Sustainable development, effective integrated environmental planning and management are seriously impeded by:
Capacity building and the holistic integration of environmental concerns into all forms of education and awareness building has not received enough attention. Issues of concern include:
Information is fundamental to environmental governance. Where interested and affected parties do not have access to information, effective participation cannot take place. At present much important information is:
International relations can play a large role in shaping a country's environmental policy. This can have negative impacts if it is not well managed.
Developing countries are concerned that international finance institutions can influence domestic policy decisions in ways that are inappropriate or contrary to the aims of sustainable development. Some international finance institutions are incorporating sustainable development criteria in their lending policies in recognition of this.
There is a vigorous international debate on the relationship between free trade and environmental protection with some parties regarding environmental protection measures as 'artificial trade barriers' that conflict with free trade. South Africa should ensure that the principles, standards and rights contained in its environmental policy are not compromised by international trade arrangements. The positive impacts of international trade including environmental improvements made to secure new customers and opportunities for entering markets for environmental goods should be maximised.
South Africa's reacceptance into the international community provides opportunities to benefit from state of the art international technology and practise. At the same time the country must guard against the transfer of dirty technology from northern states to South Africa, or from South Africa to other developing countries.
International agreements can exert pressure on national environmental policy. At present South Africa's engagement at international level does not reflect a clear commitment to national positions and priorities. The process of entering and implementing environmental agreements is characterised by:
Activities in one area may have environmental impacts/ consequences in surrounding areas. Present structures of environmental governance have little or no capacity to manage impacts across regional and international boundaries.
South Africa has relatively high levels of waste and pollution impacting on air, land and water. Waste disposal practices are unsatisfactory. Ineffective waste management and poor regulatory controls allow waste producers to externalise waste management costs on to the environment and society.
Poorer communities bear the greatest impact from wastes because many are near to industrial areas and waste disposal sites. Workers in all sectors may face exposure to toxic and hazardous substances. Those in sectors like waste disposal, agriculture, mining, mineral refining, chemicals and nuclear energy are especially vulnerable due to potential exposure in the workplace.
There are no effective incentives to encourage all waste producers to adopt cleaner production processes and minimise waste generation. Recycling and reuse are not systematically encouraged.
The handling and disposal of toxic and hazardous waste is in crisis. Many existing sites have closed for environmental and social reasons. Waste site management is complicated by the failure of producers to disclose the composition of toxins and hazards contained in waste. Toxic and hazardous materials are frequently dumped illegally, and sometimes dumped along with domestic refuse in open disposal sites. There is little control over the transport of, and trade in, waste.
Apartheid policy often distorted industrial developments for political reasons with serious implications for environmental management and protection. For example, secrecy surrounded industries considered to be of 'strategic' importance by the apartheid government. The drive for self sufficiency in response to economic isolation, along with the attempt to implement 'separate development', resulted in subsidies to keep unsustainable sectors going and to promote industrial decentralisation. Maintaining the apartheid system took precedence over threats to human health and negative environmental impacts.
Industry is recognised as a vital contributor in the quest for sustainable development. On the one hand it is industry that provides and creates jobs, generates wealth, earns foreign exchange, pays taxes, provides goods and services, and sustains national prosperity and economic growth. Industry is also a major source of pollution and waste. As the most organised area of human activity, it also has some of the most extensive impacts on the environment. More than any other sector, it has the potential to manage its environmental impacts to better effect.
Minimum standards, compliance monitoring, regulation and enforcement relating to the environmental impacts of industry in South Africa are inadequate and uneven. Provisions for rehabilitating and remediating environmentally degraded sites need to be improved.
Workers in industry, agriculture, mining and transport are the first to feel the impacts of unsafe and unhealthy word environments and procedures. Their work often involves them in activities that harm the environment. At present a lack of job security and information inhibits workers from playing a major role in protecting the environment.
The complexities and inefficiencies of environmental administration, the lack of clear priorities, targets and goals frustrate managers in business and industry, resulting in poor environmental performance and consequent degradation. Enterprises that make real attempts to improve environmental standards feel that lack of recognition discourages others from following their lead.
Issues that need to be addressed in order to ensure that all industry is able to make the contribution it should and that opportunities for sustainable development are maximised include the lack of:
To remedy this, environmental policy needs to:
Environmental degradation, competition for resources, conflict between environmental management and economic growth, and loss of biodiversity are caused by:
Increasing demands for land and natural resources create competition and conflict.
Unsustainable patterns of consumption and production combined with a growing population are major causes of continued environmental deterioration. Excessive demands for resources and unsustainable lifestyles place immense stress on the environment. The inability of poorer sections of our society to meet basic needs for food, health care, shelter and education may force them to adopt unsustainable patterns of resource use.
The loss of biodiversity, mainly from habitat destruction and the introduction of alien plants and animals represents a serious threat.
Protected areas which contribute to the conservation of biodiversity are often poorly planned and managed.
In many instances local communities have no control over land and biotic resources and do not share in economic and other benefits derived from their use. This works against biodiversity conservation and sustainable use.
Fragmented planning practices and apartheid imperatives have caused many problems in urban and rural living environments and in resource use.
The movement of people from the rural to urban areas places stress on towns and cities. It is evident in the plight of homeless street-dwellers, polluted air, lack of safe drinking water and sanitation. These factors lead to preventable deaths and ill-health.
While towns and cities generate and accumulate wealth, and are centres of education, economic opportunity, employment, innovation and culture, they are also immense consumers of natural resources. They take over large areas of productive agricultural land, use large quantities of water, energy, foodstuffs and raw materials and generate enormous quantities of waste and pollution.
Many urban environmental problems are social ones, such as lack of basic services, lack of and/ or poorly planned open space, homelessness, poor quality and/ or poorly located housing, loss of access to productive land, air pollution, industrial pollution and hazardous waste sites,. The separate development philosophy pursued under apartheid led to a focus on providing resources and services for wealthier white communities. This contributed to inequality between rich and poor.
The effects of apartheid are most evident in the rural areas of South Africa. People in the ex-homeland areas, women, farm workers and the poor in rural towns experience the worst poverty, have least access to resources and services and confront the greatest barriers to influencing decision making. Their plight has led to enormous environmental degradation.
Mechanisation and industrialisation of agriculture have contributed to increasing environmental impacts.
These include:
Many urban problems in South Africa stem from rapid, unplanned urbanisation and land use planning that does not integrate environmental concerns. This increases poverty and has led to the current urban crisis.
Despite all these problems, a number of recent developments suggest that South Africa is responding to the global trend towards greater environmental awareness and enhanced environmental performance. This is evident in a growing capacity for, and acceptance of, the need for better management of environmental impacts in all sectors. These positive factors include:
Since may 1994, the new government has achieved important advances in the delivery of services and freeing of resources which have had a positive impact of the lives of the poor.