Browsing by Subject "Environmental Governance"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Strengthening decision-making processes to promote water sustainability in the South African mining context: the role of good environmental governance and the law
    (University of Cape Town, 2020) Kengni, Bernard; Mostert, Hanri; Young, Cheri-Leigh
    This thesis examines whether the concept of good (environmental) governance provides a useful tool and legal base for the achievement of water sustainability in South Africa's mining sector. The thesis introduces water pollution as one sustainability challenge that South Africa is facing in its mining sector. The main question is how the legal framework should promote and guide water sustainability through good environmental governance. The question results from the fact that mining is a constant threat to water resources. Mining is one of the leading causes of water pollution which adversely affects human life among others when water contaminated with heavy metals is consumed. Farming, as an essential component of food security, is under constant threat in places like Mpumalanga as soils are rendered less productive by mine-contaminated water infiltrating from topsoil or rising from underground mines. Similarly, polluted water adversely affects biodiversity, thus, destroying ecosystems and vegetation which serve as livestock feed. The analysis of sustainability, governance and good governance theories and specific concepts underpinning them shows that they can inform water protection in the South African mining sector. Sustainability, found to be a broad and interdisciplinary concept, is a necessary guideline for the pursuit of water governance in the mining sector. Despite conflicting perceptions or facts regarding sustainability, it is evident that for water to be preserved, sustainable practices are essential. This requires mining activities to be conducted while always minimising the occurrence of water pollution to ensure water sustainability in the South African mining sector. The thesis also expounds that water sustainability pursued through governance practices is likely to be effective in alleviating or preventing water concerns. Thus, the concept of governance is presented as a tool with which individuals or organisations can achieve effective water sustainability, through decision-making, planning and law enforcement. Governance as a concept is complex, multifaceted and interdisciplinary, but can ensure water sustainability and the wellbeing of members of society who depend on the natural environment. The thesis further highlights that water sustainability is more likely when pursued through governance in its best possible form. The concept of good environmental governance is therefore explained as a theory that can guide effective decisionmaking and serve as a tool at the disposal of interested and affected parties to judge the performance of administrative officials. Effective decision-making processes and its elements are to be promoted through cooperative governance, accountability, transparency and public participation, for effective administrative action. The thesis then analyses the South African legal framework and establishes that water governance in the mining sector is extensively catered for therein. The Constitution sets the water sustainability mandate based on which legislation is enacted, both followed by legal interpretation in the courts. The analysis, however, show that there are various shortcomings relating to the implementation and enforcement of the law through administrative action. Nevertheless, the analysis remains hopeful that water sustainability can still be achieved in the mining sector. Despite the existence of environmental provisions and various attempts to achieve water sustainability, the current South African legal framework still fails to control water pollution effectively. The failure may be attributed to the shortcomings of the said framework, but it is, to a larger extent, a result of poor implementation and enforcement. One main reason is less effective administrative action due to inefficient decision-making processes, which implies that the quality of governance regarding water protection in the mining sector is inadequate. Such findings show that water sustainability could have been achieved or improved if decisionmakers had relied fully on good governance principles to implement and enforce provisions aimed at water protection in the mining sector. Hence, this thesis finds that no new regulation is required; rather it suggests a reform of various provisions within the existing legal framework to improve water sustainability. This is subject to improved implementation and enforcement mechanisms.
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    The influence of plural governance systems on rural coastal livelihoods: the case of Kosi Bay
    (2018) Mbatha, Nonhlanhla Philile; Sowman, Merle; Wynberg, Rachel
    Thousands of rural households along the South African coast rely on fisheries resources, forest products and agricultural resources in order to support their livelihoods. These customary livelihoods have continued in many rural areas despite restrictive policies and laws during the colonial and apartheid administrations. More contemporary restrictions have emerged in the post-1994 democratic state due to an expansion of the conservation estate and increased efforts to improve compliance in existing protected areas. This conservation drive is due largely to environmental concerns as well as the country’s international and national commitments to enhance biodiversity protection. Statutory conservation governance in rural areas in South Africa often operates in parallel to traditional and customary systems of governance. This results in confusion and conflict emanating from the plurality of governance systems, actors and institutions whose powers, roles and approaches are informed by different norms, discourses, values, images and worldviews. This study seeks to enhance understanding about the conceptual linkages between livelihoods and plural governance systems, using the case study of Kosi Bay, a coastal region in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This was done using a case study methodology and empirical research to: a) describe livelihood strategies; b) identify and document statutory, traditional and customary governance structures linked to coastal resource governance; c) explore the norms, discourses, images, values and worldviews that have informed coastal resource governance in this area; d) review and analyse the influences of plural coastal governance systems on livelihood strategies; e) contribute towards conceptual frameworks that link livelihoods and governance and; f) make recommendations for improved livelihoods and governance in rural areas in the South African context and beyond. The study underscores the manner in which legal pluralism and historical context affect and influence governance processes, and demonstrates that the day-to-day livelihoods of rural people are diverse and dynamic, and can be profoundly affected by meta-level and institutional governance processes and practices. It concludes by highlighting the manner in which legal pluralism and historical context significantly affect and influence governance processes that shape rural livelihoods, and provides a set of recommendations for consideration.
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    The role of good environmental governance in the sustainable devlopment of South Africa
    (2010) Feris, Loretta
    This article seeks to analyse good governance decision-making in the environmental context through an understanding and interpretation of the relationship between good environmental governance (evidenced inter alia by decision-making by public authorities) and sustainable development in South Africa. It critically assesses recent case law in an attempt to understand the way in which our courts are evaluating authorities' environmental decisions. In reaching its objectives, this article considers also how environmental decisions are made in the first place and asks the question: what are the value choices underlying government's decisions and what role does sustainable development play in informing decisions for good environmental governance.
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    Who shapes agricultural transformation in Africa? exploring the case of the alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) from a think tank perspective
    (2022) Vicedom, Stefan Klaus; Wynberg, Rachel
    Due to their high level of complexity and transnational character, environmental and climate change issues increasingly require specialised knowledge and international development strategies. One institution that regularly provides decision-makers with such scientific and international policy expertise is the think tank. With their particular competencies, environmentally-related and climate change related think tanks have become key actors in modern environmental governance systems. Since many African countries have a high proportion of smallholder farmers who experience daily food insecurity and poverty, the transformation of African agriculture has been prioritised in the agenda of many think tanks, international development initiatives, and aid agencies. This applies equally to the Nairobi-based Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), which was initiated by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2006 and is often labelled as an agricultural think tank. Through its activities, AGRA aims to improve food security in African countries by establishing industrial agricultural practices which were integral elements of earlier Green Revolutions. Accordingly, AGRA widely promotes the application of hybrid seeds, synthetic fertilisers, and other technological solutions to enhance agricultural productivity. However, AGRA and its key partners have increasingly been criticised by experts who claim that AGRA's agenda does not sufficiently address the needs of African smallholder farmers and that it mainly represents political and corporate interests from the Global North. Against this background, this study explored the role of AGRA within the current agricultural transformation in Africa. To this end, the research project analysed AGRA's organisational form, the key elements of its agenda and its network of partners from a think tank perspective. The study further examined how and on what levels AGRA and its partners shape environmental governance processes inside and outside of Africa. Multiple methods were combined to enhance the validity of the findings. These included a desktop study, a network analysis, a discourse-related case study, and key informant interviews. The findings reveal that AGRA is a hybrid organisation that combines key features of a think tank with strong operational dimensions. The results also demonstrated that due to its unidimensional agenda, AGRA fails to stimulate sustainable agricultural transformation in Africa. AGRA's partnerships are characterised by a Global North bias on the decision- making level, with the alliance displaying typical features of an ideological advocacy network. The shaping of governance processes by AGRA and its partners was observed at both national and intergovernmental levels.