Adapting Transboundary Water Agreements to Climate Change: Experiences From Finland And Southern Africa

by | Nov 15, 2020 | SAJELP, SAJELP 2019

Adapting Transboundary Water Agreements to Climate Change: Experiences from Finland and Southern Africa

Authors Niel Lubbe and Tuula Honkonen

ISSN: 2616-8499
Affiliations:
Source: South African Journal of Environmental Law and Policy 2019, p. 5 – 41

Abstract

This article focuses on transboundary water governance in light of adaptation to climate change. A conceptual discussion on adaptation in transboundary water agreements aims to provide a background for the analysis of the legal and policy regimes in Finland and Southern Africa. This conceptual discussion identifies important aspects that need to be considered for law and policy aiming to regulate adaptation in transboundary water agreements. Chosen examples in each jurisdiction are analysed in order to see to what extent they provide for adaptation to climate change. This analysis in each jurisdiction is conducted with the conceptual background discussion in mind. After analysing the specific regulatory instruments in both jurisdictions, this article concludes by identifying some common ground in the adopted approaches and by providing some suggestions as to the way forward when regulating adaptation in transboundary water agreements.

A Hitchhiker’s Guide to South Africa’s Wetland Legislative Framework and International Obligations

by | Nov 15, 2020 | SAJELP, SAJELP 2019

A Hitchhiker’s Guide to South Africa’s Wetland Legislative Framework and International Obligations

Authors Felicity Elliott and Andrew Blackmore

ISSN: 2616-8499
Affiliations:
Source: South African Journal of Environmental Law and Policy 2019, p. 42 – 72

Abstract

Wetlands are generally considered to be habitats that are sensitive to development and land transformation, as well as pollution. Furthermore, as South Africa continues within the domain of climate change, and, with that, becomes increasingly water stressed, greater decision-making and societal emphasis needs to be placed on safeguarding wetlands for the wellbeing of current and future generations. In this article, the legislative provision in South Africa’s environmental law that could be drawn upon to rehabilitate and protect the country’s wetlands is investigated. These sensitive systems, save for rehabilitation, enjoy many safeguarding provisions distributed across the country’s environmental law. It is concluded that this legislative approach to wetland protection is overly complex and fragmented, and hence may not have the necessary gravitas to achieve the intended outcome. It is further concluded that the efficient and effective protection of wetlands requires a consolidation of the applicable law into (ideally) a single statute. Furthermore, the South African legislature is encouraged to provide for greater emphasis on the rehabilitation of stressed and damaged wetlands.

Taking the Sting Out of the (Green) Scorpions’ Tail: Latest Developments in the Adjudication of Waste Management Enforcement Disputes

by | Nov 15, 2020 | SAJELP, SAJELP 2019

Taking the Sting Out of the (Green) Scorpions’ Tail: Latest Developments in the Adjudication of Waste Management Enforcement Disputes

Authors Jenny Hall

ISSN: 2616-8499
Affiliations:
Source: South African Journal of Environmental Law and Policy 2019, p. 73 – 101

Abstract

Environmental management inspectors, the so-called Green Scorpions, have a constitutional imperative to play an important role in upholding the environmental right by taking enforcement action where there is non-compliance with environmental legislation. The courts play their role in giving effect to the environmental right in the way that they adjudicate disputes. When they view a dispute through rights-based glasses, their judgments can have profound implications for the everyday environmental experiences of ordinary South Africans. In that sense at least, the courts and the Green Scorpions ought to be allies as they are working towards the same goal, namely making sure that the environmental right is tangible to the public. This article discusses the High Court’s (Gauteng Division) adjudication of a dispute involving alleged non-compliance with a waste management licence. It highlights the implications of the court’s failure to locate the dispute in the context of the environmental right and discusses how the court’s interpretation of the compliance and enforcement provisions in environmental legislation drastically curtails the powers of the Green Scorpions in respect of waste management transgressions.

Drawing the Short Straw: Regulating Plastic Pollution in South Africa

by | Nov 15, 2020 | SAJELP, SAJELP 2019

Drawing the Short Straw: Regulating Plastic Pollution in South Africa

Author Olivia Rumble

ISSN: 2616-8499
Affiliations:
Source: South African Journal of Environmental Law and Policy 2019, p. 102 – 145

Abstract

Many parts of South Africa’s inland and coastal areas are awash with plastic pollution. At present, government appears to be focusing its efforts on four priorities to address plastic pollution, namely: the plastic bag levy, extended producer responsibility measures, the potential ban of problematic plastic products and domestic waste service provision. This analysis seeks to critically analyse the approach adopted in relation to these priorities with a view to proposing refinements and alternatives, within the broader context of the nuanced statutory mechanisms available to manage waste under the National Environmental Management: Waste Act 59 of 2008 (Waste Act). It does so by attempting to delineate the primary causes and contributing factors to plastic pollution; outlining the existing regulatory landscape, and interrogating these priorities and the manner of their application within that context. It concludes that whilst some traction has been made, some ten years after the Waste Act’s promulgation, a lack of policy coherence and ambition, knowledge gaps, disputes relating to financial models, and uncertainty about the socio-economic implications of measures are hampering the timeous implementation of much needed statutory measures.

Twenty Years of The Bamako Convention: Recounting Africa’s Waste Trade Experience and Its Journey to Toxic Waste Freedom

by | Nov 15, 2020 | SAJELP, SAJELP 2019

Twenty Years of The Bamako Convention: Recounting Africa’s Waste Trade Experience and Its Journey to Toxic Waste Freedom

Author Nnamdi SS Umenze

ISSN: 2616-8499
Affiliations:
Source: South African Journal of Environmental Law and Policy 2019, p. 146 – 184

Abstract

Concerned by the reckless dumping of Western toxic waste in Africa and the associated environmental, health and social problems, 12 African countries negotiated and adopted the Bamako Convention on the Ban into Africa and the Control of Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within Africa (Bamako Convention), because the Basel Convention, a multilateral agreement, failed to address the concerns of the developing countries regarding the toxic waste  trade. The Bamako Convention came into force in 1998 with the objectives of eradicating all forms of hazardous waste importation into Africa, minimising waste production, and regulating transboundary shipments and disposal of waste among member states, but it remains to be seen whether these objectives have been achieved after 20 years.

Mining in the Mabola Protected Environment

by | Nov 15, 2020 | SAJELP, SAJELP 2019

Mining in the Mabola Protected Environment

Author Amanda Mkhonza

ISSN: 2616-8499
Affiliations:
Source: South African Journal of Environmental Law and Policy 2019, p. 185 – 200

Abstract

Soon after declaring the Mabola Protected Environment in terms of the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act, permission to undertake coal mining activities within this environmentally sensitive and ecologically important area was granted by the Ministers responsible for the environment and mineral resources in terms of the same Act. This statutory anomaly – that allows for mining within protected environments – sits at the heart of this case and is interpreted by our judiciary for the first time. The Mabola judgment crystalises the sequence of authorisations required for mining within protected environments whilst clearly distinguishing the roles of the relevant Ministers when called to act as custodians of South Africa’s protected environments.