The environment was primarily seen by Marx as a medium of human labour. He felt that nature was to be used by humans for their production purposes. Marx saw that the rapid growth of capitalist economy was achieved by exploitation; the exploitation of one social class i.e. proletariat by another i.e. bourgeoisie

One of Southern Africa's biggest issues is the lack of clean water. According to The United Nations Convention on Climate Change on South Africa in 2000, the water around Africa is unevenly distributed, meaning that 60% of the water is situated in only 20% of the land. Less than 10% of Southern Africa's surface water is accessible and due to the fact that a majority of their groundwater lay under large rock formations, groundwater becomes difficult to access as well. Climate change and its attendant effects on temperature and precipitation may have an additional impact.

Many Africans are moving to rural areas, adding to the already high demands for clean water and while demands are growing drastically, freshwater supplies remain limited. Adding to the high demands, Durban’s dam has decreased by 20% since 2010 and up to 30% of the water has either been stolen or given away illegally through international trading.[“A review of water availability in 1996 estimated that the total average annual surface runoff was 150 million cubic metres, the maximum potential annual system yield was 33 290 million cubic metres, and total water annual requirements were 20 045 million cubic metres. Water requirements could increase by about 50% by 2030 (Department of Water and Forestry, 2000.