SOCY 211

LEARNING ACTIVITY 12

THE ENVIRONMENT AND POLICY:

STUDY UNIT: 7

LECTURER: MS. K. PHAJANE

J.E. COETZEE

33760845

TEL: 0795043183

11 JUNE 2021

1. Introduction

The effects of the state of the environment, sustainable development, social, and environmental social justice do, by no means exist in mutual exclusivity. Indeed, it can be shown that these concepts are quite interrelated and interwoven with each other. Herein will lead a brief discussion on what exactly is meant by social and environmental social justice, and how this manifest in three practical examples form the South African context. Additionally, the current state of the South African environment and social justice will be reflected upon. As a starting point, however, a brief overview of what social and environmental justice is.

2. What is social justice?

In essence, social justice is about the equal rights of all citizens, as well as the equal distribution of social resources and the structural enhancement of indiscriminatory access to, and ability to obtain social goods and services (Calma et al., 2011:10). Additionally, the equal redistribution process requires a policy framework that advances social inclusion via more equal levels of income (Calma et al., 2011:10), and, by extension, the subsequent equal access to social goods and services.

3. What is environmental social justice?

Environmental social justice boils down to two underpinnings. Firstly, environmental social justice focusses on the fact that environmental sustainability has a direct baring on sustainable labour. Indeed Räthzel (2018:512) states that “[the] destruction [of nature] constitutes a threat to the health of workers” and that “Nature needs to be protected because its destruction threatens workers”.

Secondly, it can be surmised that environmental social justice seeks to achieve social justice through environmental justice emanating from sustainable development. What this means, is that if policy frameworks aim to transition form a carbon-based economy (non-sustainable) to a low-carbon economy, sustainable development will follow and thus have a positive effect on labour thus cascading into social equality, the addressing of past inequalities and ultimately, social justice (Rathzel, 2018:10).

4. The water and energy crises in South Africa

The water challenge currently faced by South Africa is that, according to Köhler (2016:3), the total amount of usage exceeds the average amount of rainfall per annum and the estimated evaporation in the country exceeds the total amount of precipitation as well. Additionally, there exists not only a problematic amount of widespread water pollution, but also an excessive reliance upon water by the country’s economy (Köhler, 2016:8), as well as a structural deficit in understanding of the precise origin of this dependency within the economy, and the corresponding policy to address it.

In short, the energy crisis is described by Sarkodie and Adams (2020:458) as the existence of largescale inequality in access to electricity resulting from existing inequality in income and income distribution, which then cascades into a heavy reliance upon alternative, pollutive sources of energy causing significant increases in environmental sustainability and quality of human life.

5. Poverty alleviation through the wetland project

The wetland project had been intended to alleviate poverty in two ways. Firstly, the work that had been conducted was reserved for mainly unemployed residents of the specific areas in which the wetlands had been restored; and secondly through providing these labourers with basic training which would help them to access the labour market more easily for future employment opportunities (Zabala & Sullivan, 2017:11).

6. State of the environment

Objectively, the current state of affairs in South Africa with regards to the environment and social justice, is less than ideal. According to Sishutu (2015:521-522) not only is South Africa’s environment being destabilised by, among others, the current energy crisis, but also by the continued, largescale exploitation and destruction of natural resources by the existing, carbon-based, accumulative-capitalistic economy. Additionally, there exists a marked disparity between the levels of access to energy among the different segments of the South African population, and particularly to the detriment of the impoverished and disadvantaged (Sarkodie & Adams, 2018:456 & 457; Sishutu, 2015:522). Thus, it may be reasonably inferred that, based on the continuous capitalistic economic exploitation of the environment, and the profound intersegmental discrepancies in the distribution of and access to energy, the current state of the environment in South Africa is at a crisis point (Räthzel, 2015:504), and that social and environmental social justice is at an all-time low and in urgent need of systemic attention and improvement.

7. Conclusion

Thus, it had been shown, through the examples of the South African water and energy crises, that social justice and social environmental justice may be seen as interrelated and interdependent. Additionally, is had been illustrated that South Africa is currently in a state of crisis with regards to its environment as well as social and environmental justices and in need of serious policy and structural change.

8. Reference List

Calma, T., Baldry, E., Briskman, L. & Disney, J. 2011. What is Social Justice? Occasional Paper 1. National Pro Bono Resource Centre.

Köhler, M. 2016. Confronting South Africa’s water challenge: a decomposition analysis of water intensity. SAEF Working Paper, No. 2016/01/01.

Räthzel, N., Cock, J. & Uzzell, D. 2018. Beyond the nature–labour divide: trade union responses to climate change in South Africa. Globalizations, 15(4): 504-519.

Sarkodie, S.A. & Adams, S. 2020. Electricity access, human development index, governance and income inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa. Energy Reports, 6(1): 255-466.

Sishutu, B. 2015. Environment. In: Steward, P. & Zaaiman, J., eds. Sociology: a South African introduction. Cape Town: Juta. pp. 509-529.

Zabala, A & Sullivan, C. 2017. Multilevel assessment of a large-scale program for poverty alleviation and wetland conservation: lessons from South Africa. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 61(3): 1-22.