According to Kohler, South Africa is the world's 30th driest country. Because we don't get much rain, when it does rain, the water evaporates on the ground and returns to the air phase nearly rapidly. The fact that only 20% of South Arica's ground water can be exploited poses a hurdle, further limiting water supply. Every year, the demand for water grows, as more people demand more water.

According to Calma (2011), social justice entails striking a balance between our collective and individual responsibilities in order to contribute to a just society.

Environmental social justice, according to Rathzel (2018), is a sort of justice for people who have been "left out" during environmental disasters. For example, in South Africa, our air is becoming increasingly polluted as a result of the mining. As a result, environmental social justice exists to assist individuals who are affected by environmental situations.

The Wetland project aids in the purification of water, the provision of water, and the management of water flow in impoverished areas. This project also assisted in the creation of employment opportunities for at least 2000 people living in poverty. Making their lives a little less difficult.

South Africa's environmental situation is dire, and things are just getting worse. Almost all of our resources, such as coal for power generation and water, are depleted. As a result, we're compelled to employ more expensive methods to provide people with energy and water. This is inconvenient since many people in South Africa are poor and unable to make the necessary changes.

The four environmental narratives identified in South Africa are: 1) The conservative view, 2) The economic view, 3) The non-state actor view and 4) The local community views.

For the first view, the objective is ensuring the protection of an environmental land for the sake of communities and the motive is that the environment needs saving from people. For the second view, the objective is that people ought to realize the money they can make from exploiting the environment and the motive is that nature exists for the financial betterment of people. The third narrative's objective is to protect and respect the value of the environment whilst its motive is to go against the government in their decision making. The last narrative believes that people's relationship with the environment is guided by the politics of those in power.

In answering if whether or not these narratives contribute to the understanding of the South African environment - the answer is yes. In us understanding these narratives, we can also now make sense of why the government, even in democracy, still struggles to see why it is important to include citizens when making decisions about their direct environment: it has been like this since apartheid. We can also understand why people in underdeveloped areas are so stubborn and apprehensive with allowing companies to come and build businesses on their land: it would be easy to rob them as many are aware that they lack education and skills. Lastly, we can also understand why in some cases, the help from international investors is rejected.

The two discourses of the environment are sustainable development and environmental & social justice. In sustainable development, the aim is to ensure that development does not harm the environment and that it is not unjust to the local people. The second discourse aims to create a fair system of distributing and receiving good quality resources that will only occur after social problems are dealt with.

The Sustainable Development discourse links to the South African policies in that the government utilizes its policy mechanisms to get to attain their Sustainable Development goals.

THE CLASSICAL THEORIES AND THEIR USEFULNESS IN THE SA CONTEXT

-Max Weber, his theory has two aspects that Murphy used, SARCE RESOURSES(he maintained that the impact of capitalist development resulted in growth on scarce resources) and FORMAL RATIONALIZATION & SUBSTANTIVE RATIONALITY. Formal rationalization promotes pervasive logic whereby profit and efficiency reigns supreme whereas substantive rationality promotes disregarding of the impact on the environment which result in scarcity, extinction and degradation. In the SA context the extraction of raw material(gold, platinum) without being concern with the environmental impacts of the extractions, will results in remaining LDC and deteriorate our environment even further.

-Karl Marx, emphasizes the problem of the fertility of the soil within capitalist agriculture, because its agriculture is focused on making a quick profit putting ahead the soil or people. He also raises concern on industrial revolution, which removes rural people from nature and drive them into crowded, polluted cities, while the soil is drained its nutrients. In the SA context. rural-urban migration has a great impact on the environment, as people are put in crowded places, in which they pollute due to their carbon footprint and they leave the farm arears with no one to take take of, making it prone to being infertile soil.

The anthropogenic nature of environmental problems 

Environmental problems and human beings are linked together and we see the results through the environmental problems that we see and have today. These problems are mainly caused by humans rather than nature itself. 

The generating of electricity in our country means that we need to mine for coal. Not only it is costly it also impact our health. We end up breathing air that is polluted by chemicals that are being released from the firms, sometimes we find ourselves drinking water that is also contaminated by dangerous chemicals. In Cape Town, the field fires that would break out also adds towards global warming and the depletion of the ozone layer. With the rural-urban migration increases it means that deforestation also has to take place as that brings a lot of species lives in danger of extinction. 

Participatory development approach and critique with an SA example:

Participatory development helps societies to build their own capacity and self-reliance. It also gets people of the community involved in the development process. This participation is used as an communication model between community members and stakeholders. But like with everything else participatory development has shown some challenges such as limited capacity and inappropriate technologies. In South Africa their is an example of UNESCO's Finding a Voice Project who employs ICT for development initiatives. 

Women in development

This non-governmental organization aims at making women an integral part of development – both in practice and theory. It seeks to acknowledge women’s roles in development and how they have been systemically overlooked and excluded within development research and practices. Additionally, WID seeks acknowledgment and rectification of women’s long-held subordinate position within the patriarchy and the view they have been labelled with as mere reproductive agents. This is largely accomplished through their efforts to promote the advancement of women within the economy and occupational field.

It utilizes the egalitarian ideology of equal genders and equal gender rights and opportunities in order to establish women’s place and significance within development and the developmental process. In other words, providing women with an equal chance at advancing within the field of occupation and thus manifest for the first time the truly important role they play in development and developmental processes.

An appropriate example of how women are empowered in South Africa, is the standardized practice for women to be given priority when it comes to the hiring of top-level management as well as leadership positions. In doing so, women are thus given equal opportunity for economic advancement, and thus also the opportunity to not only flourish and prosper within their own right, but to occupy their rightful, equally significant roles within the development of the economy and society at large.

Modernization is a process of social economic and cultural transformation in which a country evolves from pre-industrial to a modern society countries follow a series of Five stages of development that all countries have to follow. The traditional society, Pre-conditions for take off, take off. The drive to maturity and high mass consumption. The modernization theory formed in response to the prescriptions of development economists that failed.

Dependency is a result of the failure of the modernization theory to address the underdevelopment of the third world countries. They are focused on the origins and subsequent development of underdevelopment. Dependency theory was created to address and fix the issue regarding lack of development which the modernization theory was unable  to address.

Growth and structural change

Structural change refers to dramatic shift in the way a country, industry, or market operates, usually brought on by major economic developments. South Africa has not made any huge progress in transforming the structure of its economy. Some even may say that in fact it had regressed. South Africa can be seen as a developed country and would most likely use the primary sector to generate their income.

Distribution of Income

Income distribution is extremely important for development, since it influences the society. It determines the extent of poverty for any given average per capita income and the poverty-reducing effects of growth, and even affects people's health. Income should be distributed fair between all the people in the country. In South Africa people who live in Gauteng receives more than 10,000 dollars and people living in Eastern Cape receives less than 4,000 dollars. Inequality moves along with growth, so the more a country grows the more inequality will take place.

Modernization

Modernization underpinned the idea of development as growth, with modernization defined as a linear path towards a developed industrial society. Economic development through industrial transformation would lead to economic growth, allowing poorer countries to catch up with industrial countries. A country can only be modern when it starts to use modern technology, and South Africa is starting to use more modern technology in the medical world and in our daily lives. 

Demographic Transitions

The demographic transition model graphs Birth rates, Death rates and Natural increase. The rate of Natural Increase is much higher in developing countries of the world, and many countries in HICs are actually experiencing population decline. In South Africa the demographic transition model is on stage 3, which is viewed as a marker of significant development. 

DEFINITION OF POVERTY

Swanepoel & De Beer (2011)- ‘A situation where the next meal or absence of that meal means the difference between life and death. Starvation is clearly the most telling element of poverty where income is so low that food, shelter & personal necessities cannot be maintained’.

‘Poverty is pain. Poor people suffer pain that comes with too little food and long hours of work; emotional pain stemming from daily humiliations of dependency and lack of power; and the moral pain from being forced to make choices-such as whether to use limited funds to save the life of an ill member, or to use those same funds to feed their children’ (Narayan et al., 2000:3 in Taylor & Triegaardt, 2018:129).

Poverty usually means, the poor are often hungry, malnourished, living in substandard housing with no running water & often exposed to rats, cockroaches & other worms & insects that live on bodies of people/animals and carry diseases and the lack of opportunity to improve oneself socially, emotionally and/or educationally. The poor are, often affected by dysfunctional /unstable marriages, poor housing that does not prevent too much heat in summer, too much cold in winter & leakages during rainy days. They hardly afford luxuries/finer things like travelling for holidays, dining out, movies, theatres, concerts and some sports events (Zastrow, 2010).

BENEFITS OF POVERTY

1. ‘Dirty work’  gets done. Low wage employment is meant for these types of jobs like EPWD jobs. 

2. Domestic work gets done. Not just hotels, but among the upper income classes.

3. Professional and business niches get created. Pawn shops, liquor stores, video poker establishments, payday loans, collection agencies, hotels/motels with weekly/monthly rates, even the social work profession, professors who study poverty, etc. 

4. Recycling contributions. Poverty helps with the recycling of goods and incompetent professionals.

5.  A population of poor helps uphold conventional norms. The poor more often get ‘caught’ in criminal activity, and most studies deal with crimes committed by the poor.

6. Moral distancing. Poor people are perceived as morally deviant, at the least irresponsible and insufficiently motivated. Hence policies enforcing drug testing of welfare recipients, etc.

7. Cultural contributions. Blues, jazz, country western, even rap and hip hop, have their roots in underclasses.

8. Security of social location. Poor serve as reference points–guaranteeing status of those who aren’t poor as a result of classism. 

9. Helping others achieve. The poor aid in upward mobility of other groups. Dirty work, immigration … the investment class does very well on the backs of underpaid workers.  

10. Supply of charity balls. It takes tens of thousands to raise hundreds of thousands. This makes the rich feelgood about themselves and less guilty about their hoarding of wealth.