- According to Kohler, South Africa does not have enough water and its demand is high. the only way for South African to conserve water is by not polluting it, re-using and recycling it and coming up with new technologies to save water. Sarkodie and Adams state that the energy challenge for Soouth Afriva is the fact that not everyone has access to electricity because of inequality in the country.

- Calma states that social justice involves finding the balance between our joint responsibilities as a society and our responsibilities as individuals to contribute to a fair society. its main goal is to pursue fairness and equity.

- environmental social justice is a form of social justice that aims to address equity and fairness that comes from the injustices of environmental problems by providing support to communities affected by climate change and environmental deterioration and providing vulnerable communities with access to resources.

- The wetland programme called "Working for Wetlands" was aimed at poverty reduction and wetland restoration. This programme employed almost 2000 people through out South Africa with its 40 projects.

The four environmental narratives identified in South Africa are; the conservation, the economic, non-state actors and local views. 

- The conservation view is motivated by the authoritarian approach which has the believe that people should not be given the rights to land and usually leads to forced removals and resettlements. This narrative does not contribute to an understanding of the SA environment because it is focused on the colonial times and not the present. 

- The economic view states that land is used for busying and selling and it is seen as an asset that boosts the socio-economic development of a country. This view is motivated by the capitalist approach where people of power take the natural resources and make profit out of it for themselves. This view can contribute to an understanding of the SA environment because in SA there are many natural resources that are being exploited by the wealthy to make themselves even more wealthier while there are still people living in poverty.

- The non-state actor view is a view that is influenced by people that do not reside in the community. It is motivated by the belief that environmental or natural resources are on a decline and they should therefore be protected, these people challenge the government when they do not agree with certain decisions. This view can contribute to an understanding of the SA environment because it encourages the benefit of the people in the community with the intentions of decreasing poverty.

- Local community view is motivated by the belief that the relationship with the environment is influenced by the socio-political context. It states that the environmental policies that are put forward are responding to the community which protects the environment. This view does not contribute to an understanding of the SA environment because in South Africa the community is not involved in the decision making processes.

- According to Stewart and Zaaiman, the two main environmental discourses in South Africa are the sustainable development discourse and the environmental and social justice discourse. The sustainable development discourse states that policies use world systems and ecological modernisation theory with the help of the private sector. this discourse is motivated by pursuing development without harming the environment, ensuring social and environmental justice. The social justice discourse states that access to environmental resources is linked to overcoming social problems and their effects on the community.  

The theories on environment give a view of how the environment influences the society. 

1. Buckle (single factor theory) - states that the environment is a very important factor for societies to flourish. in the olden days the warm climates, fertile soil and rain helped the Eastern nations to flourish while the the Northern countries used industrial ways to produce food in the cold climate.  According to this theory, it meant that countries with a warm climate ended up overcrowded as the population grew because of the cheap food they were able to produce during the warm climate.

2. Huntington - believed that the temperate climate in  Northern countries led them to being civilized which in turn made them cruel.

3. Herbert Spencer - applied Darwinism's theory of natural selection, stating that people are competing for survival with other species in the universe and also with each other, and that who ever becomes successful is a product of natural selection. 

4. Mead, Cooley , Thomas - states that physics and nature/climate are being replaced by psychology.

5. Robert Park - states that functionalism was chosen and the notion of an ecological model was rejected.

6. Durkheim - states that society is made up of social organisms that has to constantly adapt to the physical and social environment. 

7. Modernization in sociology and response to environmental degradation by society - human societies are being excluded from the ecological principles that govern other species.

8. Classical theorists - states that the environment and society are linked.

anthropogenic nature of environmental problems

environmental problems are harmful effects on the biophysical environment that are caused by human activities. there are a number of environmental problems, such as the ozone depletion, destruction of natural habitats and the disruption of marine world. all this problems are caused by human activity, for example, in South Africa we use refrigerators and air conditioning systems that require chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in order to function properly. when these chlorofluorocarbons are released into the atmosphere they will reach the ozone layer which protects the earth from the sun's harmful UV light and destroy it because the CFCs are harmful to the ozone. Another example is that of destruction of natural habitats, these include deforestation and water pollution, these are also caused by human activity and can lead to global warming.

Participatory Development

Participatory development is one of the alternative theories that are against the notions of the dependency theory and the modernisation theory which state development can only be brought by economic strategies, instead, this theory states that development should be human centred. Participatory development's main focus is to show that development is more about people and the community, it states that for development to occur, the people who will benefit from it should participate from the beginning until the end, in this way the people will be independent and they will focus on what their community needs. The people involved/beneficiaries are able to question the process and get information about it. In order to achieve participation development, community members can form their own community groups or participatory organisations where they can com up with ideas and initiatives as a collective.

Although participatory organisations or community groups are a good way to enhance development in the community, community members should be careful of the upper class or popular individuals in the community who might block them from achieving their goals by either stealing their ideas or not wanting anyone's idea but their own. For example, in South Africa there is a community development initiative where the department of agriculture gives funds to communities that want to start agricultural projects, if one member of the community feels that they do not want to work with the others, they might jeopardise the project by making it seem like the ideas are his.

Women in development and development approaches

The feminist development theory states that women in the development field are being ignored and they are not given the same treatment and roles as men, this theory has four different approaches under it, namely; Women in development (WID), Women and development (WAD), Gender and development (GAD) and lastly, postmodernism and development (PAD).

Women in development approach - this approach was introduced by Esther Boserup who is against the process of modernization and states that only countries that are economically capable can exploit women. The approach showed that women can also be included in the agricultural sector.

Women and development approach - this approach argues that Women should be included in the modernization process and emphasis the notion that there should be interaction between women and development, rather than them integrating into it. 

Gender and development - this approach looks at the knowledge and barriers gathered from WID and WAD for both men and women, its aim is to ensure that both genders benefit from development.

Postmodernism and development - this approach criticizes WID for seeing women as victims of development and not seeing the diversity of third world women. it emphasizes the fact that every part of the world is different and so are the requirements for women.

I believe the approaches that are most useful in the South African context are the postmodernism and development approach and the gender and development approach because these approaches recognizes the work that both and women put into development and acknowledge that each country is different.

definitions of poverty that are derived from experts

experts use 7 examples to define poverty. the first example is the fractions of the income distribution, this example uses household income to determine whether someone is living poverty or not and they define poverty as "households living below various percentages of mean or median equivalised household income. The second example is the $1 and $2 a day which basically states that countries that are living in poverty are below the $1 a day threshold. The third example is the poverty datum line, this line is used to measure whether a person is poverty stricken or no by measuring if they can afford things such as food, clothing, light and cleaning supplies (primary datum line) or accommodation costs, transport and tax (secondary poverty datum line). The fourth example is the minimum living level and supplemental living level where the minimum level is about the affordability of basic essential. The fifth example is the household subsistence level and household effective level, this line focuses on the affordability of education. medical expenses, savings holidays, etc. The 6th example is the Hoogeveen and Ozler - upper and lower bound poverty line where people that earn R593 per month fall under the upper bound line and those who earn R322 per month fall under the lower bound line. The last example is the food insecurity measures of poverty , this one looks at the kind of food people afford.

1. Modernization is a process whereby a country transforms from being an underdeveloped country to a more modern society by letting go of old cultures that are seen as backward. this theory argues that "third world countries fail to modernize because they do not have the same values as first world countries which can lead to modernization".

• There are 5 stages of growth that countries have to follow in the process of modernization, namely; 1. the traditional society, 2. pre-conditions for take off, 3. take off, 4. the drive to maturity and lastly, high mass consumption. this stages are called Rostow's mordenisation theory.
• The characteristics of modernization are urban migration, an increase in a high standard of living, high literacy, political and economic freedom and food security.

2. Dependecy theory  this theory argues that poor countries are poor because they are exploited by first world countries and this exploitation has been going on from the times of colonialism.

Four factors that contitute development in the South African context 

1. Rural to urban migration- A country's economic is highly dependent on the urban areas because it is where industries and job opportunities are. In South Africa many people still live in the rural areas and are not prepared to migrate to the urban areas because of the high standard of living and because of this the the country cannot develop further.

2. Political transformation- South Africa experienced political transformation when it became a democratic nation and cancelled the apartheid regime, this helped with the economic growth and development of the country.

3. Distribution of income- when income is distributed equally in the country, it keeps the country running smoothly but if it cannot be distributed equally and it is only distributed among a small fraction of the population, the country's economy might collapse.  In South Africa there is inequality and this means that a high number of people do not receive any kind of income, this limits the development of the country. 

4. Improvements in education and health- lack of a proper healthcare system and education limits the development of a country, for instance, South Africa has a poor education system and thus restricts the youth of many educational opportunities and this results in a weak economy

Poverty can be defined as “a state or condition in which a person or community lacks the financial resources and essentials for a minimum standard of living” or as Peter Townsend defines it “when individuals, families and groups in the population lack the resources to obtain the types of diet, participate in the activities and have the living conditions and amenities which are approved of in their societies”. Although there are many benefits of not living in poverty, there are some benefits of poverty for both the individual and the community. The benefits for the individual are; getting assistance from the government such as social grants, free medical services and being exempted from paying taxes. Living in poverty can also force one to learn basic skills such as cooking, cleaning, doing your won laundry and repairing household items. Lastly, it can help one to become more appreciative of the little things they have. The benefits of poverty for the community are; the uphold of cultural norms and values within the community, a sense of belonging as the community will always be working together and helping one another to achieve better things.