•Name the four environmental narratives identified in SA:

-The conservation

-The economic view

-Non-state actors

-Local views

 

•Objective and motive for each narrative:

-The conservation: sees the environment as the victim of the ignorant and destructive local community’s rescue, but this goal is in a poor way

Motive-the narrative ensures environmental land protection in the interest of communities and its people.

 

-The economic view: the environment is considered to be the commodity mainly available for purchase and selling.

Motive- identify opportunities for those with the means and therefore the power to make use of resources to make money.

 

-Non-state actors: the views are derived from external stakeholders(e.g academics, researchers, NGO’s) outside of the local community.

Motive- they believe that the resource of human beings must not be used for themselves and that the environment must be safeguarded and respected

 

-The local news: the views on time, locations, individual characteristics and circumstance and local power and policy are very complex and highly differentiated.

Motive- is influenced by the nature if the socio- political context in relation to the environment or whether the communities from the country are more environmentally safe, and have scarce resources such as farmers, use for food, wood for fuel, construction, housing, fodder or medicinal products for their livelihoods.

 

•Do these narratives contribute to an understanding of the SA environment?

-Yes, they do. All these accounts help us understand more about our South African nature and how we contribute to the well-being natures. It also helps us understand what we human beings are doing to damage the nature of our country.

 

•Two main environmental discourses:

-Sustainable development- is a development which meets the ability of today without compromising future generation’s ability to meet their needs. In global environmental policy it plays an essential role. Beliefs about social and environmental relations, such as developing without damaging the environment, influence sustainable development. Sustainable development calls for the continuous development of companies, coordination and commitment to every effort.

 

-Social justice-is the equilibrium relationship between persons and society and is compares to the differences in wealth distribution. It discusses the daily challenges facing local communities such as poverty, education shortfall, unemployment and the impact on public health of air and water pollution.

 

•How does the sustainable development discourses into the SA policies?

-It helps to systematically monitor, track and report on natural capital stock and flows through the use of the ecosystem accounting. It helps the SA policies to understand what the issues should be resolved.

The classical environment theories and their usefulness in South Africa.

 

-Buckle states that the environment is a critical factor for nations to flourish. For example, the eastern nations flourished because of warm climates, fertile soils, rain and others. The northern nations were innovative and industrious to survive the cold, producing a large quantity of food, but the southern nations stagnated. For example, in South Africa some areas are receiving a small amount of rain whereas some receive little or no rain at all which makes it hard for the agricultural industries to produce food. The soil is unable to produce as there is no rain. Extreme heat with no rain at all also has a negative impact on the production of food which plays a huge role in SA.

 

Huntington established a correlation between climate and external factors and intrapersonal factors that sine of the industrial efficiency criticized subsequently resulted in a productive climate. There are many cars polluting the atmosphere and the ozone layer which leads to us not receiving rain and results to water shortages and dry rivers and dams.

 

According to Hosu et al.(2018)South African service is not crucial. The leadership promises society change but it takes time. The environmental issues in society are a pliability . There was a policy paper in SA for water supplies in 1994 but water shortages remain which shows inequality. The leaders are skeptical about supplying water to the rural areas; they only want the resources to themselves.

The anthropogenic nature of environmental problems with examples from the SA context.

 

Ozone depletion

-is a layer in the earth’s stratosphere at an altitude of about 10km which absorbs the ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth from the sun. Lives and animals are being affected, for example the aquatic ecosystems are being affected, marine animals are slowly dying because the oceans are slowly warming up not to their liking and in the North Pole, the Arctic ice is melting due to the intense heat.

 

Destruction in natural habitats

-is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native specie. For example, animals are losing their natural home or habitat they need to survive because of urbanization and the rise in population; also mining expansion in urban areas has caused 

South Africa and the wildlife animals  to lose their important species.

 

Decline in freshwater 

-is the lack of fresh water to meet the standard water demand which can be caused by climate change, increased population and increased human demand and overuse of water. For example, in some rural areas, fresh water scarcity is high. According to the SAstats, it was reported that 15 million people lack basic clean water or sanitation.

 

Adverse effects on marine life

-human activities affect marine life through overfishing, habitat loss, the introduction of invasive species, ocean acidification and ocean warming. The ocean area remains as wilderness, mostly in open ocean area rather than along the coast. For example, pollution have a major effect on marine life which results to the animals dying; even the oils that spills from the ships have a major impact on the marine life. Another example, a blue whale was washed up to the beach shore because it couldn’t wee it’s way around because of the oil spillage and it unfortunately collided with a ship and died.

Discuss the concept of participatory development approach and critique with an example from the context of SA.

Participatory development seeks to give the poor a part in initiatives and projects that are designed by outside organizations  in the hopes that these projects will be more sustainable and successful by involving local stakeholders in the project goals. It became more noticeable in humanist approaches since the late 1970s. The approach enables capability and autonomy to be built by the society. It also allows people in local communities to become partners in development. The approach strengthens civil society and the economy by empowering groups, communities and organizations to negotiate with institutions. For example, The Siyasizana Foundation, established in 2017, focuses on improving the living conditions of the underprivileged through various projects aimed at education, health and fun. The foundation believes in balance and assigning equal importance to various aspects in life in order to achieve a well-rounded and healthy life. It runs impactful and sustainable projects that are for the greater good of society. Another example is The Motsepe Foundation; they donated R100m towards job creation and skills training for the underprivileged in every community who wishes to make their dreams comes true. The funds will be directed at creating sustainable jobs in sectors such as agriculture and adhere to global best practices.

Critical discussion of women in development and development approaches.

WID(Women in Development) is an approach that calls for gender attention to women in development policy and practice, and emphasizes the need to integrate them into the development process. It was established in the early 1970s by a Washington-based network of female development professionals. The first important statement of the position of women in development was made by Esther Boserup, who advanced a critique against modernization that only economic efficiency would emancipate women in the third world. According to the WID approach, modernization was impacting differently on men and women. Women were being left out the development practices, they were not benefiting fully and in some cases their status was made worse by development.

 

WAD approach

The WAD approach asserted that equality will be essential to improving women’s positions. Although they were more concerned about the social relations between women and men rather than integrating women into the development. They focused on the  social relations existing between women and men with women always playing roles in their societies as productive and reproductive actors. They saw both genders not benefiting from the global economic structures because of unequal dispensed resources. It elicited the sense hat patriarchy is essential for women’s reproductive roles to be acknowledged for meaning development.

 

The most useful approach used in SA

The WID approach is most useful because during apartheid, women had no right to work, vote or do anything that will result to them getting paid more money or end up in higher positions because it was considered a mans job. Women were derived the rights to education, work and anything that included them working for their families. But presently women can do anything they want, they have the right to education and work at any industry they want to work in.

Compare and contrast the core tenets of the modernization and dependency theories.

According to the modernization theory, advances in technology can raise prosperity around the world, and low income countries will follow in the footsteps of wealthier, more modernized nations. According to dependency theory, some countries accumulated wealth at the expense of others, especially through colonization.

Here is the comparison of  modernization and dependency theories.

• Dependency theory is an approach to understanding the economic development of a country in terms of external influences like political, economic and cultural effects on national development policies. Some nations become rich at the expense of other nations, especially through colonization. It mainly focuses on poor and underdeveloped countries because richer countries are the cause of global poverty.

-Modernization theory is an approach to understanding how traditional or underdeveloped societies transform to modern societies. The increase in modern technology will make all nations wealthy,  and poor nations can follow the path richer, modernized nations took. It mainly focuses on rich and developed countries because richer countries are the only solution to the problem of poverty.

 four factors that constitute development illustrating each with examples from the SA context.

-The economists generally agree that economic development and growth are influenced by factors. Here are some of the factors:

1. Growth and structural change, which captures how overall labour productivity growth can be attributed to movements of workers across sectors. For example, a subsistence economy may be transformed into a manufacturing economy or regulated mixed economy may be liberalized.

2. Distribution of income, which requires relatively even distribution of income resulting in improved incomes for all. For example, we may say that the top ten percent of earners represent 50% of a country’s total income. This factor simply means that people should earn evenly.

3. Rural to urban migration, which is the movement of people from rural areas to urban areas which can be caused by high vulnerability to natural disasters, poverty, etc. For example, people move from rural to urban areas in hope for better job opportunities and better education.

4. Modernization which involves transformation towards progress democratic, socio-economic and scientific ideals. It’s process of change requires both structural and functional changes. For example, a rocket car that goes faster than any other car on the planet but is incredibly danger, loud and harmful won’t be seen as more modern simply because it’s faster.

Thorough definition of poverty.

According to Townsend, individuals, families and groups in the population can be said to be in poverty when they lack the resources to obtain the type of diet, participate in the activities, and have the living conditions and amenities which are customary or approved in societies to which they belong. Poverty is powerlessness, a condition where a person lacking financial resources is unable to meet a minimum standard of living.

“Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor; poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water; poverty is lack of representation and freedom”. It’s the inability to meet basic needs. Poverty shows itself in social, economic and political ways and it’s difficult to capture all dimensions of it in a simple definition. The multidimensional poverty index reflects aggregate levels derived from a number of socioeconomic indicators. It unveiled new insights about the nature of poverty around the world.

The income level that determines poverty is different from place to place but scientists believe that it is best defined by conditions of existence, like lack of access to food, clothing and shelter.

What are the benefits of poverty for the individual and the community? .Poverty is known as the state of being extremely poor, which means that there’s lack of the necessary to meet basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter. It has been associated with poor health, low levels of education and inability to work, however it doesn’t really have many benefits but here are some few benefits: - People get free education in areas where they can’t afford to pay the fees. There’s also a feeding scheme program offered for students to have access to food. - By the government building the schools and sports facilities, people get job opportunities and are able to make a living for themselves and their families. - They get to work in places where they gain experience and knowledge by doing the work. For example, working at a farm, they gain experience and they’ll be able to have their own using the knowledge they gained. - The government cares for people so they built mobile clinics for people in the community to have a nearby medical help for free. It’s not really a benefit but some make a living by collecting empty bottles and cans to weigh them in order to receive money and but themselves food to avoid sleeping with an empty stomach. Well it’s kind of a win-win situation because they’re keeping the country clean by making a living for themselves.