Sustainable development in South African environmental law and its relationship with the National Development Plan

Abstract

Sustainable development has emerged as one of the fundamental principles of environmental law; internationally, regionally and nationally. In South Africa, sustainable development requires the integration of socio-economic concerns and environmental protection into the decision-making process, so that any development would ultimately be beneficial to present and future generations. Development in South Africa is furthermore generally guided by development policies. These policies contain certain objectives and generalised steps that must be taken to meet these objectives. The National Development Plan of 2013 is South Africa’s latest development policy and has as its primary aims the elimination of poverty and reduction of inequality by 2030. The fact that development is inherently dependent on the environment is undisputable, yet until the introduction of the National Development Plan none of South Africa’s previous development policies had considered the effect of social development and economic growth on the environment. The National Development Plan requires of development to be environmentally sustainable. This is where sustainable development comes into play: established in environmental law, sustainable development is a yardstick against which development ought to be measured, since it provides for socio-economic development inside environmental boundaries in the interests of present and future generations. In this study I will explain the link between sustainable development, as it exists in environmental law, and the National Development Plan; specifically how the war against poverty and inequality cannot be won if the environment is destroyed in the process. I will achieve the research goal primarily by means of a desktop study, including a review of relevant legislation, policies and court decisions pertaining to sustainable development, as well as expert scholarly work in the fields of environmental law and sustainability