The role of good environmental governance in the sustainable development of South Africa

Abstract

This article seeks to analyse good governance decision-making in the environmental context through an understanding and interpretation of the relationship between good environmental governance (evidenced inter alia by decision-making by public authorities) and sustainable development in South Africa. It critically assesses recent case law in an attempt to understand the way in which our courts are evaluating authorities’ environmental decisions. In reaching its objectives, this article considers also how environmental decisions are made in the first place and asks the question: what are the value choices underlying government’s decisions and what role does sustainable development play in informing decisions for good environmental governance.