Criteria for Case Selection

The Centre for Environmental Rights provides a guide outlining three mandatory criteria that a case must meet to be selected for support. These criteria focus on the advancement of constitutional environmental rights, adherence to the National Environmental Management Act, and considerations regarding funding, public impact, and the ability of the applicant to afford private legal services.

• To be selected for support, a case must comply with three specific criteria. The first criterion requires that the case advances the realisation of the rights entrenched in Section 24 of the Constitution. This is broken down into five components: the right to participate in environmental decision-making; the right to an environment not harmful to health or well-being; the right to protection against pollution and ecological degradation; the right to the promotion of conservation; and the right to ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources.
• The second criterion for case selection is that the facts of the case must violate at least one of the environmental management principles found in Section 2 of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act 107 of 1998).
• The third criterion involves public impact and funding. The Centre will only take on cases if the applicant cannot afford private environmental assessment practitioners, attorneys, or counsel and cannot reasonably access the resources to do so. Additionally, the Centre must have available or accessible funding for the case.
• Under the third criterion, cases must also demonstrate potential for broader impact and strong evidence. This includes the potential to set legal or practical precedents (such as creating new jurisprudence or overturning legislation), raising public awareness about environmental degradation, strengthening civil society's capacity to realise environmental rights, and having factual evidence that strongly supports the sought remedy.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (n.d.). Criteria for Case Selection. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/CER-Case-Selection-Criteria.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. Criteria for Case Selection. n.d. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/CER-Case-Selection-Criteria.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=Criteria for Case Selection |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/CER-Case-Selection-Criteria.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centreforenvironmentalrightsndcriteria, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{Criteria for Case Selection}}, institution = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/CER-Case-Selection-Criteria.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }