OSEAANGEREGTIGHEID

This guide, published by Natural Justice in March 2025, provides small-scale fishing communities in South Africa with a framework for pursuing 'ocean justice'. It details the legal rights of these communities, the environmental and socio-economic impacts of industrial developments like oil and gas exploration, and practical steps for participating in environmental impact assessments and legislative processes to protect their livelihoods and the marine environment.

• Environmental justice is defined as a state where all individuals have equal use, enjoyment, and protection of environmental resources, ensuring that those affected by decisions are represented and consulted, and that all ecological, social, and cultural factors are considered.
• The South African Constitution provides several fundamental rights critical to environmental justice, most notably Section 24, which guarantees the right to an environment that is not harmful to health or well-being and the right to preserve the environment for present and future generations.
• The National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) establishes that environmental justice must be pursued to prevent negative impacts from being unfairly distributed, particularly against vulnerable and disadvantaged persons, and mandates that developments be socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable.
• Industrial activities such as oil and gas exploration, mining, and power ships pose significant risks to marine biodiversity and community livelihoods. These include noise pollution that disrupts animal communication and reproduction, the risk of catastrophic oil spills, and the destruction of natural habitats through seabed mining machinery.
• Climate change directly threatens fishing communities by altering fish migration patterns, reducing fish populations, and increasing the frequency of severe storms and storm surges, making fishing more dangerous.
• The 2022 Durban floods serve as a case study for climate vulnerability, where over 300 mm of rain in 24 hours resulted in 459 deaths, 40,000 homeless people, and approximately R40 billion in infrastructure and business damages.
• Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) are mandatory for potentially harmful activities. They are divided into Basic Assessments (BA) for less harmful activities (approx. 197 days) and Scoping and Environmental Impact Reporting (S&EIR) for more harmful activities (approx. 300 days).
• Meaningful public participation in development projects requires that consultations occur in the predominant language of the area, involve a broad range of affected people rather than just community leaders, and incorporate local and traditional knowledge.
• The Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) allows citizens to request information from the state and private entities to protect their rights, specifically prohibiting the denial of access to information regarding the results of environmental testing.
• Legal challenges by fishing communities against companies like Shell and Searcher in 2021 and 2022 demonstrated that courts can stop seismic testing if public participation processes are found to be flawed and if the activity threatens the heritage and livelihoods of the community.

APA

Natural Justice (2025). OSEAANGEREGTIGHEID. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/OCEANJ1.pdf

Chicago

Natural Justice. OSEAANGEREGTIGHEID. 2025. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/OCEANJ1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Natural Justice |title=OSEAANGEREGTIGHEID |date=March 2025 |url=https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/OCEANJ1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{naturaljustice2025oseaangeregtigheid, author = {{Natural Justice}}, title = {{OSEAANGEREGTIGHEID}}, institution = {Natural Justice}, year = {2025}, month = mar, url = {https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/OCEANJ1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }