OSEAANGEREGTIGHEID

The document provides a comprehensive framework for small-scale fishing communities in South Africa to exercise their environmental rights against industrial developments. It details the legal landscape, including the Constitution and the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), and explains the processes for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and public participation. The guide highlights the risks associated with oil and gas exploration, mining, and power ships, while emphasizing the impacts of climate change on coastal livelihoods. It concludes with practical steps for legal challenges and accessing information via PAIA requests, illustrated by case studies involving Shell and Searcher.

• 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.
• The South African Constitution provides the highest legal authority for environmental rights, specifically Article 24, which guarantees the right to an environment that is not harmful to health or well-being and the preservation of 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 unfairly discriminating against vulnerable and disadvantaged persons.
• Industrial activities such as oil and gas exploration, mining, and power ships pose significant risks to marine biodiversity, including noise pollution that disrupts animal communication and reproduction, and the potential for catastrophic oil spills.
• Climate change is causing ocean temperatures to rise, which alters fish migration patterns and population sizes, directly threatening the livelihoods of small-scale fishing communities.
• The 2022 Durban floods serve as a case study for the catastrophic impact of climate change in South Africa, resulting 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, with 'Basic Assessments' for less harmful projects (approx. 197 days) and 'Scoping and Environmental Impact Reporting' for more harmful projects (approx. 300 days).
• Meaningful public participation requires that developers consult affected communities from the design phase, use languages understood by participants, and incorporate local and traditional knowledge into project plans.
• Legal challenges by fishing communities against Shell and Searcher in 2021 and 2022 successfully stopped seismic testing after courts found the companies acted unlawfully and the public participation processes were flawed.

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} }