Search Climate Insights Directory

This guide by the Centre for Environmental Rights outlines the critical importance of South Africa's 22 water source areas (WSAs), which provide 50% of the country's surface run-off despite covering only 8% of the land. The document details the threats facing these areas—including mining, agriculture, and climate change—and proposes a 'legal toolbox' of statutory mechanisms to protect these essential ecological infrastructures.

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) of South Africa has refused an application for Environmental Authorisation submitted by Karpowership SA (Pty) Ltd for a 540MW Gas to Power Powership Project at the Port of Richards Bay. The refusal is based on significant failures in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process, including inadequate public participation, contradictory specialist reports, and critical gaps in assessing impacts on marine and avian biodiversity.

This report, prepared by Jock Currie of the University of Cape Town for WWF South Africa, examines the potential ecological impacts of full-scale marine phosphate mining in the Western Cape, South Africa. It focuses on the risks associated with high-volume dredging technologies, such as Trailing Suction Hopper-Dredges (TSHD), and their effects on benthic, demersal, and pelagic organisms, as well as the overlap between proposed mining areas and critical conservation and fishery zones.

The Escarpment Environment Protection Group (EEPOG) and other appellants have filed an internal appeal to the Minister of Mineral Resources to suspend and set aside the granting of a mining right and the approval of an Environmental Management Programme (EMPR) to William Patrick Bower (Pty) Ltd (WPB). The appellants argue that the process was procedurally unfair, lacked meaningful consultation, and ignored critical environmental and socio-economic risks in the sensitive Steenkampsberg area of Mpumalanga.

This document is a statement of grounds of appeal filed by eight environmental and community organisations against an environmental authorisation (EA) granted on 7 June 2016 to Atha Africa Ventures (Pty) Ltd for the Yzermyn underground coal mine near Wakkerstroom, Mpumalanga. The appellants argue that the EA was granted without lawful authority, based on a deficient Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR), and ignores critical biodiversity and socio-economic risks.

This fact sheet from the Centre for Environmental Rights outlines projected climate impacts across three geographic areas of South Africa—Limpopo/Lephalale, Emalahleni/Mpumalanga (Highveld), and the Western Cape and coastal regions—across three timeframes from 2021 to 2100, corresponding to temperature increases of 2°C+, 3-4°C, and 4°C+.

BirdLife South Africa submitted a formal objection on 5 April 2013 to the draft scoping report for the proposed Yzermyn Underground Coal Mine, operated by Atha Africa Ventures (Pty) Ltd. The organization argues that the mine's location in the Grassland Important Bird Area (IBA) and its proximity to protected environments and endangered ecosystems make the application unsustainable and legally flawed.

An email from Glenn Ramke of the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) to WSP Environmental (Pty) Ltd providing comments and objections regarding the proposed Yzermyn Underground Coal Mine.

The document is a letter from the Mpumalanga Province Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Land and Environmental Affairs granting environmental authorisation to Atha Africa Ventures (Pty) Ltd for the Yzermyn Underground Coal Mine. The authorisation covers multiple listed activities, including the construction of surface infrastructure, roads, and an explosives magazine, while noting significant impacts on wetlands and endangered ecosystems.

The Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning (DAFF) issued a formal objection on 18 October 2018 to the proposed extension of the Tormin Mine and its infrastructure expansion. The Department cites the applicant's history of unlawful expansions and non-compliance with existing environmental authorisations as primary reasons for adopting a 'risk-averse and cautious approach' and objecting to the development.

This terrestrial ecology EIA report, produced by Simon Todd Consulting in June 2017, assesses the ecological impacts of expanding the Tormin mineral sands mine operated by MSR. The project involves expanding beach mining across ten discrete beaches and implementing inland strip mining on farm Geelwal Karoo 262, alongside infrastructure expansions including a Mineral Separation Plant and a 22 kV powerline.

Expert affidavit by Susan Brownlie regarding the proposed expansion of the Tormin Mine by Mineral Sands Resources (Pty) Ltd. The document argues that the expansion poses significant, potentially irreversible risks to a Critical Biodiversity Area (CBA) and an important ecological corridor, asserting that proposed mitigation measures—specifically rehabilitation and 'search and rescue' of species—are inadequate and scientifically unsupported for the Namaqualand Strandveld vegetation type.

This expert affidavit by Associate Professor Merle Rozanne Sowman supports an application by the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) to suspend a decision allowing Mineral Sands Resources (Pty) Ltd (MSR) to expand its Tormin Mine operations on the South African West Coast. Professor Sowman argues that the expansion, which includes ten beaches and inland mining on Farm Geelwal Karoo 262, is causing accelerated cliff erosion and marine sediment pollution, while failing to adequately assess cumulative environmental impacts across MSR's broader regional applications.

This report by the Center for International Environmental Law argues that offshore oil and gas activities—including exploration, production, transport, and decommissioning—pose severe threats to marine ecosystems, human rights, and the global climate. It calls for oceans everywhere to be made off-limits to these activities to address the triple planetary crises of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.

This report by Friends of the Earth International examines how mega-mergers and the rise of 'big data' are increasing power concentration within the global industrial food chain, threatening small-scale producers and food sovereignty.

This report by Friends of the Earth International critiques the concept of "No Net Loss" (NNL) of biodiversity, arguing that biodiversity offsetting mechanisms serve as a "false solution" that allows the continued destruction of nature by treating biodiversity as interchangeable assets within a financial accounting framework.

This report by Friends of the Earth International argues that the current global trade and investment regime acts as a 'straitjacket' that prioritizes agribusiness and capitalist profitability over agroecology and food sovereignty. It details how international trade agreements and investment treaties restrict the ability of sovereign states to implement public policies that protect human rights, biodiversity, and small-scale food producers.

This briefing by Friends of the Earth International argues that 'No Net Loss' (NNL) of biodiversity is a false solution that facilitates the continued destruction of nature by treating biodiversity as interchangeable units through offsetting mechanisms.

This report by Friends of the Earth International argues that the European Union lacks the necessary metrics to track and reduce its consumption of natural resources. It proposes a framework of four specific indicators to measure resource use both within and outside the EU to improve economic resilience, protect human rights, and ensure environmental sustainability.

This report by Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) examines the social and environmental consequences of privatizing water and biodiversity across 34 global case studies. It argues that neoliberal policies promoted by international financial institutions (IFIs) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) prioritize corporate profit over human rights and ecological sustainability, disproportionately marginalizing the poor and Indigenous Peoples.