The role of social justice and poverty in South Africa’s national climate change response White Paper

by | Oct 18, 2019 | SAJHR, SAJHR V29 I1

The role of social justice and poverty in South Africa’s national climate change response White Paper

Authors Kjersti Fløttum, Øyvind Gjerstad

ISSN: 1996-2126
Affiliations: Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages, University of Bergen; PhD, Adviser, Department of Research Management, University of Bergen
Source: South African Journal on Human Rights, Volume 29 Issue 1, 2013, p. 61 – 90

Abstract

In late 2011 the South African government published a White Paper outlining climate change response policies for the coming decades. Among the main topics of the text were the socio-economic and climatic vulnerabilities of the country, including the situation of the poor. With the aim of analysing the argumentation regarding climate change and social justice we develop a combined linguistic and discursive approach, starting with occurrences of keywords pertaining to rights, equity and poverty. The White Paper’s conceptualisation of climate change is explored as a narrative, at the level of the text as a whole. This combined analysis shows that the legal rights of the poor are hardly given any place in the argumentation, whereas less constricting political intentions are far more present. Furthermore, the text attributes a passive role to the poor, dependent on the benevolence of a government that attributes the role of hero to itself.

Climate change, poverty and climate justice in South African media: The case of COP17

by | Oct 18, 2019 | SAJHR, SAJHR V29 I1

Climate change, poverty and climate justice in South African media: The case of COP17

Authors Jill Johannessen

ISSN: 1996-2126
Affiliations: Department of Information Science and Media Studies, University of Bergen, Norway
Source: South African Journal on Human Rights, Volume 29 Issue 1, 2013, p. 32 – 60

Abstract

The historical responsibility for today’s climate crisis rests in the hands of rich industrialised countries, while developing countries in many cases face its most devastating effects. Hence, climate change also raises issues of moral responsibility and the protection of human rights. Although there is a general understanding among the world’s leaders that rich nations have to take the lead in reducing global emissions and paying for developing nations to initiate mitigation measures and adaptation, these are still core issues remaining to be solved. This article investigates how the South African media constructed representations of climate change, with a special emphasis on the interface of climate change, poverty, and justice during the African Conference of the Parties, COP17. The mass media is a central arena where the struggle to define the climate crisis plays out and through which most citizens are exposed to these issues. Can the heated moments of international climate negotiations be an arena for promoting justice issues and making them known to the public?

Let’s work together: Environmental and socio-economic rights in the courts

by | Oct 18, 2019 | SAJHR, SAJHR V29 I1

Let’s work together: Environmental and socio-economic rights in the courts

Authors Jackie Dugard, Anna Alcaro

ISSN: 1996-2126
Affiliations: Co-founder and former executive director of the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI); visiting senior fellow at the School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand; Fulbright fellow who spent a year in Johannesburg (August 2011 to August 2012) interning at SERI
Source: South African Journal on Human Rights, Volume 29 Issue 1, 2013, p. 14 – 31

Abstract

Under apartheid poor (black) people and the environment were viewed as antithetical. Poor communities were forcibly relocated to establish or expand game reserves and a range of militaristic interventions were imposed to ‘protect nature’, often at the expense of human rights. [fn1] The environment was overwhelmingly associated as the preserve of the (white) middle class and was preoccupied with saving plants and animals. Under the post-apartheid dispensation, broad environmental rights are constitutionally-entrenched alongside socio-economic rights. But, to what extent does this imply an amicable, or even an established relationship between environmental and socio-economic rights? This article seeks to begin to answer this question by examining first, the kinds of issues taken up and mobilisation pursued by nascent environmental justice movements such as the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance; and, second, the limits and opportunities of environmental litigation pursued by such movements to date. footnote 1: R Wynberg & D Fig ‘Realising Environmental Rights: Civil Action, Leverage Rights, and Litigation’ in M Langford, B Cousins, J Dugard & T Madlingozi (eds) Symbols or Substance: The Role and Impact of Socio-Economic Rights Strategies in South Africa (Forthcoming 2013) 5.