Legislative Compliance

WESSA's vision: … to be recognised as the leading environmental NGO in South Africa in terms of supporting the development of and compliance with environmental legislation

Theme: Legislation and compliance
‘Beyond compliance’

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
- Martin Luther King Jr.

According to the South African Constitution, all South Africans have the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or wellbeing.

One of the key ways we can secure these rights – and, importantly, protect our rich natural environment – is through legislation. But this is a complex process, partly because the “environment” itself is such a broad arena, encompassing such aspects as biodiversity (plants, animals), life support systems (air, water) and natural resources (soil, minerals).

What is environmental governance? … The processes of decision-making involved in controlling and managing the environment. It includes the way in which decisions are made and requires that all legislative and compliance processes are inclusive, representative, transparent, well informed, effective and equitable.

It is also complex because the legal process of drafting, implementing and monitoring laws can be a highly technical and specialist process, from which many South Africans have traditionally been excluded or marginalised.

South Africa’s range of domestic laws relating to areas such as air quality protected areas, biodiversity, climate change, coastal development and environmental impact assessment – and others – has been reviewed and consolidated under the broad framework created by the National Environmental Management Act (Nema) of 1998. This has helped to consolidate and integrate environmental laws in South Africa.

Nema’s second major achievement was to entrench concepts of participatory, cooperative and developmental governance in environmental governance (see box), thereby opening the door to the participation of other sectors beyond government -- NGOs, business and civil society in general – in the development and monitoring of environmental policy and legislation.  At stake is the concept of environmental justice, which recognises that all of us, regardless of our wealth, have an equal stake in the sustainable future of our planet.

WESSA has been integrally involved in all levels of environmental governance which it recognises as the fundamental basis for good environmental quality, sustainability and equity in South Africa.

While the organisation takes seriously its watchdog role and does not rule out litigation or confrontation over policy and legislation where such action is considered necessary, we believe that long-term social change is possible only through the building of healthy relationships with responsible authorities.

Thus, we seek to build consensus by working collaboratively with all sectors, including government. We provide support relating to the development of new legislation. We help to ensure compliance and we develop the human capacity necessary for effective and sustainable environmental governance systems to exist.

In this way, we believe it is possible to help in nurturing a national environmental ethos which will take us beyond a largely punitive approach to environmental transgressions … and one step closer to the ultimate goal of environmental management: voluntary compliance.

Broad objectives: To ensure the development appropriate legislation and amendments by: building a deeper, more critical understanding of the relationship between the environment and society; ensuring public participation in legislation and amendments; representing WESSA members, environmental groups and the public in policy and legislative processes; raising the level of debate on environmental sustainability among all sectors. To enable and ensure compliance with existing environmental legislation by: facilitating public access to relevant and accessible information; building human capacity ensuring equitable access to justice as it relates to environmental issues. Specific objectives: Maintain a profile in the legislative process, particularly Parliament Involve members of the public in advocacy Raise awareness of legislative processes and their function Contribute to SADC policy processes Monitor ability of institutions charged with developing and implementing environmental legislation Develop resources and capacity to institute legal proceedings where necessary to ensure compliance with national and international legislation.

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