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Includes bibliographic references / Of all the natural resources available on earth, it could be argued that water is the most important and essential to human health and well - being. Water is a scarce and finite resource and must therefore be used in such a manner as to preserve and protect it. Statistically, South Africa is a water scarce country and water demand is on the increase due to an increase in population, economic development and living standards. The scarcity creates a need to protect the little water South Africa has and so various policies, laws, guidelines and entities exist to control the use and management of water. South Africa has recently put plans into action to establish nine catchment management agencies, as provided for in the National Water Act (Act 36 of 1998), to deal with the management of water at a catchment level. The establishment and operation of these nine institutions are behind schedule and the outcome of the process thus far is below the desired level. Management of natural resources is done by a wide range of institutions with a variety of management styles according to certain management principles and plans. These management styles can be adjusted to suit the management of most types of natural resources, and because of the interdisciplinary nature of water management, elements from all the management styles can be drawn from to suit water management. Three management and governance styles or concepts were identified for this study. The characteristics and principles of these concepts have been divided into different aspects or broad themes of water management. The National Water Act 36 of 1998, specifically the sections related to catchment management agencies, is reviewed to identify the provisions that might be preventing them from adopting the principles of successful management as suggested by the three governance and management styles.

Integrated Environmental Management (IEM) was formulated during the 1980s by the Council for the Environment in response to a dual need in South Africa to effectively manage the country's natural resource base whilst stimulating economic growth and development. The IEM principles were translated into the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) in 1998, and IEM also became the title of Chapter 5, the purpose of which is to promote the application of appropriate environmental management tools to ensure the integrated environmental management of activities. Over the years a single tool, namely, environmental impact assessment (EIA) has come dominate the environmental management regime in South Africa, and many of the innovative attributes of IEM have been diluted with a more conventional and conservative approach to impact assessment. EIA has consequently been blamed for causing delays and undermining the national government's infrastructural development ambitions for the country. In 2014 the Department of Economic Development introduced the Infrastructure Development Act (IDA) which is aimed at prioritising public infrastructure projects seen to be of significant economic or social importance. This dissertation focuses on those factors that compel a comparison between NEMA and the IDA, not least of which is the provision for lists of projects and activities subject to legislated requirements. Whereas NEMA aims to ensure that such activities are planned, assessed and monitored in accordance with principles of sustainable development, the IDA seeks to expedite development in the face of lack of employment opportunities, an energy crises and falling GDP growth rates. The outcome of a comparison between NEMA and the IDA suggests that overly complex and arduous environmental procedures and legislative requirements have precipitated an extreme response. However, the steam-roller type approach advocated by the IDA is likely to create more problems than solutions as it ignores government's concurrent commitments to co-operative governance and sustainability. The original principles and procedures of IEM provide a potential alternative to ensuring a balance between environmental protection and economic growth.

South Africa is one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world. This biodiversity is under threat from economic, social and climate change pressures. One mechanism that could be added to South Africa's conservation tools, is that of the biodiversity offset where certain activities are designed to compensate for unavoidable harm to biodiversity resulting from development. The concept and theory of offsetting is controversial however, and not all commentators are in favour of encouraging a formal biodiversity offsetting regime in South Africa. This dissertation will explore the concept of biodiversity offsets in the regulatory permitting context and the controversies implicit in their theory and implementation. A framework for their inclusion in South Africa's environmental permitting context will be suggested.

This dissertation critically considers and assesses the potential of the EU FLEGT Scheme to provide an effective and equitable legal regime for curbing illegal logging and promoting sustainable forest management (SFM) and good forest governance (GFG) in African Partner Countries. It considers a broad range of issues starting with the state of Africa's forests and the international regulatory framework for SFM. A critical review of recent studies led to a theoretical framework comprising a set of specific legal issues/themes (substantive issues) central to SFM and GFG. These were accompanied by three broad cross - cutting themes. The substantive issues are: (i) security/clarity on land tenure , ownership and use rights; (ii) stable institutional structures; (iii) clear environmental and forestry standards; (iv) effective and equitable approval processes; (v) participatory, transparent and accountable decision - making; (vi) cooperation and coordination procedures; (vii) monitoring, evaluation and reporting; (viii) effective compliance and enforcement; (ix) financial incentives; (x) equitable sharing of benefits; (xi) conflict resolution procedures; and (xii) mixture of regulatory approaches (direct regulation and voluntary mechanisms). The cross - cutting themes entail: (i) clear coherent and consistent law and policy; (ii) adherence/respect of the rule of law; and (iii) knowledge, capacity and resources. A rigorous assessment of the EU FLEGT Scheme against this theoretical framework shows that the FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) and the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) form a robust legal regime. The structure of FLEGT VPAs is based on the 16 Principles for FLEGT Partnership Agreements of 20 05 and the 18 key elements of FLEGT VPAs. Thus FLEGT VPAs have provided a landmark mechanism for multi - stakeholder participation in the forestry sector, and have propelled inclusivity in decision - making. Thus FLEGT VPAs are founded on international law and international trade laws. On the other hand, the EUTR is composed of a stringent Due Diligence System (DDS) and provision that emphasize legality as a cornerstone for FLEGT. In this context, legality requires the establishment of standards of legality, i. e. timber legality assurance systems and FLEGT licensing. This involves requirements for verification, guidelines for independent monitoring, and market - based legality assurance. Although the FLEGT VPAs and EUTR cover all the 15 legal themes listed above, inconsistences in national laws and sovereignty on forest resources have either hampered or slowed down effective and efficient implementation of FLEGT VPAs. Nonetheless, remarkable progress has been observed in forest governance across Partner Countries. More research is needed to ascertain the effectiveness of the EUTR and the degree of reduction in illegal logging in Partner Countries. Lastly, there are reports that that African timber producing countries have started to increase their exports to other international markets e.g. Australia, USA, China and Japan. Therefore, it is crucial that the EU collaborate with these international markets and enter into bilateral and multilateral negotiations so as to collectively deal with illegal logging and illegal timber and make a positive impact at a global scale.

The regulation of South African land use planning law is challenging; it is a field that is complex and not fully understood.1 One reason for the complexity in the past was the number of laws that were in force.2 Other factors include the number of authorities that are involved, the irregular implementation of the land use planning tools and the gap that is prevalent generally between planning theory and practise.34 The assortment of laws is implemented by authorities using land use planning tools.5 An array of land use planning tools, such as zoning and urban edge boundaries, are used in the planning process to distinguish the various aspects of development from one another. The combined English and Roman Dutch sources of our planning law passed down traditional land use planning devices such as: zoning schemes, subdivision and title deed restrictions.6 A range of unique South African tools, such as; guide plans, regional plans and urban structure plans were used for regional planning during apartheid times.7 Several new planning tools have been created since 1994 to give effect to changing policy, such as; land development objectives, environmental impact assessments (EIAs), integrated development plans (IDPs), spatial development frameworks (SDFs), the designation of different types of protected areas; urban edge lines and marine set back delineations.8 This thesis will analyse the status of the urban edge as a land use planning tool.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / The thesis analyses the emergence of biocultural rights as a sub‐set of third generation, group rights in environmental law. It submits that these rights, which advocate a people's duty of stewardship over Nature, have arisen as a response to the world's ecological crisis. Indeed, the growing discourse about biocultural rights has begun a radical reconfiguration of the dominant notions property and the juridical subject. The thesis uses a multipronged approach, relying upon economic, anthropological, political and legal theories, to deconstruct the current concepts of private property from the perspective of indigenous peoples and traditional communities. It further presents evidence that this discursive shift is gaining formal legal recognition by referring to negotiations of multilateral environmental agreements, judicial decisions of regional and domestic courts and community initiatives. The thesis concludes with a description of the new biocultural jurisprudence including its application through innovative, community‐developed instruments such as biocultural community protocols.

Includes bibliographical references. / This dissertation evaluates the current array of [market-based instruments] MBIs that use existing markets to promote industrial energy efficiency in South Africa. The MBIs identified in this regard are the additional investment and energy efficiency allowances available under s12I and s12L of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962, the electricity levy implemented under the Customs and Excise Act 91 of 1964, Eskom's Demand Side Management (DSM) programme and NERSA's proposed Cogeneration Feed-in Tariff (COFIT) programme. The latter three MBIS are incorporated into the recent attempt to make electricity prices more 'cost reflective' along with Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff (REFIT) costs and the cost of capital to fund the new build programme.

It is estimated that South Africa has the eighth largest resources of shale gas reserves in the world. It is reported that shale gas extraction can have important benefits which include economic growth, poverty alleviation, carbon emission reduction and most significantly alleviate the current energy shortage. However the proposed extraction of shale gas using hydraulic fracturing requires large amounts of water and many hazardous chemicals which also risks water resource pollution. This can add to water stress and conflict because the Karoo is a semi-arid, water-deficient and drought prone region. Since the extraction thereof is a relatively new technology in South Africa there is a need to determine if the current regulatory and institutional framework in South Africa will be adequate to meet the demands posed by this potentially game-changing enterprise. This minor dissertation outlines the regulatory framework regarding both the water quality and quantity in the shale gas extraction process. It recommends that while there are some regulatory building blocks in place, many gaps exist. It will recommend that an inter-departmental co-operative steering committee is established to address the many overlapping responsibilities and at times contradicting requirements.

Climate change implications have infiltrated all sectors of society and the world can no longer adopt a 'business as usual' attitude. The unprecedented nature of these implications renders it difficult to address in a swift manner the challenges that arise. Anthropogenic GHG emissions are largely responsible for climate change and fossil fuel-based energy uses are considered to be the biggest contributor to these emissions. The need to reduce the rate of these emissions is an uncontested issue. It has been suggested that one of the options would be to scale up sustainable energy sources through a shift to cleaner and low-carbon transport fuels and technologies. This shift to cleaner energy resources could be achieved in numerous different manners; however, this dissertation will consider how a Sustainable Energy Trade Agreement could contribute to this shift as one option amongst among a myriad of other steps that need to be taken to mitigate climate change. This dissertation considers how the liberalisation of trade in CFGs can assist in this shift to cleaner energy resources. As is illustrated the process of liberalising trade in CFGs has been hindered by several issues. A proposal has emerged for a Sustainable Energy Trade Agreement that could render assistance to the issues that arise with the liberalisation of CFGs as well as expedite the liberalisation process. The ultimate question that this dissertation seeks to address is whether a SETA-type agreement entered into by certain WTO Members would be compatible under the GATT.