The Constitution tasks the South African government with ensuring a healthy environment through reasonable legislative measures. These measures include the enactment of statutes and regulations recognise the need to protect nature resources whilst also allowing for sustainable development. Environmental laws cover a wide range of issues, including pollution control, waste management, conserving biodiversity, water quality, environmental impact assessments and formal protection of landscapes and ecosystems. Environmental law is particularly important for ensuring that the state acts as a responsible trustee of natural resources and prevents their misuse, overexploitation, or destruction. Environmental NGOs, including BirdLife South Africa, play a watchdog role in checking, monitoring and engagement with government towards ensuring robust and equitable lawmaking and implementation.
The Policy and Advocacy team stay up to date with legislative developments by subscribing to various legal briefs and update services. All Acts of Parliament, and Regulations thereunder, must be gazetted for a period of public comment before they are signed into law, either by the President or by the relevant sector Minister (i.e. water, minerals, environment, fisheries etc.). Our team reviews relevant draft laws, policies and regulations, often engaging with our conservation partners and other interest groups before drafting comments. Our comments on recent legislative development can be accessed under “Further Project Information”.
BirdLife South Africa provides science-based input on proposed policies and legislation to help strengthen environmental governance and advance biodiversity conservation:
