Exploring South Africa’s National Climate Change Response White Paper, 2011 : challenges and prospects for public policy

Abstract

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 enshrines the right of all citizens to an environment that is not detrimental to their health and well-being. Furthermore, the Constitution places an obligation on the South African government to protect this right through reasonable legislative and other measures. Climate change threatens the environmental right which everyone is entitled to and South Africa has been experiencing the effects caused by changes in the climatic conditions. Therefore, one of the actions adopted by South Africa, to protect the environment as stipulated in Section 24(b) of the Constitution, was the National Climate Change Response White Paper, 2011 (NCCR-WP). The Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF), formerly known as the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) is the facilitating department whose role is to ensure the successful implementation of the NCCR-WP. A qualitative research approach in terms of a document analysis was used to acquire rich and detailed information for the research. The article examines the state of climate change in South Africa, the role of the NCCR-WP as one of South Africa’s climate change responses including the two primary objectives of the NCCR-WP, namely: climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation and the mitigation strategies outlined in the NCCR-WP. It discusses the DEFF’s implementation of the NCCRWP as well as the factors that negatively influence the implementation of the NCCR-WP. The article also provides recommendations that may improve the overall implementation of the NCCR-WP