The enforcement of environmental rights : a case study of the new South African constitutional dispensation

Abstract

"The study aims at exposing the uncertainties that surround the meaning and enforcement of environmental rights. The new South African constitutional dispensation and how it relates to the enforcement of environmental rights has been chosen as a case study. The South African situation is believed to be exemplary when it comes to the enforcement of fundamental freedoms. The South African Constitution provides for environmental rights alongh with mechanisms for their enforcement. The constitution also requires that legislative and policy measures are put in place to give effect to the rights in the Constituion. South Africa also has an idependent and rights oriented Constitutional Court that is capable of handing down decisions that can inspire the development of environmental rights jurisprudence. ... The work is divided into five chapters. Chapter one introduces the work. Chapter two is a conceptual framework that attempts to summarise different concepts surrounding the idea of environmental rights. Chapter three is on comparative jurisprudence, aimed at exposing existing global trends on the enforcement of environmental rights. Chapter four deals with the enforcement of environmental rights under the South African Constitution. Concluding remarks and recommendations are made in Chapter five." -- Chapter 1.