Green Economy and Sustainable Development Strategies in South Africa

This paper analyzes the different green economy strategies which South Africa government has applied in order to attain its set sustainable development goals. The paper discusses the different green economy strategies which South Africa government has applied in order to attain its set sustainable development goals. It also discusses the role of South African government to achieve green economy.

1
Name:
Course:
Professor:
Topic: Public management and governance
Date:

2
Contents
1. Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
2. Green economy and sustainable development strategies in South Africa......................3
3. Role of South African government to achieve green economy..........................................4
4. Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
5. References.......................................................................................................................................7

3
1. Introduction
Sustainable development is the developments which are able to address the
current necessities of the people and nations without interfering with the capability of the
coming generations to address their own wants. South Africa has its sustainable
development vision well defined in it’s National Framework for Sustainable
Development of 2008 which states-
“South Africa aspires to be a sustainable, economically prosperous and
self-reliant nation state that safeguards its democracy by meeting the fundamental
human needs of its people, by managing its limited ecological resources responsibly for
current and future generations, and by advancing efficient and effective integrated
planning and governance through national, regional and global collaboration” (Death,
2014).
On the other hand, according to United Nations Environment Programme (2014), green
economy is defined “as one that results in improved human well-being and social equity,
while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities”. It is worth
noting that different nations focus on different methods of green economy to attain their
sustainable development goals. This paper will analyze the different green economy
strategies which South Africa government has applied in order to attain its set
sustainable development goals.
2. Green economy and sustainable development strategies in South Africa
According to Musango, Brent Bassi, (2014) the South Africa government focus is
on the green economy which is interlinked with critical outcome to the economy. To
achieve the sustainable development, the government focuses on growing the green
economy activities and shifting the economy to cleaner industries and sectors. The
focus is to create a low environmental impact against the socio-economic impact. The
aim of the green economy is to generate green jobs in the country and therefore lead to
the sustainable economic growth. This has set to be achieved with minimal global
warming, environmental pollution and environmental degradation and resource
exhaustion. The green economy in the country is focused on enhancing the changing

4
the industrial plans and promoting more green economy methods to attain the set
MDGs. To achieve the green economy, South Africa plans to attain a carbon reduction
of 34% by 2020 and 42% by 2025 (Mjimba, & Nhamo, 2016). Additionally, the country
relies on well sponsorship of the key departments in terms of the financing,
technological development support. Currently, South Africa depends on coal as a
source of energy by 80%. To attain the green economy, the change on energy reliance
is important and for South Africa this reliance need to change. Research has been
highly conducted to innovate ways to generate cleaner energy for the sustainable
development.
The country has developed the South Africa’s Long Term Mitigation Scenarios
(LTMS) which are aimed at developing climate related policies to limit the temperature
increase. The LTMs has relied on measures on acceleration of energy efficiency in
different sectors, carbon reduction technologies, invention of clean energy sources,
regulatory mechanisms, control of economic instruments and behavioral changes on
environmental issues (Smit, & Musango, 2015). Generally, all these strategies are
aimed at reducing the carbon emissions in the country.
Moreover, the green economy in South Africa is seen as a sustainable
development pathway, which is highly based on the address of the dependency created
by the economic growth, social protection and natural ecosystem (Smit, 2015). The
government has set strategies to promote the green economy programmes which are
well sustained by practical and implementable action plans. In order to achieve the
green economy goals, the government is collaborating with the private sector and
societies to achieve the required funding of these programmes.
3. Role of South African government to achieve green economy
To faster green economy, South Africa has constituted nine key programmes
with different roles and responsibilities. One of the program is the green building and
built environment. This programme is aimed at creating green buildings in both private
and public sectors. The implementation of this programme will help in carbon reduction.
Another important programme is the sustainable transport and infrastructure (Black,
2016). This programme aims at promoting the use of non-motorised transport. This

5
sector is aimed at reducing the emissions of the motorized sector and thus helping to
reduce the carbon emissions. Additionally, the sector helps to reduce the coal energy
productions in the country. Another important programme is the clean energy and
energy efficiency programme. This programme intends to expand the off-grid options to
both the urban and rural regions, REFIT optimization for large scale renewable and
localized energy and up-scaling the Solar Water Heaters rollout. In addition, another
important programme which the government is implementing is the resource
conservation and management. This programme focuses on different sections such as
the offset programme, wildlife management and national payments for ecosystem
services. This ensures that the protection and management of the resources is well
maintained to ensure safety of the resources for the future generations. Sustainable
waste management practices are another programme which focuses on waste
beneficiation and zero waste community programme (Nhamo, 2012). Waste disposal is
a key disaster in pollution and should be ensured that proper disposal is achieved.
In addition, another important programme which is being implemented in the
water sector is the water management. This programmes has its focus on water
harvesting and creating other technological ways for effluent management. The water
harvesting aims to enhance the waster storages and avoid depletion of water reservoirs
(Swilling, Musango & Wakeford, 2015). The management of water effluent aims to
ensure proper water disposal and environment management is achieved. In addition,
this sector aims to enhance all-inclusive municipal water metering and reduced water
losses in agriculture, municipalities and mining sectors. The water sector is an important
sector is prosperity of the economy. Green strategies to maintain the resources are
important to achieve the future resource maintenance. To achieve the goals for the
green strategies in this sector, the government focuses on both regulatory frameworks,
innovations, science and technology and localization of manufacturing.
4. Conclusion
In conclusion, the sustainable development relies on the implementation of green
economy strategies to be achieved. South Africa has development different
programmes to ensure that the sustainable developments. Different sectors have

6
different programmes which are aimed at achieving the required developments.
Reduction of carbon has been given priority to achieve the green economy. Water
sector has been key area with different programmes to help on realization of the green
economy in South Africa. Water conservation and disposal of waste water have been
focused on to help in achieving sustainable development for future generations.
References
Black, A (2016). Towards employment-intensive growth in South Africa. Cape Town :
UCT Press : UCT Press, an imprint of Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd.
http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=4770171.
Death, C (2014). The green economy in South Africa: Global discourses and local
politics. Politikon. 41:1-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2014.885668
Mjimba, V, & Nhamo, G (2016). Sustainability, climate change and the green economy.
Pretoria, South Africa: Africa Institute of South Africa. http://proxy.uqtr.ca/login.cgi?
action=login&u=uqtr&db=ebsco&ezurl=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&AN=1478498.
Musango JK, Brent AC, Bassi AM (2014). Modelling the transition towards green
economy in South Africa. Technol Forecast Soc. 87:257-273.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2013.12.022
Nhamo, G (2012). Green Economy and Climate Mitigation. Africa Institute of South
Africa. http://www.myilibrary.com?id=663256.
Smit S (2015). Towards an 'inclusive green economy' for South Africa: Engaging with
the informal economy. Stellenbosch: Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences,
Stellenbosch University.
Smit S, Musango, JK (2015). Towards connecting green economy with informal
economy in South Africa: A review and way forward. Ecological Economics.116:15-159.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.04.022].
Swilling M, Musango JK, Wakeford J (2015). Introduction: Deepening the green
economy discourse in South Africa. Cape Town: UCT Press.
United Nations Environment Programme (2014). Towards a green economy: Pathways
to sustainable development and poverty eradication [document on the Internet]. c2011
[cited 2014 Jan 07]. Available from:
http://www.unep.org/greeneconomy/GreenEconomyReport/tabid/29846/language/en-
US/Default.aspx