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Abstract
Many developing countries are currently undergoing increased industrialization, which has accelerated environmental degradation. This study aims to examine South Africa's industrial development path as a socio-economic strategy pursued along the rill-lines of sustainable industrial development (SID) in view of the post-1994 environmental legislative initiatives. An exploratory review guided the study analysis. As industrial development zones (IDZs), environmental sustainability research is virtually non-existent, leading to the poor understanding of this programme's role in SID. This study reveals that the government political commitment, 1996 South Africa's Constitution and National Environmental Act (No. 107 of 1998) are key pillars reconciling the environment and industrial development in diffusing apartheid legacies. Non-compliances re-occur in industries outside the IDZs due to shortage of environmental monitoring inspectors and government priorities changes. Therefore, there is need to ‘green’ IDZ stakeholders for proper environmental legislation implementation. Finally, the study highlights new potential directions for research into SID zoning.
Acknowledgements
The authors appreciate the financial support provided by the University of Pretoria. Support from IPCC is acknowledged, especially to the corresponding author. We also appreciate the feedback provided by the anonymous reviewers.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. In this study, environmental legislation is used to encompass other environmental legal initiatives, programs, laws, and policies adopted in South Africa to champion sustainable development in general.
2. Ecosystem services include the provision of goods (e.g. food, water, fibre and fuel), the regulation of natural systems (e.g. climate, water and disease), cultural benefits (e.g. aesthetics, spiritual, recreation and education), and other supporting benefits (e.g. primary production and soil formation) (Department of Economic and Social Affairs Citation2010). The underlying research legislative materials for this article can be accessed at the following South African government sites: https://www.environment.gov.za/legislation/actsregulations, and http://www.gov.za/documents/acts.