Multiple disconnections: environmental justice and Urban water in Canada and South Africa

Abstract

This paper examines the ways in which environmental justice (EJ)—in its myriad forms—has developed as a concrete and material challenge to the dominant (neo‐liberal) discourse of ecological modernisation. The concept of ‘environmental justice’ is problematised and the fast conceptual transfer beyond the borders of the US, where it originated. The shift in the concept of environmental justice is explored in two urban environments in Toronto, Canada, and Hermanus, South Africa, with a specific emphasis on urban water policies and politics and their relation to concerns of environmental justice. The term ‘environmental justice’ in the context of urban environments must be defined within this context for each site under study; the paper argues against a universalising use of the term. In localising the term ‘environmental justice’, it is not proposed that its use be restricted to a specific site, but that its use is embedded in a multiscalar urban world specific to a particular site. It is argued specifically that what is and is not environmentally just cannot be discussed merely from the point of view of localised differentials in the exposure to environmental costs or benefits. Instead, the articulated scales of justice are explored in and among the case study cities. It is argued that in reality, injustice perceptions and justice demands are constructed through relative, scale‐sensitive political and discursive processes.

Notes

Anne‐Marie Debbané and Roger Keil are in the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M3J 1P3. E‐mail: [email protected] and [email protected]. A version of this paper was first presented at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, New Orleans, 5–8 March 2003. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University and the SSHRC, Canada for this research. The paper has benefitted from comments by Gerda Wekerle and the anonymous reviewers.

With apologies to Andrew Ross.

Thanks to one of the reviewers for suggesting this phrase.

The general argument about the ‘complete’ urbanisation of society has been made in Lefebvre (2003). The connection to justice has been made in Merrifield and Swyngedouw, 1997; Harvey, 1973, 1996, 2000. The specific argument about the urbanisation of environmental justice concerns has been made, inter alia, in Desfor and Keil, 2004.

For other EJ work in the area of municipal service provision see—for example, Burgos and Pulido, 1998; Brown, 1998.

The origins and critique of the environmental justice movement in the US are already well documented and do not need to be repeated (see Bullard, 1990, 1993; Camacho, 1998; Capek, 1993; Goldman, 1996; Gottlieb, 1993; Pulido, 1993, 1996a, 1996b, 2000.

See Cock and Koch (1991), Ramphele and McDowell (1991) and McDonald (2002a) for a thorough review and analysis of the environmental justice movement in South Africa.

Coloured communities in the Western Cape Province (which includes Hermanus) are descendants of interracial relationships during the colonial era between African and Malay slaves and European settlers.

See RDSN, 2000, and Bond and Ruiters, 2002, for an in‐depth analysis of South Africa's water policies.

Ashwin Desai's We are the Poors: Community Struggles In Post‐apartheid South Africa gives an excellent account of resurgent social struggles.

This section benefitted from conversations and personal communication from Marcia Chandra, Eduardo DeSousa, Michael McMahon, Stephanie Lane, Karen Wirsig and Douglas Young.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anne‐Marie Debbané

Anne‐Marie Debbané and Roger Keil are in the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M3J 1P3. E‐mail: [email protected] and [email protected]. A version of this paper was first presented at the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, New Orleans, 5–8 March 2003. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University and the SSHRC, Canada for this research. The paper has benefitted from comments by Gerda Wekerle and the anonymous reviewers.