| Summary: | As a developing country, South Africa is in dire need of socio-economic development
and upliftment, especially in the light of past inequalities. Mining generates massive
amounts of revenue and creates employment for the masses and could therefore
contribute successfully towards socio-economic development, especially in a country
which is richly endowed with mineral resources. Mining seems unsustainable due to
the fact that it leads to the destruction of the natural environment and the depletion of
non-renewable resources. Mining companies must nonetheless strive to achieve
sustainability.
The Constitution stipulates that the State should establish an environmental
governance framework to, amongst others, protect the environment and prevent
pollution while ensuring justifiable social and economic development. While the
Constitution emphasises the importance of the integration, the question remains as
to how the notion of sustainable development should be interpreted in a country
suffering from severe poverty and a need for social and economic development. The
aim of this study is to determine how the sustainability concept within mining and
environmental legislation could be interpreted and given effect in order to ensure
better environmental governance within the mining sector. This study indicates that
the current environmental governance framework regulating the mining industry is
fragmented and lacks the necessary criteria to ensure sustainability.
For the purposes of this study, a sustainability model was developed for the mining
industry along the lines of the different layers of an "onion" to illustrate the
interdependence of the different layers of sustainability. To ensure better
sustainability within the environmental governance framework, currently regulating
the mining industry, sustainability criteria should be developed, clearly indicating how
the different layers of sustainable development should be weighed, balanced and
integrated by decision-makers. === Thesis (LL.M. (Environmental law))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.
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