State of the Environment - South Africa: Economic Environment: Impacts


National State of the Environment Report - South Africa
Main Issues:	Climate	Terrestrial	Water	Marine	Social	Economic	Political	Home page

This part of the report contains the following sub-sections:
Overview	Introduction	Driving forces	Pressure	State	Impact	Response
Outcome	Linkages	Data issues	Conclusions	References	Indicators	Links

Economic Impacts on the Environment

Although we are able to suggest what the impacts of the current macro-economy on the environment are, due to lack of data we are unable to quantify them. The following questions may be asked to get a better understanding of the environmental impacts:

IF economic growth increases at a slow rate, WHAT are the impacts on sustainable development?
IF unemployment increases at a high rate, WHAT are the impacts on sustainable development?
IF trade increases, in response to, amongst others, globalisation, WHAT are the impacts on sustainable development?

Table 6.2 below gives some posible answers.

Table 6.2 Economic growth, unemployment and sustainable development in SA

Macroeconomic state	Key components	Impact on sustainable development in SA
Slow rate of economic growth	Man made capital (e.g. factories)	Increasing average growth for manufacturing and construction with a high reliance on polluting technologies which increases levels of pollution and waste
	Natural capital (e.g. natural resources)	High reliance on raw materials and energy are unsustainable
	Social capital	"Rainbow nation" plagued with friction and corruption which is socially unsustainable
	Human capital or labour	Low productivity and high levels of unemployment leads to a social unsustainable situation
Jobless growth (where economic growth results from mechanisation or improved technologies)	Poverty	Half of the population live under the international poverty line of $2 per day
	Crime	In post-1994 SA crime is a national priority, indicating a socially unsustainable situation

As stated in Table 6.2, increased economic growth and trade are likely to result in an increase in resource use, waste and pollution. These in turn will result in either an increase in social costs (e.g. costs associated with poor health and damage to property) or direct expenses in the form of waste management, pollution control and rehabilitation. These costs could in turn negatively impact on the economy by drawing investment funds away from other financially more viable opportunities (i.e. money spent on cleaning up or avoiding pollution could well be spent on other things such as education). These impacts have not been empirically quantified on a national level yet.

> Economic Environment: Response

There is also information about the Economic Environment in the following reports:
Metropolitan reports:
	Cape Metropolitan Council (1998 edition)	Durban Pilot Study
	Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council (1999 edition)	Greater Pretoria Metropolitan Council (1999 edition)