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South Africa, Environmental Law Celiwe Mxhalisa South Africa, Environmental Law Celiwe Mxhalisa

One Step Forward, Seismic Steps Back: On the Battle Over South Africa’s Wild Coast

In this week’s post Celiwe examines the Sustaining the Wild Coast cases, where South Africa’s courts evaluated the lawfulness of Shell and Impact's seismic exploration rights along the Wild Coast. While the High Court suspended the exploration due to insufficient consultation with affected communities and environmental concerns, the Supreme Court of Appeal overturned the decision, emphasizing foreign investment. The article highlights the legal tension between corporate interests, environmental protection, and marginalized communities’ rights

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Africa, Environmental Law Caiphas Brewsters Soyapi Africa, Environmental Law Caiphas Brewsters Soyapi

Protecting Eco-frontiers: Carbon Majors in Africa’s Untapped Lands

In a capitalist construct, the environment is viewed as a commodity with zero opportunity cost, and over the years capitalism has given rise to severe environmental degradation. In this week’s post, Professor Soyapi focuses on capitalism and the environment. He discusses carbon majors' contribution to environmental degradation in Africa. The environment is everybody's responsibility to protect hence the observation that communities have the key to challenging future state-sanctioned carbon major projects that threaten African eco-frontiers.

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