SEAP - Human Settlements, Urbanisation and Environmental Health Working Group

CONTENTS | INTRODUCTION | GOALS | ISSUES | SUGGESTED POLICIES | STRATEGIES | MONITORING | INSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK | CONCLUSION | REFERENCES | ANNEXURES

5.0 STRATEGIES

GENERAL PROPOSAL CONCERNING AIR, WATER AND LAND POLLUTION

That principles of free-market environmentalism be incorporated into the SEAP, as tools in addition to the normal regulatory framework. That is, that definable, enforceable and transferable property rights be created that can be used for the furtherance of environmentally desirable objectives.

Example:

Possibly under Swaziland's proposed Constitution / Bill of Rights, that all Swazis be bestowed with the proprietal right that the land, water and air they use be uncontaminated.

"Uncontaminated" shall mean not above the relevant internationally accepted thresholds, beyond which there is reason for concern on environmental health issues.

Any polluter is therefore in danger of committing a trespass on those environmental rights, enforceable in a court of law. For example, a vehicle emitting pollutants beyond the permissible threshold can be sued for trespass by offended individuals.

This is a step beyond the normal law of tort. Many environmentally damaging effects, even fatal ones, are long-term, insidious and difficult to conclusively attribute to a polluter. Legal action, even in the grossest cases like Bhopal in India, can therefore be protracted, expensive, and uncertain in outcome. The view that civil law offers adequate protection in all such cases is unsustainable.

On the other hand, infringement of such a proprietal right can be easily ascertained. A major polluter would therefore be faced with perhaps millions of trespass claims, each possibly trivial alone, but devastating together. Such polluters would thereby be faced with "a death of a thousand cuts" if they continued the practice. Unlike the present situation, it would become economically irrational to pollute. At present, polluters concentrate in areas where proprietal rights are least defined and enforced - riparian, air, and poorly managed areas such as much of government land - precisely because they are not fully accountable for the consequences of such actions. They place the cost of their actions upon others when and where the rights of those others are not defined and enforceable; that is, not proprietal. They are doing what is rational in market terms, however wrong in may be in moral terms.

It is essential for the viability of this idea that such rights be at least as strong as rights to other property such as stocks, shares, cars, land etc.; that is, definable, enforceable and transferable. That is, that market forces must be employed towards environmental sustainability in addition to their currently environmentally destructive roles. Economic ignorance is at least as destructive environmentally as economic monomania. For as long as people continue to inhabit this earth, they will trade. Much environmental destruction occurs when trade undervalues natural resources - as, for example, when a commonly shared resource is expropriated by an individual for windfall profits. Pollution should be accountable in market terms, not simply government vs. private sector terms.

The present lack of such legal and accounting procedures ensures that some so-called development is simple exploitation of non-renewable resources without appropriate recompense. That is not development at all, but exploitation missed by inadequate accounting methods. Tools to improve this weakness in current practices, such as ENVALUE be included in this proposed strategy.

Free market environmentalism will not be effective in every circumstance. Governmental proscription, for example, will still often be required, and just as an offence can be both civil and criminal, so the processes of free market environmentalism and government proscription are not mutually exclusive.

There are no blanket solutions for complex problems; they require an armoury of solutions. Free market environmentalism is an essential part of that armoury.

5.1 Settlement Patterns, Land and Housing

• The Swaziland Environment Authority (SEA) should enforce the Environmental Audit, Assessment and Review Regulations of 1996 in proposed developments which have an environmental impact and educate the public about the key facets of these.
• SEA to disseminate information concerning environmental regulations and mitigation measures to the public, in particular commerce and industry sectors.
• MHUD to integrate environmental issues and zoning into the planning process to achieve sustainable human settlements.
• MHUD/Local Authorities to take responsibility to provide for land utilization.
• MHUD/Local Authorities to promote optimum use of land , commensurate with minimum acceptable living conditions of the end user.
• Government through MHUD to ensure that women have access to land and property ownership.
• Government/MHUD/Local Authorities to speed up the release of land for urban development, facilitate the acquisition of title to land.
• Government/MHUD/Local Authorities to extend the benefit of urban services and facilities to informal settlements.
• Government /MHUD/Local Authorities to involve NGOs, CBOs, and the Private Sector in a system of partnership in providing access to land and services.
• Government/MHUD/Local Authorities and Utility Agencies to pursue good urban management by providing and maintaining infrastructure such as water supply sanitation, solid waste disposal, energy, roads and communication.

5.2 Environmental Health

Strategies under this category are presented in a table, where by a column on review of key issues is also included. To make the table even more comprehensive in addition to the column on strategic options and key issues there is a column on rationale and benefits.

REVIEW OF KEY ISSUES AND STRATEGIC OPTIONS