National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998)

WHEREAS  many inhabitants of South Africa live in an environment that is harmful to their health and well-being;

everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to his or her health or well-being;

the State must respect, protect, promote and fulfil the social economic and environmental rights of everyone and strive to meet the basic needs of previously disadvantaged communities;

inequality in the distribution of wealth and resources, and the resultant poverty, are among the important causes as well as the results of environmentally harmful-practices;

sustainable development requires the integration of social, economic and environmental factors in the planning, implementation and evaluation of decisions to ensure that development serves present and future generations;

everyone has the right to have the environment protected, for the benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures that—

prevent pollution and ecological degradation; promote conservation; and secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development;

the environment is a functional area of concurrent national and provincial legislative competence, and all spheres of government and all organs of state must co-operate with, consult and support one another;

AND WHEREAS it is desirable—

that the law develops a framework for integrating good environmental management into all development activities;

that the law should promote certainty with regard to decision-making by organs of state on matters affecting the environment;

that the law should establish principles guiding the exercise of functions affecting the environment;

that the law should ensure that organs of state maintain the principles guiding the exercise of functions affecting the environment;

that the law should establish procedures and institutions to facilitate and promote co-operative government and intergovernmental relations;

that the law should establish procedures and institutions to facilitate and promote public participation in environmental governance;

that the law should be enforced by the State and that the law should facilitate the enforcement of environmental laws by civil society;

IT IS NOW ENACTED by the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, as follows:—