The Public Trust Doctrine in South Africa has its foundation not only in the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 but also in the environmental rights clause enshrined in section 24 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. With 2 million hectares of unrivalled biodiversity and steeped in historical and cultural significance, the Kruger National Park is the flagship of the South African National Parks. A cornerstone of the Public Trust Doctrine is the fiduciary duty imposed on the State to protect and preserve the integrity of natural resources and to facilitate the long-term protection of natural resources for current and future generations in perpetuity. This duty is being directly undermined by the Government’s proposals for the Park as published in Government Notice No. 4386 in Government Gazette No. 50138. The article by John Yeld published in GroundUp picks up this developing story.
New proposal puts Kruger National Park’s environmental safeguards “at risk” | GroundUp