UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA
College of Law, Arts and Social Sciences
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
PUB2606: Environmental Affairs
Portfolio Assignment — May/June 2026
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
PUB2606
Module Code:
Environmental Affairs
Module Name:
Portfolio (May/June 2026)
Assignment:
19 May 2026
Due Date:
Prof NI Makamu
First Examiner:
Prof C Alers
Second Examiner:
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for PUB2606 — UNISA 2026
,UNISA | PUB2606 Environmental Affairs Portfolio
Question 1: Ten Environmental Issues in Southern Africa
Southern Africa sits at a crossroads that most policy discussions gloss over. The region con-
tributes very little to global carbon emissions, yet it consistently absorbs some of the harshest
consequences of planetary environmental change (Scholes and Biggs, 2004). Understanding the
specific pressures at work here, not just on paper but in the lived experiences of communities
from Windhoek to Harare, is what this question demands.
1.1 Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events
Climate change is probably the most sweeping issue, the one that sits underneath almost ev-
erything else. Southern Africa, with the exception of South Africa, produces comparatively
little in the way of greenhouse gas emissions, yet it is among the most vulnerable regions on
earth (African Development Bank, 2022). Temperatures in the interior of the subcontinent
have been rising at roughly twice the global average rate. That’s not a typo. The Limpopo
basin has seen extended dry spells followed by catastrophic floods that wash away what little
soil structure remains.
The practical example is impossible to ignore. Mozambique was struck by Cyclone Idai in
March 2019, then Cyclone Kenneth just six weeks later. Together they killed more than a thou-
sand people, displaced hundreds of thousands, and destroyed entire agricultural districts in So-
fala and Zambezia provinces (UNEP, 2020). The Beira corridor, one of the most critical trans-
port and trade routes in the region, was completely severed. Reconstruction is still ongoing.
1.2 Water Scarcity and Water Pollution
Fresh water is perhaps the most immediately contested resource in the region. Water scarcity
in Southern Africa stems from a layered set of causes: erratic rainfall patterns, rapid popula-
tion growth, expanding agricultural demand, and the contamination of whatever surface and
groundwater remains (Jewitt, 2006). More than 230 million people across Africa are expected
to face acute water scarcity by 2025, with a significant proportion concentrated in southern
and eastern sub-regions (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2023).
In South Africa, the situation is both a policy failure and an environmental one. The Vaal
River system, which supplies Johannesburg and the surrounding economic heartland, has suf-
fered repeated algal bloom crises driven by industrial effluent and raw sewage discharge from
Page 2 of 16
,UNISA | PUB2606 Environmental Affairs Portfolio
municipalities unable to maintain their treatment infrastructure (Afrobarometer, 2024). The
Hartebeespoort Dam near Pretoria has been essentially a toxic body of water for years now.
Meanwhile, in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, competing upstream agricultural abstractions in
Angola and Namibia threaten one of the continent’s last great inland water systems.
Critical Consideration
Critical Consideration: Water governance in Southern Africa spans multiple national
jurisdictions, transboundary river basins, and competing sectoral interests.No single
country resolve theThe
Limpopo
Southern
or
African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Shared Watercourse Systems
(revised in 2000) provides a legal framework, but implementation remains weak and
enforcement is essentially absent.
1.3 Deforestation and Forest Degradation
Southern Africa’s woodlands and forests cover roughly 40% of the region. The problem is that
between 25,000 and 50,000 square kilometres are being cleared every year, at a rate that con-
sistently outpaces regrowth (Scholes and Biggs, 2004). The drivers are depressingly familiar:
subsistence farming expansion, charcoal production for urban energy needs, commercial log-
ging, and land clearance for tobacco cultivation, especially in Malawi and Zimbabwe.
What deforestation does to the hydrological cycle is often underestimated. Trees absorb mois-
ture and return it to the atmosphere; lose them, and rainfall declines. A 2024 analysis noted
that Africa’s deforestation was contributing directly to reduced atmospheric moisture and in-
creased drought frequency (Climate Action Africa, 2024). In Zimbabwe’s Mafungabusi Plateau,
communities that once relied on reliable dry-season springs now find them running dry months
earlier than they did two decades ago. That’s not a coincidence.
1.4 Land Degradation and Soil Erosion
Land degradation is, in a practical sense, the slow collapse of the agricultural base. Soils that
once supported productive farming are stripped of their top layers through a combination of
overgrazing, poor tillage practices, and the removal of vegetation cover. The problem is espe-
cially acute in Lesotho, where the steep terrain of the Drakensberg foothills channels rainfall
into gullies that carve deeper and wider each season (Skowno et al., 2021).
Page 3 of 16
,UNISA | PUB2606 Environmental Affairs Portfolio
Lesotho loses an estimated 40 million tonnes of topsoil annually. That’s topsoil which took
thousands of years to form, gone within a human lifetime. The downstream effects reach all
the way to the Vaal Dam catchment in South Africa, which receives silt loads from Lesotho
that are steadily reducing its storage capacity.
Implementation Insight
Implementation Insight: The Lesotho Highlands Water Project, while primarily a
water transfer scheme, has incorporated watershed rehabilitation components in its later
phases, precisely because of the sedimentation problem.Community-based soil con-
servation works in Ha Lejone and surrounding villages have demonstrated measurable
reductions in gully formation when sustained over multi-year periods.
1.5 Air Pollution
South Africa accounts for a disproportionate share of the region’s air quality problem. The
Highveld region, stretching across Mpumalanga and parts of Limpopo and Gauteng, hosts the
densest concentration of coal-fired power stations on the African continent. Eskom’s Medupi
and Matimba plants are consistently among the largest single sources of sulphur dioxide (SO2 )
in the southern hemisphere.
Research cited by Afrobarometer (2024) found that most South Africans are breathing air that
fails World Health Organization standards, with vehicle emissions, mining operations, waste
burning, and residential coal use all contributing. Studies have estimated that air pollution in
Johannesburg alone has reduced average life expectancy by 3.2 years, with children bearing a
disproportionately severe burden. The eMalahleni (Witbank) airshed in Mpumalanga records
air quality indices that would trigger emergency protocols in most European cities, yet commu-
nities there have lived with it for decades.
1.6 Biodiversity Loss and Habitat Destruction
Southern Africa holds an extraordinary concentration of endemic species, particularly in the
Cape Floristic Region of South Africa and in the Succulent Karoo biome, both recognised as
global biodiversity hotspots (IUCN, 2022). The problem is that this richness is being steadily
eroded by habitat conversion, invasive species, illegal wildlife trade, and the indirect effects of
climate change on temperature and rainfall regimes.
Page 4 of 16
, UNISA | PUB2606 Environmental Affairs Portfolio
The rhino poaching crisis is the most visible face of biodiversity loss, but it’s actually a frac-
tion of the broader picture. In Zimbabwe and Zambia, the bushmeat trade has drastically re-
duced populations of ungulates outside protected areas over the past two decades. The expan-
sion of human settlements into wildlife corridors between national parks in Botswana and Zim-
babwe has severed migration routes that elephants have used for centuries, creating conflict at
the boundary between conservation and livelihood (Skowno et al., 2021).
1.7 Solid Waste Management and Plastic Pollution
Rapid urbanisation across the region has outpaced the capacity of municipalities to collect,
sort, and dispose of solid waste. In Lusaka, Harare, Maputo, and increasingly in South African
townships, open dumping is commonplace. Plastics, in particular, have accumulated in drainage
channels and rivers, contributing to flooding by blocking stormwater infrastructure and releas-
ing persistent organic pollutants as they break down.
Afrobarometer’s 2024 survey found that 70% of South Africans identified plastic bags as a ma-
jor pollution source in their communities, while trash disposal was the single most frequently
cited environmental concern (Afrobarometer, 2024). South Africa introduced a plastic bag levy
in 2003 and has progressively tightened it, but enforcement remains inconsistent, particularly
in informal retail environments. Angola and Mozambique, with less regulatory capacity, face
an even sharper challenge.
1.8 Energy Poverty and Unsustainable Energy Use
Energy poverty and environmental degradation are bound together in a way that policy dis-
cussions frequently separate to their detriment. When households lack access to electricity or
clean cooking fuels, they burn wood, charcoal, and dung. This drives deforestation, degrades
indoor air quality, and contributes to respiratory illness, particularly among women and chil-
dren who spend the most time near cooking fires (Earth.Org, 2022).
In Malawi, more than 80% of the population relies on biomass for cooking and heating. The
country has one of the highest rates of deforestation in Africa, and the link between the two is
direct. Zimbabwe’s electricity crisis, which has seen load-shedding of up to 18 hours per day in
some periods, has pushed even urban households back toward charcoal. Well, not exactly back
toward it, since many never left. The transition to cleaner energy is as much an environmental
imperative as a development one.
Page 5 of 16
College of Law, Arts and Social Sciences
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
PUB2606: Environmental Affairs
Portfolio Assignment — May/June 2026
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
PUB2606
Module Code:
Environmental Affairs
Module Name:
Portfolio (May/June 2026)
Assignment:
19 May 2026
Due Date:
Prof NI Makamu
First Examiner:
Prof C Alers
Second Examiner:
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for PUB2606 — UNISA 2026
,UNISA | PUB2606 Environmental Affairs Portfolio
Question 1: Ten Environmental Issues in Southern Africa
Southern Africa sits at a crossroads that most policy discussions gloss over. The region con-
tributes very little to global carbon emissions, yet it consistently absorbs some of the harshest
consequences of planetary environmental change (Scholes and Biggs, 2004). Understanding the
specific pressures at work here, not just on paper but in the lived experiences of communities
from Windhoek to Harare, is what this question demands.
1.1 Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events
Climate change is probably the most sweeping issue, the one that sits underneath almost ev-
erything else. Southern Africa, with the exception of South Africa, produces comparatively
little in the way of greenhouse gas emissions, yet it is among the most vulnerable regions on
earth (African Development Bank, 2022). Temperatures in the interior of the subcontinent
have been rising at roughly twice the global average rate. That’s not a typo. The Limpopo
basin has seen extended dry spells followed by catastrophic floods that wash away what little
soil structure remains.
The practical example is impossible to ignore. Mozambique was struck by Cyclone Idai in
March 2019, then Cyclone Kenneth just six weeks later. Together they killed more than a thou-
sand people, displaced hundreds of thousands, and destroyed entire agricultural districts in So-
fala and Zambezia provinces (UNEP, 2020). The Beira corridor, one of the most critical trans-
port and trade routes in the region, was completely severed. Reconstruction is still ongoing.
1.2 Water Scarcity and Water Pollution
Fresh water is perhaps the most immediately contested resource in the region. Water scarcity
in Southern Africa stems from a layered set of causes: erratic rainfall patterns, rapid popula-
tion growth, expanding agricultural demand, and the contamination of whatever surface and
groundwater remains (Jewitt, 2006). More than 230 million people across Africa are expected
to face acute water scarcity by 2025, with a significant proportion concentrated in southern
and eastern sub-regions (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2023).
In South Africa, the situation is both a policy failure and an environmental one. The Vaal
River system, which supplies Johannesburg and the surrounding economic heartland, has suf-
fered repeated algal bloom crises driven by industrial effluent and raw sewage discharge from
Page 2 of 16
,UNISA | PUB2606 Environmental Affairs Portfolio
municipalities unable to maintain their treatment infrastructure (Afrobarometer, 2024). The
Hartebeespoort Dam near Pretoria has been essentially a toxic body of water for years now.
Meanwhile, in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, competing upstream agricultural abstractions in
Angola and Namibia threaten one of the continent’s last great inland water systems.
Critical Consideration
Critical Consideration: Water governance in Southern Africa spans multiple national
jurisdictions, transboundary river basins, and competing sectoral interests.No single
country resolve theThe
Limpopo
Southern
or
African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Shared Watercourse Systems
(revised in 2000) provides a legal framework, but implementation remains weak and
enforcement is essentially absent.
1.3 Deforestation and Forest Degradation
Southern Africa’s woodlands and forests cover roughly 40% of the region. The problem is that
between 25,000 and 50,000 square kilometres are being cleared every year, at a rate that con-
sistently outpaces regrowth (Scholes and Biggs, 2004). The drivers are depressingly familiar:
subsistence farming expansion, charcoal production for urban energy needs, commercial log-
ging, and land clearance for tobacco cultivation, especially in Malawi and Zimbabwe.
What deforestation does to the hydrological cycle is often underestimated. Trees absorb mois-
ture and return it to the atmosphere; lose them, and rainfall declines. A 2024 analysis noted
that Africa’s deforestation was contributing directly to reduced atmospheric moisture and in-
creased drought frequency (Climate Action Africa, 2024). In Zimbabwe’s Mafungabusi Plateau,
communities that once relied on reliable dry-season springs now find them running dry months
earlier than they did two decades ago. That’s not a coincidence.
1.4 Land Degradation and Soil Erosion
Land degradation is, in a practical sense, the slow collapse of the agricultural base. Soils that
once supported productive farming are stripped of their top layers through a combination of
overgrazing, poor tillage practices, and the removal of vegetation cover. The problem is espe-
cially acute in Lesotho, where the steep terrain of the Drakensberg foothills channels rainfall
into gullies that carve deeper and wider each season (Skowno et al., 2021).
Page 3 of 16
,UNISA | PUB2606 Environmental Affairs Portfolio
Lesotho loses an estimated 40 million tonnes of topsoil annually. That’s topsoil which took
thousands of years to form, gone within a human lifetime. The downstream effects reach all
the way to the Vaal Dam catchment in South Africa, which receives silt loads from Lesotho
that are steadily reducing its storage capacity.
Implementation Insight
Implementation Insight: The Lesotho Highlands Water Project, while primarily a
water transfer scheme, has incorporated watershed rehabilitation components in its later
phases, precisely because of the sedimentation problem.Community-based soil con-
servation works in Ha Lejone and surrounding villages have demonstrated measurable
reductions in gully formation when sustained over multi-year periods.
1.5 Air Pollution
South Africa accounts for a disproportionate share of the region’s air quality problem. The
Highveld region, stretching across Mpumalanga and parts of Limpopo and Gauteng, hosts the
densest concentration of coal-fired power stations on the African continent. Eskom’s Medupi
and Matimba plants are consistently among the largest single sources of sulphur dioxide (SO2 )
in the southern hemisphere.
Research cited by Afrobarometer (2024) found that most South Africans are breathing air that
fails World Health Organization standards, with vehicle emissions, mining operations, waste
burning, and residential coal use all contributing. Studies have estimated that air pollution in
Johannesburg alone has reduced average life expectancy by 3.2 years, with children bearing a
disproportionately severe burden. The eMalahleni (Witbank) airshed in Mpumalanga records
air quality indices that would trigger emergency protocols in most European cities, yet commu-
nities there have lived with it for decades.
1.6 Biodiversity Loss and Habitat Destruction
Southern Africa holds an extraordinary concentration of endemic species, particularly in the
Cape Floristic Region of South Africa and in the Succulent Karoo biome, both recognised as
global biodiversity hotspots (IUCN, 2022). The problem is that this richness is being steadily
eroded by habitat conversion, invasive species, illegal wildlife trade, and the indirect effects of
climate change on temperature and rainfall regimes.
Page 4 of 16
, UNISA | PUB2606 Environmental Affairs Portfolio
The rhino poaching crisis is the most visible face of biodiversity loss, but it’s actually a frac-
tion of the broader picture. In Zimbabwe and Zambia, the bushmeat trade has drastically re-
duced populations of ungulates outside protected areas over the past two decades. The expan-
sion of human settlements into wildlife corridors between national parks in Botswana and Zim-
babwe has severed migration routes that elephants have used for centuries, creating conflict at
the boundary between conservation and livelihood (Skowno et al., 2021).
1.7 Solid Waste Management and Plastic Pollution
Rapid urbanisation across the region has outpaced the capacity of municipalities to collect,
sort, and dispose of solid waste. In Lusaka, Harare, Maputo, and increasingly in South African
townships, open dumping is commonplace. Plastics, in particular, have accumulated in drainage
channels and rivers, contributing to flooding by blocking stormwater infrastructure and releas-
ing persistent organic pollutants as they break down.
Afrobarometer’s 2024 survey found that 70% of South Africans identified plastic bags as a ma-
jor pollution source in their communities, while trash disposal was the single most frequently
cited environmental concern (Afrobarometer, 2024). South Africa introduced a plastic bag levy
in 2003 and has progressively tightened it, but enforcement remains inconsistent, particularly
in informal retail environments. Angola and Mozambique, with less regulatory capacity, face
an even sharper challenge.
1.8 Energy Poverty and Unsustainable Energy Use
Energy poverty and environmental degradation are bound together in a way that policy dis-
cussions frequently separate to their detriment. When households lack access to electricity or
clean cooking fuels, they burn wood, charcoal, and dung. This drives deforestation, degrades
indoor air quality, and contributes to respiratory illness, particularly among women and chil-
dren who spend the most time near cooking fires (Earth.Org, 2022).
In Malawi, more than 80% of the population relies on biomass for cooking and heating. The
country has one of the highest rates of deforestation in Africa, and the link between the two is
direct. Zimbabwe’s electricity crisis, which has seen load-shedding of up to 18 hours per day in
some periods, has pushed even urban households back toward charcoal. Well, not exactly back
toward it, since many never left. The transition to cleaner energy is as much an environmental
imperative as a development one.
Page 5 of 16
