Public perception and suggestions to improve air quality justice: the case of uMhlathuze Local Municipality, South Africa

Abstract

Whereas industrial growth is instrumental in unlocking poverty and advancing development, often, the effect of pollution on the environment, particularly air quality, is seldom accurately predicted. The effects, which include mortality, morbidity, and loss of productive time, are demonstrated later after the damage is done. The World Health Organisation considers air pollution as a public health emergency with the most significant environmental risk to health linked to global responsibility for about 1 in 9 deaths annually. It is for this reason that developing areas with increased industrial growth such as Richards Bay in South Africa require an assessment of air pollution status and the effects to ascertain if policy intervention is achieving its intended purpose of enhancing environmental protection for all and justice by extension. In this study, views of 325 residents of Richards Bay, through an online survey, indicate that policy intervention has played a critical yet limited role in enhancing air quality status. We look at environmental justice considerations given the requirements of Section 24 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (RSA) and through the perceptions of concerned residents who suggest several useful and scalable interventions that would enhance air quality management in Richards Bay and South Africa

Keywords

• Air quality, public perception, justice, Richards Bay, South Africa