{"id":2009,"date":"2020-12-12T08:59:17","date_gmt":"2020-12-12T08:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=138417"},"modified":"2020-12-12T08:59:17","modified_gmt":"2020-12-12T08:59:17","slug":"as-south-africa-clings-to-coal-a-struggle-for-the-right-to-breathe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/12\/as-south-africa-clings-to-coal-a-struggle-for-the-right-to-breathe\/","title":{"rendered":"As South Africa clings to coal, a struggle for the right to breathe"},"content":{"rendered":"
This<\/em> story<\/em><\/a> was originally published by Yale Environment 360<\/a><\/em> and is reproduced here as part of the<\/em> Climate Desk<\/em><\/a> collaboration.<\/em><\/p>\n Thomas Mnguni often woke to find the windows and floors of his home covered in a layer of black dust. Living between two coal mines and a landfill in Middelburg, South Africa, he and his family breathed some of the country\u2019s most polluted air.<\/p>\n When Mnguni\u2019s son developed symptoms of asthma, a doctor recommended that the family move to a different part of town. Now living about six miles from the mines, the 14-year-old is doing better. But others in the area aren\u2019t so fortunate. Residents of Middelburg and other communities in an industrialized swath of the Highveld, a plateau in central South Africa, are well acquainted with air pollution and its toll on health. The area \u2014 located east of Johannesburg and with a population of 4.7 million \u2014 is riddled with coal mines, coal-fired power plants, petrochemical facilities, metal smelters, chemical producers, and other industrial complexes. Mnguni, in his work as a community campaigner for the environmental group groundWork, has met many others dealing with the health consequences of the poor air quality, ranging from asthma to lung cancer.<\/p>\n Researchers estimate that heightened air pollution levels in the Highveld cause hundreds of early deaths every year. A 2019 Greenpeace report<\/a> ranked the region among the highest in the world for emissions of two dangerous pollutants, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. \u201cIt\u2019s emblematic of one of the worst situations of air pollution in the world,\u201d says David Boyd, a United Nations specialist on human rights and the environment. A substantial portion of the Highveld\u2019s population lives in townships \u2014 underdeveloped areas on the outskirts of towns\u2014 among the mines or in the shadows of industrial facilities.<\/p>\n The Highveld\u2019s rampant pollution is largely a product of South Africa\u2019s longstanding dependence on coal, which provides nearly 90 percent of the country\u2019s electricity. Close ties between members of South Africa\u2019s ruling party and the coal sector have perpetuated its dominance, enriching a few to the detriment of many.<\/a> With about half of the country\u2019s recoverable reserves, the Highveld is where the majority of the extraction and burning takes place. In the past century, billions of tons of coal have been dug out of the region\u2019s shallow seams through open-cast and underground mines, and industrial facilities have bloomed near the vast, cheap energy source.<\/p>\n A landscape of rolling grasslands and farm fields is increasingly dominated by smokestacks and an ever-expanding network of mines. The Highveld is now home to 12 coal-fired power plants and a massive refinery that produces liquid petroleum from coal. This single facility, owned by the South African company, Sasol, generates more greenhouse gas emissions<\/a> than entire countries such as Norway and Portugal.<\/p>\n Last year, environmental groups, including groundWork and the Vukani Environmental Movement, filed suit<\/a> against the South African government for its failure to clean up the choking air pollution, arguing that it violates the residents\u2019 constitutional right to \u201can environment that is not harmful to their health and well-being.\u201d The case will be heard in court in May, lawyers involved in the litigation recently announced.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the first court case in South Africa to challenge air pollution on the basis of this constitutional right, but the litigation could have implications internationally as well. While few countries recognize clean air as a fundamental right, more than 150 acknowledge the right to a healthy environment, according to Boyd. He says the South Africa case could make tackling air pollution a human rights obligation, adding, \u201cRight now, it\u2019s not clear that the right to a healthy environment includes the right to breathe clean air.\u201d<\/p>\n Rico Euripidou, groundWork\u2019s environmental health campaigner, says that \u201cthe South African government has this notion in their minds that coal is a gift,\u201d and notes that the ongoing pollution<\/a> in the Highveld has much to do with industrial activity that benefits the country\u2019s elites. In the first half of the 20th century, the state-owned utility, Eskom, used coal to provide low-cost electricity to gold and diamond mining operations. During the apartheid era, which lasted from 1948 to 1994, the government built more coal-fired power plants and created Sasol to turn coal into fuel, further linking state and corporate interests.<\/p>\n The Highveld\u2019s poor air quality is a problem that the South African government has recognized for more than a decade. In 2007, the government declared<\/a> a 12,000-square-mile portion of the Highveld an air pollution hotspot and priority area that required special air quality management action. Five years later, the government published an air quality management plan<\/a> that outlined goals to bring air quality into compliance with national standards by 2020.<\/p>\n Air pollution in the Highveld regularly exceeds South Africa\u2019s national air quality standards. In 2018, particulate matter sized 2.5 microns or less exceeded national air quality standards on at least 103 days, according to data from government air quality monitoring stations<\/a>. These fine particles get into the deepest parts of the lungs and can even infiltrate the bloodstream, causing a variety of ailments, including cardiovascular disease<\/a> and cancer<\/a>. Since South Africa\u2019s air quality standards are weaker than the World Health Organization\u2019s (WHO) guidelines, these extreme levels present a significant health hazard, says Peter Orris, professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 2019, the Centre for Environmental Rights, the law firm leading the ongoing legal battle, asked Orris to review<\/a> the health effects of pollutants from the region\u2019s coal-fired power plants and refineries.<\/p>\n