Ecological Justice

In early 2025, police announced that operation ‘Vala Mgodi’ (Close the Holes) had been completed at the Buffelsfontein gold mine near Stilfontein. It is estimated that approximately 100 ‘illegal’ miners died as a result of the operation. This paper explores the background conditions and policy context which led to this avoidable tragedy, and makes recommendations as to how artisanal and small scale mining should be addressed in future.   

Despite Africa’s exceptional solar and wind resources, and the exhibiting costs, lead time and risks of nuclear power, announcements of nuclear power plant projects and cooperation agreements proliferate across the continent. This report was commissioned to try to distinguish hype from reality and provide a realistic assessment of which African countries’ nuclear plans are likely to materialise in the coming two decades.

The past few years have seen significant excitement about the role 'Green' hydrogen could play in decarbonising economies. More recently, interest in geogenic or 'white' hydrogen - naturally occurring hydrogen found in geological formations. This publication provides an overview of the current state of knowledge on geogenic hydrogen and its potential role.

The policy brief introduces basic concepts around the complexities of steelmaking, including why it has historically been seen as ‘hard to abate’ in terms of reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from steel production. It aims to provide a non-technical commentary on AMSA’s Decarbonisation Roadmap suitable for frontline communities and the NGOs they work with to understand and engage with the plans.

Over the past decades, significant safety improvements have been made to nuclear plants as lessons from nuclear accidents have been integrated into reactor design. These are so significant that, France now considers older plants - identical to SA's Koeberg - to be unsafe. Consequently, in extending the life of these plants, France is undertaking significant safety improvements. As public hearings into the life extension of Koeberg get underway, we ask: how do France's upgrades compare to those being implemented by Koeberg?

In July 2022, Eskom submitted a Safety Case Report (SCR) on the Koberg Nuclear Power Station to South Africa’s National Nuclear Regulator (NNR), as part of the efforts to extend Koberg’s lifetime. Unfortunately, Eskom refused to make the SCR public, despite its significance to public interest. In January 2023, a heavily redacted version was released to the public, and in June 2023, following court action, the report was released in full. This publication compares the various versions of the SCR with the intention of highlighting what information Eskom sought to conceal.

A critical look at the entire plastics cycle is also of crucial importance from a feminist perspective, because the plastic problem cannot simply be reduced to consumer use patterns or to harmful microplastics in cosmetic products. On the contrary, every stage of the plastics cycle reflects different gender-specific experiences and exposures.

Increasingly, green hydrogen features prominently in the decarbonisation plans being adopted around the world. Given excellent wind and sun resources, much of it will be produced in global south countries, and exported to global north countries. Countries in the Southern African region are taking notice, and positioning themselves to benefit from these potentially lucrative future markets, by making significant infrastructure investments. But what is green hydrogen? Will investing in it really create jobs and wealth? This booklet presents accessible information regarding the promises, risks and impacts green hydrogen could have for communities in South Africa. It was developed as part of HBF CT’s work to uphold host communities’ right to Free Prior and Informed Consent, and support civil society capacity to engage in hydrogen related policy.