Green apartheid is alive and well

The pictures do not lie: satellite photographs have nailed down extensive research which found that unequal access to green areas in SA has worsened.

Spatial ecologist Zander Venter, a lead researcher in a team of five, this month published the finding that “green apartheid” is flourishing, and with nasty effects on the poor.

The researchers used open source satellite images, plus the 2016 census and other geographical research.

She wrote: “The use of satellite remote sensing for monitoring urban greening initiatives and spatial inequalities provides scope for social justice advocates and civil society to hold governments accountable.” She wrote that access to nature in urban areas — parks, trees, gardens and all forms of greenery — based on previous international studies, has benefits for mental and physical wellness, cleaner air, even food supply and filtering groundwater.

The unusual research, conducted for the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, underlines how race and class divisions have deepened.

Some of the findings, published by ScienceDirect.com, are:

● White citizens live, on average, 700m from a park whereas black African citizens live 2.6km away;

● People earning R1,000 a month had to walk 2.6km to the nearest park while those earning R30,000 walked 770m;

● Almost all measures of green infrastructure, including park area and tree cover, were unequally distributed across race and income;

● Government development of low-cost housing in SA often includes little provision for green spaces;

● Almost all measures of green infrastructure were unequally distributed across race and income; and

● Settlements throughout SA targeted for subsidised housing development have a backlog of green infrastructure inequality.

The researchers stated that there had been a long-standing misalignment between the pre1994 spatial planning and land use management and the constitution.

This had been corrected by the national Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA, Act 16 of 2013) which provided legislative priority to equitable access to green infrastructure.

They wrote: “The clear links between urban green infrastructure and human wellbeing implies that equitable access and distribution of quality urban nature is a matter of human rights. We find that the legacy of apartheid and socio-economic segregation has entrenched and reinforced inequalities in access to green infrastructure over urban SA.

“The burden of responsibility lies in the hands of both government and individuals given that this inequity is mirrored in both private and public space across virtually all South African municipalities and that it has ... worsened since the end of apartheid.”

It is a challenge for the government to allocate budget to urban greening initiatives amid larger socio-economic concerns. However, there is sufficient evidence, alluded to in the sustainable development goals, to show that the ecosystem services derived from green infrastructure are fundamental for socio-economic development and general human wellbeing.

“Therefore any instruments of economic development as well as redistributive justice would do well to include urban greening agendas to dismantle the racial, economic and green apartheid in SA cities.”