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- Threats that need to be checked
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The South Africa Environment Outlook report highlights a number of emerging environmental risks. These are environmental problems that are not yet fully understood and there are no comprehensive responses to the challenges they pose. Serious environmental challenges which the report identifies as requiring a political response over the next five to 10 years include climate change, ozone layer depletion, acid rain and genetically modified organisms.
- Getting rich at all costs
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In a nutshell, the South Africa Environment Outlook report warns that the environment is deteriorating while poor people still face unemployment and poverty and the rich ensure that their impact on natural resources is higher than the global average. The assessment is not new.
- Economy versus ecology
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The findings of the South Africa Environment Outlook report were predictable. It talks of a dismal future amid the withering of natural resources as a result of rapid growth and consumption. You can bet that in four or five years' time if a similar report is done, the grim prognosis will not be any different. In fact, the situation might well be worse, given the projected growth in the economy of about 6%.
- Changing people's perceptions
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The authors of the comprehensive South Africa Environment ÂOutlook report say it has already made an impact on how people view the country's resources. The report, based on 16 Âspecialist studies over a two-year period, aimed to provide scientifically Âcredible information to help drive the future environmental agenda. It cited four major priorities: water availability and quality, climate change.
- A shared responsibility
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The South Africa Environment Outlook report highlights a general lack of understanding of the links between human and environmental health. If Ânatural resources are allowed to regenerate to sustain ecosystems, people will benefit. While people need access to improved services and amenities, they become vulnerable when air and water quality decline, land is degraded and natural resources are over-exploited.
