Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development in Developing Countries post- Rio

Using South Africa as an example, this paper explores how environmental regulation has fared in a social and economic context where poverty alleviation, and socio-economic development are the top priorities of governments. While many developing countries have joined the bandwagon of environmental regulation to promote seemingly sustainable development, how to balance these inherently ‘conflicted\u27 aspirations in practice remains a challenge. The paper explore various strategies for promoting sustainable development while conserving the environment such as environmental impact assessment, the use of framework legislation and assess the extent to which these are working in practice. The paper concludes by a radical proposal for an Afrocentric environmental paradigm that puts socio-economic development in its proper context when we talk of environmental regulation