IMEL Attend the ELA Conference

Amanda Mkhonza, Olivia Rumble and Sandy Paterson all attended and presented papers at the Annual Environmental Law Association’s Conference held near Durban in September. The theme of this year’s conference was “25 Years of Environmental Law under a New Constitution”. Sandy Paterson was invited to present the keynote address which he titled “Environmental and Spatial Planning in the Post-Constitutional Era – From the Desert to the Swamp”. In his address he sought to reflect on the state of the legal framework relating to spatial and environmental planning, the massive growth characterised this legal regime over the past 25 years, and whether this growth has led to greater clarity or perhaps greater confusion. Building on her work relating to strategic water source areas, Amanda Mkhonza presented a paper titled “Recalling the Ebbs and Flows in the Journey Towards Protecting Principal Mountain Catchments in the First 25 Years of the ‘New’ South Africa”. Finally, Olivia Rumble, having been one of the main drafters of South Africa’s Climate Change Bill, tackled climate taxes and budgets in her paper titled “Carbon Taxes and Budgets: Climate Change Mitigation Fifteen Years On”.