Centre for Environmental Rights – Advancing Environmental Rights in South Africa

The end of February is the time of year when many taxpayers contemplate charitable donations. If you are thinking of making a donation to a worthy cause before the end of the tax year, consider supporting the work of the Centre for Environmental Rights. We are a registered public benefit organisation, and issue Section 18A certificates to all donors on request.

In the past two years, CER attorneys have:

• secured a court victory for community organisation the Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance against steelmaker ArcelorMittal. In that groundbreaking judgement, the Supreme Court of Appeal ordered the company to release key environmental records, while confirming the need for corporates to be accountable for their environmental impacts;
• achieved the criminal conviction of the director of a Limpopo mining company for failing to rehabilitate environmental damage;
• fought industry attempts to avoid and nullify new air quality standards;
• challenged the granting of mining rights in various sensitive and even protected environments in court;
• secured the withdrawal of criminal charges against three environmental justice activists in Limpopo protesting the detrimental impacts of a mine on their community;
• exposed the failure of many prominent South African listed companies to disclose their non-compliance with environmental laws to shareholders; and
• campaigned for publicly available registers of environmental licences. Since December 2014, all holders of environmental authorisations must now upload these onto their websites.

Your donation, however small, can help us to continue with this crucial work. Visit our Donate page for details.

For more detailed reports of our work over the past two years, visit:

2015: The Centre for Environmental Rights’ Year in Review

The CER’s 2014: A year for scaling mountains

The Centre for Environmental rights is a non-profit environmental rights law clinic that helps communities defend their Constitutional right to a healthy environment. Our attorneys use the law to strengthen the voices of communities affected by environmental injustice, pollution and mining, and to hold both companies and the state to account for environmental degradation. We advocate and litigate for transparency, accountability and compliance with environmental laws.