There are three categories of law in South Africa that affect the relationship between people and the environment:

• The Constitution which protects various human rights, including our right to enjoy and have access to the environment
• The Common Law which regulates how people interact with each other in the context of the environment and which protects our use and enjoyment of our own property, for example, but limits it in certain ways so that this use and enjoyment does not interfere with the rights of other people
• National, Provincial and Municipal Laws (legislation): some laws are like a framework because they apply across all aspects of the environment. Other laws are sectoral in nature as they only apply to certain aspects of the environment such as fresh water, the marine environment, forests or mineral resources, etc.

It is very important to understand that the different areas of law dealt with in this chapter do not work in isolation from each other. In other words, all of the laws that we talk about work together. Therefore, the Constitution, the common law and legislation work together like a web of rules, which you can use to determine the rights that people enjoy and how best to protect those rights. For example, if a community is experiencing problems with smoke pollution, you may find that they are protected by the Constitution, the common law and by legislation all at the same time.

These three categories of law are discussed in more detail below. At the end of this chapter we will consider which strategies individuals and communities can use to protect their environmental rights.