South Africa Environment - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Environment - current issues

lack of important arterial rivers or lakes requires extensive water conservation and control measures; growth in water usage outpacing supply; pollution of rivers from agricultural runoff and urban discharge; air pollution resulting in acid rain; deforestation; soil erosion; land degradation; desertification; solid waste pollution; disruption of fragile ecosystem has resulted in significant floral extinctions

Environment - international agreements

party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 23.58 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 476.64 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 55.89 megatons (2020 est.)

Climate

mostly semiarid; subtropical along east coast; sunny days, cool nights

Land use

agricultural land: 79.4% (2018 est.)

arable land: 9.9% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 0.3% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 69.2% (2018 est.)

forest: 7.6% (2018 est.)

other: 13% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 68.3% of total population (2022)

rate of urbanization: 1.72% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

total population growth rate v. urban population growth rate, 2000-2030

Revenue from coal

coal revenues: 2.4% of GDP (2018 est.)

Major infectious diseases

degree of risk: intermediate (2020)

food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever

water contact diseases: schistosomiasis

note: widespread ongoing transmission of a respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is occurring throughout South Africa; as of 9 December 2022, South Africa has reported a total of 4,042,912 cases of COVID-19 or 6816.72 cumulative cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population with a total of 102,428 cumulative deaths or a rate of 172.7 cumulative deaths per 100,000 population; as of 8 December 2022, 37.54% of the population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 18,457,232 tons (2011 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 5,168,025 tons (2011 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 28% (2011 est.)

Major rivers (by length in km)

Orange (shared with Lesotho [s], and Namibia [m]) - 2,092 km; Limpopo river source (shared with Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique [m]) - 1,800 km; Vaal [s] - 1,210 km
note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth

Major watersheds (area sq km)

Atlantic Ocean drainage: Orange (941,351 sq km)

Major aquifers

Karoo Basin, Lower Kalahari-Stampriet Basin

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 3.89 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

industrial: 4.1 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

agricultural: 11.39 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

Total renewable water resources

51.35 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding South Africa on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of South Africa 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about South Africa 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.