Key Themes in the African Environmental Social Work Literature

This paper critically examines the growing discourse on environmental social work in South Africa and Africa more broadly. It highlights distinctive features of African values and traditions, on the one hand, and persistent social problems threatening human and environmental well-being on the other. The discussion begins with a brief overview of the theoretical development of environmental social work that has influenced its development in Africa, noting the extant empirically based literature on this topic and the emergence of African research often overlooked in international reviews and analyses. Thereafter, attention turns to key aspects of African environmentalism, noting the influence of African values and cultural traditions that are both enriching and challenging social and environmental interventions seeking to address inter alia problems of poverty and social development, natural resource use, climate change, food insecurity, and industrial pollution. Finally, the paper presents a typology suggesting possible intervention strategies social workers might use to respond to socio-environmental problems.