Ernesta Swanepoel - EXPERTISE

INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW SPECIALIST


Legal Services & Legislative Drafting		Research-Based Consulting		Training & Capacity Development		Institutional Support & Workshop Facilitation


		EXPERTISE

Whilst most of the projects undertaken by Ernesta are multi-faceted, they generally tap one of her four key areas of expertise listed below. In each case, selected examples of notable clients and projects attest her professional abilities and the calibre of her work.

The legal services provided by Ernesta include mostly legal opinion rendering, legal review and drafting of policy and legislation. In particular, Ernesta has done extensive legal analysis and drafting of various opinions regarding South Africa’s national environmental laws as well as climate change policy. During the early stages of the development of South Africa’s climate change mitigation system, Ernesta was the primary expert on the question whether there was a legal basis for carbon budgets within existing national legislation. Her clients included the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Energy Research Centre (ERC) and the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF.

Other significant clients for whom Ernesta has done research, review and opinion-rendering work around the topic of national environmental law include the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Oceana Group Limited and EOH Coastal and Environmental Services.

In her capacity as a marine and coastal law specialist, Ernesta has assisted the international engineering consultancy firm Royal HaskoningDHV with the application of national legislation and regulatory requirements in the development of an estuary management framework and implementation strategy for the Western Cape Province. For the DEFF, she assisted a consortium of

researchers in developing a South African Antarctic Strategy by reviewing the country’s Antarctic engagement, including its strategic interests in the Antarctic, its capacity to undertake and support priority scientific research, and its degree of international collaboration. Ernesta was the specialist advisor on this project and assisted with legal and policy review, including review of the relevant international regime.

Her work for the South African Institute for International Affairs (SAIIA) has furthermore seen her draft several policy briefs, including a brief on the nexus between prosperity in the African maritime domain and maritime security.

Various governments and environmental bodies have employed Ernesta to review existing and/or draft new environmental legislation and policies. She was also involved in the development of model legislation for the incorporation of MARPOL Annex VI requirements into national law in South Africa.

Finally, Ernesta provides the DEFF with professional environmental legal support on an ad hoc basis. This work includes vetting existing legal contracts and drafting new ones, providing legal process support, drafting research-based legal opinions, and promoting legal education and awareness.

Ernesta has consulted to the City of Cape Town as a senior researcher and has drafted two position papers for the Milnerton Coastal Erosion Project.

The Nelson Mandela University appointed Ernesta as a research associate of a Communities of Practice project titled “Western Indian Ocean: Assessing the applicability of the ocean-accounts framework”. Ernesta will be contributing to six peer-reviewed articles with a focus on the international environmental law aspects of the ocean accounts framework as well as risks and vulnerabilities in the ocean.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) utilised her expertise by having her review and analyse the stakeholder inputs submitted for consideration in the UNFCCC Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Policy Dialogue.

In their work on the legal implications of climate change, the WWF-SA has been drawing on Ernesta’s research expertise since 2016.

One notable example of her work for them is her research on the question whether the Treasury’s carbon tax and the Department of Environmental Affairs’ carbon budgets constitute a double penalty, as argued by high-emitting businesses. According to her client, Ernesta’s response has led to new government thinking on the articulation between carbon tax and carbon budgets.

As part of a consortium of three, Ernesta assisted the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) with the development of a regional private sector engagement strategy for the Western Indian Ocean region.

Two final examples of her consulting work are the drafting of the Legislative Framework for the Good Business Journey: Environmental Sustainability Aspects that she prepared for Woolworths Holding Limited, and her research on the legal considerations and requirements applicable to navigational aids (specifically lighthouses) for a Namibian property developer.

Ernesta has contributed to training and capacity development within several high-profile organisations:

THE DEVELOPMENT OF STUDY MATERIAL AND PROVISION OF FACE-TO-FACE TRAINING:

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) appointed Ernesta as international course developer and trainer for the legal implementation in seven ASEAN countries of Annex V of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), the Ballast Water Management Convention and the Anti-fouling Systems Convention.

As part of the Introductory e-Course on Climate Change offered by the One UN Climate Change Learning Partnership (UN CC:Learn), Ernesta has developed modules on climate change science, policy, adaptation, mitigation, finance and development planning.

As the implementing agency of the SADC Regional Environmental Education Programme, the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) employed Ernesta to develop the training materials for a SADC/GIZ regional capacity development training-of-trainers course on climate change adaptation and mitigation in SADC trans-frontier conservation areas.

Ernesta served the International Ocean Institute – Southern Africa (IOI-SA) in compiling and lecturing a module on the international regulatory framework for ocean governance. This module forms part of the IOI-SA’s four-week training course, Ocean Governance for Africa, that they developed in collaboration with the IMO.

Ernesta has lectured, on a part-time basis, at the University of Pretoria on the subjects National Environmental Law (Air Quality Legislation and Regulations) and Climate Change: Recent Developments and South Africa’s Climate Change Response.

COURSE MODERATION:

UNITAR had Ernesta apply her expert subject knowledge as course moderator for their International Environmental Law Programme. This position involved moderating international environmental law e-learning and diploma courses and assessing and providing participants with input on their research papers. The latter focused on topics such as international legal instruments, EU laws on environment, and most multilateral environmental agreements.

Ernesta also presented participants with valuable advice on drafting techniques for legal briefs, policy papers and negotiation briefs.

Ernesta provides environmental institutions with project/programme assistance by:

• preparing and presenting project formulations, documents
and reports;
• facilitating national and international project meetings and
workshops; and
• liaising and negotiating with project partners.

UNITAR is a notable example of a client to whom she has provided project support, specifically in relation to their Climate Change Programme. She also provided institutional support during their

annual meeting with the then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and the Special Representatives to the Secretary General. As a member of the working group responsible for UNITAR’s strategic reform plan, Ernesta has assisted in facilitating the reform process and drafting the new strategic plan.

The Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) utilised Ernesta’s expertise in workshop facilitation and reporting in the case of the ICLEI Africa Workshop on ecosystem-based adaptation. Finally, she also acted as a facilitator at the SAIIA workshop on the findings of the report she co-authored, titled Ecosystem-based Adaptation in South African Coastal Cities.