Environmental Citizenship and Social Work: Reflections on the Significance of Social Work Services in the Informal Settlements of South Africa

Abstract

Social workers can play a significant role in promoting environmental citizenship to benefit vulnerable groups, such as those residing in informal settlement areas. With the proliferation of informal settlements in many African countries, the role of social workers in advocating for environmental citizenship is even more crucial. Their involvement should be evidence-based and entrenched in research that promotes an understanding of the impact of environmental degradation on human lives and their roles in environmental citizenship. Such knowledge should then inform environmental citizenship policies and programmes. Despite this crucial role as imposed by their professional mandate, policies, legislations and international treaties to address the conditions of marginalised and vulnerable people, environmental degradation continues to aggravate the vulnerability of people living in informal settlements. Furthermore, the scholarly contribution of social workers to environmental citizenship is delicate, with limited knowledge around the subject matter. Following the integrative literature review method, this paper outlines the nature of environmental citizenship, the relevance of social work to environmental citizenship, and the approach that social workers can adopt to contribute towards environmental citizenship in informal settlements. Literature around environmental citizenship in informal settlements, environmental disasters and informal settlements, and social work, as well as environmental citizenship and social justice, served as a population, from which a sample meeting predetermined inclusion criteria was purposefully drawn and analysed. The study confirms that, by its nature, environmental citizenship is central to social work and that there is a need to empower social workers around the subject matter.

1. Introduction

The impact of environmental disasters poses a threat to the well-being of people across the globe, particularly the most vulnerable, whose living arrangements are prone to its impact. With research evidence pointing to the poor and vulnerable being the most affected population groups, those who reside in informal settlements are even worse (Quesada-Román 2022). Projections around climate change indicate a potential increase in natural disasters such as storms and floods, having the most likely to be experienced by the urban poor, who are mostly inhabitants of the informal settlements (Williams et al. 2019). Natural disasters can negatively affect human and economic development through things like income, wealth distribution and the levels of poverty (Groeshl and Noy 2020). A Mozambican study of the impact of multiple weather shocks on households, for instance, revealed a high vulnerability in consumption, human capital accumulation and poverty rates for various risks of extreme weather (Groeshl and Noy 2020).

Environmental shocks have led to various socio-economic challenges across Sub-Saharan Africa (Trummer et al. 2023). Environmental stressors, particularly those linked to climate change, have also displaced vast populations, with 569.4 million people uprooted in 2016 alone (Guha-Sapir et al. 2017). Climate-related disruptions have severely impacted livelihoods in Africa, particularly among communities that rely heavily on agriculture and livestock (Murenje and Sibanda 2026). Zimbabwe illustrates this vulnerability clearly (Masuka et al. 2026). Its dependence on rain-fed farming leaves the country highly exposed to drought, contributing to widespread food insecurity and malnutrition (Al Jazeera 2019; Murenje and Sibanda 2026). Extreme weather events have compounded these challenges. Cyclone Idai, for instance, displaced 232,480 people and caused extensive devastation across Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Mozambique (Murenje and Sibanda 2026; Trummer et al. 2023). The cyclone’s destruction of infrastructure, homes, and economic activities triggered significant population movements away from the hardest-hit areas (Chapungu 2020).

Despite the vulnerability and predicted potential impact of environmental disasters on the livelihoods of vulnerable residents in informal settlements, social work has been slow to respond to these challenges (Domineli 2013; Nyahunda 2021). This is despite the competencies of social workers in designing alternative models of socioeconomic development and promoting environmental justice, by, among others, mobilising communities to meet human needs without costing the environment (Domineli 2013). Social workers have a responsibility to protect vulnerable populations affected by the impact of environmental disasters, and yet their involvement in this field is slim, with some social workers lacking the necessary awareness of the various environmental challenges confronting human beings, who are mostly their client systems (Nyahunda 2021; Shokane 2016). This integrative literature review sought to outline the nature of environmental citizenship, ascertain the extent of social work professional relevance to environmental citizenship, particularly in the informal settlements of South Africa, and to explore the approach social workers could adopt in executing their mandate within the informal settlements in view of environmental citizenship.

1.1. Eco-Social Work

Eco-social work is at the heart of social work. Since the profession is founded on the notion of utilising the framework of the person-in-environment to understand problems, it is therefore not surprising for its dedication to promoting a harmonious coexistence between humans and nature through the field of eco-social work (Wang and Altanbulag 2022). In emphasising social work’s commitment to both humans and the environment, Chigangaidze (2022) postulates that the environment has rights and that there should be a focus on eco-spiritual social work using the philosophy of ubuntu. He argues that the seriousness of social work in the role of ubuntu and other indigenous knowledge systems, such as those from Bolivia should be demonstrated by its contribution to debates around the Rights of Nature. As an African philosophy, Ubuntu has the potential to use its relatedness principles, which promote amicable mutual relations between humans and the environment, to generate some impact on the eco-spiritual social work field and beyond (Chigangaidze 2022).

Historically, the practice of eco-social work is traced back as far as the 18th century Chicago settlement houses, where social workers played an active role in addressing the lack of sanitation for low-income immigrant communities as well as documenting the impact of the physical conditions of the ward on the health of residents (National Park Service 2021). The International Federation of Social Workers (2022) argues that there is an inextricable connection between human rights and the environment and that climate change erodes fundamental rights such as the rights to health, life, culture, housing, food, water and sanitation, self-determination, development, peace and security, living standard adequate for health and well-being, as well as cultural rights. Since social work is central to human rights and social justice, it is anticipated that it would dominate commitments to environmental justice.

However, researchers such as Liu and Flynn (2021) postulate that social work academics, practitioners, students and professional bodies alike seem reluctant to directly respond to environmental issues. In this regard, Papadopoulos (2019) argues for the incorporation of environmental and sustainability perspectives in their approaches and interventions, as opposed to considering it as a specialisation. For Boddy et al. (2018), social workers can make use of eco-social work to play the following roles:

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Work with survivors of natural disasters.

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Policy and political advocacy.

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Activism on environmental justice.

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Development of food security and permaculture gardens.

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Support for individuals and communities affected by environmental degradation.

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Awareness of the human–nature link in wellbeing and in social work assessment and intervention.

Similar sentiments regarding the role of eco-social works are shared by Nöjd et al. (2024), who are of the view that eco-social work practice involves the promotion of human rights and social justice at the meso level through assessment and intervention, advocacy and policy making at the macro level. Webinars were held by the IFSW leading into the development of the “People’s Charter for an eco-social world” in 2022. Banks et al. (2024) provides the following reflection on these webinars.

In discussions about contexts where environmental destruction is visible and affecting people’s lives, bridges between social and environmental concerns were clearer and social work’s role in addressing these issues was more tangible. For example, in the African webinar, there was a significant connection to the eco-social theme, with calls to see social, health, economic and environmental issues as interrelated and to recognise the importance of holistic responses.

(Banks et al. 2024)

1.2. Floods in the Informal Settlements of South Africa

Beyond the immediate toll on human life, natural disasters such as floods play a substantial role in deepening entrenched poverty in the informal settlements of low and middle-income countries, underscoring the importance of disaster risk reduction as a core strategy for poverty alleviation (Liu et al. 2024). Between 1990 and 2022, global data indicate that 168 countries experienced a total of 4713 flood events, affecting over 3.2 billion people, causing 218,353 deaths, and generating economic losses exceeding $1.3 trillion (Liu et al. 2024). Notably, disaster-related mortality has risen in low-income nations (Jonkman et al. 2024). Africa ranks among the regions most severely impacted by flooding, recording the third-highest share of global flood events and associated fatalities (Hamidifar and Nones 2021). In 2024 alone, floods across 20 countries in West and Central Africa resulted in more than 1460 deaths and affected over 8.5 million people, reflecting the combined effects of climate variability, rapid and unplanned urbanisation, and insufficient infrastructure (Ramadane and Prentice 2024). In Southern Africa, South Africa is particularly vulnerable to flood hazards. Provinces such as the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, North West, and Limpopo face heightened risk, largely due to their predominantly rural characteristics (Munyai et al. 2021). Intensifying rainfall patterns linked to climate change have further increased both the frequency and severity of flood events (Byaruhanga et al. 2025).

From an infrastructure standpoint, urban flooding in South Africa is worsened by inadequate and poorly maintained drainage systems (Kunene et al. 2021). Many of these systems were designed according to outdated standards and are unable to accommodate increasingly intense rainfall, leading to frequent overflows and widespread inundation of roads and properties. This, in turn, creates public health risks through exposure to contaminated water (Tandlich et al. 2016). Evidence from the Bronville and Hani Park townships demonstrates how insufficient drainage infrastructure can magnify flood impacts, resulting in severe socio-economic consequences (Raphela and Matsididi 2025). Similarly, in KwaZulu-Natal, rapid urban expansion combined with deficient drainage networks significantly intensified the impacts of the April 2022 floods (Grab and Nash 2024).

Another major driver of urban flooding is the growth of impervious surfaces associated with urbanisation (Mashao et al. 2023). In South Africa, the urban population increased from 63% in 2011 to 69% in 2024, with major cities such as Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban absorbing much of this growth (Byaruhanga et al. 2025). As natural landscapes are replaced by roads, rooftops, and paved areas, infiltration decreases while surface runoff increases, placing additional strain on drainage systems. In the Western Cape, Dube et al. (2022) identified a significant rise in flood frequency and severity over the past century, driven by climate variability and compounded by urban encroachment into wetlands and floodplains. Informal settlements are particularly vulnerable; in Cape Town, many are situated along waterways and low-lying areas, increasing both exposure and impact (Dube et al. 2022). Similar patterns are evident in the Eastern Cape, where households located on degraded slopes or near streams experience disproportionately high levels of flood damage (Dalu et al. 2018). Overall, rapid and often unplanned urbanisation, together with the loss of natural buffers such as wetlands and vegetation, is reinforcing long-term flood risk in urban areas, particularly in informal settlements.

The legacy of apartheid-era spatial planning, which led to a spike in informal settlements, has further heightened vulnerability to flooding (Bouchard et al. 2023). Historically, marginalised communities were located in high-risk areas with limited infrastructure and inadequate land-use regulation. Informal settlements in these zones remain especially susceptible to flooding. In Durban, settlements near rivers continue to face severe flooding due to insufficient infrastructure and weak land-use governance (Udo and Naidu 2023). Across the country, similar patterns persist, with poorly serviced informal settlements disproportionately affected (Bouchard et al. 2023).

The April 2022 floods in KwaZulu-Natal illustrate these vulnerabilities, overwhelming ageing infrastructure and resulting in catastrophic losses (Byaruhanga et al. 2025). Although the Disaster Management Cycle is intended to guide disaster response and mitigation, its effectiveness has been undermined by systemic issues such as inadequate planning and governance failures (Ngcamu 2023). Poor maintenance of waterways also contributes significantly to flood risk. Blocked rivers and drainage channels, often clogged with debris and sediment, lose their capacity to convey water efficiently, leading to localised flooding (Qian and Eslamian 2022). In Limpopo, for example, obstructed channels are a major contributor to flood events, while in Thulamela Municipality, the absence of routine river maintenance has led to recurring flooding (Ntanganedzeni and Nobert 2021; Byaruhanga et al. 2025).

The April 2022 floods in the greater Durban region and along the KwaZulu-Natal coast were among the most devastating natural disasters in the province’s history, resulting in 459 deaths and 88 missing persons as of May 2022 (Grab and Nash 2024). Historical analyses of flooding in the region reveal a pattern of severe events, including the June 1905 floods (200–300 deaths), October 1917 floods (over 100 deaths), Tropical Cyclone Domoina in 1984 (over 200 deaths), the September 1987 floods (388 deaths), and the April 2019 floods (approximately 67 deaths) (Byaruhanga et al. 2025). More recently, floods in February and March 2025 in Durban resulted in six fatalities (Hlangu 2025). In the Western Cape, over 129 flood-related deaths were recorded between 1900 and 2018, with informal settlements and coastal urban areas disproportionately affected due to their location in high-risk zones (Dube et al. 2022).

From a socio-economic perspective, floods severely disrupt livelihoods by damaging critical infrastructure such as roads, bridges, power lines, and water and sanitation systems (Dube et al. 2022). Informal communities are particularly vulnerable due to their location in flood-prone areas and the fragile nature of housing structures. Flooding frequently leads to displacement and homelessness; for instance, more than 40,000 people were displaced during the 2022 KwaZulu-Natal floods (Byaruhanga et al. 2025). In addition, the financial burden of reconstruction places significant strain on government resources, with the 2022 Durban floods alone causing an estimated $2 billion in economic and infrastructure damage (Grab and Nash 2024). Figure 1 (Byaruhanga et al. 2025) illustrates the extent of damage sustained in an informal settlement in Durban during the 2022 floods.

1.3. Theoretical Framework: Ecological Systems Theory

This study was grounded in the ecological systems theory of Bronfenbrenner. This theory is based on the notion of interconnectedness of biological, psychological, social and cultural environments (Wang and Altanbulag 2022). It seeks to understand societal issues and human experiences by considering the interaction of humans and their interrelated systems, such as families, communities, schools, and workplaces, and others (Crawford 2020; Masinga and Sibanda 2026). From an environmental citizenship perspective, consideration will be on the prevention of and responding to environmental issues from within the families, the communities and other related settings. The ecological systems theory provides a holistic view of how an individual interacts with and is influenced by the various environmental settings with which he or she engages (Masinga and Sibanda 2024). In other words, to fully understand the nature of environmental citizenship, the relevance of social work, and how social workers execute their mandate in view of environmental citizenship from the ecological systems theory, it is essential to consider the ecological systems within which they operate (Sibanda and Masinga 2025).

According to the ecological systems theory, the interrelated systems in which humans exist are the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the chronosystem and the macrosystem (Crawford 2020). In systems thinking, everyone and everything is connected and mutually influences each other. Therefore, one cannot conclusively ascribe a phenomenon such as environmental disasters to one specific environmental layer; it cuts across layers (Sambo and Sibanda 2026). The microsystem refers to things like the individual’s personality, beliefs and emotions, their significant others, such as family members, schools, workplaces, gyms, coffee shops and others. At this level, environmental disasters are perpetuated personally by the individual in their individual capacities as well as when they interact with family members within their households, schools, workplaces and other related areas. The individual’s belief systems regarding the environment (i.e., not seeing a problem in cutting down trees, dumping garbage in open spaces or burning tyres during a protest) have the potential to influence their microsystem and vice versa. Similarly, the decision to dump garbage in open spaces, burn tyres, or cut trees may have serious consequences for someone living with Tuberculosis or related conditions.

For the mesosystem, the focus is on the linkage of microsystems (Crawford 2020). It includes, for example, a connection between the school and family, the workplace and the family and the church and the family and so on (Sibanda and Masinga 2025). This is where the habits and beliefs that are either pro-or anti-environmental justice, as cultivated from the micro level (by individuals in the families), are now taken into other areas such as schools, workplaces and others. A habit of dumping in any open space, burning tyres, or cutting trees for reasons such as drawing attention of the government, lack of garbage bins or lack of electricity or alternative form of power, may now be adopted by other children at the school level, resulting in mass dumping or burning tyres becoming a norm. This could be worse when authorities, such as educators, are not informed when coming to environmental issues or when they simply do not have the necessary capacity to address them.

At the exosystem level, there is still an interaction of the microsystems; however, these systems indirectly exert an influence on the person’s life. This is where the community, for example, becomes caught up when habits and beliefs that are cultivated by the family and the school are now practised in the community. That anti-environmental justice belief from a particular individual in a family, which found its way into the school, now finds its way into the community, this time around, when the school interacts with the community (i.e., learners are in a community sports ground for a soccer match). After a match, the ground is left messy due to dumping or where tyres are burnt, as people are aggrieved by the authorities’ failure to act on educators who are alleged to have physically abused a child.

The macrosystem level entails cultural practices and societal structures (Sibanda and Sambo 2025). The macrosystem and the lower systems are mutually influencing one another through cultural practices. Some cultures, such as illegal dumping, have become norms due to a lack of waste management systems in municipalities. A practice that started by one individual based on her anti-environmental justice stance and found its way into the school and later into the community can easily develop into a culture if not properly curbed, particularly through social work interventions like education and advocacy.

Central to the ecological systems theory is that it prevents blame from being placed on any single part of the system, allowing interventions to be directed at various levels depending on what is most appropriate (Milligan et al. 2024). Figure 2 below provides a visual presentation of the ecological systems theory.

1.4. The Study’s Aim and Research Questions

In an integrated literature review, the review purpose and questions should be broad and well-defined to accurately inform the search criteria and procedures for data collection (Toronto 2020). The overall aim of this study was to develop a conceptual framework for social work-inspired environmental citizenship for residents of informal settlements in South Africa. To achieve this aim, the objectives of the study were as follows.

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To outline the nature of environmental citizenship,

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To ascertain the extent to which the social work profession is relevant to environmental citizenship, particularly in the informal settlements of South Africa, and

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To explore the approach social workers can adopt in executing their mandate within the informal settlements in view of environmental citizenship.

An integrated literature review integrates the findings and perspectives from various empirical studies to answer questions such as the “who”, what, where, why and how, which are clearly focused and relevant (Melillo 2020; Snyder 2019). Questions that were used to guide this study were:

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What is the nature of environmental citizenship?

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To what extent is the social work profession relevant to environmental citizenship in the informal settlements of South Africa?

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How can social workers execute their mandate in informal settlements in view of environmental citizenship?

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Research Approach

This study followed an integrative literature research methodology, which generates knowledge by reviewing, critiquing and synthesising literature around a topic integratively by generating new frameworks and perspectives on the topic (Torraco 2018). An integrated literature review is conducted for five main reasons: to (1) review, update and critique literature, (2) conduct a meta-analysis of the literature, (3) review, critique, and synthesise literature, (4) reconceptualise the topic reviewed in literature, and (5) answer specific research questions regarding the topic reviewed in literature (Torraco 2018).

For the current study, it was considered to answer specific research questions. The process followed to implement this method was the five-phases proposed by Snyder (2019), which are: (1) designing the review, (2) conducting the review, (3) analysing the data, (4) writing the review, and (5) presenting the review.

2.2. Designing the Review

To design the review, a preliminary literature review was conducted to determine the study topic, existing gaps in the literature, the research aim and questions, the suitable method to be followed, the search strategies, as well as the potential audience (Snyder 2019; Sethares 2020).

2.3. Conducting the Review

Once the review was designed, data collection was then preceded by a pilot test aiming to test the search terms and inclusion criteria on a smaller scale. Based on the findings of a pilot test, the literature review continued this time by reading through each literature piece that appeared in the search, focusing on the study topic, aim, focus, the methods, as well as the findings, to determine their eligibility for inclusion (Snyder 2019). In searching for literature, the researchers made use of Google Scholar, Microsoft Edge, Research Gate, Academic Search Ultimate, and Ecology Abstract using key terms such as “environmental citizenship in informal settlements”, “environmental disasters and informal settlements”, “social work and environmental citizenship”, and “environmental citizenship and social justice”. This process led to the discovery of a total of 165 literature sources (i.e., articles, books, dissertations, organisational reports, policies and legislation), of which 30 qualified for inclusion in this study.

2.4. Analysing the Data

For analysis, this study followed Akinyonde and Khan’s (2018) five steps of qualitative data analysis, which are: (1) data logging, (2) anecdotes, (3) vignettes, (4) data coding, and (5) thematic network. During the data logging stage, the researcher documented relevant data material in view of the research aim. This is where specific passages around the meaning or nature of environmental citizenship were highlighted in view of the first part of the research aim. The same process was done with the entire data sets to ensure adequate coverage of the research aim. The data logging stage was then followed by the anecdote stage, which involved the streamlining of each data set by writing narratives around its meanings in the context of the given research aim (Akinyonde and Khan 2018). This process slowly led to the development of themes responsive to each part of the research aim. During the Vignettes stage, the researchers began to describe the themes in more detail to enhance the study’s credibility (Akinyonde and Khan 2018). The data coding stage involved the interrogation of the themes to merge them into more manageable and meaningful transcripts and code texts involving different aspects of the study’s aim. Lastly, the thematic network stage involved an exploration of ideas emerging from the themes. During this process, some ideas easily reflected the research aims while others were deeply analysed to determine their linkages to the aims (Akinyonde and Khan 2018).

2.5. Quality and Trustworthiness of Data

Regarding quality in integrative literature review, researchers should describe the process followed to search for appropriate literature by clearly providing databases that were used for literature search, along with keywords and limiters used for such searches, to allow potential replication or evaluation (Lawless and Foster 2020; Sethares 2020; Putasso 2013; Snyder 2019). By limiters, Sethares (2020) refers to parts of the database that are used to limit the search scope, and they include dates, types of articles, populations and language.

2.6. Population and Sampling

The population of this study was a collection of literature based on environmental citizenship in informal settlements, published between the period 2013 and 2023. For this study, literature referred to any piece or body of writing that is publicly available (Stecker 1996). The total population for this study was all literature sources around the subject of environmental citizenship and social work, from which a sample was drawn. The process of selecting a sample was guided by the inclusion and exclusion criteria (Toronto 2020; Snyder 2019) as provided below:

• Focus on environmental citizenship and environmental citizenship in informal settlements.
• Based on social work and the environment.
• Based on the challenges faced by residents of informal settlements.
• Based on South African, African, and international contexts.
• Written in English.
• Published within a period of not more than ten years.

The exclusion criteria were as follows.

• Publications not specifically addressing the topic of environmental citizenship.
• Studies published before 1 January 2016, and after 31 January 2026.
• Publications not available in English.
• Non-academic sources, opinion pieces, and articles lacking empirical evidence.

2.7. Consideration of Research Ethical Principles

Although this study draws exclusively on existing literature and does not involve direct engagement with human participants, the research process was guided by ethical principles relevant to scholarship on marginalised communities and environmentally vulnerable settings. The following considerations shaped the review:

• Transparency and accountability—The review process was conducted with clear documentation of search strategies, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and analytical decisions. This transparency ensures that interpretations of environmental citizenship and social work practice in informal settlements can be traced, scrutinised, and replicated.
• Integrity and responsible scholarship—All sources were accurately cited and represented with academic honesty. Given the sensitivity of research involving informal settlements, where misrepresentation can reinforce stigma or deficit narratives, care was taken to portray findings faithfully and avoid overstating claims.
• Respect for marginalised communities—Even though no direct contact with residents occurred, the study recognised the structural inequalities, environmental risks, and socio-economic precarity experienced in informal settlements. Literature was engaged in a way that respects the dignity, agency, and lived experiences of residents, avoiding language or interpretations that pathologise communities.
• Sensitivity to power dynamics—Research on environmental citizenship often intersects with issues of power, governance, and exclusion. The review remained attentive to how academic and policy discourses may reproduce unequal power relations, particularly when describing the environmental behaviours or responsibilities of people living in informal settlements.
• Contextual and cultural awareness—Environmental citizenship is shaped by local histories, cultural practices, and environmental realities. The review approached literature with an awareness of diverse socio-cultural contexts and avoided imposing universal assumptions about citizenship, participation, or environmental responsibility.
• Ethical use of secondary data—The study critically considered the ethical implications of relying on secondary sources, especially those that may contain sensitive descriptions of vulnerable populations. Preference was given to literature that demonstrated ethical rigour in its own data collection and representation of communities.
• Commitment to social justice—Given the social work orientation of the study, the review was guided by a commitment to social and environmental justice. This included highlighting literature that foregrounds community agency, equitable environmental governance, and rights-based approaches rather than deficit-based framings.

3. Results

A total of 30 literature sources were sampled from a population of 165 and evaluated to outline the nature of environmental citizenship and ascertain the extent to which the social work profession is relevant to environmental citizenship, particularly in the informal settlements of South Africa, as well as to explore the approach social workers can adopt to execute their mandate within the informal settlements in view of environmental citizenship. The findings of this study are categorised into three main focal areas. The first area outlines the nature of environmental citizenship, which includes the meaning and nature of environmental citizenship; environmental citizenship in the African continent, as well as environmental disasters and informal settlements. The second area is the social work relevance in environmental citizenship, which covers social work mandate and environmental citizenship, global policies, legislative imperatives, as well as the South African legislation and policies on environmental citizenship that are relevant to social work. The last focal area is on the social work approach to environmental citizenship, which covers the service integration approach to environmental citizenship, which includes service integration levels and service intervention levels. Whereas the service integration level involves the intersectoral level, intragovernmental level and the grassroots level, the intervention levels involve the preventive level, the early intervention level, the statutory level and the reunification and aftercare level. This typology was inspired by the ecological systems theory.

Table 1. Profiles of the reviewed studies.

Author and Year	Focus	Social Work Relevance
1. (African Union 2020)	An African climate change strategy aligned with SDG 13	Although the strategy is not explicit in social workers’ involvement, it acknowledges that the poor and vulnerable communities are the most affected due to their dependence on ecosystem services
2. (Anya et al. 2012)	The impact of climate change on food security reduction by 50% of the proportion of people experiencing hunger	Anya does not explicitly involve social workers. However, by virtue of its focus on food security, it squarely fell within the ambit of social work
3. (SERI 2018)	Submissions made by SERI to the UN regarding issues of housing as a right to a standard of living in SA’s informal settlements.	SERI’s report does not directly involve social work. However, it highlights the vulnerability of women and children due to a lack of basic services, which are issues of concern to social workers
4. (Williams et al. 2018)	Williams et al. conducted a governance assessment for Quarry Road West regarding the risk of floods.	Like most informal settlements, Quarry Road is challenged by poverty and unemployment, and women and children are on the receiving end. This makes it a social work issue.
5. (Williams et al. 2019)	Williams et al. sought to elucidate the contribution of empirical data to broader theoretical knowledge of urban vulnerability and resilience in the face of climate change and rapid urbanisation.	Williams et al. focused specifically on the poor urban communities that are poor and economically excluded. These are normally social work clients; hence, the study finds relevance in social work.
6. (Anwana and Owojori 2023)	This was a systematic review and bibliometric analysis of the current state of flooding empirical research globally and in SA, based on 249 peer-reviewed articles focusing on informal settlements	Authors acknowledge that communities such as the informal settlements are prone to social vulnerabilities, with most of the victims of floods being the poorest from these areas.
7. (Rambaree 2020)	An analysis of students’ reflective tasks on the challenges of environmental social work	The study was conducted from the discipline of social work and therefore bears a specific relevance to social work. Although it was conducted from Swedish context, it highlights issues of relevance to the African context.
8. (Anderson 2021)	Anderson’s study addressed the significance of climate change for social workers focusing on the contributions that they can make in adapting and mitigating climate change	This study was conducted from a disciplinary angle of social work. Although it was conducted from a broader contextual perspective with no specific focus on any region, it bears significance to environmental issues that affect the African continent, including South Africa.
9. (Archstatter 2014)	The paper advocates social work involvement in mitigating the impact of climate change. It does so by evaluating market-based capitalism and its impact on climate change.	This is a social work-based paper, with the focus on climate change, which is the focus of our study. Although its focus was not specifically on Africa, it addressed environmental issues from a global perceptive including sub-Saharan Africa.
10. (Matlakala et al. 2022)	Matlakala’s paper explored social workers’ interventions during natural disasters.	This was a social work study conducted in the South African context and, therefore, relevant to our current study.
11. (Smith-Adao et al. 2022)	Smith-Adao explored the challenges and opportunities brought by flow hazards in the Garden Route, South Africa.	This study was not conducted from a disciplinary background. However, it addressed pertinent environmental issues such as the impact of floods on human wellbeing and therefore highlighted the significance of social work.
12. (Turok 2015)	Turok’s study sought to answer two questions involving the importance of shack areas, particularly their emergence and growth.	This study was not conducted within the disciplinary context of social work. However, a South African study with a central focus is to determine whether informal settlements are traps or ladders to employment prosperity.

below presents a sample of 12 of the 30 studies that were subjected to review for this study:

3.1. Contextual Focal Area of Environmental Citizenship

The extent to which the social work profession is relevant to environmental citizenship in the informal settlements of South Africa and the way social workers can execute their mandate within the informal settlements in view of environmental citizenship can be understood in the broader context of the meaning and nature of environmental citizenship. This context includes considering the meaning of environmental citizenship, environmental citizenship in the African context and informal settlements.

3.1.1. The Meaning and Nature of Environmental Citizenship

The term environmental citizenship is an aggregation of two terms, namely, “environment” and citizenship”. Citizenship refers to liberal rights as well as obligations, including the right to freedom, of association, freedom of speech and conscience and the general freedom to lead a meaningful life and responsibilities such as exercising autonomous and critical reasoning in elections and surveillance of political leaders or protecting the freedoms of others (Pallet 2017; Piattoeva 2016). In the context of the environment, citizenship involves rights and obligations about the environment (Hadjichambis and Reis 2020; Huttunen et al. 2020; Pallet 2017), such as the right to enjoy the environment in a manner that does not negatively affect the rights of others (including the next generations). The term environment has its origin from the French word “environ”, which means surround. It is a set of circumstances surrounding life, including the physical, chemical, and other natural forces (Balsubramanian 2017).

Three types of environments are the physical environment, the social and cultural environment and the psychological environment. In this context, environmental citizenship entails citizenship influenced by green ideas, leading to actions that are environmentally friendly in private and public arenas (Huttunen et al. 2020). Environmental citizenship refers to responsive measures triggered by environmental challenges such as global warming resulting from, among others, industrialisation, man-made and natural disasters (Domineli 2013). Historically, environmental citizenship is associated with the Canadian Environment Agency of the 1990s, which was later adopted by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) (Huttunen et al. 2020). According to the 2022 Emission Gap Report of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the world is heading for a global temperature rise of 2.4 to 2.6 degrees for the current century if 1.5 degrees is not tracked back by, among others, delivering transformation in the supply of electricity, industry, transport and buildings and the food and financial systems (UNEP 2022a). The reality is that at the receiving end of these environmental challenges are the poorest of the poor, whose livelihoods depend on natural resources that are often destroyed by disasters (Shokane 2019). With the richest 10 per cent of the world’s population producing the highest emissions, the poorest produce less and suffer the highest consequences due to their socioeconomic conditions and a reduction in their adaptive capacities (UNEP 2022b). These high temperatures have the potential to significantly reduce agricultural production in tropical areas, where most developing countries are located (Anya et al. 2012).

3.1.2. Africa Is on the Receiving End of Environmental Disasters

The most vulnerable locations, poor housing structures, limited access to infrastructure and lack of secure tenure expose people in informal settlements to severe climate impact (WHO n.d.). As reported by the African Union, for instance, the year 2020 saw a record of 45 million Southern Africans suffering food insecurity because of climate change, while some lost their lives and suffered irreparable damage to infrastructure, settlements, and landscapes (African Union 2020). Most African countries experience serious global risks threatening the social welfare of the mostly marginalised individuals, families, groups, and communities due to high poverty levels, low adaptive capacities, lack of institutional support, high dependence on volatile natural resources and power relations (Anya et al. 2012; Nyahunda 2021).

3.1.3. Environmental Disasters and Informal Settlements

Informal settlements are particularly vulnerable to climate change and therefore require concerted plans and efforts for environmental citizenship. Their conditions are characterised by low-income levels, poor quality and overcrowded housing, lack of secure tenure, insufficient access to safe water and sanitation, drainage, and solid waste collection, as well as healthcare emergency services and policing (SERI 2018; Williams et al. 2018). What complicates environmental challenges in informal settlement areas is rapid urbanisation and its resultant growth of cities, placing an enormous pressure on the state and civil society organisations to provide shelter and services for the poor, particularly the new migrants (Williams et al. 2019).

Projections around climate change reveal an increase in the intensity of natural hazards, particularly storms and floods in informal settlements (Williams et al. 2019). Some of these predictions are already being witnessed in some parts of Africa, including South Africa. In South Africa, for instance, the collapse of the Jagersfontein tailings dam of the Free State province in 2022 released a tidal wave of tailing sludge and mudslides sweeping through parts of Charlesville and Itumeleng villages, leading to four fatalities and dozens of injuries. In the Eastern Cape, flooding resulted in fatalities and severe infrastructural damage, impacting the environment and socioeconomic conditions (Anwana and Owojori 2023). The KwaZulu-Natal province saw severe flooding, destroying property, causing estimated fatalities, and displacing approximately 5000 people. The majority of those who die and suffer the impact of severe infrastructural damage are the poorest people who mostly live in shacks that are in informal settlements and depend on the same environment to make ends meet (Anwana and Owojori 2023; Shokane 2019).

Although environmentalists have been concerned about environmental issues from as far back as the 1970s, they were mostly dominated by physical scientists and economists in most policies and academic work, resulting in fewer social scientists’ establishment in the subject (Giddens and Sutton 2022; Urry 2022). Despite the physical science and economic dominance in environmental issues, Fook (2023) argues that the environmental crisis has and will continue to cause havoc that concerns social workers, and social workers should therefore urgently orient themselves towards the environmental practice paradigm. Similar sentiments are echoed for social workers and their students to engage in the disaster relief process (Shokane 2019). The relevance of social work in environmental citizenship is therefore inevitable. Through this paper, a case is made based on the preceding arguments and following the integrated literature review method, for environmental citizenship as a social work issue requiring social work interventions.

3.2. The Social Work Relevance

The original focus of social work practice is on the person in the environment perspective, which is the main principle seeking to highlight the significance of a sound understanding of human beings within their environmental contexts (Rambaree 2020). It is therefore essential for social work practitioners and researchers alike not to be detached from the environmental contexts in which their client systems exist and their related challenges (Masinga and Sibanda 2026). The significance of social work in environmental citizenship lies at the very core of the profession’s mandate as well as the policy and legislative imperatives.

3.2.1. Social Work Mandate and Environmental Citizenship

The social work profession is premised on the enhancement of human well-being in all spheres of human life (Nyahunda 2021). Social workers are concerned with the promotion of well-being and social justice, which are threatened by climate change (Anderson 2021). Climate change is a social justice and well-being issue directly calling for social workers’ attention (Anderson 2021; Domineli 2013). As argued by Archstatter (2014), the fundamental aspect of social work involves paying attention to environmental forces that create, contribute to and address problems in living. Social workers can no longer ignore the impact of environmental disaster and injustice on human beings, particularly the poor and vulnerable populations residing in informal settlements. They should therefore be at the forefront of environmental citizenship, particularly where well-being and social justice are under threat.

Climate change and environmental citizenship are social work issues by virtue of the proportional impact of climate change on the poor and marginalised sections of the population and the consequential impact thereof on food security, health, and wellbeing (Nyahunda 2021; Shokane 2019). Developmental models that are unsustainable, inequality and unequal distribution of resources are central to the current global socioeconomic system of neoliberalism, further exacerbating structural inequalities and affecting the poor, who are mostly low-income earners (Domineli 2013). Social workers should therefore appropriately respond by mitigating the impact of climate change and supporting those affected (Nyahunda 2021; Domineli 2013).

Given their mandate to promote change, development, social cohesion, empowerment, and liberation of people as guided by emancipatory values and principles of social justice and human rights, social workers possess the competencies necessary to effect social change in people’s lives at the individual, group, societal and global levels (International Federation of Social Workers 2014; Matlakala et al. 2022; Rambaree 2020). Problems such as droughts, famines, floods, and fires spurred displacements of many people and caused political instability, posing a threat to the mental and physical health of communities and individuals, which ultimately requires social work intervention (Fook 2023; Murenje and Sibanda 2026).

Natural disasters disrupt normal lives by causing destruction of property, loss of financial resources, personal injury, loss of income, reduction in tax revenue and loss of infrastructure, as well as depression, post-traumatic stress disorders and anxieties, which then require the interventions of social workers to assist with coping mechanisms (Matlakala et al. 2022; Smith-Adao et al. 2022). People who die because of these disasters often leave orphans and vulnerable children behind, while those who get displaced by these disasters rely on social workers for food, shelter, clothing, and psychosocial services such as counselling due to their traumatic experiences of either having witnessed their loved ones swept away or their own survival of some of these traumatic events.

3.2.2. Global Policies and Commitments to Environmental Citizenship

On the policy and legislative front, social workers are duty-bound to protect the poor and vulnerable members of the population either directly or indirectly through international, regional, and local policies and legislation. On the international sphere, there is a commitment through the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to take urgent actions in combatting climate change and its impact on the poor and vulnerable by building their resilience and reducing their vulnerability to extreme climate-related events and other economic, social, and environmental shocks and disasters (UN 2017). On SGDs, the IFSW (2022) reaffirmed its position that “the social work profession is an important stakeholder and partner for global action, including SDGs” (IFSW 2022). Furthermore, the international policy imperatives on social work and environmental citizenship are found in Article 1 of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change, to which South Africa is a signatory. This Article highlights the adverse effects of climate change on the operation of socioeconomic systems or on human health and welfare, which falls within the competencies of social work (UN 1992).

In South Africa, the Department of Social Development urges practitioners and organisations to acquaint themselves with relevant international conventions to promote the human rights of service beneficiaries (DSD 2013). The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) also has a policy statement on environmental citizenship, which, among others, places an obligation on social workers to be knowledgeable and educated on the unwarranted position of the natural environment, to speak out and act on its behalf and to assist clients in an environmentally responsible manner (Tischler 2011). Furthermore, NASW considers social workers to be uniquely positioned to influence the distribution of resources and to participate in efforts for protecting the environment (Tischler 2011). Their participation in international, regional, and local forums on environmental citizenship is therefore non-negotiable. Whereas the Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on Human rights and climate change calls for parties to fully respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on human rights, the UN resolution passed on 26 July 2022, calls on its 193 member states (including South Africa), to step up efforts to ensure that citizens have access to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment (UNEP 2022c).

3.2.3. The Local Legislative Context of Environmental Citizenship

Although in South Africa, social workers are not directly sanctioned to implement laws and policies about environmental citizenship, they directly deal with client systems that are affected by environmental challenges. From a policy perspective, the custodian of the country’s social welfare services is the Department of Social Development (DSD). According to the DSD, the eight main strategic areas of welfare services are poverty alleviation, social integration and cohesion, family preservation, care and protection of vulnerable groups, prevention, treatment, care and support for substance abuse, mental and social health or wellness, prevention of crime, victim empowerment and prevention of HIV/AIDS and care of and support for those infected with HIV/AIDS (DSD 2013). Although the above strategic areas and population groups are common in average South African communities, they are particularly prominent in informal settlements due to the areas’ vulnerability to environmental disasters. The Department of Human Settlements, for instance, reported that, by mid-2022, South Africa had over 2700 informal settlements, the majority of which were in unsuitable land that is prone to housing emergencies (Department of Human Settlement 2022). Most of the housing structures in these informal settlements are shacks, which are exposed to various forms of disasters such as floods and fire. Inhabitants of shack dwellings are exposed to hardships, insecurity and hazardous and squalid living conditions that are also overcrowded and situated on unserviced and unsuitable land (Turok 2015). Despite the right to adequate housing as a basic human right enshrined in Section 26(1) of the constitution of the Republic of South Africa as well as other international treaties, millions of the poor are still vulnerable to significant challenges in accessing adequate housing and other basic services like water, sanitation, electricity and refuse removal while their living conditions are deplorable with no access to economic opportunities for escaping poverty (SERI 2018; Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference 2017).

Whereas natural disasters like storms and floods are frequently and intensely experienced by the urban poor, who are mostly living in informal settlements (Williams et al. 2019). The conditions of informal settlements may also compel people to engage in acts that perpetuate a threat to the environment. It is due to a lack of access to land and housing, for instance, that most of the dwellers find themselves in shacks that are built on riverbanks and other unsafe places that are prone to destruction by natural disasters. It is because of a lack of proper sanitation facilities and hygienic practices that people resort to alternative means of accessing sanitation, such as open defecation, flying toilets or plastic bags and bucket system (Muanda et al. 2020).

The DSD identified the most vulnerable population groups who should be considered for social welfare services, and these are children, youth, women, older people, people with disabilities and internally displaced people (DSD 2013). Although these categories of people are found in average South African communities, those who are in informal settlements are in shoddier, vulnerable situations, which then prioritises them for social work services. What further makes their challenges a priority for social work services is that, in the middle of all these challenges, women, children, persons with disabilities, and the elderly are on the receiving end. In South Africa, informal settlements are characterised by inequalities, with young African children with disabilities being exposed to impoverished homes and communities, while people with disabilities are generally disadvantaged by a lack of access to basic amenities, including sanitation and clean water (SERI 2018). Toilets were particularly found to be the main challenge, with two-thirds of households forced to share toilets (SERI 2018). South Africa is not the only country in this challenging situation. In India, for instance, women preferred to defecate in open areas rather than using untidy toilets, while in South Africa, Uganda and Kenya, residents prefer to use buckets, plastics, or other alternatives during the night rather than communal facilities due to fear of crime (Muanda et al. 2020). In some instances, children may openly defecate even in areas with proper sanitation because it is generally believed that children’s excreta are not as harmful as adults’ (Muanda et al. 2020).

Social workers across all governmental spheres also play roles of policy makers, programme designers and coordinators, as well as implementers of social work programmes. They are therefore duty-bound across all these spheres to design, develop and implement policies and programmes that reflect measures for curbing environmental hazards and mitigate the impact on the poor by supporting them. In South Africa, environmental citizenship is sanctioned by Section 24 of the Constitution of the Republic, which guarantees everyone a right to an environment that is not harmful to their health and wellbeing, as well as various pieces of legislation such as the National Environment Act 2 of 2022. The preamble of the National Environment Act guarantees everyone the right to “an environment protected for the benefit of present and future generations through reasonable legislative and other measures that prevent pollution and ecological degradation; to promote conservation and secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development.”

The local government, which is the custodian of most of the informal settlements in the country, also has legislative frameworks and policies. The Municipal Systems Act (Act No. 32 of 2000) for instance, sanctions the provision of municipal services in an environmentally sustainable manner, by (a) minimising the risk of harm to the environment and to human health and safety to the extent reasonably possible under the circumstances; (b) minimising the potential benefits to the environment and to human health and safety to the extent reasonably possible under the circumstances and (c) complying with legislation intended to protect the environment and human health and safety. Despite the obligations flowing from their mandate, policies and legislation, the involvement of social workers in environmental citizenship in informal settlements has proven to be scanty, leaving authors such as Tischler (2011) wondering about the reasons for their failure to be involved. This is concerning, particularly in the informal settlements that are characterised by poverty, with the impact of climate change aggravating the living conditions of dwellers by exposing them to extreme vulnerability.

3.3. The Social Work Approach to Environmental Citizenship

Having outlined the relevance of social work and the state of South African informal settlements, it is essential to demonstrate how social workers in South Africa can fulfil their mandate through environmental citizenship by, among others, rendering their services for the benefit of residents of informal settlement areas. In intervening for environmental citizenship purposes within the informal settlement areas, social workers need to consider Turok’s (2015) assertion that not all is doom and gloom in informal settlements because informal settlements play a crucial role as a “ladder” to assist in lifting rural households out of poverty. Turok’s point is particularly essential for South African social workers whose services are grounded in a developmental approach to the delivery of social welfare services, which, among others, promote the integrated social welfare services or social welfare service integration (Sibanda and Ngwabi 2025).

3.3.1. Service Integration Approach to Environmental Citizenship

Service integration is particularly suitable for environmental issues faced by people who reside in informal settlements due to the multidimensional nature of their problems, such as land, health, housing, infrastructure, poverty, crime, and other social problems. In defining service integration, the DSD (2013) refers to the collaboration of service providers (including government departments working together with other agencies) in the social welfare services system for the purpose of making it easier for service beneficiaries to access the much-needed services and information (DSD 2013). Service integration should therefore be central to environmental citizenship in order to enable all other relevant stakeholders to join forces from their respective specialties for the benefit of people who reside in informal settlements. This service integration, as outlined by the DSD (2013), occurs according to three levels of service integration, which are inter-sectoral and interdepartmental integration, intradepartmental integration, and grassroots integration (DSD 2013).

At the inter-sectoral and interdepartmental level, functions and services of different sectors and government departments are acknowledged, and mechanisms are designed in consultation with other government departments and sectors for the purpose of facilitating policy formulation, planning, monitoring, evaluation, coordination and clarification of roles or functions and responsibilities (DSD 2013). This is where national and provincial strategies are aligned following the inter-collaborative approach between the government departments and related sectors. At this level, the policymaking and programme designing role of social workers is particularly essential to ensure that the interests of their client systems in informal settlements are incorporated within the policies, plans and programmes that promote environmental citizenship. They lead the social cluster comprising interdepartmental committees or teams that support environmental citizenship from a social welfare and social justice perspective. Plenary meetings for devising plans, strategies and policies should at this level be chaired by social workers who play the coordinator’s role.

At the level of intradepartmental or programme integration, services are rendered through three main programmes, which are welfare services, social security services and integrated development (DSD 2013). Central to these programmes are mechanisms that promote comprehensive, integrated, sustainable and high-quality social development services to help reduce vulnerability and poverty and to create an enabling environment for sustainable development in partnership with those committed to building a caring society (DSD 2013). Here, social workers are at the centre to champion the design, development, implementation, or evaluation of welfare and social security services for environmental citizenship.

At the grassroots or local service integration, the inter-sectoral collaboration enables the integration of development plans and local welfare services delivery planning by harmonising economic and social development and facilitating the delivery of comprehensive services to achieve social and economic wellness (DSD 2013; Sibanda and Ngwabi 2025). At this level, social workers are champions of environmental citizenship. They respond to issues that directly affect their client systems as triggered by, among others, environmental factors.

3.3.2. Intervention Levels’ Approach to Social Work and Environmental Citizenship

In addition to levels of service integration, social welfare services are rendered through four main levels of intervention, which are prevention, early intervention, statutory, residential, or alternative care and the reunification and aftercare levels (DSD 2013; Sibanda and Lombard 2015). At the prevention level of intervention, social work seeks to strengthen and capacitate service beneficiaries to remain self-reliant by addressing individual, environmental and societal factors and creating conditions that enhance or support their wellness (Sibanda and Lombard 2015). The aim here is to prevent the manifestation of environmental disasters by educating client systems and communities to develop a caring attitude towards the environment in order to prevent disasters. This is where they conduct mass meetings for presentations, conduct door-to-door campaigns and literally run workshops around preservation of the environment. The early intervention level is where social workers identify early risks, behaviours and symptoms in individuals, groups and organisations that could negatively affect their social well-being. The services rendered at this level aim to limit the impact of the risk and prevent its manifestation into problems. Here, the impact of an environmental disaster has already manifested (i.e., land grabbing is already happening, and a few shacks have already been swept away, leaving a few families homeless). At this level, social workers would render psychosocial support to the displaced members while at the same time educating others on the dangers of having housing structures next to the rivers or in areas that have not been confirmed to be settlement areas by authorities. In terms of statutory, residential or alternative care, the problem has already compromised the beneficiaries’ quality of life and the intervention, which is statutory in nature, requires the beneficiary to be moved from their normal environments to an alternative residential facility (Sibanda and Lombard 2015). Services at this level include protection services to safeguard the beneficiaries’ well-being (Sibanda and Ngwabi 2025). At this level, the damage has gone too far. It requires courts and other authorised systems to be petitioned for intervention. Children and the elderly are moved to residential facilities and structures, or cares are declared unsuitable for human occupation due to the dangers posed by disasters. This intervention level is also characterised by rehabilitative and continuous care services, restorative services that seek to reduce the negative impact of disaster, by restoring service beneficiaries to an improved level of social functioning and quality of life or by limiting the impact of a challenge or a problem (Tladi and Sibanda 2025). At the reunification and aftercare level of intervention, social work services are geared to enable beneficiaries to regain self-reliance and optimal social functioning and quality of life or by limiting the impact of a challenge or problem (DSD 2013; Sibanda and Lombard 2022). This is after the statutory and rehabilitative activities are completed. From an environmental citizenship point of view, this is where social workers facilitate the reintegration of people who may have been placed in public places of safety or relocated as part of the management of environmental issues, back into their communities and families after they have been prepared for proper occupation.

4. Discussion

This study sought to: (1) outline the nature of environmental citizenship. (2) ascertain the extent of the relevance of the social work profession to environmental citizenship, particularly in the informal settlements of South Africa. (3) and to explore the approach social workers can adopt in executing their professional mandate in the informal settlements in view of environmental citizenship.

Following an integrative literature review methodology, 32 pieces of literature sources were analysed to address the research aim and questions. From this reviewed literature, the study demonstrated that environmental citizenship involves efforts aimed at responding to environmental degradation, which is either caused by nature or manmade, with severe impacts on the poor and vulnerable people who are mostly inhabitants of the African continent (Domineli 2013). The study demonstrated that in South Africa, among those who are severely affected by some of the environmental disasters are people who reside in informal settlement areas, which are mostly characterised by poor service delivery and deplorable living conditions, with the potential to reinvent the manifestation of further environmental disasters (SERI 2018; Williams et al. 2018).

The impact of environmental disasters on people who reside in informal settlements poses a threat to the health, human rights, social justice, and social well-being of the poor, who are mostly inhabitants of informal settlements (Anwana and Owojori 2023; Shokane 2019). Social workers are mandated to develop the necessary interventions for mitigating and preventing the impact of environmental disasters, particularly on the poor (Chigangaidze 2022; Domineli 2013). Their duty flows from international commitments such as the IFSW as well as local policies and legislation, which specifically call for measures to protect the poor and vulnerable populations (International Federation of Social Workers 2014, 2022; UN 2017). At the local level, the DSD is the primary custodian of social welfare and social work services and has published guidelines on how social welfare interventions can be delivered (DSD 2013). The DSD (2013) specifically provides an approach that social workers can take to execute their mandate, including environmental citizenship. To intervene for the purpose of environmental citizenship, social workers can adopt this general approach of service integration as well as the levels of intervention.

This integrated literature review advances understanding of how social work–inspired environmental citizenship can strengthen environmental action, social justice, and community resilience in South Africa’s informal settlements. Its significance lies in three interconnected contributions. Firstly, by reframing environmental citizenship through a social work lens, the study highlights how environmental citizenship in informal settlements cannot be reduced to individual behaviours but is deeply shaped by structural inequalities, service deficits, and histories of exclusion. By foregrounding social work values such as dignity, participation, and collective agency, the review positions environmental citizenship as a relational and justice-oriented practice rather than a compliance-based expectation. Secondly, by bridging environmental and social development discourses, the review synthesises fragmented scholarship across environmental studies, social work, urban informality, and community development. This integration clarifies how environmental challenges such as waste management, pollution, and climate vulnerability intersect with social issues such as poverty, insecure tenure, and limited state support. The study, therefore, contributes to a more holistic understanding of environmental well-being in marginalised urban contexts. Thirdly, by elevating the lived realities of informal settlement residents, through centering literature that reflects community experiences, the review underscores the importance of recognising residents not as passive recipients of environmental risk but as active agents with knowledge, adaptive strategies, and aspirations for environmental improvement. This perspective supports more inclusive policy and practice approaches.

It is therefore essential for social workers to actively participate in policy formulation, development and reviews on environmental issues, particularly in the informal settlements where it is mostly the poor who suffer the impact. Since it is mostly the poor and most vulnerable groups that are affected by environmental issues, social work researchers should deliberately make it a norm to conduct studies that address environmental issues to develop a literature base and knowledge from which policymakers and programme developers can draw when designing, developing or reviewing policies and programmes. Training institutions should also consider developing a curriculum specifically on social work and environmental justice.

This integrated literature review offers a consolidated understanding of social work–inspired environmental citizenship within informal settlements in South Africa, yet several limitations should be acknowledged. The first limitation concerns the language boundaries applied during the search process. Only English-language publications were included, which may have excluded relevant scholarship produced in other South African languages commonly spoken in informal settlements. Because environmental citizenship is deeply shaped by local cultural meanings, linguistic exclusions may have narrowed the range of community-rooted perspectives represented in the review. A second limitation relates to the temporal scope of the study. The review focused on literature published between 2014 and 2024 to capture contemporary debates on environmental citizenship and social work practice. While this timeframe aligns with the study’s aim of examining recent developments, it may have omitted earlier foundational work or very recent publications that reflect the rapidly evolving environmental, policy, and socio-economic conditions in informal settlements. Finally, the review is constrained by the nature of secondary data. Insights are dependent on how previous authors conceptualised environmental citizenship, framed informal settlements, and reported on social work practice. This reliance may reproduce existing gaps or biases in the literature, particularly where informal settlement residents’ voices are underrepresented.

Future research should address the identified limitations to advance a more inclusive and empirically grounded understanding of social work-informed environmental citizenship in informal settlements. First, the language restriction highlights the need for linguistically inclusive scholarship. Future studies should incorporate sources and primary data in indigenous South African languages such as isiZulu, isiXhosa, and Sesotho. Multilingual systematic reviews and collaborative research with local language experts would enable a more culturally nuanced account of environmental citizenship, capturing indigenous ecological knowledge and community-specific meanings that are often overlooked in English-only analyses.

Second, the temporal scope of the review suggests the importance of extending both historical and forward-looking inquiry. Future research should revisit earlier foundational literature to trace the conceptual evolution of environmental citizenship within social work, while also integrating newly emerging studies that reflect rapidly changing environmental, socio-economic, and policy conditions. Longitudinal research designs would be particularly valuable in examining how environmental citizenship practices and social work interventions develop over time in response to shifting contextual dynamics.

Third, the reliance on secondary data underscores the need for primary, community-centred research. Empirical studies that prioritise the lived experiences of informal settlement residents are essential to address the underrepresentation of grassroots perspectives. Participatory and qualitative methodologies, such as community-based participatory research, ethnography, and photovoice, can facilitate more equitable knowledge production and ensure that local voices shape both conceptual and practical understandings of environmental citizenship.

In addition, future research would benefit from greater theoretical and contextual diversity. Comparative studies across different informal settlements and regions in the Global South could illuminate how environmental citizenship is shaped by varying socio-political and ecological contexts. Interdisciplinary approaches that engage with fields such as environmental justice, urban studies, and political ecology may further strengthen conceptual clarity and analytical depth.

Furthermore, there is a need for more practice-oriented research that evaluates the effectiveness of social work interventions aimed at fostering environmental citizenship. Intervention-based and action research designs can generate evidence on contextually appropriate strategies, including community organising, environmental education, and advocacy initiatives, thereby contributing to both scholarly knowledge and practice development.

There is a need for qualitative and participatory research that captures residents’ own understandings of environmental responsibility, collective action, and barriers to participation. Such work would help to counter top-down narratives and inform contextually grounded interventions. Future studies could explore practice models, competencies, and organisational mandates that enable social workers to support environmental citizenship and community-led environmental initiatives. Moreover, further research could investigate how environmental injustices, such as uneven waste services, exposure to hazards, or climate-related displacement, shape citizenship claims and community mobilisation. This includes examining how state policies enable or constrain environmental participation. Informal settlements are diverse, and environmental challenges vary across provinces and municipalities. Comparative research could illuminate how local governance, community structures, and environmental risks influence the forms of environmental citizenship that emerge. There is scope for developing and testing community-driven environmental programmes that integrate social work principles. Evaluating their effectiveness could provide evidence for scalable, rights-based approaches to environmental improvement.

Collectively, these directions support the development of a more inclusive, context-sensitive, and practice-relevant evidence base for social work and environmental citizenship in informal settlements.

5. Conclusions

Environmental citizenship involves efforts that are aimed at promoting environmental justice by, among others, supporting the poor and vulnerable residents of informal settlements as well as preventing further occurrences through various programmes. The vulnerability of these informal settlement residents, which is often characterised by emotional trauma, loss of loved ones and loss of livelihoods, makes environmental citizenship a social work issue, as imposed by the social work professional mandate as well as the international and local policies, and legislations. Conventional approaches to social work intervention, such as the service integration approach and the intervention levels approach, are also relevant for social workers to intervene in environmental citizenship. Besides outlining the nature of environmental citizenship and demonstrating that it is a social work issue that can be addressed through conventional approaches to social work intervention, there is still a need to empower social workers around this subject; as such, the following recommendations have been made.

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Developing specific guidelines for social work intervention for environmental citizenship.

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Conducting workshops and seminars targeting social workers for environmental citizenship programmes.

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Conducting further research studies to develop strategies specifically for social workers involved in environmental citizenship programmes.