ABSTRACT
This article reframes veldfire litigation as part of climate adaptation and seeks to understand how South African courts are influencing the allocation of veldfire risk through their decisions. Veldfires are an important natural hazard in South and southern Africa but climate change-induced increases in surface air temperatures and dryness are exacerbating veldfire risk. South African veldfire-related law, inclusive of the common law of delict and the National Veld and Forest Fire Act 101 of 1998 (NVFFA), aims to reduce fire risk by imposing a duty of care on landowners to ensure that fires starting on their properties do not spread to neighbouring lands. When this duty is breached, aggrieved parties may approach the courts for compensation. The body of court decisions on veldfires constantly develops the law and can strengthen or weaken the duty of care as a climate adaptation response. This article analyses the veldfire court decisions decided in the superior courts since the NVFFA entered into effect (n = 36) to determine whether climate change features in the facts or reasoning of courts, the actors which are being held to account to the duty of care, and how the courts have developed the duty of care. Key findings are that South African courts are developing the law in a way that generally strengthens the duty of care; and that climate change considerations are starting to feature in the facts and judicial reasoning of veldfire cases.
€
Tracy-Lynn Field, Give me a (fire) break: Climate adaptation and the duty of care in South African veldfire litigation, Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa. Published online: 2 January 2026.
Leave a Reply