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Preparing for Peak Oil in South Africa

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Abstract

A society’s resilience to the economic impacts of peak oil will depend to a large degree on its existing levels of welfare, distribution of wealth, food security status, spatial configuration, and social cohesiveness. This chapter uses these aspects of contemporary South African society as a lens to understand the potential social vulnerabilities to oil price and supply shocks resulting from increasing global oil scarcity. The first section presents the status quo, while the second section considers the possible social impacts of peak oil—once again assuming a business-as-usual policy environment. The third section discusses a range of mitigation strategies and policies that could boost the resilience of South African society to the consequences of peak oil.

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Correspondence to Jeremy J. Wakeford Ph.D. .

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© 2013 Jeremy J. Wakeford

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Wakeford, J.J., Wakeford, J.J. (2013). Society. In: Preparing for Peak Oil in South Africa. SpringerBriefs in Energy(). Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9518-5_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9518-5_6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-9517-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-9518-5

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