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20 years on, Working for Water still making jobs, ecological impression

JOHN DINI Some species of invasive plants have a serious impact on water resources

CHRISTO MARAIS The Working for Water programme represents a unique public employment conservation initiative

PHUMZA NTSHOTSHO Lack of monitoring of ecological impacts of the WfW programme remains a challenge

WORKING FOR WATER The WfW programme aims to improve the integrity of natural resources

AS NATURE INTENDED South Africa’s natural ecosystems are natural managers of water

11th December 2015

By: Anine Kilian

Contributing Editor Online

  

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The Department of Environmental Affairs’ (DEA’s) Working for Water (WfW) programme, which was launched in 1995 by the late former Water and Forestry Minister, Professor Kader Asmal, celebrated 20 years of existence last month, with 2.8-million hectares of invasive alien plants having been treated since inception.

Invasive alien plants cover about 20-million hectares in South Africa and, if compressed to 100% density, these plants would cover about 1.9-million hectares – an area bigger about the size of Gauteng, or the Kruger National Park.

Research done by the DEA has shown that these plants might spread by between 7.4% and 15.6% a year, necessitating additional investment.

“WfW is investing about R50-million of its yearly budget in biological control to introduce host-specific enemies for the invasive plants. Biocontrol can drastically reduce seed production and can, in some cases, even kill its host species,” WfW head Dr Christo Marais tells Engineering News.

He notes that WfW forms part of the Natural Resource Management Programmes (NRMPs) of the DEA. The overall aims of these programmes are to contribute to investment in the restoration and maintenance of natural resources to enhance the security and delivery of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

“Its short- to medium-term plans aim to tangibly contribute to improved socioeconomic benefits in the environmental-sector public employment programmes,” Marais says.

The programmes also aim to improve the integrity of natural resources by preventing the introduction of new invasive species, ensuring the early detection of and rapid response to emerging invasive alien species and managing the impact of established invasive alien species, he explains.

Marais notes that these goals, which have remained consistent over the years, are achieved through integrated prevention and control methods and supported through incentives, disincentives, advocacy and research.

This results in dealing with threats to biologi- cal diversity and the ecological functioning of natural systems; the exacerbation of wildfires, flooding, soil erosion, siltation, diseases and damage to estuaries; and problems affecting water security, as well as tourism, transport, trade and recreation, he adds.

Ecological Infrastructure

South African National Biodiversity Institute director of ecological infrastructure John Dini says some species of invasive plants have a serious impact on water resources, as they literally suck up a lot of water that would otherwise be available for human consumption or sustain the country’s natural ecosystems.

“Research has suggested that as much as 7% of South Africa’s yearly runoff is consumed by these plants, which is a far higher rate than that of our indigenous species.”

He adds that South Africa’s natural ecosystems, such as rivers and wetlands, are natural managers of water.

“We cannot manage all our water through dams and treatment; we rely to a large extent on the services provided by our natural ecosystems. When those systems become degraded by invasive plants, it compromises the ability of those systems to continue providing those services.”

Dini notes that the WfW programme has assisted in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystems on which the country relies.

Social Benefit

The most challenging socioeconomic issues in South Africa arguably include unemployment, safety and security, education, health and rural development, as well as water and energy security.

According to the DEA, the WfW programme has provided jobs for 39 000 unemployed people in the past financial year.
Since the inception of WfW, the family of NRMPs have created more than 227 100 person years of employment across South Africa.

The programmes grew from just over 6 100 employment opportunities to more than 50 000 on average over the past three years. During this time, just over half of the opportunities created were consistently occupied by females and more than 60% were younger than 35 years.

“The WfW programme represents a unique public employment conservation initiative, particularly in the Franschoek Mountains, in the Western Cape, where the first invasive alien tree was cut. This signified the beginning of a concerted effort by government to address poverty and unemployment through addressing key issues of environmental degradation,” says Marais.

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research researcher Dr Phumza Ntshotsho says the primary social benefit of the programme is poverty alleviation, which is done through the creation of job opportunities and skills development.

“Ultimately, this restores basic human dignity. It is heart-warming to see someone who was previously unemployed have a new sense of purpose and pride, and hearing that person tell you how good it feels to look forward to payday,” she notes.

Ntshotsho points out, however, that the programme has been criticised for providing temporary jobs.

“My response to this is always: try being poor and not having access to basic necessities, like food, and then tell me if you will not appreciate having a job, even if it’s for a few months,” she says, arguing that temporary respite from absolute poverty is infinitely better than perpetual joblessness.

The continued relevance of WfW to national priorities is a critical factor for its endurance, and underpinning this relevance is the vision, passion and dedication of WfW senior managers, she cites.

The DEA notes that the WfW has also maintained a specific focus on the most marginalised in society, as it is possibly the only programme to target opportunities for military veterans and parolees; there have also been continuous attempts to optimise the programmes’ social development relevance.

Marais points out that the DEA would like to increase the 21 000 person years in the pro- gramme to 25 000 in the short term and to at least 95 000 person years of employment in the long term.

Future Challenges

Marais states that, like government agencies worldwide, red tape tends to be one of the biggest challenges WfW faces, along with the health and safety of employees working on the programme.

“The greatest challenge is the unlocking of additional resources for the restoration of ecological infrastructure. The current yearly investment by the DEA is just more than R1.85-billion per year, which creates about 21 000 person years of employment, but employment opportunities for nearly 50 000 participants, he says, adding that demand is for between 95 000 and 100 000 person years and a budget of R12-million a year.

“We, therefore, need six times as much as government invests at the moment and need the private sector to get involved in the market as well.”

Ntshotsho notes that, in terms of funding, the job creation aspect is somewhat contradictory. “It’s a blessing in that it has ensured sustained funding from the National Treasury, without which the programme would have most likely failed. But it’s a curse in that the funding comes with terms and conditions, the biggest condition being that the funds must be spent on labour- intensive work.”

She points out that scientists had argued for years that operations can be made more effective by adopting biocontrol, but this was met with resistance because biocontrol was perceived to be a threat to jobs.

However, this has changed because creative ways of integrating biocontrol into the programme without undermining its job creation imperative have been found.

Ntshotsho says another challenge is the lack of monitoring of ecological impacts. “If someone could come up with a labour-intensive approach to monitoring, perhaps this would cease to be a challenge.”

Dini states that the WfW programme has been expanded into various programmes, including Working on Fire, Working for Wetlands, Working for Ecosystems, Working for Forests and Eco Furniture programmes, of which the latter has succeeded in mainstreaming ecological restoration into the employment and rural development debates.

“What is noteworthy about Eco Furniture is that it is a value-added industry that takes biomass generated through alien clearing operations and converts it into a range of products, including school desks. This in turn creates further jobs and enterprise development opportunities,” he concludes.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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