Working For Water Research Articles

Beneficiaries’ aspirations to permanent employment within the South African Working for Water Programme

The South African Working for Water (WfW) programme is a short-term public works programme (PWP) focused on clearing invasive alien plants, while training and empowering the marginalised poor to find employment. Furthermore, it aims to develop independent, entrepreneurial contractors who should ‘exit’ from the programme into the broader labour market. However, evidence indicates that many beneficiaries have become financially dependent on this employment, and find it difficult to search for alternatives. Understanding the reasons for this dependence from the perspective of the beneficiaries of this PWP is crucial to align such projects to the actual needs of the beneficiaries, but these have not yet been considered from a sociological perspective. This article reports on data collected, through face-to-face interviews, on WfW beneficiaries’ aspirations to permanent employment in four projects in the Winelands and Overberg districts of the Western Cape. It presents the novel finding that the social structures within projects themselves seem to create a need to remain in the WfW programme. In addition, a misalignment between these projects’ implementation and beneficiaries’ aspirations to financial stability (associated with permanent employment in WfW) is highlighted. The authors argue that WfW should respond to these aspirations, rather than pursue the ostensibly unrealistic aim of creating independent entrepreneurs. Finally, the implications of these findings for PWPs globally, and their concerns regarding the inadvertent creation of beneficiary dependence, are outlined.

A strategic study of the impact of invasive alien plants in the high rainfall catchments and riparian zones of South Africa on total surface water yield#

The aim of this study was to develop a methodology to determine the impact of upland (non-riparian) invasive alien plants in the high rainfall catchments and riparian areas in all catchments on the total surface water yield available in each of the water management areas of South Africa. This would enable the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) through its public programme Working for Water (WfW) to develop a user charge system for the clearing of invasive alien plants in South Africa. It was found that the total impact of upland invasive alien plants in the high rainfall catchments on the total surface water yield of the country, which included the yield from major dams, minor dams and run-of-river yield, was currently approximately 172 x 106 m3/a and could go up to as much as 1 410 x 106 m3/a in the future. The impact varied greatly between water management areas and had the potential to reach 50 % (195 x 106 m3/a) of registered water use in the Thukela WMA in the future if not controlled. The reduction in yield due to invasive alien plants in the riparian zone in all catchments was estimated to be approximately 523 x 106 m3/a under current conditions and this could increase to 1 314 x 106 m3/a if the riparian zone was allowed to become fully invaded. The combined impact was estimated at 4% of current registered water use and could increase to 16 % of registered water use in the future.

Spontaneous succession of riparian fynbos: Is unassisted recovery a viable restoration strategy?

The invasion of alien trees is a major threat to the freshwater resources and biodiversity of South Africa. The Working for Water (WfW) Program was initiated in 1995 in order to control the growth and spread of woody alien species in riparian zones, but the extent to which the indigenous vegetation naturally recovers following alien clearance remains poorly understood. In this study spontaneous succession of riparian vegetation following wild fires and alien clearing was monitored over a number of years at two sites on the Cape Peninsula: a pine plantation in an upland plateau and an Acacia spp.-invaded valley floodplain. After clearing, the vegetation at the pine site was successfully recovering along a trajectory towards Afromontane forest and as a result it is suggested that no active restoration is required. By contrast, our results show that areas cleared of Acacia spp. may be less resilient, with extensive regeneration of woody aliens and only a negligible recovery of indigenous trees. We propose that the absence of riparian trees may have been responsible for precipitating the transition to a community dominated by weedy nitrophilous grasses, and find evidence that this may be perpetuated through the continued removal of Acacia spp. It is hypothesized that this grass-dominated state may be resilient to natural restoration and thus represents an additional constraint to the recovery of riparian communities. Under such circumstances, we argue that active restoration would be required in order to re-instate the riparian community.

Initial response of riparian plant community structure to clearing of invasive alien plants in Kruger National Park, South Africa

Recovery of indigenous species subsequent to the clearing of invasive alien plants (IAPs) is crucial for ecosystem recovery to occur. However, cleared sites are often just left in the hope that revegetation will occur naturally. In riparian areas of Kruger National Park (KNP), the Working for Water (WfW) Programme has cleared IAPs on a regular basis, but little post-clearance monitoring has taken place. Thus investigating short-term effects of IAPs and IAP clearing on plant community diversity and vegetation recovery provided an ideal opportunity to assess feasible targets of natural ecosystem recovery in similar areas. Vegetation was sampled from twelve transects along the Sabie River in and adjacent to the KNP, before (March/April 2006) and after (March 2007) the annual clearing of IAPs by WfW. Rarefied species richness, alpha diversity and evenness of distribution of species all declined with increasing density of IAPs ( P < 0.05). There was a mean reduction in IAP density of 80% (S.E ± 6%) ( P = 0.002) through the clearing by WfW. After clearing of IAPs, indigenous vegetation densities increased, with herbaceous growth forms showing the largest increase in transects that were previously heavily invaded. Thus, in this system, which is relatively undisturbed by human activities, initial recovery of indigenous vegetation can occur without further restorative interventions. This process is more than likely aided by the continuous clearing of IAPs by WfW as this acts to deplete alien seed banks and maintain IAPs at acceptable and manageable levels.

Seed production, seed bank dynamics, resprouting and long-term response to clearing of the alien invasive Solanum mauritianum in a temperate to subtropical riparian ecosystem

Solanum mauritianum Scopoli (Solanaceae; ‘bugweed’) is a major weed of natural vegetation and plantations in the eastern higher rainfall regions of South Africa. This study assessed the aerial cover and density of S. mauritianum, prior to and after Working for Water (WfW) clearing on the Sabie River, in both higher altitude grassland and lower altitude savanna reaches, using 40, 50 × 20 m (modified Whittaker) plots. Clearing of woody plants involves both cutting the stem and then applying herbicide to the cut stump. Despite clearing, S. mauritianum aerial cover rapidly recovered in the initial 1996/7 study period, and overall densities remained similar in 1996/7 (873 plants/ha) and 2005 (838 plants/ha). The study then focussed on the regeneration capacity of S. mauritianum within these sites. Although seed bank densities in 1996/7 were highly variable, mean densities between the 8 treatment combinations (biome, invasion intensity, cleared vs. uncleared) were high throughout (47–554 seeds/m 2), showing that the invasion potential remained high despite clearing. Seed densities were higher in savanna than grassland ( P = 0.0001), and under high- compared to low invasion intensity ( P = 0.0046). Particularly noteworthy was the lack of a significant clearing effect, or any significant interactions. High proportions of cut S. mauritianum resprouted after clearing (40–80%). Cutting lower on the stem increased mortality substantially, with cutting lower than 18 cm resulting in 100% mortality, while cutting above 50 cm resulted in 100% resprouting recovery. Variation in basal stem (stump) diameter of cut plants had no effect on survival. Therefore the effectiveness of WfW clearing of S. mauritianum can be significantly improved. Seed production occurs on plants of ≥ 1.50 m tall, and increases linearly with increasing plant height, reaching in the order of 100 000–200 000 seeds/plant per annum for plants of 3.3 m in height. Seed persistence increased with depth of burial and was higher under canopy shade versus ‘open’ in the field. Seed half life ranged 11–16 months. Hence seedling emergence from the dense relatively long-lived seed bank is a considerable challenge. More thorough and frequent follow-up treatments will be essential to maintain the improved situation after clearing. Exploring a tighter integration of clearing efforts with (a) the restoration of the tall indigenous riparian canopy tree species at some sites, (b) a more strategic application of follow-up clearing to target newly emerging seedlings after major disturbances such as severe floods, and (c) a more strategic application of biological control, should be pursued.

The working for water programme: Evolution of a payments for ecosystem services mechanism that addresses both poverty and ecosystem service delivery in South Africa

A payments for ecosystem services (PES) system came about in South Africa with the establishment of the government-funded Working for Water (WfW) programme that clears mountain catchments and riparian zones of invasive alien plants to restore natural fire regimes, the productive potential of land, biodiversity, and hydrological functioning. The success of the programme is largely attributed to it being mainly funded as a poverty-relief initiative, although water users also contribute through their water fees. Nevertheless, as the hydrological benefits have become apparent, water utilities and municipalities have begun to contract WfW to restore catchments that affect their water supplies. This emerging PES system differs from others in that the service providers are previously unemployed individuals that tender for contracts to restore public or private lands, rather than the landowners themselves. The model has since expanded into other types of ecosystem restoration and these have the potential to merge into a general programme of ecosystem service provision within a broader public works programme. There is a strong case for concentrating on the most valuable services provided by ecosystems, such as water supply, carbon sequestration, and fire protection, and using these as ‘umbrella services’ to achieve a range of conservation goals. The future prospects for expansion of PES for hydrological services are further strengthened by the legal requirement that Catchment Management Agencies be established. These authorities will have an incentive to purchase hydrological services through organisations such as WfW so as to be able to supply more water to their users.

Water, Workfare and Poverty: The Impact of the Working for Water Programme on Rural Poverty Reduction

In 1995, the government of the Republic of South Africa launched the Working for Water (WfW) programme that links environmental and developmental goals through the removal of high water-consuming alien plants with pro-poor rural employment opportunities. Whilst bio-physical evaluations have widely reported on the hydrological, ecological and conservation components of the programme, there exists growing uncertainty over the programme’s role as a poverty reduction mechanism. This paper evaluates three projects in the Luvuvhu catchment, Limpopo Province, against five socio-economic workfare criteria and the underlying biophysical rationale. Results show that asset creation from incremental streamflow is economically efficient and is likely to improve significantly if biodiversity benefits, community harvesting of riparian goods and services, ecological non-use values and seasonal water demand values are incorporated into the analysis. However, socio-economic benefits are more questionable: poverty targeting is weak with wage rates failing to self-select the poor; a minor proportion (0.5%) of catchment households benefit from the highly-valued employment opportunities; high variability in monthly employment causes financial difficulties for labourers; labourers are not ‘empowered’ as is evidenced by the failure of the 2-year exit strategy; and programme efficiency is high in proportional allocation of cash-flow to non-management wage labour. It is concluded that the Working for Programme is a potentially replicable model in other semi-arid contexts in developing countries if based on its core biophysical remit but is a transitory and limited poverty reduction mechanism for improving rural livelihoods.