Policy implementation
The programme involves the interpretation of policies that are articulated in the National Water Act, including the laws that have a bearing on natural resources management. The major aim is to understand the implications of principles captured in policy statements for the development of practices. Another angle of this work is to feed into policy development and inform policy implementation from grounded experience.
Featured Project: Mental Models: Eliciting perspectives, attitudes and beliefs about river flow from stakeholder groups in the Crocodile Catchment
Mental models are dynamic constructions that people hold as to how the world works. Such mental constructions are proposed to enable individuals and groups to form explanations about any given situation or process, which in turn impact on decision-making, management actions and behavior. This was a short term research venture in conjunction with a number of national and international counterparts (Water Research Commission, AWARD, SANParks, ICMA, CSIRO (Aus), Resilience Alliance, INRA-France). The team essentially tested 2 methods for eliciting mental models in a multi-stakeholder environment. Using the two methods, Consensus Analysis and ARDI companion modeling, the team aimed at capturing multiple views and perceptions of how the Crocodile River system functions and what some of the priorities for its management might be. One of the focus areas for the research was to use the methods to ascertain the status of current thinking and how this might impact on achieving and maintaining environmental flows in the river.
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Featured Project: Guidelines for the development of Catchment Management Strategies in South Africa
On behalf of the Department of Water Affairs & Forestry (DWAF), AWARD co-ordinated the development of national guideless for the drafting of catchment management strategies, as required by the National Water Act (1998). The guidelines, completed in February 2007, set out a range of strategic processes associated with managing water resources at the Water Management Area (WMA) level, and are part of a suite of guideline documents developed by DWAF to facilitate Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). To download the Guidelines for the development of Catchment Management Strategies: Towards equity, efficiency and sustainability.
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Featured Project: Community-based management of freshwater resources: A review
Despite the best intentions of policy reforms and democratization, various actors in the communal lands of Bushbuckridge claim authority over the control and management of natural resources. Their authority derives either from statutory legislation or from locally-derived rules and norms a situation referred to as legal pluralism. In the case of wetlands, which represent an intersection between land and water - each governed by different legislation - the confusion is exacerbated. Furthermore, these systems occur in communal lands where, in South Africa, a range of controversial statutory reforms are underway. This report provides a review of community-based governance of freshwater systems in four southern African countries.
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Learning to cope with change:Transforming agricultural practices through adopting a systems approach in the communal wetlands of Limpopo, South Africa. Du Toit D et al. [File Size: 204.62 KB] |
Featured Project: Rights based approach to Water Resource Management
In the context of the constitutional right to sufficient water, the Save the Sands Project developed a framework for understanding and implementing human rights-based approaches to water resources management in South Africa.
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Featured Project: Harmonizing policy and practice
The overall objective of the Sand River Catchment project, within the Bushbuckridge Municipality, is to explore ways to facilitate the harmonization of policy, legislative and planning frameworks so that clarity may be achieved in the implementation phase of service delivery.
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Featured Project: Shared Rivers: Supporting the implementation of policies and legislations relevant to the wise use of the Lowveld river systems
There is growing concern among scientists, managers and the general public in South Africa about the continuing decline in the integrity of the Lowveld river systems. This is despite an excellent knowledge base on the biophysical aspects of the rivers and an enabling legislative and institutional framework to support river management. This project the Shared Rivers Initiative is a new initiative that builds on substantial work on the lowveld rivers and that seeks to improve governance of these river systems through supporting the implementation of new policies and legislation. Phase I aims to provide a broad overview of the context, constraints and enabling factors for compliance with the sustainability intentions of the National Water Act of 1998.
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