Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Both taxonomic diversity and diversity of species interaction networks are experiencing declines as a result of agricultural intensification at habitat and landscape scales. Reversing this trend is a key conservation issue, particularly for important functional groups such as flower-visiting insects and the networks within which they interact. This is of great concern in regions of high conservation priority such as the Cape Floristic Region (CFR), known for its high level of floral and faunal endemism and exceptional species turnover. Holistic approach to conservation in agricultural landscapes involves both preservation of natural land and wildlife friendly management of the farm land to achieve conservation targets. The value of these extensive management approaches is yet to be fully assessed, especially in perennial systems such as vineyards. I examined here the effects of vineyard management and landscape context on species richness and abundance of flower-visiting insects and their species interaction networks. Possible taxon specific effects were verified. I also investigated whether vineyards under organic and conventional management homogenized insect-flower interaction networks and whether vineyards with different management practices vary in patterns of species turnover. I sampled flower-visiting insects and their interactions in organic and conventional vineyards, and in natural reference sites. Inclusion of natural reference sites enabled me to make management recommendations for patches of natural vegetation in CFR agricultural landscape. Statistical models showed taxon-specific benefit of organic farm management, and of landscape (distance to natural habitat). There was benefit to monkey beetles (Scarabaeidae) but not to bees (Apidae). Organic vineyards had a higher number of insect-flower interactions than conventional ones, but vineyards under the two types of management were similar in terms of other important network indices. However, networks of the vineyards were more nested than the natural sites, indicating that they may be potentially more stable to perturbation and random extinctions. Multivariate dispersion tests revealed insect-flower interaction networks were not homogenized by both organic and conventional vineyards across the landscapes. I also found, through additive partitioning, that organic and conventional vineyards were similar in terms of species turnover of bees and flowering plants. The findings of this study provide heuristic value to current debates on the value of vineyard habitats for insect conservation. Both organic and conventional vineyards that promote sustainable management of the non-crop floral vegetation between vineyard rows are potential solutions for conservation of flower-visiting insects and their interactions. Also, attention has to be paid to the quality and connectivity of the natural habitat patches that are within CFR agricultural landscape. Site specific management and assessment of the value of these landscape elements is important. Management approaches such as carefully controlled burning may be beneficial, as the CFR natural vegetation is a fire-driven community. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Taksonomiese diversiteit en diversiteit van spesies-interaksie netwerke ondervind beide afnames as gevolg van landboukundige intensifikasie op habitat en landskap skaal. Om die neiging terug te swaai, is ’n sleutel bewaringsaangeleentheid, veral vir belangrike funksionele groepe soos blom-besoekende insekte en die netwerke waarbinne hulle op mekaar inwerk. Dit is van groot kommer in streke met hoë bewaringsprioriteite soos in die Kaapse Floristiese Streek (KFS), bekend vir sy hoë vlak van plant- en dierendemisme en buitengewone spesies kentering. ’n Holistiese benadering tot bewaring van landboukundige landskappe behels beide die bewaring van natuurlike land en natuurlewe-vriendelike bestuur van die plaasgrond om bewaringsdoelwitte te bereik. Die waarde van hierdie ekstensiewe bestuursbenaderings moet nog volledig bepaal word, veral in meerjarige sisteme soos wingerde. Ek het die uitwerkings van wingerdbestuur en landskapsamehang op spesiesrykheid en volopheid van blombesoekende insekte en hulle spesies interaksie netwerke ondersoek. Moontlike takson-spesifieke uitwerkings is nagegaan. Ek het ook ondersoek ingestel of wingerde onder organiese en gebruiklike bestuur ooreenstemmende insek-blom interaksie netwerke met wingerde met verskillende bestuurspraktyke in patroon van spesies kentering gewissel het. Ek het blom-besoekende insekte en hulle interaksies in organiese en konvensionele wingerde, asook in natuurlike verwysingsgebiede gemonster. Insluiting van natuurlike verwysingsgebiede het my in staat gestel om bestuursvoorstelle vir gebiede van natuurlike plantegroei in KFS landboulandskappe voor te stel. Statistiese modelle toon takson-spesifieke voordeel van organiese plaasbestuur en van die landskap (afstand van natuurlike habitat) self. Daar was voordeel vir bobbejaankewers (Scarabaeidae), maar nie vir bye (Apidae) nie. Organiese wingerde het ’n groter getal insek-blom interaksies as konvensionele wingerde gehad, maar wingerde onder beide tipes van bestuur was soortgelyk in terme van ander belangrike netwerk aanduiders. Netwerke van wingerde was egter meer geklomp dan natuurlike gebiede wat aandui dat hulle potensieel meer stabiel betreffende versteuring en lukrake uitsterwings is. Multivariate verspreidingstoetse het aangetoon dat insek-blom interaksie netwerke by beide organiese en konvensionele wingerde oor landskappe nie eenvormig was nie. Ek het ook bevind deur aanvullende verdeling dat organiese en konvensionele wingerde gelykwaardig was in terme van spesies kentering van bye en blomplante. Die bevindings van hierdie studie verskaf heuristise waarde tot huidige debatte oor die waarde van wingerdhabitatte vir insekbewaring. Beide organies en konvensionele wingerde wat volhoubare bestuur van die nie-gewas plantegroei binne wingerdrye bevorder, is moontlike oplossings vir die bewaring van blom-besoekende insekte en hulle wisselwerkings. Bykomend moet aandag gegee word aan die kwaliteit en verbindings van en tussen natuurlike habitat gebiede binne die KFS landboulandskap. Plekspesifieke (plaaslike) bestuur en bepaling van die waarde van hierdie landskapelemente is belangrik. Bestuursbenaderings, soos noukeurig beheerde brand, mag voordelig wees aangesien die KFS natuurlike plantegroei ’n vuurgedrewe gemeenskap is.

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

South African Air Quality Units are continuously undergoing changes, and improving their performance remains a constant endeavour. In addition, these units are also experiencing several challenges in terms of improving communication across the different spheres, accessing air quality data and using the information to support the decision-making required for efficient management of air quality in South Africa. This study investigated the concept of output efficiency within the South African air quality management context. Models that enable efficient resource allocation can be used to assist managers in understanding how to become efficient. There are, however, few models that focus on the output efficiency of the public sector and air quality management units. The primary purpose of the study was to develop a model to predict the extent to which organisational efficiency could be explained by the percentage of man-hours allocated to a range of management activities. In this study, the development of a model using the logistic regression technique is discussed. Data was collected for two financial years (2005/6 and 2006/7) from the air quality officers in the national, provincial and local spheres of government (N=228). The logistic regression model fitted indicates that the proportion of time spent on knowledge management activities contributes the most to the likelihood of an Air Quality Unit being efficient. The resource allocation model developed will ensure that air quality officers allocate resources appropriately and improve their output performance. / Graduate School for Business Leadership / D.B. L.

Sustainability has been the focus of intense discussions over the past two decades, with topics around the entire product life cycle. In the manufacturing phase, research has been focused solely on environmental impact assessment or environmental impact and cost analysis in its assessment of sustainability. However, few efforts have investigated sustainable production decision making, where engineers are required to concurrently consider economic, environmental, and social impacts. An approach is developed to assess broader sustainability impacts by conducting economic assessment, environmental impact assessment, and social impact assessment at the work cell level. The results from the assessments are then integrated into a sustainable manufacturing assessment framework, along with a modified weighting method based on pairwise comparison and an outranking decision making method. The approach is illustrated for a representative machining work cell producing stainless steel knives. Economic, environmental, and social impact results are compared for three production scenarios by applying the sustainable manufacturing assessment framework. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to study the robustness of the results. For future research, it is desired that a tool which integrates manufacturing information system information and the sustainable manufacturing assessment approach can be built to assist production engineers in considering sustainability performance when making decisions. / Graduation date: 2012

Although the use of pesticides is necessary to meet the socio-economic needs of many developing countries, especially in Africa, side effects of these bio-active chemicals have contributed to contaminating aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Environmental water quality degradation by pesticides interferes with ecosystem health and poses numerous risks to aquatic life. In South Africa, glyphosate-based herbicides are frequently used to control weeds and invading alien plants, but ultimately end up in freshwater ecosystems. However, there are no South African-based environmental water quality management strategies to regulate these bio-active chemicals. Therefore, this study sought to provide a sound scientific background for the environmental water quality management of glyphosate-based herbicides in South Africa, by conducting both laboratory and field investigations. In the laboratory investigations, aquatic ecotoxicological methods were used to evaluate responses of the freshwater aquatic shrimp Caridina nilotica exposed to Roundup® at different biological system scales, and the responses of multiple South African aquatic species exposed to Roundup® through species sensitivity distribution (SSD). In the field investigations, the effect of Kilo Max WSG on the physicochemical and biological conditions of three selected sites in the Swartkops River before and after a spray episode by Working for Water were evaluated through biomonitoring, using the South African Scoring System version 5 (SASS5) as a sampling protocol. Both Roundup® and Kilo Max WSG are glyphosate-based herbicides. All the data were subjected to relevant statistical analyses. Findings of this study revealed that Roundup® elicited responses at different biological system scales in C. nilotica, while SSD estimates were used to derive proposed water quality guidelines for glyphosate-based herbicides in South Africa. The biomonitoring revealed that using glyphosate-based herbicides to control water hyacinth within the Swartkops River had a negligible impact on the physicochemical and biological conditions. Based on these findings, a conceptual framework that can be used for the integrated environmental water quality management of glyphosate-based herbicides in South Africa was developed as part of integrated water resource management (IWRM). The combined data sets contribute to a sound scientific basis for the environmental water quality management of glyphosate-based herbicides in South Africa.

The current trends in sustainable development (SO) were examined in this study, which brought about the realisation that SO has become a business imperative. Mining, which is a highly impacting industry, is faced with the dilemma of implementing the principles of SO despite the realisation that its activities are severely limited by· the finite nature of the resource it is capitalising on. This reality, however, does not detract from the non-negotiable requirement for the industry to meet the increasing pressures to act responsibly towards the environment and the community in which it operates. Gold Fields has stepped up to the plate and has already taken several steps to achieve this end. These include the adoption of SO in its Vision, Values and strategies and the development and implementation of a SO framework to ensure the integration of the principles of SO into the business. Furthermore, Gold Fields has also entered into voluntary activities that further cement the commitment the company has towards so. These other initiatives include, inter alia, its International Council on Mining and Metals membership, UN Global Compact participation, becoming a signatory to the cyanide code, IS014001, and so on. This study focussed on several indicator categories and the identification of a set of supporting sustainable development indicators (SOls) for each, which included environmental, social, economic, technological, and ethics, legal and corporate governance (not in order of priority). These indicators were assessed by a carefully selected group of respondents whose collective wisdom and expertise were used to identify and weight supporting SOls for each of the indicator categories. These supporting SOls were in turn used to develop a model that is able to assist in the business's decision making processes when capital investment is being considered . A water treatment project that is currently being considered by Gold Fields was utilised to demonstrate how the decision making model can be applied to two different scenarios. The result clearly and successfully demonstrated that by proactively taking environmental, economic, social, technological, and ethics, legal and corporate governance considerations into account, a gold mining company is able to increase the level of SO of a capital investment project.

Text in English with summary and keywords in English and Afrikaans / The International Organization for Standardization - ISO 14001 environmental standard addresses facets of environmental performance. The implementation of ISO 14001:2015 is aligned with various risks and opportunities, the identification and addressing of which is key in the successful implementation of the ISO 14001:2015 certification. The Durban region is a pollution ‘hotspot’ within KwaZulu-Natal. Assessment of the opportunities and risks of ISO 14001:2015 implementation within the region is key as it can potentially assist with proactive mitigation of risks and the effective utilization of opportunities. The aim of the study is to understand SHERQ (Safety, Health, Environmental, Risk and Quality) managerial perspectives of opportunities and risks of ISO 14001:2015 implementation in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. The following objectives were outlined: To identify ISO 14001 implementation opportunities and risks internationally and nationally by means of an extensive review of international as well as national literature sources, to generate an evaluation framework to assess SHERQ managerial perspectives of risks and opportunities of ISO 14001:2015 implementation within Durban and to analyse SHERQ managerial responses to the ISO 14001:2015 implementation risks and opportunities within the Durban region. The methods included identifying primary opportunities and risks in ISO 14001:2015 from the literature review through an evaluation framework, thereafter, presenting these in questionnaires distributed among SHERQ managers in Durban via email and LinkedIn. Of 62 questionnaires distributed, 42 participants responded. The respondent’s perspectives were assessed through SPSS identifying key risks and opportunities. Objective 1 was achieved through the literature review in which ISO 14001 implementation risks and opportunities were identified. Objective 2 was achieved by generating the evaluation framework which assimilated implementation risks and opportunities. Objective 3 was achieved through the analysis of the responses of respondents to ISO 14001:2015 implementation risks and opportunities. Study results showed that, in line with international reports, 57.2% of all respondents agreed that the maintenance costs of compliance to the standard are high and 76.2% of respondents shared the perspective that company resources are better managed. Respondents were more agreeable to positive statements, indicating opportunities outweighing the risks. Furthermore, despite the risks, there are opportunities from an industry perspective such as increased investor inputs and increased top management involvement. A follow up study is recommended in the Durban region addressing ISO 14001 implementation risks, opportunities, and their investment impacts in order to further hone in on the organizational implications of certification. From an academic standpoint, multiple studies have posited that ISO 14001:2015 implementation resulted in improved financial outcomes but are associated with high implementation costs and it is recommended that a critical cost versus profits analysis into ISO 14001:2015 implementation be undertaken in the Durban region. / Die Internasionale Organisasie vir Standaardisering se ISO 14001-omgewingstandaard spreek fasette van omgewingsprestasie aan. Die implementering van ISO 14001:2015 is gerig op verskeie risiko’s en geleenthede, en die identifisering en aanspreek hiervan staan sentraal tot die suksesvolle implementering van die ISO 14001:2015 - sertifisering. Die Durban-streek is ʼn besoedlingsbrandpunt in KwaZulu-Natal. Evaluering van die geleenthede en risiko’s van die implementering van ISO 14001:2015 binne die streek is van kardinale belang, aangesien dit moontlik kan help met die proaktiewe vermindering van risiko’s en die effektiewe benutting van geleenthede. Die doel van die studie is om SHERQ-bestuursperspektiewe van geleenthede en risiko’s van ISO 14001:2015-implementering in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, te begryp. Die volgende doelwitte is uiteengesit: Om ISO 14001-implementeringsgeleenthede en risiko’s internasionaal en nasionaal te identifiseer deur middel van ʼn uitgebreide oorsig van internasionale sowel as identifiseer deur middel van ʼn uitgebreide oorsig van internasionale sowel as nasionale literatuurbronne; om ʼn evalueringsraamwerk te genereer om SHERQ-bestuursperspektiewe van geleenthede en risiko’s van die implementering van ISO 14001:2015 te evalueer, en om SHERQ-bestuursreaksies op die ISO 14001:2015-implementeringsrisiko’s en -geleenthede te ontleed. Die metodes het ingesluit die identifisering van primêre geleenthede en risiko’s in ISO 14001:2015 vanuit die literatuurbeoordeling deur middel van ʼn evalueringsraamwerk, waarna dit in vraelyste wat via e-pos en LinkedIn onder SHERQ-bestuurders in Durban versprei is, uiteengesit is. Van die 62 vraelyste wat versprei is, het 42 deelnemers geantwoord. Die perspektiewe van die respondente is beoordeel deur middel van SPSS se identifisering van die belangrikste risiko’s en geleenthede. Doelwit 1 is bereik deur middel van die literatuuroorsig waarin ISO 14001-implementeringsrisiko’s en -geleenthede geïdentifiseer is. Doelwit 2 is bereik deur die evalueringsraamwerk te genereer wat implementeringsrisiko’s en -geleenthede geassimileer het. Doelwit 3 is bereik deur die antwoorde van respondente op ISO 14001:2015 implementeringsrisiko’s en -geleenthede te ontleed. Studieresultate het getoon dat, in ooreenstemming met internasionale verslae, 57,2% van alle respondente dit eens was dat die onderhoudskoste van die nakoming van die standaard hoog is en dat 76,2% van die respondente die perspektief gedeel het dat bronne van die maatskappy beter bestuur word. Respondente het meer met positiewe stellings saamgestem, wat daarop dui dat geleenthede swaarder weeg as die risiko’s. Ten spyte van die risiko’s, is daar ook vanuit ʼn bedryfsperspektief geleenthede, soos verhoogde beleggersinsette en verbeterde hulpbronbestuur. ʼn Opvolgstudie word aanbeveel om ISO 14001-implementeringsrisiko’s en geleenthede en die beleggingsimpak daarvan aan te spreek. Vanuit ʼn akademiese oogpunt het veelvuldige studies aangevoer dat die implementering van ISO 14001:2015 verbeterde finansiële uitkomste tot gevolg het, maar dat dit met hoë implementeringskoste gepaard gaan, en dit word aanbeveel dat ʼn kritieke koste-versus-wins-analise in die implementering van ISO 14001:2015 in die Durban-streek onderneem word. / Environmental Sciences / M. Sc. (Environmental Management)

This study addresses the question: "What are the incentives and disincentives for conflict prevention and mitigation in the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), and how do they factor into Reclamation's management of water in the western United States?" Incentives and disincentives for conflict prevention (i.e., actions taken to avoid conflict) and mitigation (i.e., actions taken to resolve, manage, or temper a conflictive situation after conflict has occurred) are identified through a survey and focus groups of Reclamation employees. The two dominant disincentives identified are a lack of resources and Reclamation's organizational culture--specifically its reliance on crisis management, water delivery tunnel vision, and being slow to change. Other disincentives include a lack of forward planning, the existence of an acceptable bandwidth or level of conflict, a perception that conflict is unavoidable or entrenched, politics, and limits on acceptable actions associated with the legal authorization of Reclamation projects. Fewer incentives for conflict prevention and mitigation were identified, but include, pressure from higher management, the promotion of collaboration within the Bureau, and a desire to avoid litigation. The institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework offers some insight into how these incentives and disincentives factored into the implementation of the Water2025 Initiative, and Reclamation’s experience with the Middle Rio Grande silvery minnow and the Endangered Species Act. As attributes of the community and rules-in-use, incentives and disincentives such as organizational culture, politics, funding availability, the desire to avoid litigation, the promotion of collaboration within the agency, and a lack of planning effort offer possible explanations of why Reclamation chose to act as it did. / Graduation date: 2012