Includes bibliographies. / Urban development and engineering works have resulted in the majority of rivers that drain urban areas being severely degraded, both ecologically and in terms of their potential amenity value. This dissertation explores the reasons for this "spiral of degradation" and it describes the ecological and social impacts on rivers caused by urban development, channelisation and canalisation. It then suggests possible measures to mitigate the impacts at the levels of the catchment, floodplain and river channel. The present cycle of degradation of urban rivers in the Cape Metropolitan Area (and elsewhere) can be halted. In addition, where degradation has already occurred, mitigation and rehabilitation are possible and could restore some of the lost conservation and ecological values, as well as the potential amenity, recreation and education functions. Early colonisation of Cape Town by Europeans inflicted severe impacts on the rivers surrounding and passing through the city. These included: catchment degradation, water abstraction, the disposal of unpurified sewage and industrial effluents, removal of riparian forests, clearing of instream vegetation and the draining of wetlands. During the 20111 century, many urban rivers have been "improved" by straightening or confining within rectangular concrete-lined canals in order to protect urban development in flood-prone areas. The unquestioning faith in technology during this period and the attitude that human ingenuity could "improve nature" are now regarded by the scientific community, together with some local and regional authorities and informed members of the public, as mistakes that resulted in ecological and environmental degradation. These technical solutions merely treated the symptoms of the problem without recognising, let alone attempting to treat, the causes, that is poor catchment and floodplain management. However, there is still a public demand for canalisation of the remaining "natural" rivers in the greater Cape Town area and beyond. At the same time, there has been an increase in environmental awareness, as well as a growing appreciation of the value of holistic and multi-objective planning in the engineering and planning professions. This dissertation aims to assess the impacts of urbanisation, channelisation and canalisation on the aquatic ecosystem and socio-economic environment of urban rivers, and to develop possible measures to mitigate these impacts.

Bibliography: leaves 86-92. / Quarry operations are only a temporary use of the land, while the environmental impacts associated with them are more long term. For this reason, it is unacceptable to merely abandon a quarry once operations have ceased. This study considers the role of rehabilitation in providing solutions for the disturbances caused by quarrying. The value of adopting a pre-planning approach towards rehabilitation is considered, and the components of a rehabilitation programme are identified. Using this information a rehabilitation checklist is drawn up. A survey of thirty rehabilitation reports, submitted to the Cape Town regional offices of the Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs, was undertaken using the checklist. Results of this survey indicate that rehabilitation reports are submitted merely to meet the minimum legal requirements contained in the Minerals Act of 1991 (Act No 50 of 1991). This study recommends that successful rehabilitation will only be achieved when rehabilitation reports function as effective working documents.

No description available.

Includes bibliographical references.

Bibliography: leaves 178-189. / The opportunities and constraints experienced in managing abutting urban and natural areas represent a microcosm of the issues facing future conservation practices. The focal areas for this study are Kommetjie and Ocean View -- two adjacent but insulated communities, that reflect basic socio-economic characteristics of South African cities, and situated amidst the natural areas of the Cape Peninsula. Current theoretical perspectives on natural and urban areas fail to offer a practical approach to inform integrated and equitable management of these ostensibly disparate realms of the environment. Although largely based in rural research, political ecology, which embraces a multidisciplinary perspective, promotes an integrated framework for managing adjacent urban and natural boundaries of the kind associated with the Cape Peninsula. Using conventional botanical methods, evidence in the case studies suggests that a relationship exists between environmental degradation in natural areas and the proximity of urban settlements. Moreover, the nature of environmental degradation seems contingent on the level of economic development of local communities. A social analysis of the communities reveals that co-operative management between landowners and key-players on either side of the boundary is similarly hindered by socio-economic factors. Using an adaptation of Blaikie's (1995b) "Chain of Explanation", the interactions between Kommetjie and Ocean View, and surrounding natural areas are integrated in an analysis which crosses disciplinary divides, and exposes the relationship between local environmental conditions and broader social issues. The boundary of a national park is not sufficient to manage the interactions between protected areas and neighbouring communities, but must be supported by partnerships between city and conservation authorities, NGOs, private landowners and residents in ways that address the needs of neighbouring communities. To facilitate local involvement in the management of the environment, residents, both rich and poor, must understand how the state of the environment directly affects their lives.

Includes bibliographical references. / [Fix subscripts in abstract.] The attractive image of Cape Town is threatened by periods of poor air quality occurring most often between April and September, during episodes of brown haze. When this haze occurs, it appears in the morning as a layer of concentrated pollution, likely to be associated with photochemical pollutants such as tropospheric ozone (O3) and some of its precursors. Previous studies have identified local emission sources and meteorological conditions associated with both the air pollution and the brown haze in Cape Town. However, due to the transport of air pollutants, emissions from remote sources may also contribute to air pollution levels in Cape Town. This dissertation investigates the local variation and the regional-scale transport of atmospheric pollution over Cape Town, with a focus on O3 pollution. The study analyses O3 observations from local air quality stations and uses two atmospheric chemistry-transport models to simulate the photochemical pollution over southern Africa.

Bibliography: leaves 77-84. / A technique employing the classification capabilities of the Kohonen self-organising map (SOM) is introduced into the body of computer-based techniques available to synoptic climatology. The SOM is one of many types of artificial neural networks (ANN) and is capable of unsupervised learning or non-linear classification. Components of the SOM are introduced and an application is then illustrated using observed daily sea level pressure (SLP) from the Australian Southern Hemisphere data set. To put the technique in the context of global climate change studies, a further example using simulated SLP from the GENESIS version 1.02 General Circulation Model (GCM) is illustrated, with the emphasis on the ability of the technique to highlight differences in seasonality between data sets. The SOM is found to be a robust technique for deducing the modes of variability of map patterns within a circulation data set, allowing variability to be expressed in terms of inter and intra-annual variability. The SOM is also found to be useful for comparing circulation data sets and finds particular application in the context of global climate change studies.

It is a well-known fact that the South African palaeoenvironmental record is fairly limited, mainly because the environmental conditions here do not lend themselves to the preservation of proxy data sources. This being said, new evidence is emerging from the Wilderness Embayment along the Southern Cape coast of South Africa. This area is of particular interest from a palaeoclimate perspective due to its location within the small year round rainfall zone of South Africa, while the presence of both Fynbos and Afrotemperate forest within this region further highlights the importance of studies in the area. This study presents a new high resolution late Holocene pollen and charcoal record from Eilandvlei, extending from c. 3 800 cal yr BP to present. The record is marked by several significant periods -- largely corresponding to the timing of the three events that typify the late Holocene: the Neoglacial, the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age. The record also encompasses the arrival of European colonists in the region ca. 1800 AD, marked by the appearance of Pinus, with subsequent notable fluctuations in other taxa, e.g. Podocarpus and Stoebe-type, possibly the expression of the anthropogenic effect on the landscape. This high resolution record thus highlights significant, albeit short term, fluctuations in climate and vegetation patterns along the Southern coast of South Africa and adds to the inadequate records available for the region thus far.

Bibliography: p. 222-237. / This thesis seeks to relate the concept and practice of public participation (PP) to an evolving theory of sustainability. This relationship is framed within the context of the South African local state, where government institutions interact with civil society to support socio-economic development, as wen as environmental protection. In this respect, key mechanisms are land use planning and environmental evaluation, which interact to influence decision-making processes surrounding at times contentious land development applications. PP plays an important role in this process, and to analyse this role is the aim of this thesis.

ABSTRACT The overall aim of this study is to understand the contribution made by small-scale fisheries to food security and income of fisher households. The study also investigated the characteristics of Ocean View small-scale fishers and their dependence to marine resources for food and livelihood. The study further examined the international and regional instruments as well as domestic legislations managing small-scale fisheries and promoting food security and fishers' participation in management and decision-making. The study focused only on interim relief permit holders from Ocean View. Data were collected by means of literature review of research papers, government documents and reports as well as articles in the press. Group discussions and semi-structured interviews were held with Ocean View interim relief permit holders to assess fish consumption patterns, income earned from fishing, fishing nature, participation in management and decision-making to document fisher perceptions on management of resources they harvest. Informal discussions were also held with key informants from the community. The Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism introduced interim relief measures in 2007 and consequently 2008 for traditional small-scale fishers who hold no fishing rights to harvest marine resources for household consumption as well as to sell their catch. Based on the study findings, IRMs contributed significantly to fisher household food and livelihood needs particularly, during the period when fishers were harvesting both West Coast Rock Lobster and line fish species of snoek and hottentot. The consumption of fish increased significantly in fisher households as fish was the most consumed meat protein in the households. The study also showed that households with limited sources of income were selling a large proportion of their line fish catch compared to better-off households. Although there was a positive contribution by IRMs, there is a concern about the sustainability of the harvested resources during inconsistent monitoring and enforcement by officials. Furthermore, the study showed that management decisions on marine resources in South Africa are still centralised and rely mostly on scientific inputs as the rights and livelihood needs of small-scale fishers are seldom considered in decision-making. The study further indicated that participation of fishers in management and decision-making is lacking due to little interest shown by government officials. ii In conclusion, this study highlights the need to adopt an integrated and inclusive approach to small-scale fisheries management and ensuring that livelihood needs of small-scale fishers are taken into consideration to enhance and sustain their food and livelihoods.