The eMpofana riparian rehabilitation project (eMRRP) is a pilot project started by
Umgeni Water (UW) to demonstrate how effective the removal of invasive alien
vegetation is in improving the water yield of a catchment. The disturbance of the
country's vulnerable wetland and riparian zones is a major factor contributing to water·
stress. The study area was eMpofana riparian areas of Kwazulu-Natal midlands.
The study was conducted to establish perceptions of property owners and project
employees on eMpofana riparian rehabilitation project with regard to control of
invasive alien vegetation. Apart from· these two categories of stakeholders, others
whose perceptions were included in the study are one official each from MONDI,
SAPPI, the National Working for Water Programme (WFWP) and Kwazulu Natal
Nature Conservation Services. However, property owners and project employees were·
the main respondents of study.
Although all .stakeholders play a crucial role in the project, property owners were
selected because clearing takes place on their properties. Similarly project employees
perceptions were vital as they are physically involved in clearing invader species and
are direct beneficiaries of the project through job creation;
To enable interviewees to give their perceptions on various steps on the project cycle;
the following key issues were selected; Awareness, Process, Water, Biodiversity,
. Tourism, Capacity building, Support, and Sustainability of control of alien invasive
plants. Based on these key issues, a questionnaire was drawn. There were fifty-two
respondents: 25 property owners and 27 project employees..
The approach used in the study was survey research, and social science methods were
employed. Survey research was chosen for this research because of its capacity to
provide appropriate data on perceptions of stakeholders of the eMpofana project. The
method is useful in a variety of situations such as providing solution to a problem of
public policy, provide required data for managing a business or simply for testing
hypotheses developed by scientists in the social world.
The questions on awareness of the eMpofana riparian rehabilitation project (eMRRP).
and the National Working for Water Programme{WFWP) revealed low awareness
levels of the two projects. Almost half (48%) property owners indicated little awareness
of the national WFWP and almost the same percentage i.e. 42% had little
awareness of the provincial WFWP. Also 96% of eMpofana project employees
indicated no awareness of the WFW national level and 70% said they were not aware
of the WFW provincial level. Given that WFW is a national programme with over
200 alien plant control progratmhes countrywide, one wonder why awareness was so
low among the respondents.
As for involvement in the project conceptualisation, none of the respondents
interviewed indicated involvement in that project phase. However all the project
employees indicated that the project was successful (85% very successful and 15%
successful). Fifty six per cent property ~wners indicated very strong 'support mainlybecause ofreestablishment
of biodiversity through ridding the riparian areas of iilvader species.
Ninety-five per cent of the project workers indicated that UW solely supports the
eMpofana project and that that support is mainly financial.
As for job creation, 88% project workers were of the view that eMpofana riparian
project was very successful in creating jobs.
It is worth noting that both property owners and the employees shared the same view
on water users and project employees being the main beneficiaries of the project. The
impact of clearing invader species oil water by the eMRRP was rated as being very
significant. Moreover, 52% employees and 44% property owners felt that the
project's main beneficiaries were water users in the cities and property owners
themselves.
As for linkage with the National WFW programme, the perceptions of property
owners and project employees revealed a general preference for eMpofana project to
continue running independently. On. succesSes achieved in various project phases,
most property owners felt the planning phase of the project was the most successful,
even though most of them were not involved in the phase. Thirty per cent of the
employees felt execution was successful followed by financing, 30%.
As the responses from both property owners and employees show, most respondents
(property owners and project employees) were of the view that the project goal of
reinstating biological diversity was very important. The property owners were of the
view that the re-establishment of the naturalness of the area would contribute
favourably towards tourism in the area, which they rated very high. The rating
explain why property owners also rated biodiversity conservation and the naturalness
of the area equally high.
On the other hand, Umgeni Water's top priority is water security and the differing
priorities between UWs and eMRRP could be seen as a weakness of the project.
However, as a holistic view of biodiversity conservation necessitates protection of
water resource in the area, the difference could be synchronised to become a strength
ofthe eMRRP (see recommendations).
The eMRRP has opportunities on a number of areas such as the opportunity to
participate in the national campain on control of invader species by teaming up with
WFWP and other stakeholders. Also joinirig this partnership would accord eMRRP
stakeholders the pride of contributing to the national campaign on control of invader
species.
Although there is marked success made by UW in planning, financial support, job
creation, gender equity in the eMRRP, there is need to address sustainability of the
project.
In conclusion, it is clear that the eMRRP started off with most stakeholders having
low awareness ofits activities and those ofWFW Programme. However, by clearing
invasive alien plants in eMpofana riparian areas, the project has gained support from
property owners and its employees. Property owners support the project mainly
because of possible re-establishment of naturalness of the area (biological diversity)
and the employees give their support mainly because of the employment that they
receive. However, the goal of sustainability of the eMRRP is likely to remain elusive
as long as priorities are not harmonised: property owners' priority (based on benefits
drawn) is biodiversity conservation whereas that of UW is water security. / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2000.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/4941 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Mwaura, Joseph M. |
| Contributors | Breen, Charles M. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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