A research report submitted to the faculty of Commerce, Law and Management,
University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the
degree of Master of Management (in the field of Public and Development
Management)
March 2015 / The citizen science approach has a role to play in the restoration of river
health in catchments affected by pollution. Everyone can become
involved in monitoring the health of a river, dam, estuary or wetland
closest to them. In KwaZulu-Natal, uMngeni and Msunduzi Catchments,
voluntary participation in river health initiatives has been adopted by
schools, conservancies, NGOs and catchment management forums.
The purpose of the study was to explore the perceptions and
experiences of the use of miniSASS, a simplified South African Scoring
System (SASS) tool for monitoring river health in uMngeni and Msunduzi
Catchments over the past 15 years. A qualitative exploratory and
descriptive study was undertaken through semi-structured interviews and
documentary analysis. The researcher managed to purposively select a
sample of ten participants, mainly the active users of the miniSASS
citizen science tool in the identified catchments.
The finding of the study is that miniSASS is perceived and experienced
as a valuable community-based educational tool in Msunduzi and
uMngeni catchment which has led to local government authorities to
respond faster in solving incidents of industrial pollution; address poorly
maintained water infrastructure and fix the leaking sewers contaminating
freshwater. The study recommends that a further investigation be made
on the economic value of citizen science contribution in KwaZulu-Natal
since there were indications that it has already benefited some of the
accommodation businesses who appreciated the change in the nearby
streams.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/20845 |
| Date | 10 August 2016 |
| Creators | Cele, Hlengiwe |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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