School of Public Leadership

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Browsing School of Public Leadership by Author "Adonis, Willan"

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    Investigating governance for urban river restoration : the case of the Kuils River, South Africa
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-12) Adonis, Willan; De Wit, Martin P.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. School of Public Leadership.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY : Urban river restoration is an expanding practice of environmental management. As experienced in urban rivers globally, the Kuils river’s socio-ecological dysfunction has surpassed the stage of posing potential risks as it is already impairing human health. To address this, urban river restoration (URR) is spotlighted by Sustainable Development Goal 6.6, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030). However, URR governance frameworks are under-researched. The aim of this study was to investigate what institutional, organisational, monitoring, and evaluation provisions must be incorporated into a URR governance framework, with a focus on the Kuils river. Both empirical and secondary data were utilised to fulfil this aim. Empirical research included field visits, attendance at seminars, and interviews with stakeholders. Secondary data was gained through a review of water resource and environmental reports and legislation; URR case studies; and environmental governance, common property theory, and community-based natural resource management literature. Analysis of empirical and secondary data demonstrated that, for their efficacy, URR programmes and URR governance frameworks rely on involving multiple stakeholders and integrating multi-dimensional governance components, namely institutional, social, economic, and science. It was found that enabling provisions and opportunities for multi-stakeholder URR in Cape Town do exist in the prevailing water governance policies. However, it is evident that these policies are rendered nugatory by poor implementation, poor stakeholder coordination, and siloes in government agencies. Against this backdrop, this study composed thirteen principles, categorised into five themes, that undergird efficacious URR governance. First, URR project conception requires problem clarity, realistic goal formulation, and prioritisation of efforts, all of which must be compiled into a guiding image. Second, it requires institutional development that provides enabling framework policies and project plans which are adaptable to the unfolding socio-ecological feedback in urban catchments. Third, URR governance structures must be predicated on subsidiarity, coordination, and resource coalitions. Fourth, to facilitate effective working relations, URR governance processes must incorporate consensus-based decision making, trialogue, information and knowledge sharing, conflict mitigation and resolution procedures, and accountability and transparency measures. Fifth, to ensure ongoing progress towards goals, adaptive governance processes for monitoring, evaluation, learning, adaptation, maintenance, and succession are required. This study provides guidelines to embed these principles in the URR project life cycle. Finally, this study concludes with recommendations for applying these principles and enabling URR governance in the Kuils river catchment. These include establishing a URR network for learning and collaboration in Cape Town and connecting this network with similar groups internationally through the Society for Ecological Restoration. It is recommended that the Kuils River Catchment Forum be established to coordinate multi-stakeholder restoration initiatives in the river’s catchment, and to source funding and human resources for the Kuils river’s restoration. To enable informed decision making, education, and awareness-raising, it is recommended that a Kuils River Resource Centre be developed. To overcome Cape Town’s catchment coordination challenges, it is recommended that the Breede-Olifants catchment management agency be established. These recommendations represent a departure point to heal the socio-ecological plight in the Kuils river.