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Towards Adaptive Integrated Water Resources Management in Southern Africa: The Role of Self-organisation and Multi-scale Feedbacks for Learning and Responsiveness in the Letaba and Crocodile Catchments

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  • Sharon Pollard
  • Derick Toit

Abstract

South Africa is acclaimed for its water reform and the adoption of integrated water resources management (IWRM) as the framework for managing catchment water resources to achieve equity and sustainability. The proposed process is inherently adaptive, allowing for reflection and learning in complex, uncertain environments such as catchments. A decade on, attention has now turned to implementation. In this paper we present some key findings drawn from a three-year study in six major catchments in the water-stressed north-east of South Africa which examined factors constraining or enabling implementation. Factors critical for the evolution of tenable and appropriate IWRM include a practice-based understanding of policy, the role of leadership and communication, governance, collective action and regulation, and self-organisation and feedbacks. This paper concerns self-organisation, leadership and feedbacks. Their origins, drivers, development and role in building resilience are examined in two of the six catchments: the Letaba and Crocodile catchments. Self-organisation, leadership and feedback loops exist in both but are highly variable in terms of their contribution to IWRM. The underlying factors contributing to their functionality are identified. Despite good efforts to self-organise and functional feedbacks there is evidence of either vulnerability or of limited impact when processes are confined to a local scale, which constrains learning and transformation at a wider scale. In other instances, encouraging evidence is emerging in which leadership, governance and the ability to self-organise are central to effectiveness. We conclude that self-organisation and responsive multi-scale feedback loops are essential for management in catchments understood as complex systems as they provide the basis for learning and response to an evolving context. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Suggested Citation

  • Sharon Pollard & Derick Toit, 2011. "Towards Adaptive Integrated Water Resources Management in Southern Africa: The Role of Self-organisation and Multi-scale Feedbacks for Learning and Responsiveness in the Letaba and Crocodile Catchment," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(15), pages 4019-4035, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:25:y:2011:i:15:p:4019-4035
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-011-9904-0
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Meinzen-Dick, R. & Nkonya, L., 2005. "Understanding legal pluralism in water rights: Lessons from Africa and Asia," IWMI Books, Reports H038746, International Water Management Institute.
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    1. Admire M. Nyamwanza & Krasposy K. Kujinga, 2017. "Climate change, sustainable water management and institutional adaptation in rural sub-Saharan Africa," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 693-706, April.
    2. Amanda Linell & Edwin Muchapondwa & Herbert Ntuli & Martin Sjöstedt & Sverker C. Jagers, 2018. "Factors influencing people’s perceptions towards conservation of transboundary wildlife resources. The case of the Great-Limpopo Trans-frontier Conservation Area," Working Papers 765, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    3. Wendy Olsen, 2019. "Bridging to Action Requires Mixed Methods, Not Only Randomised Control Trials," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 31(2), pages 139-162, April.
    4. Lee Godden & Raymond Ison & Philip Wallis, 2011. "Water Governance in a Climate Change World: Appraising Systemic and Adaptive Effectiveness," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(15), pages 3971-3976, December.
    5. Georges Comair & Daene McKinney & David Maidment & Gonzalo Espinoza & Harish Sangiredy & Abbas Fayad & Fernando Salas, 2014. "Hydrology of the Jordan River Basin: A GIS-Based System to Better Guide Water Resources Management and Decision Making," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(4), pages 933-946, March.
    6. Martínez-Fernández, Julia & Esteve-Selma, Miguel Angel & Baños-González, Isabel & Carreño, Francisca & Moreno, Angeles, 2013. "Sustainability of Mediterranean irrigated agro-landscapes," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 248(C), pages 11-19.
    7. Jordi Gallego-Ayala & Dinis Juízo, 2014. "Integrating Stakeholders’ Preferences into Water Resources Management Planning in the Incomati River Basin," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(2), pages 527-540, January.
    8. A. R. Slaughter, 2017. "Simulating Microbial Water Quality in Data-Scarce Catchments: an Update of the WQSAM Model to Simulate the Fate of Escherichia coli," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(13), pages 4239-4252, October.
    9. Richard T. Kingsford & Craig A. McLoughlin & Robert Brandle & Gilad Bino & Bernie Cockayne & David Schmarr & Travis Gotch & Vol Norris & Justin McCann, 2021. "Adaptive Management of Malkumba-Coongie Lakes Ramsar Site in Arid Australia—A Free Flowing River and Wetland System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-20, March.
    10. Langarudi, Saeed P. & Maxwell, Connie M. & Bai, Yining & Hanson, Austin & Fernald, Alexander, 2019. "Does Socioeconomic Feedback Matter for Water Models?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 35-45.

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