Financing active restoration in South Africa : an evaluation of different institutional models

The restoration of natural capital is increasingly becoming important to counter ongoing land degradation. The Natural Resource Management programme of the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA: NRM) has long been investing in options to improve the effectiveness of active restoration. The aim of this study is to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of two approaches to active restoration at selected sites in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This study compares a barter approach to a financial compensation approach, both of which are used to finance and advance active restoration. The barter system relies on community members to grow various tree seedlings, and they then receive various goods in exchange for the seedlings grown, whereas the financial compensation sources the seedlings from various commercial nurseries. We use a system dynamics model to evaluate the benefits and costs of these restoration approaches. The main finding is that restoration through the reintroduction of indigenous trees contributes a great deal towards increased carbon sequestration, with the barter option marginally cheaper than the nursery option. The model estimates an annual saving of more than R120 000 per annum with the barter approach in terms of the total restoration costs. However, the financial saving is not significant, as the model concludes that the financial compensation approach is more economically attractive considering a broader range of variables. The model estimated the value of water lost to be -R2 929 992.14 for the financial compensation model and -R2 920 412.76 for the barter financing model over 30 years. With the financial compensation model, the rate of clearance was found to be higher, thus translating directly into a greater accumulation of benefits. The lesser losses in water value, coupled with the higher gains in value-added products for the financial compensation model, are the main reason the financial compensation model is the more economically attractive financing approach.The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) and the Working for Water programme.http://www.aaae-africa.org/afjaream2018Economic

The extent and effectiveness of alien plant control projects in South Africa

CITATION: van Wilgen, B.W. et al. 2020. The extent and effectiveness of alien plant control projects in South Africa. In: Biological Invasions in South Africa. van Wilgen, B.W., Measey, J., Richardson, D.M., Wilson, J.R. and Zengeya, T.A. (eds.). Springer, Cham:597-628. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-32394-3_21The original publication is available at https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-32394-3Studies of the impact of alien species on the environment are increasingly being carried out, and there has been ongoing debate about how to standardise the description of these impacts. This chapter evaluates the state of knowledge on the impacts of alien species on biodiversity in South Africa based on different assessment methods. Despite South Africa being one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world, there have been very few studies that formally document the impacts of alien species on biodiversity. Most of what is known is based on expert opinion, and consequently the level of confidence in the estimates of the magnitude of these impacts is low. However, it is clear that a significant number of alien species cause major negative impacts, and that there is cause for serious concern. There is a growing global effort to assess all alien species with standardised protocols to alleviate the problem of comparing impacts measured using different approaches. Formal assessments have been done for a few alien species in South Africa, but most naturalised and invasive species have not been evaluated, and, we suspect, for most alien species there has been no attempt, as yet, to document their impacts. However, red-listing processes found that alien species were frequently included as a significant extinction risk for several native species of fish, amphibians, and plants. There are very few studies that cover the combined impacts of co-occurring alien species in particular areas, and these studies could provide the rationale for regulation and management, which is often absent. While reductions due to alien species in the value of ecosystem services, the productivity of rangelands, and biodiversity intactness are relatively low at present these impacts are expected to grow rapidly as more invasive species enter a stage of exponential growth.https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-32394-3_21Publisher’s versio