Legal perspectives on ecosystem services protection for water security in South African cities

• Author: Maricélle Botes,Melandri Steenkamp
• DOI: 10.25159/2522-6800/7673
• Published date: 01 October 2020
• Date: 01 October 2020
• Pages: 1-28

Article

Southern African Public Law

https://doi.org/10.25159/2522-6800/7673

https://upjournals.co.za/index.php/SAPL

ISSN 2522-6800 (Online), 2219-6412 (Print)

Volume 35 | Number 1 | 2020 | #7673 | 28 pages

© Unisa Press 2020

Legal Perspectives on Ecosystem Services

Protection for Water Security in South African

Cities

Maricélle Botes

https://orcid.org/0000

-0003-3030-573X

LLM Researcher, South African Research

Chair in Cities,

Law and Environmental Sustainability

North

-West University

25026577@nwu.ac.za

Melandri Steenkamp

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3380-9087

LLD Researcher, South African Research

Chair in Cities,

Law and Environmental Sustainability

North-West University

Melandri.Steenkamp@nwu.ac.za

Abstract

In the last couple of years, South African cities have exhibited extreme wat er

stresses, despite there being a strong regulatory system for the management of

said resources. The pressure to meet human demand for freshwater resources,

accompanied by a wide array of other challenges, has largely led to a

deterioration of ecosystems. Given the ongoing and widespread loss of

ecological services, water protection requires a substantial effort to reverse the

current decline in both the state of the ecosystems and the services they provide

to society, and the country’s shared sense of governance of these significant

resources. Achieving water security and the sustainable management of water

resources will, therefore, require overcoming strategic challenges related to

protected areas, water infrastructure, economies, human settlements and water

quality, sanitation and health, as well as the protection of ecological

infrastructure. This article argues that ecosystem services protection can add

value to the protection and management of water resources in attaining water

security in South Africa, as ecosystem services and water security are

inextricably linked. The article further determines how the legal framework in

South Africa makes provision for water security and ecosystem services

protection, to assess what role local government can and should take on. The

authors conclude the discussion with some observations on ecosystem services

protection for water security in policies and by-laws of the eThekwini

Metropolitan Municipality.

Botes and Steenkamp

2

Keywords: ecosystem services; water security; urban areas; environmental law; local

government; eThekwini Municipality; sustainability

Introduction∗

Water insecurity is arguably one of the gravest challenges of the twenty first century.-1

The deteriorating state of water resources inevitably makes attaining water security a

considerable challenge. Pressures on water resources, however, are said to co ntinue to

grow, partly as a result of population growth, widespread environmental degradation,

rising consumption, and climate change.2 The p ressure on water resources is

increasingly seen in the alteration of water supply and demand, worsening water quality,

and the increasing occurrence of floods and droughts.3 In South Africa, water challenges

are aggravated by economic inequalities, a legacy of state-led racial discrimination

depriving many of adequate access to public amenities, and a growing demand for a

limited resource.4

In addressing the country’s water needs, the focus needs to be directed to the protection

of ecological infrastructure, which includes:

wetlands that provide water purification and flood regulation, strategic water source

areas that are of strategic importance for water security, healthy river tributaries that

help to improve and maintain water quality and quantity, estuaries that provide

important nursery areas for marine fish and invertebrates including commercially

harvested ones, and coastal and inshore marine ecosystems that help to buffer the

impacts of climate change.5

Ecological infrastructure refers to the naturally functioning ecosystems that deliver

valuable services (ecosystem services) to people, such as water and climate regulat ion,

* This research was conducted with the financial support of the National Research Foundation of South

Africa (NRF) (Grant No: 115581). All views and errors are the authors’ own and do not represent the

views of the NRF. The authors wish to thank Profs Willemien du Plessis, Louis Kotzé, Anél du Plessis,

Ms Johandri Wright and Dr Felix Dube for their valuable inputs during the writing of this article.

1 UNDP, Human Development Report (Oxford University Press 1994) 29.

2 Peter Gleick and Charles Iceland, Water, Security and Conflict (Water Resources Institute 2018) 3.

3 ibid.

4 Mariëtte Swart and Nigel Adams, ‘Water Services Provision and the Protection of Water Resources’,

in Anél du Plessis (ed), Environmental Law and Local Government in South Africa (Juta 2015) 445;

John Enqvist and Gina Ziervogel, ‘Water Governance and Justice in Cape Town: An Overview’ (2019)

6(4) Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water 2.

5 Department of Environmental Affairs, ‘National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan 2015-2025’

(environment 2016) 19

<https://www.environment.gov.za/sites/default/files/docs/publications/SAsnationalbiodiversity_strat

egyandactionplan2015_2025.pdf> accessed on 4 April 2020 (hereafter NBSAP).