Stakeholder connectedness and participatory water resource management in South Africa

Abstract

Establishment of catchment management agencies (CMAs) is central to South Africa’s new policy vision for achieving decen tralised, participatory integrated water resource management. However, CMAs cannot directly engage every individual stakeholder – inputs will need to be channelled via a hierarchical representation system. The issue of ‘connectedness’ is crucial: how do interest groupings interact across and between scales? Research in the Inkomati catchment suggests that current levels of organisation, communication and capacity could result in inequitable, unsustainable participatory decisions. Large imbalances in degree of organisation and negotiating power exist between different sectors and regions. Though some cooperative initiatives exist, there appears to be a greater focus on engaging government or legal processes, contrary to the intentions of the new water policy.

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