Economic Development Versus Conservation –
A Case Study In A South African Coastal Area
Author(s)
C. J. Visser & N. E. Bisset
Abstract
South Africa is a developing country with scarce water resources. Water is
needed for economic development while the protection of the environment is of
critical importance. As a result of historical imbalances, the access to industrial
and agricultural water was in the past to a large extent controlled by a small
percentage of the population in the country.
After 1998 the principles of allocation and use of water changed dramatically.
Equitable access to the benefits of water resources, the sustainable use of water
and the protection of water resources, became the main criteria.
With the assessment of applications for water use authorisations, the water
authority must evaluate the relative importance of economic development and
conservation. In a country with high levels of unemployment the protection of
the environment cannot be at the expense of all development, but at levels that
are sustainable in the long term.
Plettenberg Bay is a rapidly developing coastal holiday resort with big
differences in income between socio-economic groups. There is also resistance
to new developments in some circles. This town applied for authorisation to
increase their abstraction of water from the Keurbooms River, which is the main
source of water while it also flows through an ecologically sensitive estuary.
This paper explains the principles applicable to the authorisation procedure
and it also presents a case study that shows the practical steps that were taken to
accommodate different interest groups while trying to strike a balance between
conservation and development.
Keywords: arid country, historical imbalances, redress, equitable access,
sustainability, resource protection, beneficial use, public interest.
Keywords
arid country, historical imbalances, redress, equitable access,
sustainability, resource protection, beneficial use, public interest.
Related Book
Other papers in this volume
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