 | Assessment of the social and economic acceptability of rainwater harvesting and conservation practices in selected peri-urban and rural communities |
| Expanded Title: | The point of departure for this research as reflected in the title of the report was ‘an assessment of the social and economic acceptability of rainwater harvesting and conservation practices in selected peri-urban and rural communities’. The main objective was however stated more humbly as ‘to evaluate the social, economic and institutional determinants of sustainable rainwater harvesting and conservation (RWH&C) techniques and practices’. With the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF) as theoretical basis, the main objective was achieved through 16 specific objectives with a focus on evaluating the five capitals, natural, physical, financial, human and social, of the SLF utilising Participative Active Research (PAR) as the main research methodology.
It can generally be concluded that all the five capitals proved very important for the sustainable adoption of selected RWH&C practices and techniques. Each must be known and evaluated on its own and then in conjunction with all others taking characteristics, adequacies, limitations, etc. into consideration. The natural capital (soil, climate, etc.) must for instance, as a point of departure, be suitable for implementing specific RWH&C practices and techniques. If this is not the case it is not worth the while attempting implement action. In three villages, Potsane, Rietfontein and Cata the natural capital is fairly good while in Kwezana-West the lower annual rainfall is for instance a constraining factor in the application of some of the RWH&C techniques, like IRWH. Thereafter the physical capital must be evaluated and followed by describing, analysing and evaluation of the financial, human and social capital.
Although each capital on its own is very important, the interactions amongst all capitals are equally important and must be known to identify competitive, supportive and synergistic relationships. In this regard the human and social capitals play an overarching role but these are relatively much more complex than the other capitals and very difficult to understand, assess and evaluate.
The lessons learnt and recommendations reported provide guidelines of factors and issues that must be considered/ evaluated with regard to the different capitals before venturing into the promotion of RWH&C techniques and practices in other areas. Extrapolating the findings and recommendations to other areas must however be done with caution given the uniqueness of each area and the complexity of understanding and assessing the different capitals on their own and in conjunction with other capitals. |
| Date Published: | 01/12/2012 |
| Document Type: | Research Report |
| Document Subjects: | Agricultural Water - Rainwater harvesting |
| Document Format: | Report |
| Document File Type: | pdf |
| Research Report Type: | Standard |
| WRC Report No: | 1648/1/12 |
| ISBN No: | 978-1-4312--0372-7 |
| Authors: | Viljoen MF; Kundhlande G; Baiphethi M N; Esterhuyse P; Botha JJ; Anderson JJ; Minkley GW |
| Project No: | K5/1648 |
| Originator: | WRC |
| Organizations: | ARC; University of Fort-Hare; University of Free State, department of Agricultural Economics |
| Document Size: | 2 128 KB |
|