Background Information Document:
The Upper uThukela Catchment Partnership
Efforts have been underway to establish a partnership
in the portion of the Northern Drakensberg Strategic
Water Source Area (SWSA) that falls within the Upper
uThukela Catchment. A SWSA is an area that supplies
a disproportionateamount of mean annual runoff to
a geographical region of interest, meaning that water
from that area is exported to other regions and cities.
This process of establishing the partnership was
initiated through the Living Catchments Project (LCP)
of the South African National Biodiversity Institute
(SANBI), and is being continued through an initiative
championed by WWF. A coordinating team comprising
the Instituteof Natural Resources NPC (INR),
Mahlathini DevelopmentFoundation (MDF) and the
Centre for Water Resources Research(CWRR) at
University of KwaZulu-Natal, is leading the process of
operationalising and sustaining the partnership.
The objective of the SANBI LCP was to establish a community of practice (CoP) focused on strengthening
ecological infrastructure (EI) to ensure water security. The proposed Upper uThukela Catchment Partnership
will serve asa Strategic Water Source Partnership. These are community-public-private partnerships that aim
to: (1) Enable co-ordinated governance and effective action on the ground to improve the resilience of the
water source areas; (2) Create opportunities for communities in the water source areasas well as shared
benefits downstream; and (3) Stop degradation of land and water resources in the water source areas and
ensure compatible sustainable development
1
.
The INR-led team was appointed by WWF to establish the Strategic Water Source Partnership and its
secretariat, and support the process of strategy development and creation of CoPs that are focused on
different thematic areas. The team is expected to establish afunctional water source forum with a coherent
vision, strategy and implementation process, as well as frameworks for blended finance and long-term
sustainability.
To date a number of processes have been conducted including a multistakeholder workshop for
understanding the issues and role players in the catchment and an adaptive planning process with a smaller
group of interested parties. Some work around localised spring protection in the communal tenure
communities has been coordinated across a number of implementers and a process of liaising with uThukela
Water regarding the desperate need for water access in these communities is underway.
A coherent stakeholder mapping process for all willing and able role players in the catchment and
development of a coherent vision, strategy and action plan for the forum are the next steps in this process.
Contact persons: Brigid Letty (bletty@inr.org.za), Erna Kruger (info@mahlathini.org), Rebecka Henriksson
(HenrikssonR@ukzn.ac.za)
1
https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_water_source_partnerships_web_pdf_2019.pdf