Working for Water in South Africa

The Working for Water (WfW) scheme in South Africa is a large-scale integrated land management project launched in 1995 to clear invasive alien plants. By utilizing a labour-intensive approach, the program addresses water scarcity and biodiversity loss while providing employment and social services to marginalized communities. As of 2017, it creates approximately 50,000 jobs annually and operates over 300 projects across all nine provinces with an annual budget exceeding R400 million. While successful in clearing over 3 million hectares of plants and increasing streamflow, the program faces challenges in balancing immediate socioeconomic job creation with long-term ecological impact and managing the complexities of rapid expansion.

• Launched in 1995, the Working for Water (WfW) program targets the removal of invasive alien plants to protect native species, support agriculture, and mitigate drought. The program has cleared more than 3 million hectares of these plants and has provided employment and training to over 300,000 people.
• The scheme serves as a major poverty relief mechanism, creating roughly 50,000 jobs per year as of 2017. It specifically targets disenfranchised groups, with more than half of its workforce consisting of underprivileged women, alongside quotas for disabled individuals, youth, and people living with HIV/AIDS.
• WfW operates over 300 projects across all nine South African provinces with an annual budget exceeding R400 million. Funding is primarily government-led through poverty relief funds, supplemented by private sector contributions; for instance, farmers in the Eastern Cape cover approximately 60% of the costs for invasive species removal.
• The program has had a significant impact on water security; clearing invasive alien plants from riverbanks between 1997 and 2006 is estimated to have increased annual streamflow by nearly 46 million m3.
• The program faces a tension between its social and environmental objectives, where some sites are chosen for political or economic reasons rather than ecological necessity. This has occasionally resulted in prioritizing short-term job creation over long-term natural resource protection.

APA

Martin, B. (2018). Working for Water in South Africa. Green Economy Coalition. https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/news-and-resources/working-for-water-in-south-africa

Chicago

Martin, Ben. Working for Water in South Africa. Green Economy Coalition, 2018. https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/news-and-resources/working-for-water-in-south-africa.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Martin |first1=Ben |title=Working for Water in South Africa |publisher=Green Economy Coalition |date=8 November 2018 |url=https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/news-and-resources/working-for-water-in-south-africa |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{martin2018working, author = {Martin, Ben}, title = {{Working for Water in South Africa}}, institution = {Green Economy Coalition}, year = {2018}, month = nov, url = {https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/news-and-resources/working-for-water-in-south-africa}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }