Working for Water in South Africa

This case study describes South Africa's Working for Water (WfW) scheme, a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) project launched in 1995 to combat invasive alien plants while providing employment and social support to marginalized communities.

• Launched in 1995, the Working for Water (WfW) scheme uses a PES approach to remove invasive alien plants that negatively impact native species, ecosystems, agriculture, and water availability during droughts.
• The program serves as a major poverty relief and public works initiative, creating approximately 50,000 jobs annually as of 2017. It prioritizes disenfranchised groups, with over 50% of workers being underprivileged women, and includes quotas for youth, disabled persons, and people living with HIV/AIDS. Beyond employment, it provides health care, education, childcare, and rehabilitation for convicted criminals.
• WfW operates over 300 projects across all nine South African provinces with an annual budget exceeding R400 million. While primarily government-funded, it receives private sector support; for instance, farmers in the Eastern Cape cover about 60% of costs for invasive species removal, and the forestry industry contributes mapping, vehicles, and training.
• The scheme has cleared more than 3 million hectares of invasive plants and employed over 300,000 people. Environmental benefits include a nearly 46 million m3 per annum increase in streamflow resulting from clearing riverbanks between 1997 and 2006. The model has since been expanded to include reforesting, wetlands conservation, and fire prevention.
• The program faces challenges in balancing socioeconomic goals with ecological impact, noting that some sites were chosen for political or economic reasons rather than environmental necessity. Additionally, social development goals have been pressured by political interference, staffing issues, and the complexity of rapid expansion.

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} }