Together investing in the future of South AFrica’s Freshwater ecosystems

The WWF Sanlam Partnership (2012-2014) focused on protecting South Africa's strategic water source areas and promoting corporate water stewardship. Key achievements include mapping the 8% of land area that provides 50% of the country's surface water, launching the 'Journey of Water' public awareness campaign, and developing tools to help investors assess water risks for JSE-listed companies. The partnership also implemented operational water-saving measures at Sanlam, reducing consumption by 41% against a 2010 baseline, and collaborated on disaster risk reduction in the Eden District Municipality.

• Research conducted by WWF South Africa and the CSIR, funded by Sanlam, identified that only 8% of South Africa's land area generates more than half of the country's river flow, designating these as strategic water source areas.
• The partnership developed a global water risk tool that has been used to assess over 60,000 facilities and farms worldwide, including more than 16,000 in South Africa, to help users mitigate risk and implement water stewardship.
• The 'Journey of Water' campaign, running in 2013, engaged nearly 30 businesses, government institutions, and NGOs to raise awareness that water does not come from a tap and to reconnect urban users with healthy catchments.
• Sanlam implemented internal water-saving initiatives, including rainwater harvesting, grey water systems, and water-efficient fittings, resulting in a 41% reduction in water usage during 2014 compared to a 2010 baseline.
• The WWF Water Balance programme, which focuses on replenishing water through alien clearing projects, has cleared over 1,200 hectares of invasive alien plants since 2010, allowing over 2,490,000kl of water to remain in priority freshwater ecosystems annually.
• In the Eden District Municipality, research and subsequent projects involving Santam and WWF found that improved landscape management could reduce risks associated with wild-fires, floods, and sea-storms, which caused over US$250 million in damage between 2003 and 2008.

APA

Nobula, S., Colvin, C., & Elliott-Wetmore, S. (2012). Together investing in the future of South AFrica’s Freshwater ecosystems. WWF South Africa. https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_sanlam_partnership_3_yr_review_final_web.pdf

Chicago

Nobula, Sindiswa, Christine Colvin, and Stephen Elliott-Wetmore. Together investing in the future of South AFrica’s Freshwater ecosystems. WWF South Africa, 2012. https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_sanlam_partnership_3_yr_review_final_web.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Nobula |first1=Sindiswa |last2=Colvin |first2=Christine |last3=Elliott-Wetmore |first3=Stephen |title=Together investing in the future of South AFrica’s Freshwater ecosystems |publisher=WWF South Africa |date=April 2012 |url=https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_sanlam_partnership_3_yr_review_final_web.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{nobula2012together, author = {Nobula, Sindiswa and Colvin, Christine and Elliott-Wetmore, Stephen}, title = {{Together investing in the future of South AFrica’s Freshwater ecosystems}}, institution = {WWF South Africa}, year = {2012}, month = apr, url = {https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_sanlam_partnership_3_yr_review_final_web.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }