Post on 26-Jun-2020
Freshwater fishes of the Cape FoldEcoregion and Climate Change
Volume 2: Policy Uptake Strategy
Bragg, CJ; Paxton, BR; Shelton, JM; Bovim L& Dallas, HF
October 2017
Bragg, CJ; Paxton, BR; Shelton, JM; Bovim, LA and Dallas HF. 2017. Freshwater Fishes of the Cape Fold Ecoregion and Climate Change: Volume 2: Policy Uptake Strategy. Prepared on behalf of the Table
Mountain Fund by the Freshwater Research Centre. Pp. 14.
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1. INTRODUCTION
A multi-disciplinary collaborative study undertaken by
the Freshwater Research Centre (FRC) and the South
African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB)
“Assessing the effect of climate change on native and non-
native freshwater fishes of the Cape Fold Ecoregion, South
Africa” (Dallas et al. 2017) provided key insights into
the potential impacts of climate change on the native
and non-native freshwater fish species of the Cape Fold
Ecoregion of South Africa (CFE).
Volume 1 in this series synthesises the research findings
from this study. This report (Volume 2) presents the
outcomes of the second phase of the study which was to
develop recommendations for specific interventions for
use by decision-makers, government authorities and
conservation organisations mandated with devising
strategies to prevent species extinctions, protect water
resources and conserve freshwater ecosystems. The
objective of this report is therefore to present the
outcomes of a stakeholder engagement workshop and
review process which aimed to explore ways of
incorporating the findings of the research into future
conservation plans, water resources management and
catchment management strategies. This preliminary
review of the policy and planning landscape is
necessary for developing a high-impact strategy that
will mainstream the research outputs and encourage
uptake at policy and planning levels. Strategies,
objectives, targets and outputs are outlined and a suite
of customized high-impact interventions, or toolkits to
facilitate uptake are proposed – referred to the Uptake
Strategy.
The report is the culmination of several parallel
processes including the FRC’s Climate Change and
Freshwater Fish study, a stakeholder awareness and
dissemination workshop and a policy review. It should be
pointed that while the Uptake Strategy described here
is focussed on freshwater fishes in the CFE, the processes
and principles are applicable to policy uptake across a
broad front of conservation and water resource related
issues.
2. PROCESSES
2.1 Stakeholder Workshop
The ‘CFE Fish and Climate Change’ workshop was held at
the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI)
Research Centre, Cape Town on the 27th July 2017.
During this workshop, relevant stakeholder groups
including the Department of Environment and
Development Planning (DEADP), the Department of
Water and Sanitation (DWS), the Department of
Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), CapeNature
and the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA)
identified and explored ways to incorporate the
findings of the climate change study into conservation,
management, policy and decision-making and to build
the resilience of freshwater ecosystems of the CFE.
Research groups in attendance included the FRC, SAIAB
and the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research
(CSIR), as well as a range of broader interest groups
from civil society. During the course of the workshop,
participants were given an opportunity to share and
discuss concerns and ideas through a participatory
group session. Researchers, practitioners and those
involved in policy separated into groups to focus on two
specific questions:
1. What are the main knowledge requirements
for more effective conservation action in
freshwater ecosystems?
2. How do we raise the profile of climate change
impacts on freshwater fishes and ecosystems at
a Provincial and National level?
The discussion was not constrained to these questions
and scope was given to discuss additional concerns
and suggestions.
2.2 Outcomes: challenges and needs in the conservation
and policy environment
Workshop participants expressed deep concern about
the funding and capacity crisis prevailing in the
freshwater conservation and water resource
management sectors today, which act as a severe
constraint on the application of effective adaptation
measures. In summary, workshop participants felt that
the priorities for protecting freshwater fish species were
to:
1. Address priority threats, including over-
abstraction of water and alien invasive
species;
2. Identify and fill knowledge gaps that are
constraining effective conservation and
management interventions;
3. Format the research outputs and
recommendations into policy-friendly
toolkits;
4. Enhance the capacity and efficiency of
conservation, compliance and regulatory
authorities;
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5. Improve awareness and communication
amongst all society sectors about the
impacts and ramifications of climate
change on freshwater biodiversity.
The participants also provided suggestions for improving
the status quo, and these were integrated into
overarching approaches and actions and included:
• Prioritize catchments, species and ecosystems.
Suggestions for improving prioritization
processes for researchers and practitioners
were detailed, including establishing long-
term monitoring of population trends of
priority species and environmental variables
such as river flow, and engaging citizen
scientists in monitoring and advocacy.
• Improve planning. Develop integrated
management plans at a catchment scale and
research and develop Thresholds of Potential
Concern (TPCs). Align TPCs with water
quality and environmental flow (Ecological
Reserve) targets.
• Improve enforcement. Develop a database
on environmental compliance containing a list
of contacts and processes within the
organizations responsible for compliance
and enforcement at a municipal to national
level (this was considered a high priority).
• Improve communication. Develop a
communication strategy to promote the
awareness of climate change threats and link
these to national priorities.
3. MAINSTREAMING THE PROJECT RESULTS
INTO POLICY AND PROCESSES: AN UPTAKE
STRATEGY
Based on the feedback from stakeholders, it became
evident that there was a rich opportunity to collaborate
with the public sector to customize the scientific outcomes
of the research into a user-friendly format for
government uptake and to inform decision-making. The
Uptake Strategy presented in this document forms part
of the outcome of that resolution. The benefits of this
approach are not only applicable for mainstreaming
freshwater fish and climate change actions but, due to
the replicability of the proposed Uptake Strategy, this
approach can be adopted by a broad group of
stakeholders in the environmental sector, as well as
researchers, to help streamline their policy
recommendations and ensure that they are incorporated
into relevant government departments and decision-
making process.
3.1 Uptake Strategy: the approach
The following steps outline the protocol for developing
the Uptake Strategy, including specific examples and a
preliminary policy leverage analysis.
3.1.1 Policy-relevant outputs
From the outset the key policy-applicable data outputs
and recommendations generated by the research
findings should be identified. The first step is to clarify
the relevance of the data for policy and decision-
makers. These distilled data outputs, when used by
public and private sector decision-makers, should be of
a kind that will contribute meaningfully to conserving
freshwater fishes and ecosystems under a range climate
change scenarios. Based on the study team and
workshop discussions, the following datasets from the
climate change study were considered relevant and
would help create change if taken up by policy-makers,
planners and decision-makers:
• Freshwater fish species distribution,
vulnerability and conservation status in the
CFE;
• native fish species tolerances to flow, water
quality and temperature thresholds and
• geographical location of native fish species’
climate change refugia based on Species
Distribution Models (SDMs).
Although the results generated by the project are far
more extensive, these generally refer to the justification
and science behind the outputs, and are therefore useful
for policymakers from a metadata perspective and as
verification for the inclusion of these policy-relevant
outputs into their decision-making processes.
The next step is to determine the threats facing
freshwater fish which will allow a policy task team to
identify the appropriate sectors and institutions which
are mandated to address some of those threats. The
research has shown – and there was also broad
consensus – that current or future climate change impacts
are overshadowed by existing degradation of
freshwater ecosystems. This presents both a challenge
and an opportunity – a challenge in the sense that
current impacts need to be urgently halted or reversed,
and an opportunity in that short-term remedial actions
can provide a way of building long-term resilience.
Bearing this in mind, the report and workshop discussions
highlighted that some of the most critical threats for
freshwater fish persistence are as follows:
• Presence of non-native fish;
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• over-abstraction of water from rivers
containing high fish biodiversity or listed
species;
• water quality impairment (pollution);
• lack of suitably protected climate refugia;
• lack of awareness in the public and private
sphere of the pervasive threats to freshwater
fishes and ecosystems;
• lack of political will to affect changes.
Sustainable Natural Resource Management (NRM) and
the implementation of the Ecological Reserve are the
platforms upon which the majority of these threats can
be resolved, but for the purposes of this document, we
discuss the means and methods to strategically integrate
the research findings into policy so that, across the
board, organizational mandates and resources are
directed towards improving the current status quo.
As the threats listed are clearly not only under the
mandate and control of conservation authorities, (for
example, water resource management is a DWS
mandate), we included the policies and processes of the
Environment, Conservation, Climate Change and Water
sectors in this first preliminary review.
3.1.2 Policy, planning and processes review
The next step in the Uptake Strategy is to undertake an
opportunity and gap analysis of current policies and
decision-making processes which are applicable to
freshwater fish conservation and sustainable water
planning. This requires sourcing the most up to date
policies and reviewing them to determine if there is
adequate or proactive climate change adaptation
objectives for protecting freshwater fish species and
ecosystems in the CFE.
Through the identification of current gaps in policies,
planning and processes, it is possible to define the
targets and key intervention points to include in the
strategy to mainstream the research outputs and
encourage uptake in policy development and planning.
The policy environment exists at multiple levels; from
global treaties, to government white papers, to
national, provincial and municipal legislation, to civil
society strategies. A preliminary birds’ eye view of the
policy and public planning landscape enabled the
study team to qualitatively assess and pinpoint those
specific sectors and processes which would result in
maximum gain for the effort of integrating the data
and recommendations arising from the freshwater fish
and climate change study.
Accordingly the relative value of leverage points for
catalysing fish conservation or resource management
was assessed at several levels and scales. Appendix A
Table 1 presents the results of the preliminary policy
and planning scoping review indicating where the
potential leverage points are at which interventions to
integrate project results will have high impact for low
effort. This preliminary assessment reviews a few
example policies and strategies at each scale –
national, provincial, NPO, local municipality and
international (treaties and conventions to which SA is
signatory) and examples of policies for the different
departments and sectors are provided. The Alignment,
Gaps and Impact Columns assess the alignment with the
project data, whether there are gaps in strategy which
the project could lobby for, and finally whether making
those changes would give high impact for
mainstreaming the project findings. For example,
policies at the national level are by necessity
overarching and usually fairly good at capturing
climate change adaption strategies but even when
there might be gaps, the effort to reward ratio is very
low – to change these policies at this level are far too
onerous for the impact gained. At provincial level there
are far more implementable policies where the Uptake
Strategy could have scalable impacts. If the Uptake
Strategy were to be implemented for the climate
change and fish project, as second review process
would be necessary to include some missing policies
from provincial authorities.
3.1.3 Targets: which policies, which decision-makers in
which departments?
The foundation of any policy intervention rests firstly in
the demonstration of its clear alignment with
government’s existing mandates, strategies and policy
directions. At a national scale, it is clear that there are
already adequate directives pertaining to freshwater
biodiversity conservation and climate change
adaptation principles contained in the various policies
and legislation of the Department of Environmental
Affairs (DEA) and the Department of Water and
Sanitation (DWS), but due to their scale, these policies’
objectives are of necessity broad and non-specific.
However, the overarching justification for conserving
freshwater biodiversity and protecting water resources
provides a framework within which to pursue more
specific interventions at a localized scale, such as the
use of the data in planning processes undertaken by
municipalities, provincial authorities, civil society and
parastatals.
Thus, with this in mind, the scope of the Uptake Strategy
can then be refined to identify leverage points within
the geographic boundary defining the scope of the
project – in this case, the CFE. As the national policies
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adequately capture the broader principles, the next
step is to assess the policies and processes applicable
at a provincial or municipal level within the project
boundaries. For example, only local municipalities
would be targeted where the geographic overlay of
the municipality planning domain coincided with a
priority climate refuge.
This allows further refinement of the key strategic
points to target and thus saves on time and resources
required for the implementation of the strategy.
Using the first preliminary qualitative analysis (Table 1),
the following target policies, planning processes and
decision-making structures would facilitate the
mainstreaming of the CFE Climate Change and Fish
study results into sustainable development planning and
conservation actions. Note that the following is a guide
and not a conclusive list which would require further
prioritization during the implementation of the Uptake
Strategy:
• Conservation planning processes in the CFE that
include the Western, Northern and Eastern
Provincial conservation authorities. This includes
CBA map reviews, stewardship planning,
updating existing biodiversity distribution
databases, Red List Assessments and
Biodiversity Management Plans for Species.
• Conservation planning processes at relevant
parastatals. The distribution data of freshwater
fish and the climate refugia should be
integrated into reviews of National Freshwater
Ecosystem Priority Areas and the Strategic
Water Source Areas, and into National
Protected Areas Expansion Strategy reviews.
The data should be readily available for use
by all practitioners, including EIA specialists, on
SANBI’s BGIS website.
• Water use planning and decision-making
processes in the regional offices of the DWS.
Data would have high value in informing
Water Use Licence Applications (WULA) in
priority catchments. Recommendations
regarding maintenance of the Ecological
Reserve would be of high value in Strategic
Water Plans.
• Development planning processes in provincial
and local municipalities. Processes to integrate
project data would include reviews of Spatial
Development Frameworks (SDFs) and
Integrated Development Plans (IDPs).
• Overarching guidelines. The integration of the
recommendations should be included in
guidelines for sustainable development
planning, such as the Guidelines for
Biodiversity & Mining, and the Fynbos Forum
guidelines, which are widely used by
developers, Environmental Assessment
Practitioners, Environmental Impact Assessment
specialists, authorities and civil society.
3.1.4 Integrating ecosystem or overarching
recommendations into policy and planning:
The CFE Climate Change and Fish study provided broad
overarching recommendations to guide the mitigation of
threats to freshwater fish and ecosystems. Some of these
included:
• Encouraging the monitoring and implementation
of the Ecological Reserve in high-priority
catchments;
• Promoting tools such as the River Maintenance
Plans (RMPs) which encourage ecosystem-based
management and rehabilitation of river
systems;
• Clearing priority tributaries from alien invasive
fish species and reclaiming native fish habitat.
In order to integrate these broad recommendations into
policy, two approaches can be employed:
• Undertake a second more refined assessment
of the policies to identify those with relevance
in addressing the threats facing freshwater fish,
and capturing these policies in a policy-gap
database. The database would include key
information on when these policies are up for
review (most policies are reviewed on regular
intervals) and who the key contact person is to
approach. The onus would then be on the policy
task team to establish contact, contribute to
public participation process or stakeholder
input meetings and motivate for strategic
objectives to be included.
• Raising awareness of the necessity for these
ecosystem approaches within the water and
conservation sector. This would involve collating
the results and recommendations in a strategic
format to promote on various platforms and
through various media channels. There are
many government platforms to undertake this
such as stakeholder engagement meetings
during new policy formulation (e.g. provincial
climate change strategising), planning fora
(SANBI’s Biodiversity Information & Planning
Forum), the Northern Cape: Department of
Environment and Nature Conservation,
Kimberley Biodiversity Symposium, Department
of Environment and Development Planning
environmental-focused Committee meetings,
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CapeNature’s Freshwater Forum, and the
Western Cape Wetlands Forum. There are also
many civil society channels within which this
information can be shared with key
stakeholders, such as conservation NGOs.
Target audiences associated with the necessary
interventions should be identified and a
package of talks or awareness materials
customised in the language or strategies of the
audience developed.
3.1.5 Action plan for developing freshwater & climate
change policy toolkits:
After identification of the leverage points, the data
needs to be packaged in a way that is useful and
accessible for uptake for each decision-maker or
planner. Thus an action plan for implementing the
strategy would involve:
I. Establish the leverage points for maximum
impact when using the project outputs. Some of
the key leverage points – CapeNature, DENC
and regional offices of the DWS – would
prove catalytic in integrating the data as their
objectives include using valid scientific data for
biodiversity or water-use decision making and
planning support systems (the Eastern Cape
Parks and Toursim Agency strategic objectives
document is an example1).
II. Identify the relevant representatives of the
decision-makers or policy-review points from
each department for the key leverage points,
and contact them. Develop and maintain a
database of key policy contacts for use by the
policy task team.
III. Develop a questionnaire for policy planners
and decision-makers about their specific data
formatting needs, the processes through which
their decisions are made, and how they
integrate data into decisions. Establish contact
with the relevant personnel and work through
the questionnaire to identify their requirements
on the format they would prefer the data in,
how it can be used to maximum effect, where it
can be stored for easy access, etc. Establish
whether there are any particular training
needs, for example, some stakeholders who
participated in the CFE Fish and Climate
Change workshop indicated an interest in
training on using the spatial data on the BGIS
website. Training could also include a
description of the ways in which this data could
add value to their decisions and policies and
furthermore align with broader government
strategic objectives.
IV. Based on the above criteria, develop a
concise, user-friendly and department-
customized manual or toolkit for
policymakers and decision-makers on how to
use the data, what its limitations are, what the
strategic alignment is required for the relevant
department from both a national and
departmental perspective. Importantly, a
mechanism through which the departmental
representative could inform the project team
each time they used the data in a
departmental process would need to be
developed. This would allow the team to assess
the impacts of the policy tool kit approach.
V. Develop appropriate short training modules,
which can easily be converted into a “Train the
Trainer” model. Through this approach,
representatives could take the training and
train other officials in their department.
VI. Disseminate and encourage adoption of the
toolkits through outscaling.
3.1.6 Toolkit formats and options:
• The toolkit itself would include the two datasets
(freshwater fish distribution and climate
refugia) in a format that policymakers and
decision-makers could easily integrate into their
planning, and would also be tailored to
provide maximum value for the targeted
user. For example, the climate refugia would
be formatted into shapefiles for easy spatial
overlay with other priority spatial data.
Depending on the needs of the department or
policy, there are many ways in which the
dataset could be presented, and various
analyses could be developed upon request, to
include in the toolkit. Examples of such would
be: Providing SANBI with an overlay of the
NFEPA layer and the two project datasets to
strengthen the case for protecting NFEPAs. (In
addition the CFE Climate Change and Fish
study data could be fed into the next NFEPA
review process.)
• Evaluating the risks of non-native fish to
existing populations of indigenous fish species
by overlaying these two datasets and
prioritising the hotspots of threat. These
hotspots could be used to inform the
prioritization process of selecting rivers for
alien fish removal (a strategic objective for
CapeNature) or implementing the Ecological
1 http://www.visiteasterncape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Strategic-Objective-Statements-Reference-Volume.pdf
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Reserve (a DWS policy objective).
• Stewardship planning processes (NGO and
Provincial authority-driven) and Protected Area
Expansion Strategies (SANBI-driven) should
include an overlay of the protected areas and
the climate refugia, which would provide
information on gaps in the network not
adequately covered by protected areas. The
project data could also be used to inform the
placement of climate corridors designed in
biodiversity stewardship approaches and/or
further validate existing corridors where there
is overlap.
• Another potential spatial analysis, of use to civil
society or conservation NGOs, would be to
overlay critical fish areas or refugia with
distribution of existing conservation or
community projects in the landscape (e.g., Berg
River Improvement Plan, WWF project areas,
Endangered Wildlife Trust project areas). This
would then allow an opportunity to integrate
listed fish species’ requirements into the existing
projects. For example, by participating in the
‘CFE Fish and Climate Change’ workshop, the
Overberg Renosterveld Conservation Trust
realized that some of the fish species occurred
in their area of operation and they are now
starting a study on these species distributions as
it aligns well with their current strategy of
restoring riparian ecosystems.
• The DWS officials should be provided with a
unique dataset integrating the catchments, fish
species location data, climate refugia locations
(thus identifying rivers of special concern) and
include those rivers where the Ecological
Reserve has been determined. This information
should be used to inform decisions about water
use in catchments (such as in WULA for dams or
water abstractions) that might impact fish
species, or the integrity of priority aquatic
ecosystems and climate change refugia.
3.1.7 Reactive Interventions
A strategy for reactive interventions, for example, when
permit conditions for water use or biodiversity use are
not being met, or in cases of unauthorized water use
which is negatively impacting freshwater habitat should
be developed. In these reactive situations, it is necessary
to engage with compliance officials and the
development of a stakeholder database to guide both
the project team and the public would be extremely
useful. Some of the most frequent questions raised by
stakeholders in the freshwater sector include: “To whom
does one report unauthorized water use?”, “Where can
we find a pending WULA?” “To whom do we report a
pollution event?” (Appendix B Table 2).
3.1.8 Capacity-Gap Interventions
Finally, to address threats beyond the scope of decision-
makers and policies, for example, in situations where
organisational capacity is low, the Uptake Strategy
needs to be more proactive and start the process of
building co-operative governance approaches. This
might mean initiating projects that build and capacitate
multi-stakeholder platforms for integrated water
governance. This aspect is likely to become critical given
that there are currently major shortcomings in the water
sector including inter alia; staff- and skills-shortages,
ineffectual regulatory control, poorly resourced and
aging monitoring infrastructure and a lack of familiarity
with and interpretation of EWRs (Pollard and Du Toit
2011; Pitman 2011; de Villiers et al. 2012, from Annex
C). Alternatively, other leverage points could be
targeted to make the case for integrating water and
biodiversity, such as at Steering Committees set up
specifically by the state to encourage inter-
governmental planning.
The opportunities for public-private partnerships is also
an avenue worth exploring, given the success that the
Endangered Wildlife Trust’s and Freshwater Research
Centre’s Cape Critical Rivers project has had in building
two Ecological Reserve demonstration sites in areas of
high fish biodiversity.
In order to fully explore these innovations, a strategic
lessons-learning water symposium for freshwater
management and conservation roleplayers would be a
valuable to assess the costs and benefits of adopting co-
operative approaches, and would facilitate interactions
with other projects and could be instrumental in
developing a new suite of tools to encourage uptake
and mainstreaming.
4. CONCLUSIONS AND THE CASE FOR
MONITORING
The outcomes of the research results generated by the
study, “Assessing the effect of climate change on native
and non-native freshwater fishes of the Cape Fold
Ecoregion, South Africa” and the feedback from the
stakeholder workshop demonstrate an urgent need to
encourage the uptake of the recommendations and data
into policies, decision-making processes and conservation
planning. Through a preliminary review and analysis of
the policy and planning landscape, a high-impact
strategy to mainstream the outputs of the research and
encourage uptake at the policy and strategic planning
level was developed. This proposed strategy’s
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objectives, targets and outputs are outlined and includes
the proposed production of a suite of customized high-
impact interventions or toolkits to facilitate uptake.
The potential impacts of the implementation of the
Uptake Strategy are significant and can be catalysed
at multiple scales. The way forward would be to source
funding for the adoption of the strategy and
development of the toolkits and policy outreach. As the
preliminary analysis revealed, time and resources can
be saved by focusing on high-impact key leverage
points, and these can be further refined in the next
phase.
Furthermore, these toolkits can be integrated with other
critical biodiversity data currently not being adequately
used in decision-making processes, which would thus
smooth the path for multiple environmental impacts. This
Uptake Strategy has ramifications beyond the species
approach and can facilitate streamlined policy decisions
and planning at local, provincial and national scales for
freshwater ecosystems as a whole.
However a caveat for all environmental datasets and
particular freshwater systems in the advent of climate
change, is the need to maintain long-term monitoring
sites in ecosystems, not only for understanding the
thresholds of change, but for evaluating the effects of
conservation interventions and assessing the
requirements for effective adaptation measures for
aquatic ecosystems.
REFERENCES
Dallas HF, Shelton JM, Paxton BR, Weyl OLF,
Reizenberg J, Bloy L & Rivers-Moore N. In Press.
Assessing the effect of climate change on native and non-
native freshwater fishes of the Cape Fold Ecoregion, South
Africa. Water Research Commission Report for Project
K5/2337. Water Research Commission, Pretoria, South
Africa.
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Chan
ge
Adap
tatio
n*
H
N
2 In
tegr
ate
proa
ctiv
e fis
h co
nser
vatio
n fo
r
clim
ate
chan
ge a
dapt
atio
n in
to fu
rthe
r
polic
y do
cum
ents
Biod
iver
sity
Natio
nal B
iodi
vers
ity F
ram
ewor
k of
200
8,
the
Natio
nal P
rote
cted
Are
as E
xpan
sion
Stra
tegy
(DEA
200
8)
H
Y 3
Usef
ul to
pro
vide
spp
dis
trib
utio
n da
ta a
nd
mai
nstr
eam
clim
ate
refu
gia
requ
irem
ents
into
NPE
S
Fres
hwat
er
Ecos
yste
ms
Natio
nal C
limat
e Ch
ange
Res
pons
e Po
licy
for
Wat
er
M
N
3 Lo
bby
for
proj
ect a
s a
dem
onst
ratio
n
show
case
for
DEA
Natu
ral R
esou
rce
Man
agem
ent
Proc
esse
s: P
rior
itiza
tion
for
Wor
king
for
Wet
land
s/W
ater
H
Y 4
Lobb
ying
for
proj
ect r
ecom
men
datio
ns w
rt
prio
ritie
s du
ring
rev
iew
DWS
Wat
er R
esou
rce
Man
agem
ent
Natio
nal W
ater
Res
ourc
e St
rate
gy
H
N
4
Broa
d ob
ject
ives
alig
n w
ell w
ith p
roje
ct
reco
mm
enda
tions
(eg
“The
NW
RS w
ill g
ive
guid
ance
rel
atin
g to
the
prot
ectio
n, u
se,
deve
lopm
ent,
cons
erva
tion,
man
agem
ent
and
cont
rol o
f wat
er r
esou
rces
. The
NW
RS
mus
t: pr
ovid
e fo
r at
leas
t the
req
uire
men
ts
of th
e re
serv
e.”)
Wor
k w
ith p
artn
ers
to lo
bby
for
impl
emen
ting
DWS
dire
ctiv
es w
ith a
lign
with
C l i m a t e C h a n g e a n d F r e s h w a t e r F i s h
9 | P o l i c y U p t a k e S t r a t e g y
Table
1 (
cont’d).
Polic
y a
nd p
lann
ing s
copin
g r
evi
ew
.
Leve
l De
part
men
t Fi
eld
Exam
ples
Al
ignm
ent
Gaps
Im
pact
Ac
tion
or O
ppor
tuni
ties
Prov
inci
al
Cons
erva
tion:
Wes
tern
Cap
e
Polic
ies
Polic
ies
inac
cess
ible
but
the
“Con
serv
atio
n, tr
ansp
ort &
util
isat
ion
of
fres
hwat
er fi
sh in
the
Wes
tern
Cap
e) c
an
have
som
e ob
ject
ives
add
ed w
rt p
rote
ctin
g
fish
from
clim
ate
chan
ge to
o
M
Y 4
Lobb
ying
for
proj
ect r
ecom
men
datio
ns
duri
ng r
evie
w. L
obby
ing
for
fish
cons
erva
tion
stra
tegy
for
W C
ape
Deci
sion
-mak
ers
EIA/
per
mit
revi
ewer
s H
Y
4 Da
ta to
olki
t & r
atio
nale
/str
ateg
y al
ignm
ent
for
deci
sion
-mak
ers
Cons
erva
tion
Plan
ning
CBA
map
s, c
orri
dor
plan
ning
, ste
war
dshi
p
plan
ning
, Wes
tern
Cap
e Bi
odiv
ersi
ty
Spat
ial P
lan
(WCB
SP) (
Fig.
1), B
MP
for
spec
ies
H
Y 4
Data
tool
kit f
or c
onse
rvat
ion
plan
ners
. At
next
rev
iew
inte
grat
e da
ta in
to W
CBSP
(Fig
.1 )
Cons
erva
tion:
Nort
hern
Cap
e
Polic
ies
V fe
w p
olic
ies
M
Y 3
Lobb
ying
for
new
pol
icie
s w
rt fi
sh
cons
erva
tion
Deci
sion
-mak
ers
EIA/
per
mit
revi
ewer
s H
Y
4 Da
ta to
olki
t & r
atio
nale
/str
ateg
y al
ignm
ent
for
deci
sion
-mak
ers
Cons
erva
tion
Plan
ning
CBA
map
s, c
orri
dor
plan
ning
, ste
war
dshi
p
plan
ning
, Bio
dive
rsity
Man
agem
ent P
lan
for
spp
H
Y 4
Data
tool
kit f
or c
onse
rvat
ion
plan
ners
Cons
erva
tion:
East
ern
Cape
(Eas
tern
Cap
e Pa
rks
& To
uris
m A
genc
y)
Polic
ies
V fe
w p
olic
ies
– th
ere
is a
str
ateg
y L
Y 3
Lobb
ying
for
proj
ect r
ecom
men
datio
ns
duri
ng r
evie
w
Deci
sion
-mak
ers
EIA/
per
mit
revi
ewer
s H
Y
4 Da
ta to
olki
t & r
atio
nale
/str
ateg
y al
ignm
ent
for
deci
sion
-mak
ers
Cons
erva
tion
Plan
ning
CBA
map
s, c
orri
dor
plan
ning
, ste
war
dshi
p
plan
ning
H
Y
4 Da
ta to
olki
t for
con
serv
atio
n pl
anne
rs
Wat
er: W
este
rn C
ape
Regi
onal
Wat
er
reso
urce
Prio
ritiz
atio
n of
cat
chm
ents
– i.
e., i
n
catc
hmen
ts w
here
wat
er
refo
rm/a
lloca
tion/
ecol
ogic
al r
eser
ve
H
Y 4
Data
tool
kit &
rat
iona
le/s
trat
egy
alig
nmen
t
for
deci
sion
-mak
ers
C l i m a t e C h a n g e a n d F r e s h w a t e r F i s h
10 | P o l i c y U p t a k e S t r a t e g y
Table
1 (
cont’d).
Polic
y a
nd p
lann
ing s
copin
g r
evi
ew
.
Leve
l De
part
men
t Fi
eld
Exam
ples
Al
ignm
ent
Gaps
Im
pact
Ac
tion
or O
ppor
tuni
ties
Wat
er: N
orth
ern
Cape
Regi
onal
Wat
er
reso
urce
man
agem
ent
Prio
ritiz
atio
n of
cat
chm
ents
– i.
e., i
n
catc
hmen
ts w
here
wat
er
refo
rm/a
lloca
tion/
ecol
ogic
al r
eser
ve
dete
rmin
atio
n or
ver
ifica
tion
proc
esse
s
are
happ
enin
g
H
Y 4
Data
tool
kit &
rat
iona
le/s
trat
egy
alig
nmen
t
for
deci
sion
-mak
ers
Wat
er u
se li
cenc
e ap
plic
atio
ns (W
ULA)
for
dam
s, w
ater
allo
catio
ns e
tc in
pri
ority
area
s
H
Y 4
Wat
er: E
aste
rn C
ape
Regi
onal
Wat
er
reso
urce
man
agem
ent
Prio
ritiz
atio
n of
cat
chm
ents
– i.
e., i
n
catc
hmen
ts w
here
wat
er
refo
rm/a
lloca
tion/
ecol
ogic
al r
eser
ve
dete
rmin
atio
n or
ver
ifica
tion
proc
esse
s
are
happ
enin
g
H
Y 4
Data
tool
kit &
rat
iona
le/s
trat
egy
alig
nmen
t
for
deci
sion
-mak
ers
Wes
tern
Cap
e:
Depa
rtm
ent o
f
Envi
ronm
ent a
nd
Deve
lopm
ent
Plan
ning
Envi
ronm
ent &
Plan
ning
at a
prov
inci
al s
cale
Stra
tegi
c Fi
ve-Y
ear
Plan
201
5-20
20: o
ne
obje
ctiv
e =
To le
vera
ge r
esou
rces
in
supp
ort o
f tou
rism
and
bio
dive
rsity
prio
ritie
s
Wes
tern
Cap
e Cl
imat
e Ch
ange
Res
pons
e
Stra
tegy
: “w
ell-
man
aged
nat
ural
sys
tem
s
that
red
uce
clim
ate
vuln
erab
ility
and
impr
ove
resi
lienc
e to
clim
ate
chan
ge
impa
cts;
”
H
Y 3
Data
tool
kit &
rat
iona
le/s
trat
egy
alig
nmen
t
for
deci
sion
-mak
ers
Wes
tern
Cap
e’s
Prov
inci
al S
patia
l
Deve
lopm
ent F
ram
ewor
k H
Y
4 Da
ta to
olki
t & r
atio
nale
/str
ateg
y al
ignm
ent
for
deci
sion
-mak
ers
De
part
men
t:
Econ
omic
Deve
lopm
ent,
Envi
ronm
enta
l Aff
airs
and
Tour
ism
: Eas
tern
Envi
ronm
ent &
Plan
ning
at a
prov
inci
al s
cale
:
mai
nstr
eam
sust
aina
bilit
y an
d
East
ern
Cape
’s P
rovi
ncia
l Spa
tial
Deve
lopm
ent F
ram
ewor
k H
Y
3 Da
ta to
olki
t & r
atio
nale
/str
ateg
y al
ignm
ent
for
deci
sion
-mak
ers
C l i m a t e C h a n g e a n d F r e s h w a t e r F i s h
11 | P o l i c y U p t a k e S t r a t e g y
Table
1 (
cont’d).
Polic
y a
nd p
lann
ing s
copin
g r
evi
ew
.
Leve
l De
part
men
t Fi
eld
Exam
ples
Al
ignm
ent
Gaps
Im
pact
Ac
tion
or O
ppor
tuni
ties
Dist
rict
&
Loca
l
Mun
icip
aliti
es
Plan
ning
& E
IAs
Plan
ning
and
deve
lopm
ent a
t a
loca
l sca
le
SDFs
/IDF
s H
Y
4
Afte
r id
entif
ying
the
key
mun
icip
aliti
es,
whe
n th
ey r
evie
w th
ese
fram
ewor
ks,
incl
ude
the
data
, pro
ject
pri
ority
are
as
duri
ng th
e PP
P.
Usin
g da
ta in
EIA
rev
iew
s
Civi
l Soc
iety
(NGO
s)
Cons
erva
tion/
Wat
er
/Clim
ate
Chan
ge
Stra
tegi
c
inte
rven
tions
WW
F po
licie
s ar
ound
sus
tain
able
wat
er u
se
M
Y 3
Rais
e aw
aren
ess
with
in o
rgan
izat
ions
of
nece
ssity
to in
tegr
ate
findi
ngs
into
cons
erva
tion.
EW
T’s C
CR s
trat
egic
pla
nnin
g M
Y
3
Para
stat
als
SANB
I/CS
IR
BGIS
/ Cl
imat
e
Stra
tegi
c W
ater
Sou
rce
Area
s H
Y
4 In
tegr
ate
data
into
pla
nnin
g
Sign
ator
y to
Inte
rnat
iona
l
Conv
entio
ns
Envi
ronm
ent
Biod
iver
sity
/
Clim
ate
Chan
ge/S
usta
inab
le
Deve
lopm
ent
Conv
entio
n on
Bio
logi
cal D
iver
sity
the
Conv
entio
n on
Inte
rnat
iona
l Tra
de in
Enda
nger
ed S
peci
es o
f Wild
Fau
na a
nd
Flor
a; C
onve
ntio
n on
Wet
land
s; U
nite
d
Natio
ns F
ram
ewor
k Co
nven
tion
on C
limat
e
Chan
ge; S
usta
inab
le D
evel
opm
ent G
oals
and
the
Aich
i Bio
dive
rsity
Tar
gets
.
M
N
3 Us
e to
str
ateg
ical
ly a
lign
rele
vanc
e of
proj
ect f
indi
ngs
C l i m a t e C h a n g e a n d F r e s h w a t e r F i s h
12 | P o l i c y U p t a k e S t r a t e g y
Fig
2. Th
e p
roce
ss t
hroug
h w
hich
data
is
inte
gra
ted int
o p
olic
ies
and
deci
sion
pro
cess
es
usin
g t
he c
ons
erv
ation
pla
nnin
g t
ools o
f C
apeN
atu
re. Sour
ced f
rom
Pool-
Sta
nvlie
t, R
.,
Duf
fell-
Canha
m, A
., Penc
e, G
. &
Sm
art
, R. 20
17
. The
West
ern
Cap
e B
iodiv
ers
ity S
pa
tial Pla
n H
and
book.
Ste
llenb
osc
h: C
ap
eN
atu
re.
Lim
itations
of
this
revie
w:
• N
ot a
ll p
olic
ies
were
revi
ew
ed w
ithi
n th
e s
cope o
f th
is s
tudy. If t
he u
pta
ke S
trate
gy w
ere
to b
e im
ple
ment
ed f
or
the c
limate
cha
nge a
nd f
ish
pro
ject
, a s
eco
nd r
evi
ew
pro
cess
woul
d b
e n
ece
ssary
to inc
lude s
om
e m
issi
ng p
olic
ies
from
DEN
C a
nd o
ther
depa
rtm
ent
s.
• M
any
polic
ies
and
legis
lation
are
very
diffi
cult t
o o
bta
in, eve
n on
gove
rnm
ent
al w
ebsi
tes,
or
onl
y t
he o
ld o
utdate
d o
nes
are
ava
ilable
. A
gove
rnm
ent
cont
act
s
da
tab
ase
woul
d b
e a
use
ful re
sour
ce in
futu
re, no
t onl
y f
or
harn
ess
ing p
olic
ies
but
also t
o f
ind t
he r
ight
pers
on
withi
n th
e d
epa
rtm
ent
to s
hare
the
data
with.
• Th
e a
ssess
ment
is
also b
ase
d o
n p
ers
ona
l experi
enc
e to a
larg
e d
egre
e; it m
ight
not b
e a
use
ful in
terv
ent
ion
to p
rom
ote
fish
cons
erv
ation
in a
sect
or
whe
re f
ish
cons
erv
ation
is n
ot cu
rrent
ly b
ein
g u
sed in
deci
sion-
makin
g. In
terv
ent
ions
at th
at
leve
l re
qui
re lobb
yin
g a
nd a
dvo
cacy
, w
hich
ca
n b
e t
ime-c
ons
um
ing a
nd it w
oul
d b
e
more
str
ate
gic
the
n to
work
in
part
ners
hip w
ith
oth
er
org
ani
zations
who
se m
and
ate
is
to d
o p
olic
y lobb
yin
g.
C l i m a t e C h a n g e a n d F r e s h w a t e r F i s h
13 | P o l i c y U p t a k e S t r a t e g y
A
PPEN
DIX
B Table
2 Q
ualit
ative
ana
lysi
s of
mana
gem
ent
que
stio
ns, in
form
ation
requi
rem
ent
s a
nd p
ote
ntia
l
act
ions
by r
ese
arc
hers
and
pra
ctitio
ners
to a
dd
ress
the
se r
equi
rem
ent
s.
Man
agem
en
t
Cat
ego
ry
Info
rmat
ion
req
uir
eme
nts
A
ctio
ns
Re
sear
cher
s P
ract
itio
ner
s (a
ll le
vels
)
Wh
ere
bes
t to
spen
d y
ou
r
mo
ney
in o
rder
to
add
ress
th
reat
?
Pri
ori
ty
catc
hm
ents
(WM
As)
W
hat
mak
es c
atch
men
ts r
esili
ent
to
clim
ate
chan
ge?
C
om
mo
n d
atab
ases
an
d G
IS la
yers
.
F
low
an
d t
emp
erat
ure
dat
a ac
ross
catc
hm
ent,
par
ticu
larl
y in
smal
l/is
ola
ted
cat
chm
ents
.
A
sses
s in
flu
ence
of
rive
rin
e h
abit
at, w
etl
and
con
dit
ion
an
d c
atch
men
t st
ate
on
th
erm
al a
nd
flo
w r
egim
es in
riv
ers.
M
od
el t
he
resp
on
se o
f fl
ow
s to
ch
ange
s in
clim
ate,
lan
d u
se, h
abit
at in
tegr
ity
and
wat
er
infr
astr
uct
ure
.
I
mp
lem
ent
lon
g-te
rm
mo
nit
ori
ng
of
po
pu
lati
on
s tr
end
s o
f
targ
et s
pec
ies
and
envi
ron
men
tal
vari
able
s.
E
nga
ge c
itiz
en s
cien
tist
s
in m
on
ito
rin
g.
P
rom
ote
cap
acit
y
dev
elo
pm
ent
to
sup
po
rt m
on
ito
rin
g.
M
ake
wat
er
mo
nit
ori
ng
dat
a m
ore
acc
essi
ble
.
Pri
ori
ty s
pec
ies
Vu
lner
abili
ty a
sses
smen
ts f
or
dif
fere
nt
taxa
to
det
erm
ine
exp
osu
re
risk
, tra
its,
sen
siti
vity
to
ch
ange
,
adap
tive
cap
acit
y an
d a
cces
s to
mic
ro-c
limat
es.
Fin
e sc
ale
loca
tio
n a
nd
dis
trib
uti
on
dat
a.
Id
enti
fica
tio
n o
f cl
imat
e ch
ange
refu
gia
for
dif
fere
nt
taxa
?
D
eter
min
e en
viro
nm
enta
l flo
w a
nd
hab
itat
req
uir
emen
ts f
or
fish
es a
nd
am
ph
ibia
ns?
Ass
ess
the
susc
epti
bili
ty o
f fi
shes
(an
d o
ther
bio
ta)
to d
isea
se, p
aras
ites
an
d o
ther
pat
ho
gen
s at
th
e e
dge
of
thei
r st
ress
ran
ge.
Enga
ge in
res
earc
h o
n b
iolo
gy a
nd
eco
logy
,
trai
ts, p
hys
iolo
gy a
nd
cri
tica
l hab
itat
req
uir
emen
ts.
Pri
ori
ty
eco
syst
ems
Dat
a o
n e
cosy
stem
se
rvic
es f
rom
rive
rs a
nd
sp
ecie
s.
Dev
elo
p r
esea
rch
into
eco
syst
em s
ervi
ces
and
val
uin
g sp
ecie
s an
d b
iod
ive
rsit
y.
Dev
elo
pin
g ap
pro
pri
ate
valu
e se
ts
app
rop
riat
e c
om
par
iso
ns
of
bio
div
ersi
ty,
eco
syst
em s
erv
ices
an
d e
con
om
ic g
ain
s.
C l i m a t e C h a n g e a n d F r e s h w a t e r F i s h
14 | P o l i c y U p t a k e S t r a t e g y
Table
2 (
cont’d)
Q
ualit
ative
ana
lysi
s of
mana
gem
ent
que
stio
ns, in
form
ation
requi
rem
ent
s a
nd p
ote
ntia
l
act
ions
by r
ese
arc
hers
and
pra
ctitio
ners
to a
dd
ress
the
se r
equi
rem
ent
s.
Man
age
me
nt
C
ate
gory
In
form
atio
n r
eq
uir
em
en
ts
Act
ion
s
Re
sear
che
rs
Pra
ctit
ion
ers
(al
l le
vels
)
Ho
w d
o w
e
imp
rove
effi
cien
cy in
man
agem
ent
and
con
serv
atio
n?
Pla
nn
ing
F
ine
Scal
e (t
rib
uta
ry, c
atch
men
t, a
nd
foca
l sp
ecie
s) c
on
serv
atio
n p
lan
s fo
r
pri
ori
ty a
reas
.
W
hat
are
th
e o
pti
on
s fo
llow
ing
ext
rem
e ev
ents
(ex
tirp
atio
ns)
.
In
form
atio
n o
n e
ffec
tive
nes
s o
f
con
serv
atio
n/m
anag
emen
t
tech
niq
ues
. Wh
at w
ork
s an
d w
hat
do
es n
ot?
D
evel
op
“th
resh
old
s o
f co
nce
rn”
that
can
be
use
d t
o g
uid
e m
anag
emen
t ac
tio
ns
e.g
.,
wh
at f
low
leve
ls a
re c
om
plia
nce
tri
gger
s?
R
ese
arch
into
bu
ffer
s fo
r ex
trem
e ev
ents
e.g.
, co
nst
ruct
ion
of
arti
fici
al p
oo
l re
fugi
a
and
/or
rest
ock
ing
stra
tegi
es a
fter
ext
irp
atio
n
even
ts.
D
evel
op
inte
grat
ed
man
agem
ent
pla
ns
on
a
foca
l sp
ecie
s o
r
catc
hm
ents
.
D
evel
op
str
ate
gy f
or
com
mu
nic
atin
g va
lues
to s
take
ho
lder
s.
C
lear
ly d
efin
e m
and
ate
and
re
spo
nsi
bili
ties
of
dif
fere
nt
dep
artm
ents
and
age
nci
es.
Enfo
rcem
ent
Enfo
rcem
ent
pla
ns
and
pro
ced
ure
s.
Dat
a o
n c
om
plia
nce
an
d c
ase
his
tori
es
Dat
abas
e o
f w
ho
’s-w
ho
in t
he
enfo
rcem
ent
and
co
mp
lian
ce c
hai
n
at m
un
icip
al, W
M, P
rovi
nci
al a
nd
Nat
ion
al le
vel.
Lega
l res
earc
h in
to c
ase
his
tori
es f
or
legi
slat
ive
bac
kup
. Dev
elo
p a
lega
l to
ol-
kit
on
en
viro
nm
enta
l flo
w r
equ
irem
ents
(co
mp
lian
ce t
rigg
ers)
.
D
evel
op
sys
tem
fo
r
Tran
sgre
ssio
ns
and
lega
l bac
k u
p a
nd
det
erre
nts
i.e.
wh
om
sets
fin
es a
nd
wh
ere
is
the
legi
slat
ive
bac
kup
D
epar
tmen
ts.
Co
mm
un
icat
ion
C
om
mu
nic
atio
n s
trat
egy
on
clim
ate
chan
ge a
nd
imp
acts
fo
r al
l lev
els
Dev
elo
p c
om
mu
nic
atio
n s
trat
egy
to r
aise
awar
enes
s o
f aq
uat
ic e
cosy
stem
th
reat
s.
Iden
tify
an
d h
igh
ligh
t aq
uat
ic e
qu
ival
ents
of
cham
pio
n s
pec
ies
such
as
the
pan
da
and
rhin
o.
Dev
elo
p a
str
ateg
y to
lin
k co
nse
rvat
ion
an
d
clim
ate
chan
ge t
o N
atio
nal
pri
ori
ties
e.g
.,
foo
d s
ecu
rity
, eco
no
mic
em
po
we
rmen
t an
d
R
aise
th
e p
rofi
le o
f
clim
ate
chan
ge im
pac
ts
at a
Pro
vin
cial
an
d
Nat
ion
al le
vel.
D
evel
op
str
ate
gy t
o
com
mu
nic
ate
res
ult
s
for
po
licy
mak
ers
.
D
evel
op
pu
blic