Typologies of collaborative governance for scaling nature-based solutions in two strategic South African river systems

Scaled up planning and implementation of nature-based solutions requires better understanding of broad characteristics (typologies) of the current governance and financing landscape, collaborative approaches amidst local complexities, and factors of scalability. An inventory was compiled of water-related ecological infrastructure intervention projects in two river systems in South Africa, incorporating actor, environmental, social, and financial dimensions and benefits. Qualitative participatory analysis revealed eight typologies. Post-hoc classification analysis determined similarities and/or unique characteristics of seven quantitative typologies. Key characterising factors included the complexity/size of financial flows, complexity of partnership/governance arrangements, mandates/goals of actors, type of ecological infrastructure, trade-offs in investment in ecological/built infrastructure, and the model used for social benefits. Identified scalable typologies offer structures suited to increased investment, with other typologies offering specialised local value. A range of ecological infrastructure intervention typologies with differing biophysical and socioeconomic outcomes provide choices for investors with specific goals, and benefits to landscape actors.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-021-01531-z.     

The rise of the eco-preneur and the messy world of environmental innovation

Abstract

Media and academic debates about the environment have increasingly made reference to the so-called ‘eco-preneur’ (‘green entrepreneur’ or ‘environmental entrepreneur’). These discussions encourage us to see the potential of such figures to act as drivers of environmental innovation. Their combination of entrepreneurial zeal and green motivations is seen as providing them with the ability to transcend the usual tensions between business and the environment. In academic circles a new literature is beginning to emerge around this perspective, ‘eco-preneurship’. In this paper we investigate the usefulness of eco-preneurship for understanding environmental innovation. In particular we ask where this literature, supported by popular images in the media, fixes our gaze when we think about environmental innovation in society. And, crucially, what might we be missing by concentrating our attention on these eco-preneurs? The paper concludes by suggesting that environmental innovation is better understood as an inherently messy and complex institutional process, which cannot be reduced to the psychology of entrepreneurial personalities.     

Feeding and aggressive behaviours in juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) under chemically-mediated risk of predation

Summary Juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) spend the first year of their lives in their natal streams, where they may often hold feeding territories. They also face significant risk of predation by birds and fish, and should alter their behaviour to reduce risk of mortality when these predators are present. Although there is laboratory evidence that coho react to predator visual stimuli, chemoreception of avian predator presence has not previously been reported. We tested the influence of chemical stimuli of common merganser (Mergus merganser), preying on juvenile coho, on two aspects of coho territorial behaviour, foraging and aggression, in flow-through aquaria. After a mixture of merganser- and coho-conditioned water was introduced into the system, juvenile coho significantly reduced their attack distance on drifting prey. The fish also significantly decreased their aggressive behaviour directed towards mirrors (total number of acts, intensity of acts and time spent) when the same odour was present. They did not change their behaviour in either experiment after control introductions of water treated with fish alone. These results are interpreted within the framework of a trade-off between juvenile growth and mortality.     

Biotic processes in a coastal dunefield: An assessment of seed removal, with non-native seed removal experiments

The impact of granivores on coastal dune seed reserves may be high, increasing along a landward gradient from the littoral zone as the structural complexity of the habitat increases. Seasonal removal rates of non-native seeds by nocturnal and diurnal vertebrates and ants from experimental seed trays in two habitats within the Alexandria Coastal Dunefield, South Africa, were determined. Overall, seed removal was higher in the dune-field bush-pocket habitat than the landward thicket habitat. Nocturnal vertebrates were the most important seed removers within bush-pockets. The importance of nocturnal vertebrates decreased in the thicket and there was a shift in the dominant seed removers to diurnal vertebrates. Seed removal by ants and diurnal vertebrates did not differ significantly between the bush-pockets and thicket while that of nocturnal vertebrates showed a significant change. This can be ascribed to the abundance of the omnivorous murid rodentGerbillurus paeba exilis in the bush-pockets which is absent from thicket vegetation.     

Consumer-resource body-size relationships in natural food webs

It has been suggested that differences in body size between consumer and resource species may have important implications for interaction strengths, population dynamics, and eventually food web structure, function, and evolution. Still, the general distribution of consumer-'resource body-size ratios in real ecosystems, and whether they vary systematically among habitats or broad taxonomic groups, is poorly understood. Using a unique global database on consumer and resource body sizes, we show that the mean body-size ratios of aquatic herbivorous and detritivorous consumers are several orders of magnitude larger than those of carnivorous predators. Carnivorous predator-prey body-size ratios vary across different habitats and predator and prey types (invertebrates, ectotherm, and endotherm vertebrates). Predator-prey body-size ratios are on average significantly higher (1) in freshwater habitats than in marine or terrestrial habitats, (2) for vertebrate than for invertebrate predators, and (3) for invertebrate than for ectotherm vertebrate prey. If recent studies that relate body-size ratios to interaction strengths are general, our results suggest that mean consumer-resource interaction strengths may vary systematically across different habitat categories and consumer types.     

Managing Water Stress: The Logic of Demand Side Infrastructure Planning

Management of water supply in Britain is increasingly facing up to the problems posed by supply-led strategies. Although the eradication of water stress has traditionally been viewed as a techno-managerial problem, with supply being increased to meet rising demand, this is no longer possible as a general solution. Pressures both from government and from voluntary bodies are leading to approaches which manage the level of demand, and which recognize that water may, for various reasons, be in relatively short supply. The issues are illustrated by a case study of a recent tourist development, in which demand side management measures were extensively utilized.     

Occupational fatality under-reporting in rural areas of the Western Cape Province, South Africa

Following a previously published study which reported that 28% of occupational fatalities in the Cape Town metropole of the Western Cape Province of South Africa had not been reported in terms of statutory regulations, this rural-based study found that 85% of occupational fatalities were unreported. Two hundred and twenty four work-related deaths occurring in 10 rural magisterial districts in the Western Cape Province over a two and a half year period (January 1990-August 1992) were identified by examination of state mortuary death registers and police inquest reports. A review of the registers of the occupational safety inspectorate found that only 15% (n = 33) of these deaths had been reported. Drowning (68%), chemical poisoning (10%) and tractor accidents (9%) accounted for the greatest number of unreported fatalities. Only 5% of fatalities in women were reported. Underreporting of even the most direct occupational accidents highlights the gross inadequacy of the current reporting system for rural areas. Greater co-ordinated efforts within and between the government departments of health and labour are urgently required to address environmental hazards in rural areas and in particular on farms. Differential underreporting of occupational fatalities by gender to the disadvantage of women needs further investigation.     

Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans in human adipose tissue samples from five Ontario municipalities

Human adipose tissue samples obtained during autopsies in 5 Canadian municipalities within the Great Lakes basin were analysed for polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans using gas chromatography-high resolution-mass spectrometry. The mean congener values for male and female donors in each municipality are comparable with previously reported data. No significant differences in congener levels between male and female and between municipalities were detected. A positive correlation between congener level and age was observed for several congeners as well as for the total congener concentration expressed as its 2378-TCDD toxic equivalent.