Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
more importantly the employment contract, provided the workers with access to
credit for the first time. Instead of seeking or obtaining credit to produce products that
can be traded, the workers, in most cases, sought credit from large commercial chain
stores selling consumables. These consumables do not generate revenue, and an un-
known but sizable number of people who took advantage of these chain store credits
were not able to repay their debts once the project came to an end in March 2007.
With regard to recruitment policy, the village leaders selected the participants.
While this approach allowed for maximum community participation and engagement
in the total process, it also provided opportunity for some abuse, whereby strong and
influential individuals advanced their own interests and those of their close associates,
not necessarily complying with the accepted norms and conditions of the project. In
principle, however, we regard this approach to be preferable to an outside entity hir-
ing people in an unorganized or impersonal manner. What was missing was an ap-
propriate mechanism to prevent the abuse of power.
Ideas for a Development Package with a Successful
Restoration Component
In the short term, management actions to limit human activities dramatically im-
proved basal vegetation cover within the fenced-in restoration sites. However, it is
highly likely that villagers cutting fuelwood and cattle grazing will undo the results of
ARISE once the fence is removed. To retain the fence is also unrealistic, in particular
for a larger area, since it would jeopardize people's livelihood opportunities. This
clearly highlights the fact that sustainable restoration projects in rural and economi-
cally deprived contexts need to be incorporated in a development package with an al-
ternative energy source for fuelwood and an alternative grazing policy as core compo-
nents. The original ARISE plan did make provision for alternative sources of energy
and the active development of tourism, but these components were never funded.
The implementation of the restoration project—carried out in isolation from the
other complementary activities recommended for funding—thus failed to have the
desired developmental impact. This provides an important lesson for those drafting or
conceiving such projects in South Africa or elsewhere in future.
All of that said, it should be noted that it is not easy to implement an alternative en-
ergy strategy. It requires dedicated attention. Madubansi and Shackleton (2006) con-
cluded that fuelwood consumption had not decreased even a decade after electrifica-
tion of the villages a few hundred kilometers south of Giyani. Biogas produced by a
local utility organization may be a suitable alternative for fuelwood for cooking pur-
poses. The establishment of such a utility organization has been proposed for the vil-
lages where ARISE is located (Van Ierland 2008) and a few biogas digesters have since
been constructed. The organization is, however, still short of funds needed to become
fully operational.
The biogas project and ARISE together would form a more coherent development
package than ARISE alone. By reducing fuelwood use, the biogas project would con-
tribute to support natural vegetation recovery both within the restoration sites and out-
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