By DOMINIC NAIDOO
It has been a decade since the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) South Africa has been taking influential South Africans on a journey through some of the country’s key water catchment areas to highlight the importance of a healthy natural environment for water security.
WWF South Africa’s Journey of Water campaign immerses city dwellers in an exhilarating and challenging outdoor experience to spread the message that “water doesn’t just come from a tap”.
The objective is to bring home the need to better protect our strategic water source areas, those mountainous areas of our country which provide the bulk of South Africa’s surface water.
Extensive studies by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) found that nearly half of the water in our rivers and dams originates from only 10% of the surface area of South Africa.
These are spread over 22 water source areas (WSA’s) located in five of our provinces. Only 13% of land on which these WSA’s flow through is protected under the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act of 2000.
Ruth Beukman, freshwater and policy lead at WWF South Africa said: “The power of the Journey of Water is that it showcases examples of both good stewardship and neglect, while highlighting what everybody can do, from commercial to small-scale farmers, rural to urban-dwellers, to safeguard the natural environment that provides us with fresh water.”
Karl Socikwa, Sanlam group executive for market development and sustainability shared that the campaign reflects a real commitment to systemic change.
“Over the years, we’ve invested in it because we can see how it benefits the environment, the economy and society. Without water, our society simply won’t be able to properly function. Our goal is to empower our communities to live with confidence by building a better tomorrow. As a group, we are deeply devoted to accelerating socio-economic development, shared value creation, climate change management, and investing with impact to catalyse meaningful social and environmental change,” said Socikwa.
The inaugural Journey of Water tour took place in 2013 when WWF South Africa, in partnership with Sanlam and other stakeholders, embarked on a trip from the Berg River Dam in the Boland WSA to the City of Cape Town.
Since then, there have been journeys in 2015 to the Southern Drakensberg WSA from where much of KZN derives its water, in 2017 to the Enkangala Drakensberg WSA, and in 2019 returning to the Boland WSA. The idea has also caught on internationally, with similar journeys taking place as far afield as Zambia, Malaysia, China and Brazil.
Aside from awareness-raising, the Journey of Water has also resonated in the policy discourse, leading to a sharper focus on ecological infrastructure on a national scale. It is worth noting that the first sentence used at the launch of a National Water Master Plan for South Africa was the line “water doesn’t come from a tap”.
WWF said that the key elements that make the Journey of Water such a powerful communication tool are that it is a combination of physical challenge and real-life experience that brings home the message that “water doesn’t come from a tap.”
It also targets influential urban dwellers who can amplify this message to their peers and draws in trusted voices, ranging from WWF staff to independent water experts and other water champions to tell the story of water along the journey.
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