South Africa National Report - Phase 1: Integrated Problem Analysis

This report identifies the main issues affecting coastal and marine resources in South Africa, their immediate and direct causes, underlying pressures and root causes of these impacts and provides guidelines as to the best means for intervention to alleviate these problems. The work was undertaken in three phases modelled closely on the methodology developed for the Global International Waters Assessment project. This methodology was implemented simultaneously in eleven sub-Saharan African countries under the guidance of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and the Advisory Committee on Protection of the Seas (ACOPS). The project was funded by the GEF under the Medium Size Project (MSP) category. The three phases were as follows:

1. A scoping and prioritisation exercise in which a series of priority marine and coastal areas were selected as either currently suffering measurable degradation (i.e. hot spots) or likely to be subject to some degradation in the future (i.e. sensitive areas). Environmental conditions affecting each of these sites was assessed in the context of five main issues: freshwater shortage, water pollution, habitat and biological community modification, fisheries, and global change; and the main sources and causes of degradation identified.
2. An analysis of impacts, designed to determine quantifiably the severity of the impacts identified in Phase 1. The biophysical and socio-economic impacts of these issues were assessed as they affect the selected hot spots and sensitive areas and the country as a whole. The objective was to determine quantifiably the severity of the impacts of the selected key issues thereby further substantiating their selection.
3. A causal chain analysis that progressively brought to light the root causes of the problems identified in Phases 1 and 2.

Phase 1: Scaling and Scoping

A list of three priority hot spots (Richards Bay, Knysna and False Bay), three sensitive areas (Maputaland, Pondoland and Saldanha-Langebaan) and three overriding issues (reduction in the quantity and quality of available freshwater, over-exploitation of living marine resources, loss and modification of habitat, and pollution - land and marine based sources) were identified at the start of the study. Thereafter, based on their impacts on the identified habitats and the country as a whole, a list of three issues were identified as having the greatest priority on the basis through a scaling and scoping exercise (Phase 1). The identified issues were over-exploitation of living marine resources, modification of habitats and/or ecosystems, and modification of stream flow.

Phase 2: Analysis of Impacts

The impacts of each of the identified issues were examined and quantified in terms of their effects on the selected hot spots and sensitive areas, the country as a whole and their transboundary effects. The issue of over-exploitation of living resources was subdivided into inshore and offshore, and commercial, recreational and subsistence components. Offshore resources in South Africa are exploited almost exclusively by large-scale commercial or industrial operators, with a small contribution from the recreational sector. Although many of these fisheries have been through a period of over-exploitation and in some cases even collapse, most are well managed now and efforts are also being made to rebuild depleted stocks wherever possible. Some opportunity cost has been incurred as a result of historic over-exploitation but these fisheries still contribute significantly to national GDP and are likely to continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Inshore resources on the other hand are exploited by commercial, recreational and subsistence fisheries; they are for the most part not very well managed and are operating beyond sustainable limits, stocks of exploited species in many cases