eThekwini’s Green and Ecological Infrastructure Policy Landscape: Towards a Deeper Understanding

299 Pages·2021·9.67 MB·English

by  Richard Meissner

Richard Meissner
eThekwini’s Green
and Ecological
Infrastructure Policy
Landscape
Towards a Deeper Understanding
’
eThekwini s Green and Ecological Infrastructure
Policy Landscape
Richard Meissner
’
eThekwini s Green
and Ecological Infrastructure
Policy Landscape
Towards a Deeper Understanding
123
Richard Meissner
Council for ScientificandIndustrial
Research (CSIR)
Pretoria, SouthAfrica
Centrefor Water ResourcesResearch
University of KwaZulu-Natal
Scottsville, SouthAfrica
ISBN978-3-030-53050-1 ISBN978-3-030-53051-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53051-8
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To Colleen and Johann
Acknowledgements
Myheartfeltthankstomywife,Colleen,andourson,Johann,forbeingpatientwith
me while researching this book. They always endure the inconvenience of my
absence while I am away on field trips. Then there are my CSIR colleagues, some
ofwhoseideasarecontainedinthepagesofthisbook.Iwouldliketoacknowledge
theinputofIngaJacobs-Mata,whohasalwaysbeenasparringpartnerwithwhomI
candiscussmythoughts.AspecialwordofthanksgoestoMarcPienaarwho,with
his computer wizardry, produced the digital version of PULSE3. A big thank you
goestoLuanitaSnyman-VanderWalt,whoproducedthemapofeThekwini,andto
Krishi Krishna, who patiently trawled the Internet in search of articles written by
eThekwini officials.
As usual, a word of appreciation goes out to my friend and colleague, Jeroen
Warner, from the Wageningen University in the Netherlands. He has provided me
with valuable insights that have enriched my analysis. Sverre van Klaveren, a
former student at the Wageningen University, also deserves a mention. He con-
ducted research on eThekwini’s green infrastructure policy landscape for his
Master’s thesis under Jeroen’s supervision and my co-supervision.
Johan Marais, from the African Snake Bite Institute, shared the picture of the
blackmamba,andDouwSteyn,theSustainabilityDirectorofPlasticsSA,provided
snapshots of the waste pollution in the port of Durban and on the city’s beaches.
Duncan Hay, Executive Director of the Institute of Natural Resources, contributed
photographs of the uMngeni Vlei. I am grateful for all these photos, since one
picture can speak a thousand words. I would like to thank Sharon Rees for dili-
gently proofreading the manuscript.
Numerous individuals willingly sacrificed their time so that I could conduct
interviews with them. These interviews have supplied the bulk of the information
thatIhaveanalysedandreportedoninthisbook.AlthoughIassuredthemoftheir
anonymitybeforetheinterviewcommenced,Iwouldliketoexpressmygratitudeto
the following: Sabine Stuart-Hill, Andre Mather, Bronwyn Goble, Duncan Hay,
CathySutherland,FatimaAlli,PearlGola,GeoffTooley,IsmailBanoo,JimTaylor,
Joanne Douwes, Sean O’Donnoghue, Lee D’Eathe, Magash Naidoo, Martin
Clement and Kate Pringle. To ensure their anonymity, I will refer to them as
vii
viii Acknowledgements
numberedrespondentsinnumericalorderthroughoutthemanuscript,althoughtheir
numbers will be inconsistent with the list of names.
Finally,IwouldliketoacknowledgethefundingprovidedbytheSouthAfrican
National Research Foundation for this research endeavour. Although numerous
individuals have read various parts of this manuscript, have made suggestions and
given their valuable input, I bear full responsibility for any errors that may be
contained therein.
July 2020 Richard Meissner
Contents
1 Green and Ecological Infrastructures and Water Security
at a Municipal Level: An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 The Conceptualisation of Green and Ecological
Infrastructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.1 Green Infrastructures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2.2 Ecological Infrastructures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3 Misinterpreted Multi-functionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.4 Green and Ecological Infrastructures as Instrumental Policies . . . . 11
1.5 Water Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.6 South African Municipalities and Water Resources
Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.7 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2 The Use of Paradigms and Theories in the PULSE3 Analytical
Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.2 Conceptual Building Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.2.1 Paradigms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.2.2 Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.2.3 Productive Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.3 Paradigms and Theories as Multiple Inquiry Systems . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.3.1 Epistemological and Practical Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.3.2 Actions and Situations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.3.3 Configurations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.3.4 Insightful Consequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.3.5 Science Speaking Truth to Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
ix
x Contents
2.4 Pulse3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.4.1 Rationale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.4.2 Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.5 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3 eThekwini’s Green and Ecological Infrastructure Policy
Landscape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
3.2 The eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
3.3 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
3.3.1 Data Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
3.3.2 Data Coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
3.4 Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
3.4.1 Paradigm Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
3.4.2 Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
3.4.3 Causal Mechanisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
3.4.4 The Problem-Solving and Critical Theory
Perspectives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
3.5 Practice Theory as a Direction-Finding Beacon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
3.5.1 Conceptualising Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
3.5.2 The Practice Perspective. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
3.6 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
4 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
4.2 Self-Reflection and Exclusivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
4.3 Reality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
4.3.1 Empiricism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
4.3.2 Systemic Constructivism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
4.4 Group-Think . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
4.4.1 Ecological Dominance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
4.4.2 International Relations of eThekwini as an Autonomous
Actor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
4.5 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Appendix. .... .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 249
Index .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 281
Abbreviations
ACT African Conservation Trust
AIMS Agential, ideational, material and structural
ALCOSAN Allegheny County Sanitary Authority
ANC African National Congress
BII Biodiversity Intactness Index
CBD Convention on Biological Diversity
CMA Catchment Management Agency
COP Conference of Parties
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019
CRP Community Reforestation Programme
CSI Corporate Social Investment
CSIR Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
CSR Corporate Social Responsibility
CWRR Centre for Water Resources Research
D’MOSS Durban Metropolitan Open Space System
DA Democratic Alliance
DAC Durban Adaptation Charter
DBSA Development Bank of Southern Africa
DCCS Durban Climate Change Strategy
DRAP Durban Research Action Partnership
DUCT Duzi Umngeni Conservation Trust
DUT Durban University of Technology
DWS Department of Water and Sanitation
EFF Economic Freedom Fighters
EPA Environmental Protection Agency
EPCPD Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department
FIFA Fédération Internationale de Football Association
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GIZ Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit
GWP Global Water Partnership
xi