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Good practice Imported

Working for Water (South Africa)

South Africa · Cape Town · See the South Africa profile · See the Cape Town profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 2% 87/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since 1995 South Africa has paid the unemployed to clear water-hungry invasive alien plants — 2.5M+ hectares cleared and 300,000+ people employed — restoring water yield, reducing fire fuel and creating jobs.

2.5M+ ha
Area cleared of invasive alien plants (since 1995)
300,000+
People employed

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE)
Keywords
Fynbos and multiple biomes, Public works PES (invasive removal)

Context

Since 1995 South Africa's Working for Water programme has paid unemployed workers to clear water-hungry invasive alien plants, restoring water yield, reducing fire fuel loads and creating jobs.

Results

The programme has cleared more than 2.5 million hectares of invasive alien plants and employed over 300,000 people.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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