Papers by Nicola Diederichs Mander
Natural plant processing enterprises provide an opportunity for rural development in southern Afr... more Natural plant processing enterprises provide an opportunity for rural development in southern Africa. Rural people can assist such enterprises in raw material procurement, processing activities and also as business partners. These enterprises serve as a link between the rural poor and affluent consumers looking for new and exciting natural products. Natural product enterprises function in a complex business environment and often fail due to various reasons such as poor management and marketing.
The Orange River Basin extends across south-central Southern Africa. It is an international river... more The Orange River Basin extends across south-central Southern Africa. It is an international river basin, encompassing the whole of Lesotho, the urban-industrial complex of Gauteng Province in South Africa, the cereal production areas of the central South African plateau, the arid western regions of South Africa, and the southern portions of Namibia and Botswana (falling mainly within the Kalahari Desert). It also contains two international biodiversity hotspots. At almost one million square kilometres, the basin is the largest south of the Zambezi. It is also the most developed transboundary river basin in the region, with a variety of water transfer schemes to supply water to municipalities, industries and farms inside and outside the basin. The basin plays host to one of the most industrially developed parts of Africa (the region around Johannesburg, South Africa) and supports a range of commercial and subsistence farmers. There are thus several issues posing a challenge for water...
Durban was one of nine South African host cities for the 2010 FIFA World Cup mega-event. Local go... more Durban was one of nine South African host cities for the 2010 FIFA World Cup mega-event. Local government in Durban was one of a handful of the host cities that committed to "greening" the event through a broad-based sustainability programme that aimed to minimise and mitigate the global and local environmental and climate impacts of the event. This summary report provides an overview of the "Greening Durban 2010" programme, which was Durban's ambitious and award-winning event sustainability programme, and the lessons that were learnt through its implementation.
Log i n S u b scri b e | S p on sor | S u b mi t | Don ate | S p on sors an d P artn ers | Ab ou ... more Log i n S u b scri b e | S p on sor | S u b mi t | Don ate | S p on sors an d P artn ers | Ab ou t Vol u me 2 | I ssu e 6 | P ag e 2 4 -2 7 | Nov 2 0 1 1 2003 Mel i ssa May/Cour tesy of Photoshar e In South Africa, a little boy collects water for his family. In Durban, the environment department recognized the importance of healthy rivers, especially given the fact that 300,000 people relied on nearby rivers for drinking water.
African Journal of Aquatic Science, 2001
The proposed abstraction of water from the Okavango River in Namibia could potentially result in ... more The proposed abstraction of water from the Okavango River in Namibia could potentially result in significant changes in the vegetation of floodplains downstream of the abstraction point. Direct gradient analysis was used to determine the distribution of the most common floodplain plant species in relation to elevation above the water surface and distance from the channel, and therefore to the depth and duration of flooding. Species could be ranked and scored according to their distribution in relation to both elevation and distance from the channel, reflecting a gradient from species intolerant of flooding to those that withstand prolonged flooding. In general, as distance from the channel increased, the elevation at which each of the species occurred decreased, but there was a great deal of variation in the range of elevations over which each species occurred, primarily as a consequence of the irregular topography of these floodplains. Furthermore, several ruderal species were restricted to elevated sites in close proximity to the channel, occurring on recently formed point bars which are the product of fluvial processes.
Africa and there is evidence to suggest that traditional use is at least partly responsible for t... more Africa and there is evidence to suggest that traditional use is at least partly responsible for the rapid decline of vulture populations in this country. Until very recently, little information on the extent of the trade in animal parts, particularly vultures, for traditional medicine was available. The secretive and illegal nature of vulture use makes it extremely difficult to obtain reliable data on amounts and turnovers of species traded, which is essential to assess potential impacts on species populations.
... Title. Assessing water vulnerability in the Orange River Basin in South Africa. ... Suggested... more ... Title. Assessing water vulnerability in the Orange River Basin in South Africa. ... Suggested Citation. Sullivan, CA, Diederichs, N & Manders, M 2009, Assessing water vulnerability in the OrangeRiver Basin in South Africa, NeWater Technical Report, Oxford, UK. ...
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Papers by Nicola Diederichs Mander
However, despite significant government investment in the DEA NRM Programme, IAPs continue to spread. In addition, most of the felled IAP biomass is left in situ, which can result in a significant fire hazard. In response, government began promoting the use of IAP biomass as an input material for value-adding activities. This was also expected to increase the economic sustainability and social benefits from IAP eradication, as well as encourage private sector investment into IAP clearing.
The DEA NRM Programmes’ support of IAP biomass value-adding enterprises has yielded variable outcomes, with many of the enterprises initially assisted proving unsustainable. This raised the question: “what makes IAP biomass value-adding enterprises survive or fail?”
This research study has evaluated a selection of existing, failed and emerging IAP biomass based value-adding enterprises with the aim of determining the key internal structural factors that make these enterprises sustainable. In addition, criteria that affect the performance of these enterprises in creating jobs, developing human capital and restoring natural capital, in line with the key aims of the DEA NRM Programme, were identified. A Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis tool was developed and used to evaluate and compare the enterprises studied. A further aim of the study was to identify the kinds of support that the DEA NRM Programme should provide to IAP biomass value-adding industries to leverage the best possible outcomes.
The study findings suggest that government and private enterprise need to work together in establishing IAP biomass value-adding industries. However, appropriate structuring of such relationships is important to ensure there is sufficient value and fair sharing of risk between the partners. Government will not only need to carefully select the enterprises that it partners with to ensure its investment has maximum impact, it will also need to invest in the development of the IAP biomass industry sector through developing markets for IAP products and filling key research and development gaps that are unaffordable for the private sector.