South Africa: Water Roadmap Collective Action Project

The challenges in South Africa’s waters

South Africa, known for its natural beauty and ideal growing conditions, is the largest citrus exporter in the Southern Hemisphere and a major supplier of grapes, apples, pears and stone fruit to markets around the world. The Western Cape plays a critical role in this production and is especially important to the UK, supplying around 20% of our citrus and grapes.

At the heart of this region is the Strategic Water Source Area, which includes the Breede, Berg, Olifants, Doring and Palmiet rivers. These catchments provide 97% of freshwater to the province and support the Cape Floral Kingdom, a globally recognised biodiversity hotspot. But water supply is becoming increasingly unpredictable. Invasive tree species are reducing streamflow by up to 100% in some areas, and climate change is driving more extreme droughts and floods that disrupt harvests and supply chains. Although conditions have temporarily stabilised, long-term risks to water security and biodiversity remain.

The Water Roadmap Collective Action Project in South Africa is reducing these long-term risks by restoring and future-proofing water systems in this vital fruit-growing region.

What we’re doing to protect water in South Africa

WRAP is working closely with our delivery partner, WWF South Africa, in focusing on improving water resilience for fresh fruit production. Together we are:  

• Restoring rivers to improve water flow and protect against flooding
• Clearing invasive plants across the region, which damage rivers and drain water resources – some tree species that aren’t native to the land, like Eucalyptus and Pine, consume up to 200L of water per tree, per day (this is more than the average person in the UK consumes per day)
• Monitoring groundwater levels to understand how collective farmer abstraction impacts water table levels
• Supporting better water management across the catchment through local catchment coordination that enables learning and best practice between farms. This is done by catchment coordinators who facilitate and host workshops and farm tours/visits for farmers to learn from each other
• Enhancing biodiversity monitoring, such as co-funding wildlife camera traps to track species like the Cape Leopard.

Whether your business grows or sources from the Western Cape in South Africa, you have a role to play in protecting their water.

You don’t have to go it alone – join the Water Roadmap to access guidance and help support this important project.

Our impact in South Africa so far

The South Africa Collective Action Project has significantly increased the availability of water by preventing vast amounts of water from being lost to thirsty alien invasive vegetation. After creating over 100 local jobs, more than 300 hectares of these plants have been cleared, boosting the natural flow and availability of water for surrounding communities, agriculture and native biodiversity.

During recent floods, areas that had been restored with local plant species suffered less impact than those that have not yet been cleared, proving how this work helps reduce damage and risk of unpredictable weather patterns. Indigenous plant species are more resilient to floods and bounce back quicker and more effectively than alien vegetation species.

Progress is only possible thanks to the support of Water Roadmap members and partners who are helping fund on-the-ground delivery and promoting sustainable water management in their supply chains.

Scaling up: action still needed

The Western Cape in South Africa should be a thriving lifeline for nature, food production and local communities. Now is the time to restore it. We need more businesses that source from or work in the region to step up, champion water stewardship across their supply chains, and fund the next phase of this critical work.

By joining the Water Roadmap, your participation will drive:

• Sustained support for invasive plant clearance which is a widescale problem needing long-term maintenance leading to improved resilience in the supply chain to drought conditions and increased opportunities for biodiversity to thrive
• Local catchment coordinator roles that build trust and momentum on-the-ground, leveraging additional funding for impactful activities (e.g. alien invasive vegetation clearing and indigenous planting)
• The establishment of native plant nurseries to grow a diverse range of fauna for cleared and restored areas, boosting local biodiversity and natural water consumption
• The development of the Water Balance Tool that can be used to track and understand cumulative water use for farmers as well as ensure sufficient environmental flows
• Learnings and solutions that can be implemented in other current and future Water Roadmap projects.