Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning
Question by:
Hon Rodney Lentit
Answered by:
Hon Anton Bredell
Question Number:
6
Question Body:
- How many people in the province are employed through the Working for Wetlands Initiative;
- whether this initiative contributed to the rehabilitation of wetlands in the province; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
- whether the skills developed are applicable to other comparable jobs; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Answer Body:
- The National Resources Management programme (NRM) reports around 702 employment opportunities through Working on Wetlands in the Western Cape. CapeNature implements two Working for Wetlands projects in the Western Cape, these include the Duiwenhoks Project which employs 6 Contractors and 74 people and the West Coast Project which employs 6 Contractors and 77 people. SANParks does not have a wetland programme in the Western Cape but the City of Cape Town’s Working for Wetlands Programme has enabled the contracting of 64 people in 2014/15. Therefore a total of 219 people are employed through CapeNature and the City of Cape Town.
- Yes, the Working for Wetlands project contributed to the rehabilitation of wetlands in the province. Wetlands are the most threatened ecosystems in South Africa. Only 11% of wetland ecosystem types are well protected and 71% are not under any form of protection. The protection of rivers, and especially associated wetland ecological infrastructure, can contribute significantly to disaster management since healthy and functional wetlands act as natural buffers against flooding events, as well as releasing groundwater during dry periods. Thus the rehabilitation of wetlands is critically important to ensure that wetlands function optimally.
- Yes, the skills development are applicable to other comparable jobs:
- Construction of gabion structures (to stabilise wetland and river banks, geo-cells construction to stabilise wetland head-cuts)
- Construction of bird hides
- Earth works and excavation
- Vegetation rehabilitation,
- Work site health and safety,
- Business development for Contractors
- Personal finance training
- Chainsaw operator training
- Field safety and survival training
- Alien vegetation clearing
- Alien fish weir construction through concrete casting
Date:
Friday, February 20, 2015
