2.10 Research Funded by the Working for Water
Programme (1995–Present)
The Working for Water programme (WfW, van Wilgen and Wannenburgh 2016), a
public works project administered from within the Department of Water Affairs and
Forestry (and later by the Department of Environmental Affairs) has since its
inception in 1995 allocated a proportion of its budget to research. This research
has been carried out by a number of institutions, most notably the PPRI (for
biological control), the CSIR (for research on hydrological and other impacts, and
assessments of management effectiveness), and the Agricultural Research Council
(for mapping invasive alien plants). Initially, the outputs of this research were
presented in one annual research report (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
2001), and one biennial research report (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
2003). The titles “annual” and “biennial” indicated an intent to produce these reports
on a regular basis, but this did not happen after 2003. Between the 19th and the 21st
of August 2003, WfW then hosted its “inaugural” (the symposium has never been
repeated) research symposium at Kirstenbosch in the Western Cape. The symposium
brought together 290 participants, including researchers, students and managers, and
provided an important forum for the exchange of ideas on invasion science. There
were 40 verbal presentations and 14 posters, covering six broad themes (hydrology,
ecology, biological control, operations management, social development, and economics; Macdonald 2004). The proceedings were published in a special issue of
18 research or review papers in the South African Journal of Science, with Brian van
Wilgen as guest editor (van Wilgen 2004). After this initial flurry of transparent
reporting of research activities and outputs, no further research reports have been
produced. Nonetheless, it is clear that WfW’s funding has stimulated a lot of
research into biological control, alien species impacts, the economics of invasions,
and control methods (Abrahams et al. 2019).
While not all research initiatives funded by WfW can be covered here, it would be
remiss not to mention the South African Plant Invaders Atlas (SAPIA). SAPIA was
conceptualised and developed by Lesley Henderson of the PPRI (Fig. 2.11). Henderson started collecting distribution records in 1979, and by 2016 the SAPIA
database contained 87,000 records for 773 invasive alien plant species (Henderson
and Wilson 2017). SAPIA has provided a base set of data that has been used by
many researchers to investigate alien plant occurrence, spread and impact (see, for
example, Rouget et al. 2004; Henderson and Wilson 2017; van Wilgen et al. 2008).
The initiative was in danger of being discontinued due to lack of funding, but WfW
undertook to provide support to ensure its continuation.
50
B. W. van Wilgen
Programme (1995–Present)
The Working for Water programme (WfW, van Wilgen and Wannenburgh 2016), a
public works project administered from within the Department of Water Affairs and
Forestry (and later by the Department of Environmental Affairs) has since its
inception in 1995 allocated a proportion of its budget to research. This research
has been carried out by a number of institutions, most notably the PPRI (for
biological control), the CSIR (for research on hydrological and other impacts, and
assessments of management effectiveness), and the Agricultural Research Council
(for mapping invasive alien plants). Initially, the outputs of this research were
presented in one annual research report (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
2001), and one biennial research report (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
2003). The titles “annual” and “biennial” indicated an intent to produce these reports
on a regular basis, but this did not happen after 2003. Between the 19th and the 21st
of August 2003, WfW then hosted its “inaugural” (the symposium has never been
repeated) research symposium at Kirstenbosch in the Western Cape. The symposium
brought together 290 participants, including researchers, students and managers, and
provided an important forum for the exchange of ideas on invasion science. There
were 40 verbal presentations and 14 posters, covering six broad themes (hydrology,
ecology, biological control, operations management, social development, and economics; Macdonald 2004). The proceedings were published in a special issue of
18 research or review papers in the South African Journal of Science, with Brian van
Wilgen as guest editor (van Wilgen 2004). After this initial flurry of transparent
reporting of research activities and outputs, no further research reports have been
produced. Nonetheless, it is clear that WfW’s funding has stimulated a lot of
research into biological control, alien species impacts, the economics of invasions,
and control methods (Abrahams et al. 2019).
While not all research initiatives funded by WfW can be covered here, it would be
remiss not to mention the South African Plant Invaders Atlas (SAPIA). SAPIA was
conceptualised and developed by Lesley Henderson of the PPRI (Fig. 2.11). Henderson started collecting distribution records in 1979, and by 2016 the SAPIA
database contained 87,000 records for 773 invasive alien plant species (Henderson
and Wilson 2017). SAPIA has provided a base set of data that has been used by
many researchers to investigate alien plant occurrence, spread and impact (see, for
example, Rouget et al. 2004; Henderson and Wilson 2017; van Wilgen et al. 2008).
The initiative was in danger of being discontinued due to lack of funding, but WfW
undertook to provide support to ensure its continuation.
50
B. W. van Wilgen