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1 Green and Ecological Infrastructures and Water Security …
Fig. 1.6 Tons of municipal solid waste and other debris floating in the port of Durban, April 2019.
Photo courtesy of Douw Steyn, Plastics SA
1.2.2 Ecological Infrastructures
Whereas green infrastructures are common in urban and peri-urban areas, Sigwela
et al. (2017) relates ecological infrastructures to a sustainable rural livelihood.
Whereas Sigwela et al. (2017) defines an ecological infrastructure functionally in
rural areas, Li et al. (2017: 12) speak of an ‘urban ecological infrastructure’. They
define this type of infrastructure as ‘… an organic integration of blue (water-based),
green (vegetated), and grey (non-living) landscapes, combined with exits (outflows,
treatment or recycling) and arteries (corridors), at an ecosystem scale’.
In their definitions of an ecological infrastructure, Pringle et al. (2015) and Jewitt
et al. (2015) also observed it in relation to the ecosystem. They view it as ‘a naturallyfunctioning ecosystem that produces and delivers valuable services to people’ and
that is ‘the nature-based equivalent of a built infrastructure’. Their definition was
borrowed from the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), which
notes that an ‘[e]cological infrastructure refers to a naturally-functioning ecosystem
that delivers valuable services to people, such as water and climate regulation, soil
formation and disaster risk reduction. It is the nature-based equivalent of a built or
hard infrastructure and can be just as important for providing services and underpinning socio-economic development’ (SANBI 2019). This means that these definitions, like Sandström’s (2002) conceptualisation of a green infrastructure, elevate
1 Green and Ecological Infrastructures and Water Security …
Fig. 1.6 Tons of municipal solid waste and other debris floating in the port of Durban, April 2019.
Photo courtesy of Douw Steyn, Plastics SA
1.2.2 Ecological Infrastructures
Whereas green infrastructures are common in urban and peri-urban areas, Sigwela
et al. (2017) relates ecological infrastructures to a sustainable rural livelihood.
Whereas Sigwela et al. (2017) defines an ecological infrastructure functionally in
rural areas, Li et al. (2017: 12) speak of an ‘urban ecological infrastructure’. They
define this type of infrastructure as ‘… an organic integration of blue (water-based),
green (vegetated), and grey (non-living) landscapes, combined with exits (outflows,
treatment or recycling) and arteries (corridors), at an ecosystem scale’.
In their definitions of an ecological infrastructure, Pringle et al. (2015) and Jewitt
et al. (2015) also observed it in relation to the ecosystem. They view it as ‘a naturallyfunctioning ecosystem that produces and delivers valuable services to people’ and
that is ‘the nature-based equivalent of a built infrastructure’. Their definition was
borrowed from the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), which
notes that an ‘[e]cological infrastructure refers to a naturally-functioning ecosystem
that delivers valuable services to people, such as water and climate regulation, soil
formation and disaster risk reduction. It is the nature-based equivalent of a built or
hard infrastructure and can be just as important for providing services and underpinning socio-economic development’ (SANBI 2019). This means that these definitions, like Sandström’s (2002) conceptualisation of a green infrastructure, elevate