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dc.contributor.authorGouws, C M
dc.date.accessioned2011-01-14T08:50:19Z
dc.date.available2011-01-14T08:50:19Z
dc.date.issued2008
dc.identifier.citationGOUWS, C.M. 2008. The tragedy of the water commons: the case of the Lower Orange water management area. TD: The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa, 4(1):251-271, Jul. [http://dspace.nwu.ac.za/handle/10394/3605]en
dc.identifier.issn1817-4434
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10394/3931
dc.description.abstractIn the human environment there is a tendency to refer to resources, such as land and water which do not specifically belong to any single individual, as the ‘commons’. Garret Hardin wrote his famous paper called: “The Tragedy of the Commons” in which he highlighted the problem inhabitants of the world face regarding the growing population and depletion of natural resources. He proposed that limits must be placed on the liberal use of natural resources, which usually involve some kind of legislation. South Africa, as a semi-arid country, needs to manage the water as a commons to ensure that all inhabitants of the country have access to safe drinking water as instructed by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act No. 108 of 1996 and subsequently preserved in the National Water Act No 36 of 1998. The significance of Hardin’s theory to South Africa becomes evident in the necessity of the mentioned acts, which involve the establishment of Catchment Management Agencies (CMAs) and Water User Associations (WUAs). These institutions must ensure the involvement of all stakeholders and water users to manage the resource optimally. Establishing these institutions, however, proved to be difficult and their efficiency questioned, thus illustrating a “tragedy within the tragedy”. This article considers the case of the Lower Orange Catchment Management Agency and the Upington Islands Water User Association in the //Khara Hais local municipality, to illustrate the thus far failing efforts taken by this region to manage the water resource.en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.subjectLower Orange River Management Areaen
dc.subjectCatchment Management Agencyen
dc.subjectKhara Haisen
dc.subjectWater user associationen
dc.subjectDepartment of water affairs and fortestry (DWAFen
dc.subjectintegrated water resource management (IWRM)en
dc.subjectTragedy of the commonen
dc.titleThe tragedy of the water commons: the case of the Lower Orange water management areaen
dc.typeArticleen
dc.contributor.researchID10781846 - Gouws, Catharina Maria


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