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When South African policymakers compiled the National Water Act and started implementing Integrated Water Resources Management, they assumed that social cohesion and shared values existed in the divided communities that characterized the post-apartheid South Africa. Moreover, they naively anticipated that both governments and communities were able to engage effectively in transdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder platforms on water governance. Water governance is a normative concept that implies a shift from government being in control of water management to it being a shared responsibility between diverse stakeholders in a context. Value analysis can play a critical role in understanding the multitude of conflicts that arise among the different stakeholders in water governance. It can create platforms for meaningful engagement that could lead to the resolution of a conflict. This work evaluates the impact of an ethics methodology in South Africa, discussing how the value-driven process was able to achieve improved social cohesion within the divided community in the Philippi Horticultural Area (PHA). It compares this methodology with others arguing that its persistent focus on values and process, rather than content and outcome makes it more useful than other forms of participatory action research to hydrogeologists wanting to involve ethics in contested water governance issues.
Leanne Seeliger. The Ethics of Groundwater Governance: Evaluating a Methodology in Philippi in Cape Town. Plant-Microbes-Engineered Nano-particles (PM-ENPs) Nexus in Agro-Ecosystems 2021, 437 -439.
AMA StyleLeanne Seeliger. The Ethics of Groundwater Governance: Evaluating a Methodology in Philippi in Cape Town. Plant-Microbes-Engineered Nano-particles (PM-ENPs) Nexus in Agro-Ecosystems. 2021; ():437-439.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLeanne Seeliger. 2021. "The Ethics of Groundwater Governance: Evaluating a Methodology in Philippi in Cape Town." Plant-Microbes-Engineered Nano-particles (PM-ENPs) Nexus in Agro-Ecosystems , no. : 437-439.
The water-energy-food nexus has emerged as a useful concept to understand the multiple interdependencies that exist between the water, energy and food sectors. The nexus is an ambitious attempt to work across disciplines and scales to understand the workings of these complex systems. It is, however, criticised for being more of a general framework than a practical methodology because of the vast amount of data it would need to make real-life contributions to sustainable development. We show how the nexus approach, when used within a farm budget model, can transform the problem focus in water governance. By changing the relationship among water, energy and food production of a farm, profitability is significantly changed. The water-energy-food nexus debate is discussed within the context of the South African water sector, particularly the Breede River Catchment. Working from within the farm budget model, we demonstrate the impact of moving from an irrigation canal system that requires electricity for pumping, to a gravity-fed piped irrigation system in the Middle Breede River. The finding is that the water-energy-food nexus has the potential to unlock groundbreaking solutions to complex problems in agricultural water management when used in appropriate modelling systems. Significance: The water-energy-food nexus approach can lead to an entirely new framing of water governance problems and therefore solutions to these problems. The water-energy-food nexus when used in farm budget models can identify ways of altering farm profitability. By addressing the energy cost of farming through an irrigation pipeline system in parts of the Breede Catchment Area, farm profitability could significantly increase. A gravity-fed closed pipeline system in parts of the Breede River can improve water availability and reduce farm and management costs.
Leanne Seeliger; Willem P. De Clercq; Willem Hoffman; James D.S. Cullis; Annabel M. Horn; Marlene De Witt. Applying the water-energy-food nexus to farm profitability in the Middle Breede Catchment, South Africa. South African Journal of Science 2018, 114, 1 .
AMA StyleLeanne Seeliger, Willem P. De Clercq, Willem Hoffman, James D.S. Cullis, Annabel M. Horn, Marlene De Witt. Applying the water-energy-food nexus to farm profitability in the Middle Breede Catchment, South Africa. South African Journal of Science. 2018; 114 (11/12):1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLeanne Seeliger; Willem P. De Clercq; Willem Hoffman; James D.S. Cullis; Annabel M. Horn; Marlene De Witt. 2018. "Applying the water-energy-food nexus to farm profitability in the Middle Breede Catchment, South Africa." South African Journal of Science 114, no. 11/12: 1.
Improving water practices among small farmers in a water scarce area like the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico is a complex task. Despite government attempts to enforce regulations and question the possibility of adjusting prices, the misuse of this scarce resource continues. Most farmers are, at best, motivated to aim for a minimum level of compliance, with very few striving to engage in best practices. This article seeks to make a proposal about the best drivers for inspiring best practices in an effort to improve the use of water management in the area. It proposes that a virtue ethics approach that explicitly focuses on the cultivation of an attitude of respect for water founded on three key principles (participation, hydrosolidarity and proactive engagement) is the best solution for Yucatan. This hypothesis is the result of developing a singular methodology based on Partial Least Squares (PLS), according to structural equation modeling (SEM), that could be replicated anywhere to ascertain which measures are best suited in a particular context. Using a small sample size, this research ascertains what is required to achieve best practices with regards to the management of water in that particular area.
Rafael R. Ramírez; Leanne Seeliger; Filippo Di Pietro. Price, Virtues, Principles: How to Discern What Inspires Best Practices in Water Management? A Case Study about Small Farmers in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. Sustainability 2016, 8, 385 .
AMA StyleRafael R. Ramírez, Leanne Seeliger, Filippo Di Pietro. Price, Virtues, Principles: How to Discern What Inspires Best Practices in Water Management? A Case Study about Small Farmers in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. Sustainability. 2016; 8 (4):385.
Chicago/Turabian StyleRafael R. Ramírez; Leanne Seeliger; Filippo Di Pietro. 2016. "Price, Virtues, Principles: How to Discern What Inspires Best Practices in Water Management? A Case Study about Small Farmers in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico." Sustainability 8, no. 4: 385.
Leanne Seeliger; Ivan Turok. Towards Sustainable Cities: Extending Resilience with Insights from Vulnerability and Transition Theory. Ecological Resilience 2016, 39 -68.
AMA StyleLeanne Seeliger, Ivan Turok. Towards Sustainable Cities: Extending Resilience with Insights from Vulnerability and Transition Theory. Ecological Resilience. 2016; ():39-68.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLeanne Seeliger; Ivan Turok. 2016. "Towards Sustainable Cities: Extending Resilience with Insights from Vulnerability and Transition Theory." Ecological Resilience , no. : 39-68.
South Africa’s sprawling, fragmented urban form remains essentially intact, despite the inequitable consequences and resource inefficiencies. Government policies have advocated urban integration-compaction for two decades, in the face of inertia and resistance from vested interests. This paper investigates the attitudes of developers towards the principles of sustainable urban transformation. Developers tend to favour a narrow agenda of new green buildings over more environmentally significant brownfield re-development and refurbished buildings. While they recognise the need for higher-density, mixed-use schemes within existing built-up areas, most remain reluctant to get directly involved themselves because of the perceived risks and uncertainties. Yet, several niche developers are breaking the mould and beginning to challenge such assumptions about the potential for profitable investment in hitherto neglected areas.
Leanne Seeliger; Ivan Turok. Green-Sighted but City-Blind: Developer Attitudes to Sustainable Urban Transformation. Urban Forum 2015, 26, 321 -341.
AMA StyleLeanne Seeliger, Ivan Turok. Green-Sighted but City-Blind: Developer Attitudes to Sustainable Urban Transformation. Urban Forum. 2015; 26 (3):321-341.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLeanne Seeliger; Ivan Turok. 2015. "Green-Sighted but City-Blind: Developer Attitudes to Sustainable Urban Transformation." Urban Forum 26, no. 3: 321-341.
The growth of informal settlements can intensify the risks of social and ecological harm to their communities and to the wider urban area. The unplanned and poorly serviced character of these settlements raises the probability of disasters occurring. The public sector can increase these risks through indifference and poorly conceived actions or it can help to build resilience through a more constructive and integrated approach. This case study from Stellenbosch in South Africa illustrates how a resilience perspective can highlight the systemic challenges surrounding the growth and management of informal settlements. It emphasizes the interactions between such places and their urban context, and recognizes the negative feedback loops that can exacerbate poverty and vulnerability. It proposes adaptive governance as a framework for building resilience through strengthening local capabilities. This flexible and engaged approach goes beyond “just managing” informal settlements to integrating them in a more positive way into the wider city or town.
Leanne Seeliger; Ivan Turok. Averting a downward spiral: building resilience in informal urban settlements through adaptive governance. Environment and Urbanization 2013, 26, 184 -199.
AMA StyleLeanne Seeliger, Ivan Turok. Averting a downward spiral: building resilience in informal urban settlements through adaptive governance. Environment and Urbanization. 2013; 26 (1):184-199.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLeanne Seeliger; Ivan Turok. 2013. "Averting a downward spiral: building resilience in informal urban settlements through adaptive governance." Environment and Urbanization 26, no. 1: 184-199.
Cities at all stages of development need to provide jobs, food and services for their people. There is no formula that can unilaterally be applied in all urban environments to achieve this. The complex interaction of social, economic and ecological cycles within cities makes it impossible to predict outcomes. Resilience theory, with its engineering, multi-equilibria and socio-ecological approaches, provides some of the foundations for understanding the full range of the complex social and ecological interactions that underpin sustainable cities. It is proposed that these insights could be extended by a sharper focus on the social and technological innovation that has traditionally been the emphasis of vulnerability and transition theories respectively.
Leanne Seeliger; Ivan Turok. Towards Sustainable Cities: Extending Resilience with Insights from Vulnerability and Transition Theory. Sustainability 2013, 5, 2108 -2128.
AMA StyleLeanne Seeliger, Ivan Turok. Towards Sustainable Cities: Extending Resilience with Insights from Vulnerability and Transition Theory. Sustainability. 2013; 5 (5):2108-2128.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLeanne Seeliger; Ivan Turok. 2013. "Towards Sustainable Cities: Extending Resilience with Insights from Vulnerability and Transition Theory." Sustainability 5, no. 5: 2108-2128.