Event: Workshop: The role of ecosystems in people’s livelihoods, East London/EC

The Water Research Commission invites you to attend a stakeholder workshop that will allow participants to understand how the rural communities could benefit from the ecosystems management. The workshop theme is “The role of ecosystems in people’s livelihoods”.

Rural areas have been neglected for a very long time when it comes to ecosystems management. Most of the rural poor rely directly on the environment for their livelihood. For instance, while poor quality water can be improved in treatment works (at increased cost) those directly dependent on the resource will suffer the consequences of drinking water containing pollutants or disease-causing organisms. At the same time, the flow of goods and services, such as fish, fibres, cultivated and medicinal plants, from a poor-quality ecosystem will be less than it should be. For these and other reasons, sustainable management of the ecosystems making up the environment is central to an improved quality of life. The scale of ecosystems benefits varies from individual livelihoods, for example, fibre for mat- and basket-weaving or medicinal benefits, to universal, such as good quality water for abstraction and urban use and intact wetlands to aid in the improvement of water quality and flood attenuation. In short, the society cannot survive without the underpinning support from the environment.