Guardians of the green: Tackling invasive alien plants to address water scarcity in South Africa

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Good day listener, welcome again to our program on farming. In today’s segment, we focus on the significance of clearing invasive plants to restore water in its sources and grasslands.

In today’s program, we will speak to some of the farmers and stakeholders in the Drakensberg who have taken action against the spread of invasive plants. While these plants are useful for keeping homes warm and cooking food, they have also caused significant water loss. The community has joined forces with Wildtrust, a non-governmental organisation focused on safeguarding biodiversity in Drakensberg’s natural water sources.

We will speak to Bawinile Mtolo, a 58-year-old livestock farmer from the Amazizi tribal authority, who now supervises a team clearing alien vegetation in her community through the Wildtrust project. We will also speak to Bongumusa Khoza, a maize farmer from Emaswazini, who will share his experience trying to control the spread of invasive vegetation such as wattle in Emaswazini. Finally, Kirsten Oliver of Wildtrust will share insights about the dangers posed by invasive vegetation. Together with them, I am your host…….

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SFX: Saw cutting down a tree and the trunk falling to the ground.

It’s a pleasure to welcome to our program Bawinile Mtolo, a livestock farmer based in the Amazizi tribal authority. She also supervises a team of people who clear invasive vegetation in her area. It’s a pleasure to have you here Bawinile.

I understand you are part of a project teaching your community about reducing alien vegetation in water source areas and grazing fields. Please tell us more about it.

Thank you for having me. Our community relies heavily on farming for sustenance, and water is essential for our survival. Through a joint initiative between WWF and Wildtrust funded by Pepsico, our community has found Nature-based Solutions to address water scarcity caused by alien plants.

I understand that you do a lot of work in the community. How did you get involved in water protection?

I have always been interested in community development initiatives. It was easy for me to join in when I heard that Wildtrust and WWF were planning to bring a project to clear the area of invasive alien plants and solve our longstanding water problem in 2022. I jumped at the opportunity to take part. We have a few rivers and streams in our neighbourhood, yet we have massive water shortages.

Tell us a bit about these water shortages and how they affect the community.

The municipality supplies our water. There are times when water is cut off and we can’t access it from our communal taps. We think this happens during water rationing. At times one section of the community would get water. At times people get angry and break the pipes when there is no water. We are then left without water for two to five months. Other times we are told that an engine for pumping the water is broken and that we won’t have water. When all this happens, we rely on natural water sources for survival.

What are some of the reasons for the water shortages?

Like many rural areas, we have significant water challenges. We rely on water from communal taps, others have taps in their homes, but the water is not always available because of numerous challenges faced by our municipality. In addition to this, invasive plants, such as gum trees and wattle, grow along our rivers, sucking them dry and depriving us of water when we try to get water from rivers and streams.

How are these invasive plants and the water scarcity affecting you as a farmer?

Invasive plants such as bracken fern grow extensively, particularly in grazing areas, forcing some of the farmers to buy grass at high prices. Before the clearing project, I would spend 1,000 rand ($55.39 US) on grass for my livestock every year during winter seasons, which affected my family’s livelihood. Bracken fern clearing is not part of the current project we are running but after learning how to identify invasive plants, we were able to identify some of them and were able to remove some on our own.

In our area we also have a prevalence of wattle. We also get other plants like gumtree. These are the trees that use up a lot of water from the ground. This does not leave enough water for other plants to survive. Therefore, we remove them when clearing invasive plants.

Before doing work on this and other projects, did you know about the harm caused by invasive plants to your water supply?

We did not realise that plants like bracken fern and others were causing water scarcity. We were treating the symptoms rather than the root cause. We would try to conserve our water but did not know what was affecting our natural water supply. We had less water in winter and had to wait for summer rains. While this project does not cover the removal of bracken fern we have learned a lot about it and other invasive species.

Tell me about the work you and your team do when you’re clearing invasive plants.

We work as a team of 22 people. From 8:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., we wear our safety gear and work with our tools to clear invasive plants. Each team aims to clear at least 1.5 hectares daily. Working in pairs, we clear about five hectares per week. What plants we clear depends on what is troubling that part of the community.

We use the cut stump method of clearing. This is where the plant is cut down and then an herbicide is applied on the stump to prevent it from growing. We then monitor the areas we have worked on to ensure that the plants do not grow back.

How do you go about identifying the area to clear?

We have a team that does environmental monitoring for us. They go out and check for invasive plants. That area is identified on our map and highlighted as an area of interest.

This sounds costly

I understand that you are receiving support from organisations such as Wildtrust for this hard work you and your community are doing. Would your community be able to continue clearing alien plants if the current support were to end?

We’ve learned a lot about how to remove the invasive species. However, funding is crucial for the program. Financial support from organisations such as Wildtrust, WWF and corporate partners such as PepsiCo is used to hire staff and pay them. They also pay for the equipment being used as well as the chemicals. All this would be too expensive for us as a community to run. It would be challenging to continue the clearing efforts. There are tools needed as well as chemicals that need to be used to ensure that the plants remain the same way after the clearing process. We won’t be able to afford all these.

What do you wish could happen to strengthen water conservation in your area?

We need to educate young children about water conservation. I believe that learning about invasive plants earlier on in life could help because we only learned about these plants and the effect they were having on us much later in life.

SIGNATURE TUNE UP THEN FADE UNDER HOST

A warm welcome if you’ve just joined us. We’re discussing the importance of clearing invasive plants to restore water in the Drakensberg, South Africa. We have heard from Bawinile Mtolo, a female farmer working with Wildtrust. Bongumusa Khoza is a maize farmer who will tell us about his experience growing maize while trying to control the spread of invasive vegetation such as wattle in Emaswazini.

Bongumusa, welcome. How has the inconsistent water availability in your community affected your farming over the years?

As a maize farmer, water availability is crucial. In the past, our production suffered due to water shortages. We realized that invasive alien plants were competing with our crops for water. As a maize farmer, I rely heavily on water availability. Maize is a water-dependent plant. Over the years, we have had issues with our maize production dwindling due to lack of water in our area. It was often hard for us to understand why our natural water sources were running low. We just assumed it was because of drought. Over time, we realized that invasive plants were a huge problem as they were competing with our crops for water.

I have some of my maize growing close to rivers in an effort to deal with the water problem, but even that would not help at times. We have plants such as wattle, poplar, and others growing along riverbanks sucking out all the water. Water scarcity reduced my yields, impacting my ability to support my family. I grow and sell crops to feed and take care of my family. When production is low, I cannot take care of them.

You mention that your production levels were affected. Can you tell us how much your production has changed since the clearing of the plants?

When production is going well for us, we produce at least eight tons of maize per hectare. Prior to wattle being removed from our area we use to produce four tons per hectare. Since then we are getting a production of eight tons per hectare, which has made a huge difference to our incomes.

We heard from Mrs. Mtolo that wattle, bracken fern, and other invasive plants have been the culprits. Were those the same plants affecting your maize fields? And what changes have you seen after removing these plants?

Yes, wattle was also affecting my fields. After clearing it, we noticed an increase in water availability in our rivers, even during winter.

Before the invasive plant-clearing project, what did you think of wattle and other similar plants?

We grew up using it for firewood, not realising their negative impact on our crops and grazing land.

Now that you understand their impact, what do you hope to see happen with the invasive plants in your area?

It would be great if we could continue to have a program like the one we have, where these plants are removed regularly. Most of the farmers in my area participate in the clearing of invasive plants. We are committed to it because we have seen the results and are benefiting from it.

Thank you, Bongumusa. If you’ve just joined us, we’re discussing invasive alien plants and their role in water scarcity. Invasive alien species are considered to be one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. We will now speak with Kirsten Oliver, deputy director of conservation programmes at Wildtrust to find out more on this. Kirsten can you please elaborate on the relationship between climate change and invasive alien species?

 

Climate change can exacerbate the spread of invasive species as local ecosystems are stressed, giving invasive plants more opportunity to thrive.

Exotic plants often lack natural predators and diseases in new environments, allowing them to grow unchecked. For example, gum trees in South Africa grow faster than in their native Australia due to more available water.

What alien plants are prevalent in Northern Drakensberg and other parts of the country?

In the Northern Drakensberg there is a high infestation of black and silver wattle, also known as Acacia Mearnsii and Acacia Dealbata. There is also poplar and gum, or eucalyptus. On the more shrubby species – Lantana and bramble and bugweed.

What impact do alien plants have on biodiversity?

Alien plants create monocultures, leaving no room for other species. They can also cause soil erosion since invaders are typically fast-growing and have shallow root systems that don’t provide a good base for holding so more plants are washed away, further reducing biodiversity.

How are the farming communities affected by these invasive plants?

In the Northern Drakensberg for instance, these plants invade grasslands and croplands, reducing the land available for grazing and farming. They also exacerbate erosion, leading to poor soil quality not suitable for growing crops.

What has been done in South Africa to deal with invasive plants that are affecting biodiversity, soil quality, croplands and water availability?

In previous years, the government, through the Working for Water program, invested funds into clearing of invasive plants and simultaneously provided jobs for many unemployed and unskilled workers. This program, however, stopped due to lack of funds. That is why private landowners and NGOs, like us, came in. We need continuous efforts to address this issue comprehensively.

What can be done to further address the problem of invasive alien plants?

We need more investment in clearing these plants and using natural methods to control them. This requires funding for workers, herbicides, and equipment. We also need stricter rules for private landowners to keep their land clear. However, funding is often a problem.

What makes it difficult to manage invasive plants, especially in water source areas?

Several factors contribute to the difficulty, including the commercial value of some invasive plants. Inconsistent funding is another issue. The Working for Water program, which was a government initiative with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, faced problems with stopping and starting, leading to setbacks in progress. Additionally, there are negotiations with the community, who sometimes value invasive species like black wattle for cooking, traditional ceremonies, and building.

Were you able to achieve all the goals you set for the project?

The primary goal of this project was to replenish water into the system through the removal of alien plants. We achieved this goal and even saw additional benefits. We also learned valuable lessons that we can apply to future projects.

Thank you so much for joining us Kirsten, and thank you our dear listener for tuning in today. I’d also like to thank our other guests, farmers Bawinile Mtolo and Bongumusa Khoza. We have just had an interesting discussion about the damage caused by invasive plants, like wattle and bracken fern, and have heard how one rural community is trying to control the spread of such vegetation.

What are you and you community doing to deal with invasive alien plants? Do you know what alien plants are destroying the water source areas in your community? Please join us again next time for more to discuss other pressing community issues, same time, same place.