Unilever is spreading the message of the importance of water conservation
Sheree Russouw
Deep in the rural hinterlands, classrooms in Khula village in northern Dukuduku are becoming true reservoirs of learning. The faces of children attending school here are animated as they discuss the importance of conserving water. The teachers and the eager pupils are learning how to preserve and protect South Africa’s scarce water resources. And the attitude of this rural community towards water is changing.
“We have identified the value of educating communities through schools. Schools form the hub of many rural communities, with teachers being highly regarded. Our belief is that if we can establish an awareness of the importance of conservation here, it will naturally infiltrate the local community,” says Thulani Sojola, the regulatory affairs manager at Unilever, the company responsible for the Sustainable Water Integrated [Catchment] Management (Swim) project.
“We run quarterly training sessions at the school, providing teaching on a broad range of environmental awareness topics. We have focused on providing capacity to allow for effective environmental education by installing a fully equipped computer centre, as well as developing environmental education kits for the teachers.”
The World Meteorological Organisation estimates that by 2025 almost one billion people worldwide will be living in countries experiencing moderate to severe water shortages. And it says that this figure could double by 2050.
Locally, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry classifies South Africa as a water-stressed country, prone to erratic and unpredictable extremes such as floods and droughts that reduce land to a dry and arid wasteland. Average annual rainfall is less than 500mm, in stark comparison with the annual world average of 860mm. Worryingly, the department states that in some areas, only 9% of rainfall reaches rivers.
Sojola is as concerned. She says that most South Africans only relate to water conservation when there is a drought and the country is clasped in the tight grip of water restrictions. “However, Swim is working hard to make the link for people that on Earth, water comes packaged in ecosystems. We need to use water, but we need to protect and conserve water ecosystems so that we can go on using water into the future.”
These water ecosystems include rivers, streams, lakes, estuaries, wetlands and aquifers [underground water]. She says that each of these ecosystems provides “goods and services” for people. These comprise water supply; waste transport, processing and dilution; natural products (reeds, fish, medicinal plants); nature and biodiversity conservation; flood control; recreation; aesthetic needs; and sites for religious rituals or spiritual needs.
“However, aquatic ecosystems cannot offer the whole range of goods and services at the same time in the same place. For example, if heavy use is made of water supply and waste disposal, then the ecosystem is unlikely to provide well for nature conservation, recreation or a sacred site. Therefore, people need to be able to choose which services they want from which ecosystems at a particular time and place.”
Unilever UK developed Swim in conjunction with the United Kingdom-based NGO, Forum for the Future, as part of the company’s water stewardship programmes. The South African project started in 1999 and operates on three key principles:
Water development and management should be based on a participatory approach, involving users, planners, policymakers and other stakeholders at all levels.
Fresh water is a bounded, finite but infinitely renewable and vulnerable resource. It is essential to sustain life, development and the environment.
Water has an economic, social and environmental value in all of its competing uses.
Sojola refers to a catchment as “the aquatic ecosystem equivalent of a family or a community”. She believes the catchment management system is ideal for water preservation because people live in catchments and so they can better understand their land and their water ecosystems.
“A catchment is a set of water ecosystems including all the tributaries, streams and groundwater, which are closely connected and affect each other. As rain falls on the surface, it either flows downhill or percolates into the soil. So, whatever the land use is it affects how much soil and what chemicals are washed into the river, lake or dam. The catchment literally catches the water. This process happens to each catchment so it makes sense to manage each catchment.”
The most important aspect of catchment management is for people to make the best possible use of water. This entails using only as much water as necessary. “People must use technology to minimise the wastes we put into water systems to protect water ecosystems so that we will be able to use them into the future.”
Sojola says she has seen first-hand how partnerships like Swim have benefited community members. “I am keen to ensure that this type of project is spread countrywide so that more people know and understand how to conserve essential resources while realising the ultimate benefit sustainability. Role players like the community and industry have responded extremely well. The project enjoys massive participation and support by the local community.
“What makes Swim unique is the fact that all people who need and use and manage the water from industry, the government, community members and NGOs are involved in the process of ensuring that water resources in their area are conserved and used to benefit everyone.”
Swim also aids in the development of St Lucia, a world heritage site, through the Living Lakes St Lucia initiative.
“Its lake forms an important part of the hydrological cycle of the local area its conservation is therefore critical to the protection and regeneration of ecological, economic and social capital of the area. Our response has been, with the Wilderness Foundation, to invest in education and awareness programs in the Greater St Lucia Wetland region,” says Sojola.
Unilever’s other initiatives include water-care projects, a sustainable agriculture programme and a fish conservation programme.
Sojola affirms that heightening awareness will bode well for the country’s water resources. “We must boost knowledge about how to make the best use of the water we have. We cannot grow water, but we can learn how to conserve it and to use it optimally.”
Thulani Sojola will be talking on Learning to SWIM on March 15 at the Monument Olive Schreiner Hall