CASE STUDY ON RIVER MANAGEMENT: SOUTH AFRICAN CATCHMENTS AREAS 

Covering many South African river basins, the 'Working for Catchments' programme  operates in all major catchment areas. 
65% of South Africa receives less than 500 mm average annual rainfall, meaning that  drought is an ever-present risk in South Africa. 
Future projections indicate that by 2025 the country's water requirements will outstrip  water supply unless urgent steps are taken to manage the resource more sustainably.  There are already major problems of water supply and water quality, with an estimated  8 million South Africans currently having no access to potable water. 

[Adapted from http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/about_freshwater]

INFORMAL TRADERS PLAY A BIG ROLE IN SOUTH AFRICA'S ECONOMY   

Contributed: by Farhaanah Mahomed, 12 February 2015 

It is estimated that the informal sector contributes around 29 per cent to the  country's gross domestic product (GDP). This is according to panelists speaking at the  Consumer Goods Council of South Africa  (CGCSA) Summit 2014 on the importance of  small and medium enterprises (SMEs)  including informal businesses. However, this industry continues to face a number of  challenges.  
Education is seen to be important in order to get small-business owners to implement  better, more effective business models. 'Some small-business owners develop their  companies to a point where it is only viable to look after their families; they don't take into  account expansion strategies and creating more jobs for others.' 

[Adapted from http://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/southern-africa/2014/10/29/smes-informal-sector]

ENDING GLOBAL HUNGER 

Toni Muir 

As many as 795 million people around the world suffer under food insecurity. The  majority of these people live in developing countries. There are a lot of empty, rumbling  bellies mainly in the rural areas of Asia and Africa. 75% of the world's hungry live in rural  areas. 50% of the small-scale farmers grow subsistence crops relying on family labour. 
This type of farming makes them vulnerable. 
The good news, according to the United Nations World Food Programme, is that hunger  is a completely solvable problem. 

[Source: SAWUBONA, September 2015]

HOPE 

Susanne Melda, 26 November 2012 

Rural-urban migration is believed to affect various dimensions of migrants' well-being.  Desires, such as the opportunity to improve the standard of living and better services, are not always met. 
The process of migration is often undertaken with an aspiration (desire) of improved  opportunities for socio-economic advancement. However, it does not always entail  improvement of living standard and poverty eradication. Rural migrants settling in big  cities are the most vulnerable and may experience detrimental (unsafe) living conditions. 

[Adapted from www.migratingoutofpoverty.org]

PATEL: SA'S MINING SECTOR 'IN TROUBLE' 

5 August 2015 11:03 Sarah Evans, Reuters 

Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel says South Africa's mining industry is 'in  trouble' as it struggles to recover from 23 000 job losses since April, and falling  commodity prices from key markets like China. 'Job growth over the last three months has  been fairly vigorous, but the mining industry is in trouble,' Patel said in an interview on  Talk Radio 702 on Wednesday. 
The mining industry, which contributes around 7 percent to Africa's most developed  economy, is struggling with sinking commodity prices, rising costs and labour unrest. 
Patel said South Africa needed to boost agriculture, tourism and manufacturing to  compensate the fallout from instability in mining. Patel said there were several factors  which contributed to the decline, beginning with the 2008 financial crisis where a million  jobs were lost, as well as the recent downturn in the metal industry and subdued demand  from China. Infrastructure, specifically an unstable electricity supply, was also a factor  which added to the mining woes. 

 [Adapted from http://mg.co.za/article/2015-08-05g]