ETHEKWINI Municipality’s Transformative River Management Programme (TRMP) is proving to be a success in rehabilitating the Palmiet River in the Pinetown, New Germany and Westville areas.

Having a proven track record after being implemented on the lower Palmiet River, in the vicinity of Quarry Road, the Palmiet TRMP was extended to areas in the upper catchment, rehabilitating streams and creating employment for community members.

Simiso Bhengu, Senior Climate Scientist who leads the Palmiet TRMP, said, “The programme aims to enhance the city’s resilience to the impacts of climate change through the rehabilitation of Durban’s degraded rivers and streams. It optimises ecosystem functioning and services, through community engagement and collaboration between all stakeholders, while creating local economic benefits. The transformative climate adaptation approach incorporates nature-based solutions, community ecosystem-based adaptation and green/circular economy opportunities, with the intent to scale-up existing riverine management initiatives across the city.”

He further noted that the TRMP approach is about improving and managing water flow and water quality to reduce culvert blockages and infrastructure damage during floods through active management to minimise negative impacts such as alien infestations and solid waste.

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The TRMP also addresses the issue of youth unemployment as the programme promotes the active engagement of youth from local communities on the river to be trained and employed as Enviro Champs for the duration of the Palmiet TRMP project while giving them environmental and business skills to make them employable once the project is complete. The Enviro Champ model is in line with the Social Employment Programme, which national government is promoting as part of the response to high youth unemployment.

Bhengu said, “The approach used by partners, Duzi Umgeni Conservation Trust (DUCT), empowers local citizens to be champions of the environment in their local community. Through a green livelihoods programme, people living adjacent to rivers are given the responsibility to adopt-a-stretch – clean, maintain, green, restore, and undertake citizen science monitoring on that section of the river.”

The project is currently employing 19 Enviro Champs, of which 10 are females. The project, in its second year of implementation in this part of the Palmiet River, addresses severe environmental degradation caused by waste, sewage, industrial pollution, and alien invasive species, which compromise water quality, flood resilience and ecosystem health. Enviro Champs have cleared more than 20 hectares of alien invasive species and planted indigenous vegetation instead.

The TRMP project team encourages residents, communities, NGOs and businesses to play an active role in river management in their suburbs and workplaces.

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