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The use of ecosystem-based approaches for guiding sustainable development of rivers in data limited environments
Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2025.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2025
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| _version_ | 1867613775700426752 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Bukhari, Hassan |
| author2 | Esler, Karen J. |
| author_browse | Bukhari, Hassan Esler, Karen J. |
| author_facet | Esler, Karen J. Bukhari, Hassan |
| author_sort | Bukhari, Hassan |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/134135 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:41:30.564Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/134135 The use of ecosystem-based approaches for guiding sustainable development of rivers in data limited environments Bukhari, Hassan Esler, Karen J. Brown, Catherine A. Joubert, Alison R. Stellenbosch University. Faculty of AgriSciences. Dept. of Conservation Ecology and Entomology. Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. Bukhari, H. 2025. The use of ecosystem-based approaches for guiding sustainable development of rivers in data limited environments. Unpublished doctoral thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/1cf3dda2-8bda-4624-93a2-ffe0e9aae36c The social uses and dependencies on rivers, together with the pressures that these exert, require that river ecosystems are viewed as social-ecological systems. Methods that use a social-ecological approach attempt to capture the interactions within an ecosystem and the social context in which they exist. With respect to development and management of rivers, these methods can guide stakeholders in making informed decisions that balance economic, ecological and social goals. The dissertation investigated whether the methods used to make decisions for rivers at a project- and basin-scale were fit for purpose. At the project level, Environmental Flows assessments for hydropower projects in Africa and Asia were systematically reviewed to determine the methods used, their resolution, the factors determining their choice, and whether they adhered to international good practice guidelines. The results indicated a low adherence to international good practice and common usage of methods with few ecological or social underpinnings. At the basin scale, the broader array of decision support tools developed and used by transboundary River Basin Organisations were evaluated as to whether they could provide the sort of information needed to achieve the published Vision Statements for each basin, most of which included ecological, social and economic aspects. The results indicated a growing integration of technical models and social-ecological methods over time. One of the reasons for this limited adoption of social and ecosystem-based approaches may be the data and expertise required to develop the driver-response relationships at the heart of these approaches. These relationships describe ecological and social responses to environmental drivers and have been perceived to have limited transferability across basins. To test this perception, expert-derived driver-response relationships for 63 sites across 20 rivers in southern Africa were evaluated to determine which factors, if any, prevented the transfer of relationships between river sites. The assessment revealed that indicators and relationships were fairly consistent across team composition and project time allocations; and in most cases the relationships were transferrable for similar habitats and biota, even if the species varied. The cost and effort required to collect data in rivers that are subjected to high and increasing levels of resource extraction and infrastructure development mean that it is difficult to establish cause and effect using empirical evidence. This study demonstrated that ecosystem-based models can provide insights on ecological and social responses to multiple stressors and ways to mitigate these. Simulation of the social-ecological network determining Golden Mahseer abundance revealed that the major pressures on the Mahseer were fishing, barriers to movement and hydropeaking. These impacts were shown to be individually severe and cumulative, and so accounting for one but not the others had little benefit for Mahseer. By providing a basis for transferring existing relationships and laying a pathway for their use to interrogate hypotheses and to provide the insights needed to better managed and develop rivers, this dissertation advanced the potential applications of ecosystem-based methods. Doctoral 2025-10-14T13:34:33Z 2025-10-14T13:34:33Z 2025-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/134135 en Stellenbosch University 149 pages : ill. application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Bukhari, Hassan The use of ecosystem-based approaches for guiding sustainable development of rivers in data limited environments |
| title | The use of ecosystem-based approaches for guiding sustainable development of rivers in data limited environments |
| title_full | The use of ecosystem-based approaches for guiding sustainable development of rivers in data limited environments |
| title_fullStr | The use of ecosystem-based approaches for guiding sustainable development of rivers in data limited environments |
| title_full_unstemmed | The use of ecosystem-based approaches for guiding sustainable development of rivers in data limited environments |
| title_short | The use of ecosystem-based approaches for guiding sustainable development of rivers in data limited environments |
| title_sort | use of ecosystem based approaches for guiding sustainable development of rivers in data limited environments |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/134135 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bukharihassan theuseofecosystembasedapproachesforguidingsustainabledevelopmentofriversindatalimitedenvironments AT bukharihassan useofecosystembasedapproachesforguidingsustainabledevelopmentofriversindatalimitedenvironments |