Valuing environmental water pulses into the Incomati estuary: Key to achieving equitable and sustainable utilisation of transboundary waters (original) (raw)

Upstream developments in the Incomati river basin, shared by South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique, have altered downstream flows significantly. The frequency of small floods into the estuary has been reduced dramatically. This change in the flow regime has impacted on the state of the environment downstream, and the Incomati estuary in particular. The estuary requires fresh water pulses that naturally occur, and the resulting seasonal flooding of the plains. Resource-poor rural households depend on the goods and services that the estuary and flood plains provide such as wood, charcoal, building materials, fish and shrimp, wetland farming, and tourism. Alteration of the flow regime into the estuary has a negative impact on the state of the environment and hence on the goods and services the estuary yields; a phenomenon the people living near the estuary are keenly aware of.