Riverine biodiversity conservation in South Africa: current situation and future prospects

Abstract

South Africa is richly endowed with an array of natural resources, with one exception - water. In South African water law, a river system and its associated riverine biodiversity - i.e. the entire aquatic ecosystem - is regarded as the ‘water resource’ that provides ecosystem goods and services to society (Van Wyk et al., 2006). An appreciation of riverine biodiversity in South African rivers therefore requires an understanding of the characteristics of the country’s water resources, their variability in time and space and the factors that influence their use by society