UCT Sustainability and the SDGs 2022 - Magazine - Page 32
SDG 14
LIFE BELOW WATER
The health of earth’s oceans determines the health
•
Be a water-wise community: inform, empower and
of our planet, yet marine ecosystems face mounting
educate visitors, staff and students to better manage
threats from climate change, pollution, over昀椀shing and
water as a 昀椀nite and vulnerable resource.
unsustainable coastal development. In Africa, where
•
Become a water-sensitive campus: UCT strives to
millions depend on the sea for food and livelihoods,
become a water-sensitive campus by 2040 in line with
protecting marine and freshwater systems is vital for
the City of Cape Town’s commitment to becoming a
both ecological balance and human wellbeing.
water-sensitive city by 2040.
The strategy combines infrastructure renewal, rainwater
harvesting, greywater reuse and on-site recycling facilities.
Institutional initiatives
In partnership with the Future Water Institute, UCT is also
Sustainable water management
water systems – linking research, teaching and practice from
UCT 昀椀nalised its Sustainable Water Management Strategy in
transforming its campus into a living lab for sustainable
source to sea.
2020 re昀氀ecting its recognition that responsible water use on
land is essential to protecting life below water.
The strategy has 昀椀ve primary objectives:
•
Know our water: you can’t manage what you don’t
measure, and you can’t measure it if you don’t know
where it is.
•
Ensure business continuity: making sure UCT can
Community engagement
At UCT, going forward, we
want our relationship with water
to change. We want to treat it as
the precious resource that it is,
and reorganise ourselves and our
infrastructure to do so.
operate even during drought or periods of water scarcity.
•
Become water net-zero by 2050: when the water
demand met from municipal supply equals the water
demand met from alternative supply options such as
rainwater harvesting.
64 - Sustainability and the SDGs 2024
– Manfred Braune, director,
Environmental Sustainability, Properties
& Services Department.
Co-creating 昀椀shers’ knowledge to protect our seas
By embedding 昀椀shers as collaborators in research, the initiative
promotes more sustainable 昀椀shing practices and strengthens
their role in protecting marine resources. This work is critical in a
time when small-scale 昀椀shers are enjoying a global movement
Researchers at UCT’s Department of Environmental
of support for them to become involved in the co-management
and Geographical Science are part of an international
of the resources they depend on, while the management of
collaboration, One Ocean Hub. Through this partnership,
these resources grows increasingly more complex. It is hoped
they worked with three small-scale 昀椀shing communities in St
that the collaboration with UCT researchers in developing a
Helena Bay on the West Coast of South Africa. The project
methodology to help the 昀椀sher communities document their
aimed to support 昀椀shers document their traditional 昀椀shing
knowledge will enable them to defend their rights in marine
knowledge and co-create the information base needed to
spatial policy planning and lay a foundation for developing a
participate in marine spatial planning and governance.
sustainable local 昀椀shers management plan in future.
Sustainability and the SDGs 2024 – 65
