Ecosystem restoration coupled with poverty alleviation in eThekwini Municipality, KwaZulu‐Natal Province, South Africa

Abstract

Ecosystem restoration is a necessity for addressing socio‐ecological challenges by improving ecosystem resilience and alleviating poverty through local community involvement. Here, we review a community‐based, large‐scale ecosystem restoration program, Working for Ecosystems, implemented by eThekwini Municipality in KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa, between 2007 and 2022. For this study, we interrogated monthly and annual reports generated by the program between 2011 and 2021 to describe how the program worked to suppress invasive alien plants (IAPs) and provided employment opportunities to marginalized groups (women, youth, military veterans, and people living with disabilities). Annual budget was positively correlated with the area cleared of IAPs and effort (person‐days in the field). The program successfully incorporated marginalized groups, but military veterans and people living with disabilities remained in smaller numbers and were not well quantified. Participants were encouraged to constitute companies—Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises—that were then subcontracted to the program or could progress to other endeavors, allowing other community members to enter the program. A steady increase in the implementation budget emphasized the need for a long‐term plan to ensure accountability and sustainability of restoration and socio‐ecological systems.