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Sustained water yield in afforested catchments — the South African experience

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Sustainable Forest Management

Part of the book series: Managing Forest Ecosystems ((MAFE,volume 1))

Abstract

South Africa is a relatively dry country, and is particularly dependent on limited areas of high-rainfall mountain catchments as reliable sources of streams and rivers. The natural vegetation within these catchments is mostly seasonally-dormant grassland or fynbos (sclerophyllous shrubland), but has largely been replaced by evergreen forest plantations during the course of this century. This change of land use has brought about declines in streamflow over large parts of the country, to the detriment of downstream users. Sustaining water yields from these catchments is a development imperative, in light of increasing demand for both water and forest products. This paper traces over six decades of research information, and the parallel development of legislation and policies, which has brought South Africa within sight of an effective integrated water resource management system. This experience may offer useful insights to the problem of sustaining water yields from afforested catchments in other water-scarce countries.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmentek, CSIR, C/O Agrometeorology, Faculty of Science and Agriculture, UNP, Private Bag X01, 3209, Scottsville, South Africa

    J. M. Bosch

Authors
  1. P. J. Dye
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  2. J. M. Bosch
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Insitute of Forest Management, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Klaus von Gadow

  2. University of Joensuu, Joensuu, Finland

    Timo Pukkala

  3. Instituto Superior de Agronomía, Lisbon, Portugal

    Margarida Tomé

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© 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Dye, P.J., Bosch, J.M. (2000). Sustained water yield in afforested catchments — the South African experience. In: von Gadow, K., Pukkala, T., Tomé, M. (eds) Sustainable Forest Management. Managing Forest Ecosystems, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-9819-9_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-9819-9_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-0278-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-010-9819-9

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