Browsing by Subject "Local government"

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    Local government policy in South Africa 1980-1989 (with specific reference to the Western Cape) : devolution, delegation, deconcentration or centralisation?
    (1991) Cameron, Robert; Welsh, David; Bekker, Simon
    This thesis is an examination of the National Party's policy of decentralisation of powers to local authorities in the 1980s. The thesis concentrates primarily on urban local government and its objectives are: 1. To trace the evolution of the south African state's policy of devolution of powers to local authorities in the 1980s; 2. To examine critically the main features of new local government legislation in this period, with particular reference to the devolution of powers policy; 3. To apply a normative framework for analysis, which can help serve as a heuristic device, in determining the extent of decentralisation that has occurred, to selected local authorities in the western Cape. The primary sources of research material that were consulted were Hansard, Acts of parliament, government commissions and gazettes, year books, provincial debates, ordinances, gazettes, circulars and local authorities' minutes and publications. Approximately 50 qualitative interviews were also conducted. The framework of analysis utilised certain indices, namely personnel, access, functions, party politics, finance and hierarchical relations, to measure the extent of decentralisation that has occurred in three local authorities in the Western Cape. This framework helped determine that limited devolution of powers had occurred. There were four major reasons for the reluctance of the National Party to devolve extensive powers to local authorities. First and foremost, reform policy was made in an elitist, top-down manner by a small group of reformers in order to ensure that the government could share power without losing control. The corollary of this centralised policy-making was the tendency of centr.al and provincial authorities not to devolve extensive powers to local authorities. Secondly, there was the viewpoint of the central government that the local government development process had to be controlled from the top because of the lack of sufficient skills, experience and finance at local level. Thirdly, the need for macro-economic financial control was· also a brake on the devolution process. Fourthly, the government believed that, in a unitary state, central government should always have a relative degree of control over local authorities' activities.
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    A socio-ecological approach for identifying and contextualising spatial ecosystem-based adaptation priorities at the sub-national level
    (Public Library of Science, 2016) Bourne, Amanda; Holness, Stephen; Holden, Petra; Scorgie, Sarshen; Donatti, Camila I; Midgley, Guy
    Climate change adds an additional layer of complexity to existing sustainable development and biodiversity conservation challenges. The impacts of global climate change are felt locally, and thus local governance structures will increasingly be responsible for preparedness and local responses. Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) options are gaining prominence as relevant climate change solutions. Local government officials seldom have an appropriate understanding of the role of ecosystem functioning in sustainable development goals, or access to relevant climate information. Thus the use of ecosystems in helping people adapt to climate change is limited partially by the lack of information on where ecosystems have the highest potential to do so. To begin overcoming this barrier, Conservation South Africa in partnership with local government developed a socio-ecological approach for identifying spatial EbA priorities at the sub-national level. Using GIS-based multi-criteria analysis and vegetation distribution models, the authors have spatially integrated relevant ecological and social information at a scale appropriate to inform local level political, administrative, and operational decision makers. This is the first systematic approach of which we are aware that highlights spatial priority areas for EbA implementation. Nodes of socio-ecological vulnerability are identified, and the inclusion of areas that provide ecosystem services and ecological resilience to future climate change is innovative. The purpose of this paper is to present and demonstrate a methodology for combining complex information into user-friendly spatial products for local level decision making on EbA. The authors focus on illustrating the kinds of products that can be generated from combining information in the suggested ways, and do not discuss the nuance of climate models nor present specific technical details of the model outputs here. Two representative case studies from rural South Africa demonstrate the replicability of this approach in rural and peri-urban areas of other developing and least developed countries around the world.
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