Abstract:
With its ‘ecological reserve’, South African National Water Act of 1998 is
perceived as one of the most ambitious Water Acts in the world from an
environmental perspective. At first sight, this ‘ecological reserve’ provision could
be mistaken for a typical case of North–South policy transfer when actually it was
initially engineered by the Department of Water Affairs and its civil engineers in
the 1970s–1980s. The paper shows the renewed influence of the scientific
community over the definition of the concept during the debate leading to the
adoption of the Water Reform Act in the mid-1990s. While investing in the
international arena, South African hydro-ecologists managed to reinforce their
position in the domestic arena at the same time. Therefore, we demonstrate
complex interdependence between domestic and international levels benefiting
this travelling concept. Finally, we emphasize that for hydro-ecologists, the
international arena was never a resource already there but an opportunity created.
