Integrated knowledge systems towards flood resilience and sustainable solid waste management in South African urban informal settlements

Climate change, an increasing urban population, and poor urban planning have increased flood-risk and the accompanying solid waste challenge in many coastal urban areas in developing countries. These challenges are more pronounced in informal settlements because: (a) they are often built on environmentally fragile locations such as river banks and coastal shores with high exposure to floods, (b) high poverty levels among residents resulting in low adaptive capacity, and (c) marginalisation of these localities emanating from their non-recognition in the larger city framework. Against this background, flood-risk assessments and response initiatives in these areas have primarily been informed by scientific approaches such as geographical information systems, without adequate incorporation of other forms of knowledge. Using the case of the coastal city of Durban, South Africa, our project explores the benefits of combining perspectives from different knowledge systems in understanding flood-risk and the accompanying solid waste challenge in urban informal settlements, towards developing solutions that are based on contextual and experiential aspects. Methodological techniques used include interviews and workshops with key experts and with informal settlement residents, and extensive reviews of literature. Emerging findings show that holders of scientific, practitioner, and local knowledge vis--vis flood risk and waste management are active in the selected case study informal settlement. They have, in isolated cases, collaborated particularly around a) generation and distribution of flood early warnings, b) river clean-up initiatives, and c) catchment rehabilitation projects, with clear benefits for flood resilience and solid waste management. We find that there is need for a clear framework for integrating knowledge systems towards flood resilience and solid waste management in these contexts and the project has developed a draft framework. Integrating knowledge systems will: i) ensure the participation of different actors in mapping flood risk thereby creating a sense of ownership and ensuring uptake of and support for solutions crafted to deal with flood risk and the solid waste challenge; and ii) open up opportunities for coordinated support from various actors for a range of decisions around flood risk response preparation, flood and waste infrastructural design and mitigation of waste-induced flood destruction of infrastructure.