Governance and Institutional Drivers of Ecological Degradation in Urban River Ecosystems: Insights from Case Studies in African Cities

Abstract

The degradation of rivers in urban landscapes is alarming and impaired their ecological functions and the services they provide to society. In African cities, urban rivers are among the most degraded ecosystems, yet ecologically sustainable utilisation of river resources can contribute to and support sustainable urban development. In this paper, we identify and analyse key governance and institutional drivers of ecological change in urban river systems in the Swartkops catchment in South Africa and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Nigeria. Our results indicate that poor ecological conditions of rivers in the two urban landscapes can be attributed to: (1) a lack of system view of the water value chain and associated infrastructure, (2) ambiguity in roles, responsibilities, and poor accountability, (3) prioritizing short-term social–economic–political agenda over long-term environmental sustainability goals, (4) institutional silos and failure of cooperative governance, and (5) over-centralised, top-down, state-centric governance processes. Strengthening the interactions between actors in the science, policy and practice domains, mainstreaming planning with rivers in integrated urban development plans, and strengthening cooperative and polycentric governance across administrative scales are key governance and institutional processes needed to address the trajectory of urban ecological degradation. Our paper sheds light on the fundamental role of strengthening governance and institutional processes for steering urban rivers toward sustainable paths for city resilience.