How a water-resources crisis highlights social-ecological disconnects

The sustainable management of water resources is required to avoid scarcity becoming widespread. This article explores the potential application a social-ecological framework, used predominantly in fields ecology and conservation, as tool improve sustainability resilience resources. “red-loop green-loop” (RL-GL) model has previously been map both unsustainable feedbacks between ecosystems their communities countries such Sweden Jamaica. In this article, we demonstrate novel RL-GL framework using 2017/18 Cape Town crisis. We analyse dynamics pre-crisis planned contingency scenarios. found that system was almost solely reliant on single, non-ecosystem form infrastructure, provincial dam system. As prolonged drought impacted key resource, resource collapse shown be low missing feedback community highlighted. (“Day Zero”) averted through combination government group led measures, incorporating local ecosystem (green-loop) non-local (red-loop) forms management, increased rainfall returning area. Additional disaster plans proposed by municipality included tighter integration red green-loop approaches, which acted foster stronger connection advocate wider development model, theoretically empirically, investigate communities.