1. Data sets on wetlands required for the representation of aquatic ecosystem biodiversity and systematic wetland conservation planning are typically not available or are inadequate, particularly at country-wide scale, which hinders conservation planning. The improvement in hierarchical classification systems and increased availability of broad-scale data sets offers new opportunities to overcome these limitations. 2. This study demonstrates replicable methods for classifying wetland ecosystem types and condition country-wide using broad-scale data sets in data-scarce countries. 3. A country-wide data set, compiled primarily using remote sensing techniques, was combined with regional and landscape-setting data sets to reflect the ecological and geomorphic biodiversity of wetlands. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) were employed to model wetland types, disturbance indices and identify priority wetlands through threatened faunal species associations using existing data. Accuracy of the national data was assessed through a congruency with two local data sets. 4. Most of the 1 680 306ha of inland wetlands were classified as Natural (80%), of which the majority were located on Valley Floors (68%). However, the national data were found only to represent 54% of wetlands mapped at a local scale, and comparison with local data showed inaccuracies in the types and condition classifications. 5. Problems regarding spatial data quality and scale are discussed and suggestions for improvement are provided. The desktop classification steps can be reproduced easily for other data-scarce countries. Data sets on freshwater ecosystems can assist in raising awareness and influence policy at a national scale. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Knowledge co‐production and boundary work offer planners a new frame for critically designing a social process that fosters collaborative implementation of resulting plans. Knowledge co‐production involves stakeholders from diverse knowledge systems working iteratively toward common vision and action. Boundary work is a means of creating permeable knowledge boundaries that satisfy the needs of multiple social groups while guarding the functional integrity of contributing knowledge systems. Resulting products are boundary objects of mutual interest that maintain coherence across all knowledge boundaries. We examined how knowledge co‐production and boundary work can bridge the gap between planning and implementation and promote cross‐sectoral cooperation. We applied these concepts to well‐established stages in regional conservation planning within a national scale conservation planning project aimed at identifying areas for conserving rivers and wetlands of South Africa and developing an institutional environment for promoting their conservation. Knowledge co‐production occurred iteratively over 4 years in interactive stake‐holder workshops that included co‐development of national freshwater conservation goals and spatial data on freshwater biodiversity and local conservation feasibility; translation of goals into quantitative inputs that were used in Marxan to select draft priority conservation areas; review of draft priority areas; and packaging of resulting map products into an atlas and implementation manual to promote application of the priority area maps in 37 different decision‐making contexts. Knowledge co‐production stimulated dialogue and negotiation and built capacity for multi‐scale implementation beyond the project. The resulting maps and information integrated diverse knowledge types of over 450 stakeholders and represented >1000 years of collective experience. The maps provided a consistent national source of information on priority conservation areas for rivers and wetlands and have been applied in 25 of the 37 use contexts since their launch just over 3 years ago. When framed as a knowledge co‐production process supported by boundary work, regional conservation plans can be developed into valuable boundary objects that offer a tangible tool for multi‐agency cooperation around conservation. Our work provides practical guidance for promoting uptake of conservation science and contributes to an evidence base on how conservation efforts can be improved .

The main objective of the Berg River Baseline Monitoring Programme (BRBMP) was to describe the historical and current state of the chemical, physical and biological characteristics of the river and its estuary, floodplains and groundwater links that are most likely to be affected by the construction of the Berg River Dam. The dam will have a particularly significant impact on the flow regime of the river, and so the emphasis of the BRBMP was on determining the relationship between flow and the chemical, physical and biological characteristics of the river. The riverine macroinvertebrates component of the BRBMP comprised the collection of data from five sites along the length of the BergRiver—two in the foothill zone and three in the lowland river zone. The macroinvertebrates were sampled in each season for three years, from 2003 to 2005, using a rapid bio-assessment method, the South African Scoring System (Version 5). The macro-invertebrates were identified to family level in situ, and in the laboratory to species level, where possible. Distinctive communities were found to inhabit the various biotopes sampled, and these communities were significantly different between the foothill and lowland river sites. The upstream site was far less impacted than any of the other sites. Significant differences were found between the communities sampled in the various years at most of the sites, with the exception of the upstream site. At most sites, there was a decrease in diversity, a loss of the more sensitive taxa and decreased frequency of occurrence for many taxa, from 2003 to 2005, which was a markedly wetter year, with more frequent and higher discharge floods. However, the macroinvertebrate communities inhabiting the most upstream site appeared to be fairly resilient to the physical perturbations associated with the increased discharges and flood frequencies of 2005. Seasonal fluctuations in community composition were more marked at the foothill sites than at the lowland river sites. The paper concludes with some expected macroinvertebrate responses to the modifications in flow, geomorphology and water quality that are expected in the river reaches below the Berg River Dam. The impacts of the Dam are expected to be greatest in the river reaches between the dam and the confluence with the Franschhoek River, where the river will rely solely on the environmental flow releases from the dam.