Although the partnership is still new, several rehabilitation projects are already planned for highly degraded areas of the catchment. The UEIP will also coordinate existing projects in the catchment that are already being run by the various partners. In addition, the partnership has secured funding through South Africa’s Green Fund for research that is exploring and developing potential public and private funding mechanisms for investing in ecological infrastructure in the catchment. The University of KwaZulu-Natal will explore public funding sources, such as budget re-alignment, water pricing, biodiversity offsets and natural resource management programmes. News of the project has spread internationally, with the Secretary-General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands labelling it a highly innovative approach at the World Parks Congress in November 2014. It is an essential proof of concept for ‘ecological infrastructure’ as a way of communicating the necessity of ecosystem management and restoration.