One in every 22 working South Africans is employed in the tourism sector (Stats-SA 2019). The World Travel and Tourism Council estimated that travel and tourism directly employ more people than the mining, communication services, automotive manufacturing and chemicals manufacturing sectors in South Africa (SA). The 1996 White Paper on the Development and Promotion of Tourism in SA identifies tourism as having significant potential to serve as a vehicle for socio-economic upliftment and tourism is regarded as a key strategic sector for economic transformation, as emphasised in the 2019 State of the Nation Address (SONA).The combination of well-developed infrastructure, scenic beauty, rich biodiversity, sunny climate, cultural diversity and a reputation for value for money experiences, are believed to be what makes SA one of the world’s fastest growing tourism destinations. Tourism, like all economic sectors, is both directly and indirectly dependent on natural capital and the ecosystem services it provides. However, there is growing concern that ongoing degradation of natural capital, due to various global and local drivers of change, will compromise the delivery of these critical services. Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, water crises and extreme weather events are primary global risks identified by the World Economic Forum. Securing natural capital is critical to sustaining and growing SA’s tourism sector, while degradation of natural capital undermines the sectors potential to support economic transformation. A better understanding of the links between the condition of ecosystems and the sustainability and growth of the tourism sector creates the potential for tourism to unlock incentives for environmental management and restoration that will support tourism and thereby its capacity to drive economic transformation for South Africans. With a specific focus on freshwater ecosystems, the objectives were to:  Demonstrate the links between natural capital, tourism and global change and the influence such links have on the development potential of the tourism sector and its contribution to generating economic benefits and supporting Small, Medium and Micro-enterprise (SMME) development;  Generate recommendations regarding policy and further research needs to promote environmental management and ecological restoration through tourism. The study also incorporated a capacity development component with youth in the case study areas. These activities sought to raise awareness about nature-tourism linkages as a building block towards empowering youth to recognize sustainable tourism opportunities. Methodology Building on the findings from an extensive literature review, a multi-pronged methodological approach was adopted to address these objectives. The approach involved undertaking research at both:  The national level: o National level economic modelling of water-related global change scenarios for the tourism economy; o National level stakeholder engagement; o Policy review with respect to tourism, natural capital and SMME development.  The level of two case study sites: o Characterising of the case study sites in the context of the Panarchy model; o Ecosystem service supply, demand and stress modelling according to different water-related change scenarios; o Economic impact modelling of the tourism system according to the different water-related change scenarios; o Assessment of opportunities and challenges for community-based tourism development through a soft-systems thinking approach incorporating community surveys, participatory action research and social learning techniques. The two case study sites selected to investigate the research questions of this study were (a) the uMngeni River Catchment, specifically the Dusi Canoe Marathon event and tourism associated with Inanda Dam; and (b) the Olifants River Catchment, specifically recreational fishing events at, and tourism opportunities associated with, Loskop Dam. The case studies provided an opportunity to better understand the complex relationships (existing and potential) between drivers of change and tourism systems.