In several water scarce regions limited freshwater resources exacerbates numerous water related challenges. As a water scarce region, South African socio-economic development and growth is intertwined with its water security status and risks. It is unfortunate the connection and interdependencies existing between water security and the catchment activities is mostly underestimated and some case even overlooked. This paper is aimed at showcasing results from several case studies conducted in the Southern Africa region, wherein practitioners, scientists, government and local communities worked together to implement innovative ecological restoration solutions to regenerate crucial ecological services that communities depend on for their livelihoods. While the results show various benefits resulting from the restoration interventions such as improved water security (high quality water access) and socio-economic development at local and regional scales, the study also showed the cost of ‘doing nothing” whereby entropy resulted in chaos and threatened livelihoods. This paper and presentation empower restoration practitioners, policy makers and decision makers as well as land and water managers.