This cross-sectional dataset was collected to assess the local impacts of a wetland restoration project of the Working for Wetlands national programme for poverty alleviation and wetland rehabilitation in South Africa. This programme is managed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute. The data was collected to assess the impacts on livelihoods and on perceptions about the environment and development among workers within the programme for the project implemented in the Ramsar wetland Seekoeivlei, in Free State. Workers were from Zamani, a township of the town nearest to the wetland, Memel. A a proxy for the impacts of the project on its workers, data were collected from a sample of workers in the programme and a sample of people in the township unrelated to the programme (thereafter 'non-workers').

22 workers were selected randomly from the total 46 employees in the project. Non-workers were sampled using multi-cluster random sampling, based on the aerial photograph of the township. For this latter sampling, the township was divided in blocks of similar size, and a number of houses were selected from within each block. The sample of non-workers maintains a similar gender and age balance to that of workers. The survey instrument collected demographic and socioeconomic data, as well as Likert-scale and open-ended responses about perceptions on the environment and development, both at a local level in a concrete manner (about local wetlands and community needs), as in a more abstract manner (about what environment and development mean for them). The data were collected with the help of a local research assistant who translated the responses from Zulu or Sesotho as necessary.