Investigating land use change in the Eastern Cape as a regime shift, a case study of Amakhala game reserve

Date
2019-04
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
ENGLISH SUMMARY : Livestock farming in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, has recently undergone a shift to game farming. This research uses a regime shift lens to analyse the change in structure and function of the broader social-ecological system and identify the drivers of the change. The impacts of this land use change and the feedback mechanisms that lock the system into these alternate regimes are also explored. This is important because it has implications for the provision of ecosystem services and human well-being, and the resilience of the system. This research used a case study approach in Amakhala game reserve to understand how the shift from livestock to game farming affects ecosystems and different stakeholders, using participatory mapping and remote sensing approaches. A change in land cover over time indicates a newly vegetated state, which is an indicator of conservation. Results also indicate that the transition from livestock to game farming had different costs and benefits for landowners and farm workers. Social, cultural and even economic structures that held greater value to individuals on livestock farms, a condition that was definable as a community, have been traded off to economic and social structures that hold more value to an external group of people, usually visitors, than the value it holds to individuals on game farms, not definable as a community. The use of a social narrative approach, derived through the participatory methodologies, reveals an important understanding of how the shift of such a social-ecological system impacts differently on various groups of stakeholders.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Veeboerdery in die Oos-Kaap, Suid-Afrika, het onlangs ʼn verskuiwing na wildsboerdery ondergaan. In hierdie navorsing is ʼn lens van stelselverskuiwing gebruik om die verandering in struktuur en funksie van die breër sosio-ekologiese stelsel te ontleed en die dryfvere van die verandering te identifiseer. Die impak van hierdie verandering in grondgebruik en die terugvoermeganismes wat hierdie alternatiewe stelsel ondersteun, is ook verken. Dit is belangrik omdat dit implikasies vir die verskaffing van ekostelseldienste en mense se welstand, asook die veerkragtigheid van die stelsel, inhou. ʼn Gevallestudie in die Amakhala-wildreservaat is uitgevoer in ʼn poging om begrip te verkry van hoe die verskuiwing van vee- na wildsboerdery ekostelsels en verskillende belanghebbendes beïnvloed deur gebruik van deelnemende kartering- en afstandswaarnemingsbenaderings. ʼn Verandering in landbedekking met verloop van tyd dui op nuwe plantegroei, wat ʼn aanwyser van bewaring is. Die resultate het ook getoon dat die oorgang van vee- na wildsboerdery verskillende koste en voordele vir grondeienaars en plaaswerkers meegebring het. Sosiale, kulturele en selfs ekonomiese strukture wat groter waarde vir individue op veeplase ingehou, ʼn toestand wat as ʼn gemeenskap omskryf kan word, is verruil vir ekonomiese en sosiale strukture wat meer waarde vir ʼn eksterne groep mense inhou, gewoonlik besoekers, as vir individue op wildsplase, wat nie as ʼn gemeenskap omskryf kan word nie. Die gebruik van ʼn sosiale narratiewe benadering, wat van deelnemende metodologieë verkry is, het belangrike begrip in die hand gewerk van die manier waarop die verskuiwing van so ʼn sosio-ekologiese stelsel verskillende gevolge vir die onderskeie groepe belanghebbendes inhou.
Description
Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2019.
Keywords
Game reserves -- Eastern Cape (South Africa), Land use -- Eastern Cape (South Africa) -- Case studies, Ecosystem services -- Eastern Cape (South Africa), Well-being, UCTD
Citation