Browsing by Author "Gugushe, Nomathamsanqa M."

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    Forest resource use and management in two villages in the former Ciskei, South Africa
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2006-12) Gugushe, Nomathamsanqa M.; Chirwa, P. W.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of AgriSciences. Dept. of Forest and Wood Science.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Rural communities in South Africa are similar to communities in other areas of the developing world in terms of obtaining natural resources. A wide range of resources are harvested from the communal woodlands and processed for home consumption and sale. Until recently, there has been little recognition of the contribution these common pool resources make to the rural economy. In South Africa, only a few studies have attempted to estimate the monetary value of widely used non-timber woodland products. Natural resources valuation techniques were used to estimate the values of the direct consumption of woodland resources by households in two rural villages: Woodlands, and Pirrie Mission, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The two villages are situated next to two different vegetation types. Woodlands is in valley bushveld while Pirrie Mission is next to high mountain forest. The approach involved a combination of household interviews, participatory group sessions, key informant interviews and natural vegetation assessment. Questions were designed in such a way that they established the types of resources used, the frequency of use, quantities used, their availability, the extent to which they are traded both locally and in more distant markets and forms of management preferred. Participatory Vegetation assessment was done in order to monitor the forest use in both vegetation areas over a period of a year. Results indicated that in both study areas, all households were gathering or purchasing at least some woodland resources, with the most frequently used resources being fuelwood (48% in Woodlands and 51% in Pirrie Mission), branches (4% in Woodlands and 7% in Pirrie Mission), poles (21 % in Woodlands and 20% in Pirrie Mission), fencing (15% in Woodlands and 16% in Pirrie Mission) and herbs for medicinal purposes (12% in Woodlands and 7% in Pirrie Mission). Fuel wood and branches contributed to the largest proportion of overall value in both villages. There was no difference in terms of resource use despite the differing tenure of the woody resources. The majority of people from both villages ( 41 % in Woodlands and 29% in Pirrie Mission) believed that their woody resources could be used and managed sustainably if villagers and village management authorities could be involved in decision making on how to use them. Quantitative results of vegetation assessment revealed that the State Forest found at Pirrie Mission has a relatively high growth rate with mean values ranging between 0.01- 0.17 as compared to a communal woodland found in Woodlands village. Sustainable utilisation is critical to the survival of the indigenous woody vegetation. Based on the findings of this study one can conclude that both the community woodland and State forest are over-harvested. This can be attributed to the fact that after the 1994 elections, the State forest became available to all as the Government withdrew the management strategies used before the 1994 Government elections in South Africa.