scholarly journals The vegetation of Tshanini Game Reserve and a comparison with equivalent units in the Tembe Elephant Park in Maputaland, South Africa

Koedoe ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
J.Y. Gaugris ◽  
W.S. Matthews ◽  
M.W. Van Rooyen ◽  
J. Du P. Bothma

The Tembe Elephant Park was proclaimed in 1983 after negotiations between the then KwaZulu Bureau of Natural Resources and the Tembe Tribal Authority in consultation with the local communities of northern Maputaland, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The park boundaries were subsequently fenced and animal numbers started to increase. The fence has kept the utilisation of renewable natural resources by the local communities at bay for the past 19 years. In this period, the vegetation of the park has been utilised only by the indigenous fauna, but it has been affected by management decisions and possibly also regional environmental changes.

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 150-157
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Mduduzi Hadebe ◽  
Maureen Nokuthula Sibiya

Background: South Africa is one of the countries in Africa adversely affected by rabies, a notifiable disease which can be fatal. Fatalities can be prevented if health care is sought timeously and people are educated about the disease. The Province of Kwa- Zulu-Natal, in particular, has had rabies outbreaks in the past which have led to loss of many lives and devastation of entire families. Objective: The aim of the study was to explore the experiences of people affected by rabies in the eThekwini district of Kwa- Zulu-Natal, South Africa. Methods: The study was guided by a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive design. The sample was purposively selected, and a semi-structured interview was used to collect data from people affected by rabies in the eThekwini district. Data saturation was reached after 12 participants were interviewed. Data was analysed by using Tesch’s eight steps of thematic analysis. Results: The themes included family stability and support structures, exposure to risk factors and risky practices, factors that hindered participants from seeking health care assistance, limited knowledge about rabies and the effects of rabies. Conclusion: It was evident that participants experienced many challenges during their rabies exposure. Individuals, who were directly affected by rabies through contact with rabid animals, were expected to take responsibility for their own lives. Keywords: Rabies; South Africa; qualitative research. 


Author(s):  
Cathy Robinson ◽  
Bruce Taylor

In Contested Country, leading researchers in planning, geography, environmental studies and public policy critically review Australia's environmental management under the auspices of the Natural Heritage Trust over the past decade, and identify the challenges that must be met in the national quest for sustainability. It is the first comprehensive, critical examination of the local and regional natural resources management undertaken in Australia, using research sourced from all states as well as the Northern Territory. It addresses questions such as: How is accountability to be maintained? Who is included and who is excluded in decentralised environmental governance? Does the scale of bottom-up management efforts match the scale of environmental problems? How is scientific and technical fidelity in environmental management to be maintained when significant activities are devolved to and controlled by local communities? The book challenges some of the accepted benefits, assumptions and ideologies underpinning regional scaled environmental management, and is a must-read for anyone interested in this field.


2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 728
Author(s):  
Warwick Squire ◽  
Julie-Anne Braithwaite

From frontier gas basins in North West Queensland to potential unconventional gas reserves in the far south-west, several areas in Queensland have potential for new or expanded resource activity over the coming decade. Lessons of the past have highlighted the importance of early engagement, by industry and government, in building and maintaining constructive relationships with local communities and achieving successful coexistence. The way in which local communities are introduced to new resource activity, and their first impressions, contribute to future attitudes and expectations. In some cases, the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy (DNRME) is taking a lead on early activities to facilitate resource exploration and development, such as pre-competitive exploration and release of tender areas for potential exploration. DNRME’s approach for engaging with resource communities involves developing robust relationships with local stakeholders, namely local government, landholders, Traditional Owners and local organisations, and a deep understanding of their interests and the local context. Second, it focuses on providing information to local communities about resource activity and ensuring that they have a channel for raising questions and concerns.


Koedoe ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth J. Opperman ◽  
Michael I. Cherry ◽  
Nokwanda P. Makunga

Forests in South Africa are harvested by local communities for multiple purposes and this affects the animals that inhabit them. The tree hyrax (Dendrohyrax arboreus) has a restricted distribution and utilises various tree species as dens and a source of food. In this article, we determined, through a series of interviews in the communities surrounding the Pirie forest, which plant species are harvested by local people and whether these overlap with those used by the tree hyrax. In addition, we determined the extent to which tree hyraxes are hunted by these communities. Of the trees used by the hyrax as dens in the Pirie forest, Afrocarpus falcatus, Schotia latifolia, Andrachne ovalis, Teclea natalensis and Apodytes dimidiata are important resources for local communities. But as these are harvested at relatively low levels, it is unlikely that current harvesting has a large impact on the tree hyrax. Opportunistic hunting occurs, but the hyrax is not targeted by hunters. Very limited commercial harvesting of A. falcatus has been taking place in the Pirie forest since 1975, but its impact on the hyrax population, although undetermined, is also unlikely to be high. We recommend that the Pirie forest tree hyrax population should be monitored by forest management in order to ascertain the impact of both commercial and community harvesting over the past quarter-century.Conservation implications: Tree hyrax populations in the Pirie forest should be actively monitored by management on an annual basis.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-31
Author(s):  
Kileti V. Tarimo ◽  
Moses I. Olotu

AbstractLocal community participation in wildlife conservation and management is known to have existed for many years. However, the socio-economic activities regarding community participation remain questionable. Incorporating the views of the local community in the process of decision-making and providing alternative livelihood solutions are important steps towards sustainable conservation. The main aim of this study was to investigate the effects of community participation in sustainable wildlife management in Rungwa Game Reserve. A survey was conducted of the households in Rungwa and Mwamagembe villages with a sample size of 98 respondents. The study used a cross-sectional research design. Data were collected from different respondents at a single point in time. The main research methods used for data collection included: questionnaire surveys, key informant interviews, field observations, focus group discussions and a review of documents. Descriptive data were summarised and presented in frequency tables and charts. Content analysis was also used to determine relationships between the variables measured. The findings revealed both positive and negative effects of wildlife conservation and management. The results revealed that local communities provided confidential information pertaining to illegal activities. The findings further indicated that there was a failure of the game reserve authorities to allow meaningful local participation and equitable sharing of the benefits, which could be attributed to hatred, resentment, and illegal harvesting of natural resources from the game reserve, resulting in poor wildlife conservation. This study recommends the encouragement and a strengthening of the involvement of local communities in wildlife conservation for the sustainable utilisation of natural resources.


Primates ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 61 (6) ◽  
pp. 751-756
Author(s):  
Jennifer Botting ◽  
Erica van de Waal

Abstract Observations of dead infant carrying have been reported for many primate species, and researchers have proposed several hypotheses to explain this behaviour. However, despite being a relatively well-studied species, reports of dead infant carrying in wild vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) remain scarce. Here we report 14 observations of dead infant carrying by female vervet monkeys in a population at Mawana Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Most of the females carried the dead infant for a day or less, but one female carried her infant for at least 14 days. In one case the maternal sister of a dead infant carried it after the death of their mother. We also report a case of mother-infant cannibalism: a female consumed part of her deceased infant’s tail. Other post-mortem care-taking behaviours such as grooming, smelling and licking were also recorded. Of 97 recorded infant deaths in this study population since 2010, 14.4% are known to have elicited dead infant carrying, a proportion similar to that reported for other monkey species. We discuss our observations in relation to various hypotheses about this behaviour, including the post-parturition hormones hypothesis, learning to mother hypothesis, and unawareness of death hypothesis.


2008 ◽  
Vol 15 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 53-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christo Thesnaar

AbstractSouth Africa is indeed a country of many contrasts, of extreme wealth and extreme poverty. All South Africans were deeply affected by apartheid and this had a huge effect on how communities (including both offenders and victims) on all levels took shape: where they lived, the quality of their housing and neighbourhoods, the resources they had or did not have at their disposal, what schools their children attended, what opportunities they had for economic gain and how they were emotionally affected by the policies of apartheid. This article specifically intends to argue that communities should deal in a positive and urgent way with the divide caused by the past so that victims and offenders do not stay victims and offenders but are assisted to move on in their life journey towards healing and wholeness. The author believes that the key for reaching this goal is justice, especially restorative justice. With this qualification in mind the article wants to argue that the Christian church in particular can play a central role in implementing restorative justice in local communities. This will ultimately help to break the destructive cycle of being a victim today and an offender tomorrow, or the other way round.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Margit H. Simon ◽  
Martin Ziegler ◽  
Joyce Bosmans ◽  
Stephen Barker ◽  
Chris J.C. Reason ◽  
...  

Abstract Processes that control the hydrological balance in eastern South Africa on orbital to millennial timescales remain poorly understood because proxy records documenting its variability at high resolution are scarce. In this work, we present a detailed 270,000 year-long record of terrestrial climate variability in the KwaZulu-Natal province based on elemental ratios of Fe/K from the southwest Indian Ocean, derived from X-ray fluorescence core scanning. Eastern South African climate variability on these time scales reflects both the long-term effect of regional insolation changes driven by orbital precession and the effects associated with high-latitude abrupt climate forcing over the past two glacial-interglacial cycles, including millennial-scale events not previously identified. Rapid changes towards more humid conditions in eastern South Africa as the Northern Hemisphere entered phases of extreme cooling were potentially driven by a combination of warming in the Agulhas Current and shifts of the subtropical anticyclones. These climate oscillations appear coherent with other Southern Hemisphere records but are anti-phased with respect to the East Asian Monsoon. Numerical modelling results reveal that higher precipitation in the KwaZulu-Natal province during precession maxima is driven by a combination of increased local evaporation and elevated moisture transport into eastern South Africa from the coast of Mozambique.


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