The promise and limit of environmental justice through land restitution in protected areas in South Africa

2018 ◽  
pp. 31-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maano Ramutsindela ◽  
Medupi Shabangu
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Land Restitution

The Engagement of Beneficiaries in Farm Governance of Restituted Land through the Communal Property Association Model: The Ideal Versus the Reality of Beneficiary Farms in South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mokoko Piet Sebola ◽  
Malemela Angelinah Mamabolo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Farm Management ◽  
The South ◽  
African Government ◽  
Communal Property ◽  
Farm Ownership ◽  
Land Restitution ◽  
Communal Property Associations

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the engagement of farm beneficiaries in South Africa in the governance of restituted farms through communal property associations. The South African government has already spent millions of rands on land restitution to correct the imbalance of the past with regard to farm ownership by the African communities. Various methods of farm management to benefit the African society have been proposed, however, with little recorded success. This article argues that the South African post-apartheid government was so overwhelmed by political victory in 1994 that they introduced ambitious land reform policies that were based on ideal thinking rather than on a pragmatic approach to the South African situation. We used qualitative research methods to argue that the engagement of farm beneficiaries in farm management and governance through communal property associations is failing dismally. We conclude that a revisit of the communal property associations model is required in order to strengthen the position of beneficiaries and promote access to land by African communities for future benefit.

scholarly journals Foraging range and habitat use by Cape Vulture Gyps coprotheres from the Msikaba colony, Eastern Cape province, South Africa

Koedoe ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Morgan B. Pfeiffer ◽  
Jan A. Venter ◽  
Colleen T. Downs
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
Movement Ecology ◽  
Kernel Density ◽  
Eastern Cape Province ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
Convex Polygons ◽  
Density Estimates ◽  
Kernel Density Estimates

Despite the extent of subsistence farmland in Africa, little is known about endangered species that persist within them. The Cape Vulture (Gyps coprotheres) is regionally endangered in southern Africa and at least 20% of the population breeds in the subsistence farmland area previously known as the Transkei in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. To understand their movement ecology, adult Cape Vultures (n = 9) were captured and fitted with global positioning system/global system for mobile transmitters. Minimum convex polygons (MCPs),and 99% and 50% kernel density estimates (KDEs) were calculated for the breeding and non breeding seasons of the Cape Vulture. Land use maps were constructed for each 99% KDE and vulture locations were overlaid. During the non-breeding season, ranges were slightly larger(mean [± SE] MCP = 16 887 km2 ± 366 km2) than the breeding season (MCP = 14 707 km2 ± 2155 km2). Breeding and non-breeding season MCPs overlapped by a total of 92%. Kernel density estimates showed seasonal variability. During the breeding season, Cape Vultures used subsistence farmland, natural woodland and protected areas more than expected. In the non-breeding season, vultures used natural woodland and subsistence farmland more than expected, and protected areas less than expected. In both seasons, human-altered landscapes were used less, except for subsistence farmland.Conservation implications: These results highlight the importance of subsistence farm land to the survival of the Cape Vulture. Efforts should be made to minimise potential threats to vultures in the core areas outlined, through outreach programmes and mitigation measures.The conservation buffer of 40 km around Cape Vulture breeding colonies should be increased to 50 km.

The Importance of Conversation in Transitional Justice: A Study of Land Restitution in South Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 39 (04) ◽  
pp. 902-937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernadette Atuahene
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Procedural Justice ◽  
South African ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
The South ◽  
Communication Breakdowns ◽  
Land Restitution

One of the most replicated findings of the procedural justice literature is that people who receive unfavorable outcomes are more likely to believe that the process was nonetheless legitimate if they thought that it was fair. Using interviews of 150 people compensated through the South African land restitution program, this article examines whether these findings apply in the transitional justice context where it is often unclear who the winners and losers are. The question explored is: When all outcomes are unfavorable or incomplete, how do people make fairness assessments? The central observation was that the ability of respondents and land restitution commission officials to sustain a conversation with each other had the greatest effect on whether respondents believed that the land restitution process was fair. The study also contributes to the existing literature by exploring the institutional arrangements and resources necessary to facilitate communication and to overcome any communication breakdowns encountered.

scholarly journals Distant Interactions, Power, and Environmental Justice in Protected Area Governance: A Telecoupling Perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 3954 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sébastien Boillat ◽  
Jean-David Gerber ◽  
Christoph Oberlack ◽  
Julie Zaehringer ◽  
Chinwe Ifejika Speranza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Multiple Forms ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Financial Flows ◽  
Distant Interactions ◽  
Local Practices ◽  
Equitable Outcomes

Equity has become a major concern in efforts to conserve nature. However, in the Global South, inequitable social impacts of conservation usually prevail. We investigate barriers to equitable governance of four protected areas through an innovative approach linking the tri-dimensional framing of environmental justice with the notion of telecoupling. We conceptualize the creation, support, and implementation of protected areas as telecoupling processes that involve flows, actors, and action situations, and assess them based on a set of indicators of procedural justice, distributive justice, and recognition. We perform the analysis for parallel or competing telecoupling processes that affect the areas and we then investigate the scope and reach of resistance actions to attain more equitable outcomes. Identified barriers include dependence of the PAs on transnational financial flows, presence of competing extractive demands, negative narratives on local practices, wilderness and Malthusian framings, authoritarian rule, narrow development options, and socio-cultural discrimination. These combined barriers create multiple forms of exclusion. Resistance actions are likely to succeed when actors can mobilize alliances and resources across distance. We conclude that justice framings can make power relationships in telecouplings more visible, and that considering distant interactions can elucidate causes of (in)equity in conservation.

Ecotourism in Protected Areas

2019 ◽  
pp. 22-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaunette M. Sinclair-Maragh
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecological Resources

This chapter explores the role of ecotourism in the sustainable development of protected areas. It specifically examines the aims of ecotourism in simultaneously contributing to economic development and environmental sustainability in protected areas. The chapter further analyzes protected areas within the ecological, human, and institutional dimensions, and demonstrates how the outcomes of ecotourism are linked to the economic, social, and environmental pillars that drive sustainable development. The chapter also discusses challenges surrounding the sustainability of ecotourism in protected areas and several mitigation strategies. It concludes that while ecotourism aims for economic development it can have detrimental effects on the ecological resources and host communities if not managed in a strategic sustainable way. The chapter recommends that ecotourism in protected areas should be carried out within the realm of environmental justice where all stakeholders and the natural environment are treated with respect and equity.

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