Participation dynamics in the management of protected areas: the case of Dwesa-Cwebe Nature Reserve and its adjacent communities, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
- Nyamahono, James Donald https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1391-9126
- Authors: Nyamahono, James Donald https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1391-9126
- Date: 2023-03
- Subjects: Protected areas , Natural resources conservation areas -- South Africa , National protected areas systems
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/27358 , vital:66947
- Description: In many parts of the developing world, participation in the management of ‘protected areas’ is among the most tangible indices of how the rural population encounters formal conservation policies, strategies and ideologies. However, some scholars have argued that the sharing of the burdens and benefits of participation is devoid of equity. While some analysts have emphasised the imperative of multi-stakeholder participation in nature conservation, citing this as a crucial socio-ecological investment, others have highlighted the inherent contradictions in the process, describing it as an avenue for manipulation, tokenism and exploitation. This study is located in this debate and focuses on narratives around the participation of different stakeholders in the management of Dwesa-Cwebe Nature Reserve and its adjacent communities in the rural Wild-Coast, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The researcher notes that research on the degrees and participation dynamics among various role players involved in the management of protected areas in South Africa, Dwesa-Cwebe Nature Reserve in particular is limited. Against this background, this study contributes to ongoing discussions on protected area management in South Africa but seeks to expand this discussion by interrogating the nature and degrees of participation within the Dwesa-Cwebe Nature Reserve - to deepen intellectual understanding on the significant role played by protected areas in engendering participatory democracy, equity, justice as well as meeting the needs of marginalised communities. Primary data for the thesis were collected using in-depth and key-informant interviews with officials from government institutions and parastatals, politicians and traditional authority figures. Focus group discussions were held with ‘youth’ participants as well as ‘elders’ in the Reserve’s adjacent communities. An analysis of policy and other government documents sought to outline the institutional attributes of protected areas management in South Africa and the underpinning ideas. A thematic analysis of the corpus of empirical information helped to show how these institutional attributes inhere in Dwesa-Cwebe Nature Reserve as well as the epistemic challenge these attributes pose vis-à-vis indigenous ecological ideas and practices in the adjacent ‘indigenous’ communities. The study revealed that participation is perceived differently by various stakeholders due to multiple, mutually contradictory impulses. While institutional stakeholders attached great importance to the structural role of institutional frameworks, hence the vigorous reliance on formal conservation strategies, narratives from community members drew attention to ‘equity deficits’. The study also found that while the selected Reserve may have fostered cooperation between government and the adjacent communities, conflict and distrust ran deep between these stakeholders. From these and other findings, the study concluded that ecological participation in the study area was characterised by clusters of stakeholders who regard one another as ‘epistemic outsiders’ and related to one another as such, with practical consequences – especially for the long-term sustainability of the Reserve. In the main, the thesis rests on the argument that in the face of epistemic differences, dominance and marginalisation could become a defining feature of protected area management that cannot be readily resolved through the mere process of participation. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2023
- Full Text:
- Authors: Nyamahono, James Donald https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1391-9126
- Date: 2023-03
- Subjects: Protected areas , Natural resources conservation areas -- South Africa , National protected areas systems
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/27358 , vital:66947
- Description: In many parts of the developing world, participation in the management of ‘protected areas’ is among the most tangible indices of how the rural population encounters formal conservation policies, strategies and ideologies. However, some scholars have argued that the sharing of the burdens and benefits of participation is devoid of equity. While some analysts have emphasised the imperative of multi-stakeholder participation in nature conservation, citing this as a crucial socio-ecological investment, others have highlighted the inherent contradictions in the process, describing it as an avenue for manipulation, tokenism and exploitation. This study is located in this debate and focuses on narratives around the participation of different stakeholders in the management of Dwesa-Cwebe Nature Reserve and its adjacent communities in the rural Wild-Coast, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The researcher notes that research on the degrees and participation dynamics among various role players involved in the management of protected areas in South Africa, Dwesa-Cwebe Nature Reserve in particular is limited. Against this background, this study contributes to ongoing discussions on protected area management in South Africa but seeks to expand this discussion by interrogating the nature and degrees of participation within the Dwesa-Cwebe Nature Reserve - to deepen intellectual understanding on the significant role played by protected areas in engendering participatory democracy, equity, justice as well as meeting the needs of marginalised communities. Primary data for the thesis were collected using in-depth and key-informant interviews with officials from government institutions and parastatals, politicians and traditional authority figures. Focus group discussions were held with ‘youth’ participants as well as ‘elders’ in the Reserve’s adjacent communities. An analysis of policy and other government documents sought to outline the institutional attributes of protected areas management in South Africa and the underpinning ideas. A thematic analysis of the corpus of empirical information helped to show how these institutional attributes inhere in Dwesa-Cwebe Nature Reserve as well as the epistemic challenge these attributes pose vis-à-vis indigenous ecological ideas and practices in the adjacent ‘indigenous’ communities. The study revealed that participation is perceived differently by various stakeholders due to multiple, mutually contradictory impulses. While institutional stakeholders attached great importance to the structural role of institutional frameworks, hence the vigorous reliance on formal conservation strategies, narratives from community members drew attention to ‘equity deficits’. The study also found that while the selected Reserve may have fostered cooperation between government and the adjacent communities, conflict and distrust ran deep between these stakeholders. From these and other findings, the study concluded that ecological participation in the study area was characterised by clusters of stakeholders who regard one another as ‘epistemic outsiders’ and related to one another as such, with practical consequences – especially for the long-term sustainability of the Reserve. In the main, the thesis rests on the argument that in the face of epistemic differences, dominance and marginalisation could become a defining feature of protected area management that cannot be readily resolved through the mere process of participation. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2023
- Full Text:
Grappling with food and livelihood practices in the context of socio-ecological displacement: The case of 2014 Tokwe-Mukorsi flood victims in Chingwizi, Zimbabwe
- Mudefi, Elmon https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3448-5432
- Authors: Mudefi, Elmon https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3448-5432
- Date: 2022-04
- Subjects: Food security , Households , Natural disasters -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/22056 , vital:51979
- Description: This study sought to examine how the socio-ecologically displaced Tokwe-Mukorsi community in southern Zimbabwe grappled with adverse circumstances that threatened to obliterate their age-old food and livelihood practices after five years of being resettled 150km away in Chingwizi. The investigation is done against the backdrop of the dominant narrative on resilience, which often overlooks resilience outcomes associated with specific contextual experiences of socio-ecological disadvantage. The study examined the nature and character of emergent food and livelihood practices in Chingwizi, with a view to establishing how they were impacted by socio-political dynamics encountered vis-à-vis displacement, resettlement and in processes of attempting to recover. The study also examined how local narratives about the new food and livelihood practices in Chingwizi intersect with dominant resilience discourses, especially those related to climate change adaptation, sustainability and food security. A triangulated research design was utilised. It consisted of survey, focus group discussion, in-depth interview, and key informant interview. Qualitative research participants were selected based on their knowledge and experience on food and livelihood practices before and after displacement. This included the displaced flood victims that met this criterion, local leaders, government officials and local opinion leaders. The findings revealed that food and livelihood practices in Chingwizi had deteriorated over the five-year period under investigation. This was reflected in a diminution in livestock herds, crop production, income streams and average household monthly incomes. As a result, food insecurity was very high, and households were forced to rely more on donations. The displaced flood victims, however, adapted to the harsh conditions by engaging in a variety of livelihood alternatives, including food vending, buying and selling, craftwork, small livestock rearing, and migrating to neighbouring South Africa to seek employment opportunities. Nevertheless, efforts to rebuild food and livelihood practices were hampered by socio-political dynamics. This resulted in the loss of key livelihood assets, a situation aggravated by compensational injustice, contestations over land and resources by the host communities, dysfunctional social networks, and victims’ cultural ‘fixations’. The study concludes from these and other findings that achieving transformation in the form of adaptation, food security and sustainability following involuntary displacement and resettlement is more than just a question of resilience, and that displacement and resettlement are complex processes that create invidious dynamism for the stakeholders concerned. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2022
- Full Text:
- Authors: Mudefi, Elmon https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3448-5432
- Date: 2022-04
- Subjects: Food security , Households , Natural disasters -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/22056 , vital:51979
- Description: This study sought to examine how the socio-ecologically displaced Tokwe-Mukorsi community in southern Zimbabwe grappled with adverse circumstances that threatened to obliterate their age-old food and livelihood practices after five years of being resettled 150km away in Chingwizi. The investigation is done against the backdrop of the dominant narrative on resilience, which often overlooks resilience outcomes associated with specific contextual experiences of socio-ecological disadvantage. The study examined the nature and character of emergent food and livelihood practices in Chingwizi, with a view to establishing how they were impacted by socio-political dynamics encountered vis-à-vis displacement, resettlement and in processes of attempting to recover. The study also examined how local narratives about the new food and livelihood practices in Chingwizi intersect with dominant resilience discourses, especially those related to climate change adaptation, sustainability and food security. A triangulated research design was utilised. It consisted of survey, focus group discussion, in-depth interview, and key informant interview. Qualitative research participants were selected based on their knowledge and experience on food and livelihood practices before and after displacement. This included the displaced flood victims that met this criterion, local leaders, government officials and local opinion leaders. The findings revealed that food and livelihood practices in Chingwizi had deteriorated over the five-year period under investigation. This was reflected in a diminution in livestock herds, crop production, income streams and average household monthly incomes. As a result, food insecurity was very high, and households were forced to rely more on donations. The displaced flood victims, however, adapted to the harsh conditions by engaging in a variety of livelihood alternatives, including food vending, buying and selling, craftwork, small livestock rearing, and migrating to neighbouring South Africa to seek employment opportunities. Nevertheless, efforts to rebuild food and livelihood practices were hampered by socio-political dynamics. This resulted in the loss of key livelihood assets, a situation aggravated by compensational injustice, contestations over land and resources by the host communities, dysfunctional social networks, and victims’ cultural ‘fixations’. The study concludes from these and other findings that achieving transformation in the form of adaptation, food security and sustainability following involuntary displacement and resettlement is more than just a question of resilience, and that displacement and resettlement are complex processes that create invidious dynamism for the stakeholders concerned. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2022
- Full Text:
Third sector intervention and sustainable development : an evaluation of selected non-governmental organization supported projects in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Moyo, Thokozani Patience
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Non-governmental organizations -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/5774 , vital:29389
- Description: This study evaluates the impact of Third Sector- supported rural development projects in three rural communities of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It focusses on how interventions driven by this sector – denoted by, among others, local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) - impact the lives and livelihoods of the rural poor. This is against the background of an established discourse that views NGOs as effective agents in the alleviation of poverty. The thesis contends that praise for the Third Sector is driven mostly by advocacy than based on systematic scientific evidence of the real impact of NGO-sponsored rural development interventions. Rural agricultural development projects supported by two Eastern Cape-based NGOs (the one a local NGO, and the other international) were selected for the study. A mini survey was conducted in the communities where the projects are located. Survey data were complemented by qualitative data obtained through focus groups, semi-structured and in-depth interviews as well as key informant interviews. The study found that whereas the projects had been established by the state later went moribund, they were resuscitated by the NGOs through a largely ‘bottom-up’ model of rural development intermediation. In other words, the interventions were resuscitated through a relatively robust prior engagement with project beneficiaries. As a result, while originally lacking a meaningful sense of local empowerment, ownership, and commitment, the projects had become revived and now played an important role in the livelihoods of some community members – even though social grants remained the primary and main source of income for those community members. Even so, the narratives of community members revealed what may be termed a ‘transformation paradox’ in the way the projects were implemented. The NGOs seemed to have replaced one kind of lop-sidedness in rural development (the exclusion of women) with another (the exclusion of men), by focussing on community projects that were ‘culturally’ deemed as ’women jobs’. In this way, the interventions appeared like a systematic attempt to do away with the ‘feminisation of rural poverty’ and entrench the ‘feminisation of rural development interventions’. The study concludes from these and other findings, that the key to understanding the significance and impact of Third Sector-supported development interventions in the rural arena – especially in the Eastern Cape context – is to go beyond the proliferation of NGOs and NGO-supported projects – and the broad sweep of advocacy that underpins it – and pay equally robust attention to systematically studying how these projects resonate at the grassroots, especially from a beneficiary perspective.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Moyo, Thokozani Patience
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Non-governmental organizations -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Sustainable development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/5774 , vital:29389
- Description: This study evaluates the impact of Third Sector- supported rural development projects in three rural communities of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It focusses on how interventions driven by this sector – denoted by, among others, local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) - impact the lives and livelihoods of the rural poor. This is against the background of an established discourse that views NGOs as effective agents in the alleviation of poverty. The thesis contends that praise for the Third Sector is driven mostly by advocacy than based on systematic scientific evidence of the real impact of NGO-sponsored rural development interventions. Rural agricultural development projects supported by two Eastern Cape-based NGOs (the one a local NGO, and the other international) were selected for the study. A mini survey was conducted in the communities where the projects are located. Survey data were complemented by qualitative data obtained through focus groups, semi-structured and in-depth interviews as well as key informant interviews. The study found that whereas the projects had been established by the state later went moribund, they were resuscitated by the NGOs through a largely ‘bottom-up’ model of rural development intermediation. In other words, the interventions were resuscitated through a relatively robust prior engagement with project beneficiaries. As a result, while originally lacking a meaningful sense of local empowerment, ownership, and commitment, the projects had become revived and now played an important role in the livelihoods of some community members – even though social grants remained the primary and main source of income for those community members. Even so, the narratives of community members revealed what may be termed a ‘transformation paradox’ in the way the projects were implemented. The NGOs seemed to have replaced one kind of lop-sidedness in rural development (the exclusion of women) with another (the exclusion of men), by focussing on community projects that were ‘culturally’ deemed as ’women jobs’. In this way, the interventions appeared like a systematic attempt to do away with the ‘feminisation of rural poverty’ and entrench the ‘feminisation of rural development interventions’. The study concludes from these and other findings, that the key to understanding the significance and impact of Third Sector-supported development interventions in the rural arena – especially in the Eastern Cape context – is to go beyond the proliferation of NGOs and NGO-supported projects – and the broad sweep of advocacy that underpins it – and pay equally robust attention to systematically studying how these projects resonate at the grassroots, especially from a beneficiary perspective.
- Full Text:
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