The contribution and direct-use value of livestock to rural livelihoods in the Sand River catchment, South Africa
- Authors: Shackleton, Charlie M , Shackleton, Sheona E , Netshiluvhi, T R , Mathabela, F R
- Date: 2005
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/181335 , vital:43720 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.2989/10220110509485870"
- Description: The productive functions of livestock ownership in communal areas are multipurpose in character, comprising a mix of stock types and a range of goods and services used. When all these multiple uses are accounted for, the cash and direct-use returns of livestock in communal areas can be comparable to commercial systems, although temporally and spatially variable. Yet previous work has generally excluded small stock from such analyses, as well as benefits and costs to non-owning households. This paper presents empirical results of a study in the Sand River catchment, assessing the benefits and costs accruing to owners and non-owners for both cattle and goats within a livelihoods analysis framework. Results indicate that cattle are used for a greater variety of goods and services than are goats. The savings value represented the most important function, followed by milk and then manure. Even if savings value was excluded, cattle ownership made a significant contribution to local livelihoods. Goats also provided a net positive benefit, represented largely by the savings value, followed by meat and cash sales. Non-owners also benefited through donations of manure, milk, draught and meat for free, or at a cheaper rate than alternatives. The majority of non-owners aspired to livestock ownership, although the risk of theft of animals was of growing concern. Averaged across the whole catchment, the net value of goods and services from livestock was just over R400 per hectare, with an annual return to capital of 36%. Cattle contributed the bulk of the value by virtue of their greater numbers and larger size, but on a per kilogramme basis goats provided higher value. Many of the goods and services obtained from livestock were not enumerated in regional or national economic statistics.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2005
Integrating indigenous ecological knowledge and customary sea tenure with marine and social science for conservation of bumphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) in the Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands
- Authors: Shankar, Aswani , Hamilton, Richard
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/439945 , vital:73722 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S037689290400116X"
- Description: Indigenous ecological knowledge and customary sea tenure may be integrated with marine and social science to conserve the bumphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) in the Roviana Lagoon, Western Solomon Islands. Three aspects of indigenous ecological knowledge in Roviana were identified as most relevant for the management and conservation of bumphead parrotfish, and studied through a combination of marine science and anthropological methods. These were (1) local claims that fishing pressure has had a significant impact on bumphead parrotfish populations in the Roviana Lagoon; (2) the claim that only small bumphead parrotfish were ever seen or captured in the inner lagoon and that very small fish were restricted to specific shallow inner-lagoon nursery regions; and (3) assertions made by local divers that bumphead parrotfish predominantly aggregated at night around the new moon period and that catches were highest at that time. The research supported claims (1) and (2), but did not support proposition (3). Although the people of the Roviana Lagoon had similar conceptions about their entitlement rights to sea space, there were marked differences among regional villages in their opinions regarding governance and actual operational rules of management in the Lagoon. Contemporary differences in management strategies resulted from people's historical and spatial patterns of settlement across the landscape and adjoining seascapes, and the attendant impact of these patterns on property relations. This was crucial in distinguishing between those villages that held secure tenure over their contiguous sea estates from those that did not. Indigenous ecological knowledge served to (1) verify that the bumphead parrotfish was a species in urgent need of protection; (2) explain how different habitats structured the size distribution of bumphead parrotfish; (3) identify sensitive locations and habitats in need of protection; and (4) explain the effect of lunar periodicity on bumphead parrotfish behaviour and catch rates. Secure customary sea tenure identified locations best suited to bumphead parrotfish management programmes, with a greater likelihood for local participation and programme success. The information was used to establish two marine protected areas in the region for bumphead parrotfish conservation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2004
Troubled waters in south-western New Georgia, Solomon Islands: Is codification of the commons a viable avenue for resource use regularisation
- Authors: Shankar, Aswani
- Date: 1997
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/440061 , vital:73732
- Description: In recent decades there has been a growing interest in indigenous sea tenure institutions and their possible role in establishing a framework for sustainable resource use and conservation. Yet the feasibility of these institutions to cope with social and economic changes have been seldom explored. In this paper a case study is presented where internal deregularisation of the ‘commons’ is the result of existing socio-cultural principles combined with outside influences. Two territorial models are compared to elucidate emerging internal instabilities of sea tenure institutions and possible ways to correct existing problems. The codification of the commons is suggested here as a possible measure to strengthen indigenous common property regimes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1997