Collaborative stewardship in multifunctional landscapes: toward relational, pluralistic approaches
- Cockburn, Jessica, Cundell, Georgina, Shackleton, Shenoa, Rouget, Mathieu, Zwinkels, Marijn, Cornelius, Susanna A, Metcalf, Liz, van den Broek, D
- Authors: Cockburn, Jessica , Cundell, Georgina , Shackleton, Shenoa , Rouget, Mathieu , Zwinkels, Marijn , Cornelius, Susanna A , Metcalf, Liz , van den Broek, D
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/390297 , vital:68535 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11085-240432"
- Description: Landscape stewardship offers a means to put social-ecological approaches to stewardship into practice. The growing interest in landscape stewardship has led to a focus on multistakeholder collaboration. Although there is a significant body of literature on collaborative management and governance of natural resources, the particular challenges posed by multifunctional landscapes, in which there are often contested interests, require closer attention. We present a case study from South Africa to investigate how collaborative stewardship can be fostered in contested multifunctional landscapes. We conducted this research through an engaged transdisciplinary research partnership in which we integrated social-ecological practitioner and academic knowledge to gain an in-depth understanding of the challenges of fostering collaboration. We identified five overarching factors that influence collaboration: contextual, institutional, social-relational, individual, and political-historical. Collaborative stewardship approaches focused on the development of formal governance institutions appear to be most successful if enabling individual and social-relational conditions are in place. Our case study, characterized by high social diversity, inequity, and contestation, suggests that consensus-driven approaches to collaboration are unlikely to result in equitable and sustainable landscape stewardship in such contexts. We therefore suggest an approach that focuses on enhancing individual and social-relational enablers. Moreover, we propose a bottom-up patchwork approach to collaborative stewardship premised on the notion of pluralism. This would focus on building new interpersonal relationships and collaborative capacity through small collective actions. Taking a relational, pluralistic approach to fostering collaborative stewardship is particularly important in contested, socially heterogeneous landscapes. Drawing on our study and the literature, we propose guiding principles for implementing relational, pluralistic approaches to collaborative stewardship and suggest future research directions for supporting such approaches.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Cockburn, Jessica , Cundell, Georgina , Shackleton, Shenoa , Rouget, Mathieu , Zwinkels, Marijn , Cornelius, Susanna A , Metcalf, Liz , van den Broek, D
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/390297 , vital:68535 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11085-240432"
- Description: Landscape stewardship offers a means to put social-ecological approaches to stewardship into practice. The growing interest in landscape stewardship has led to a focus on multistakeholder collaboration. Although there is a significant body of literature on collaborative management and governance of natural resources, the particular challenges posed by multifunctional landscapes, in which there are often contested interests, require closer attention. We present a case study from South Africa to investigate how collaborative stewardship can be fostered in contested multifunctional landscapes. We conducted this research through an engaged transdisciplinary research partnership in which we integrated social-ecological practitioner and academic knowledge to gain an in-depth understanding of the challenges of fostering collaboration. We identified five overarching factors that influence collaboration: contextual, institutional, social-relational, individual, and political-historical. Collaborative stewardship approaches focused on the development of formal governance institutions appear to be most successful if enabling individual and social-relational conditions are in place. Our case study, characterized by high social diversity, inequity, and contestation, suggests that consensus-driven approaches to collaboration are unlikely to result in equitable and sustainable landscape stewardship in such contexts. We therefore suggest an approach that focuses on enhancing individual and social-relational enablers. Moreover, we propose a bottom-up patchwork approach to collaborative stewardship premised on the notion of pluralism. This would focus on building new interpersonal relationships and collaborative capacity through small collective actions. Taking a relational, pluralistic approach to fostering collaborative stewardship is particularly important in contested, socially heterogeneous landscapes. Drawing on our study and the literature, we propose guiding principles for implementing relational, pluralistic approaches to collaborative stewardship and suggest future research directions for supporting such approaches.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Use of public urban green spaces for spiritual services in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
- Ngulani, T, Shackleton, Charlie M
- Authors: Ngulani, T , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179710 , vital:43163 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2018.11.009"
- Description: Urban green spaces provide an array of ecosystem services. Spiritual services provided by urban green spaces are widely used, but are often overlooked and rarely quantified. These services are accessed at sites of specific religious or sacred significance or more general urban green spaces used for religious practices that require natural or semi-natural, outdoor settings. We sampled twelve public green spaces in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, to determine their use as sites for religious gatherings, interviewed visitors to green spaces and religious congregants about such and used the travel cost method to assign a value to the green spaces for spiritual benefits. Religious gatherings were observed in all twelve sampled green spaces, and 7% of a random sample of visitors to the urban green spaces said that they participated in such. Amongst the worshippers, 71% said worshipping outdoors was part of their religious practices and 29% said they did so because they had no building in which to worship. Most (79%) worshipped in public green spaces 1–4 times per week. Many felt that it would be easier if the city council designated specific and quiet areas in public green spaces for their religious observances, which they could then help maintain. The mean value of spiritual services was determined to be US$93 ± 79 /ha/yr, and tended to be highest in the high density, poorer suburbs. These results reveal the significance of urban green spaces for spiritual purposes and indicate the need for greater recognition amongst researchers and city planners and authorities to secure and maintain such benefit flows.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Ngulani, T , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179710 , vital:43163 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2018.11.009"
- Description: Urban green spaces provide an array of ecosystem services. Spiritual services provided by urban green spaces are widely used, but are often overlooked and rarely quantified. These services are accessed at sites of specific religious or sacred significance or more general urban green spaces used for religious practices that require natural or semi-natural, outdoor settings. We sampled twelve public green spaces in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, to determine their use as sites for religious gatherings, interviewed visitors to green spaces and religious congregants about such and used the travel cost method to assign a value to the green spaces for spiritual benefits. Religious gatherings were observed in all twelve sampled green spaces, and 7% of a random sample of visitors to the urban green spaces said that they participated in such. Amongst the worshippers, 71% said worshipping outdoors was part of their religious practices and 29% said they did so because they had no building in which to worship. Most (79%) worshipped in public green spaces 1–4 times per week. Many felt that it would be easier if the city council designated specific and quiet areas in public green spaces for their religious observances, which they could then help maintain. The mean value of spiritual services was determined to be US$93 ± 79 /ha/yr, and tended to be highest in the high density, poorer suburbs. These results reveal the significance of urban green spaces for spiritual purposes and indicate the need for greater recognition amongst researchers and city planners and authorities to secure and maintain such benefit flows.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
The relative representation of ecosystem services and disservices in South African newspaper media
- Mclellan, V, Shackleton, Charlie M
- Authors: Mclellan, V , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179699 , vital:43162 , https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2019.1667442
- Description: Newspapers are key information sources and may influence both public opinion and policy. Previous studies have analysed the portrayal of ecosystem disservices in newspapers, but none have assessed the relative coverage between disservices and services, or how it might have changed over time. We report on the relative frequency and depiction of ecosystem services and disservices in South African, English newspapers over a 15-year period. We used a SABINET search complemented by key-informant interviews with environmental journalists. For each article we recorded if it covered ecosystem services or disservices, the type of service or disservice, and article tone and length. Overall, 2,201 articles were found, of which 25% were on services and 75% on disservices. The number of articles per year declined over the 15-year period for services, but not disservices. The most common services were energy and craft materials, food production, recreation and culture, and disservices were human health, heat waves and floods. Articles on ecosystem services were 25–40% longer than those on disservices. Article lengths on both declined over the 15 years. The greater reporting of ecosystem disservices over services is likely to influence public opinion and environmental decision-making accordingly.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Mclellan, V , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/179699 , vital:43162 , https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2019.1667442
- Description: Newspapers are key information sources and may influence both public opinion and policy. Previous studies have analysed the portrayal of ecosystem disservices in newspapers, but none have assessed the relative coverage between disservices and services, or how it might have changed over time. We report on the relative frequency and depiction of ecosystem services and disservices in South African, English newspapers over a 15-year period. We used a SABINET search complemented by key-informant interviews with environmental journalists. For each article we recorded if it covered ecosystem services or disservices, the type of service or disservice, and article tone and length. Overall, 2,201 articles were found, of which 25% were on services and 75% on disservices. The number of articles per year declined over the 15-year period for services, but not disservices. The most common services were energy and craft materials, food production, recreation and culture, and disservices were human health, heat waves and floods. Articles on ecosystem services were 25–40% longer than those on disservices. Article lengths on both declined over the 15 years. The greater reporting of ecosystem disservices over services is likely to influence public opinion and environmental decision-making accordingly.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
The role of invasive alien species in shaping local livelihoods and human well-being: A review
- Shackleton, Ross T, Shackleton, Charlie M, Kull, Christian A
- Authors: Shackleton, Ross T , Shackleton, Charlie M , Kull, Christian A
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/180280 , vital:43349 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.05.007"
- Description: Invasive alien species are a well-recognised driver of social-ecological change globally. Much research has focused on ecological impacts, but the role of invasive species for livelihoods and human well-being is less well known. Understanding the effects (benefits and costs) of invasive species on livelihoods and human well-being is important for guiding policy formulation and management. Here we review the literature on the role of invasive species in livelihoods to assess what is known, identify knowledge gaps and provide recommendations for future research. Literature was collected using key word searches and included both journal publications and grey literature. Slightly less than half (48%) of species studied had both substantial positive and negative impacts on local livelihoods (e.g. Australian Acacia spp. species; Camelus dromedaries; Lantana camara; Prosopis spp.), with 37% inducing mainly costs (Chromolaena odorata; Lissachatina fulica; Opuntia stricta) and 16% producing mainly benefits (Opuntia ficus-indica; Acacia spp.). Some species, such as Acacia dealbata, fell into different categories depending on the social-ecological context. Key benefits or services included the provision of fuelwood, fodder, timber and food products for local households communities and to a lesser extent supporting and regulating services such as soil improvement and shade. A number of species also provided cultural services such as recreation and spiritual values and provided many with an opportunity to earn a cash income. However, invasive species also harm livelihoods and increase vulnerability through encroaching on land and reducing mobility or access. They can also decrease the supply of natural resources used by households and reduce agricultural production (livestock and/or crops) which can result in losses of income and increased vulnerability. Furthermore, some invasive species were seen to have negative implications for human health and safety and reduce the cultural value of landscapes. Economic impacts on livelihoods as a result of invasive species were highly variable and very dependent on the social-ecological contexts. These negative implications can reduce resilience and adaptive capacity of households and communities thus increasing their vulnerability to change. Drawing on case studies we highlight that efforts for managing invasive species need to safeguard livelihood benefits while mitigating negative impacts. In concluding we highlight future research and policy needs on the topic of invasive species, livelihoods and human well-being.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Shackleton, Ross T , Shackleton, Charlie M , Kull, Christian A
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/180280 , vital:43349 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.05.007"
- Description: Invasive alien species are a well-recognised driver of social-ecological change globally. Much research has focused on ecological impacts, but the role of invasive species for livelihoods and human well-being is less well known. Understanding the effects (benefits and costs) of invasive species on livelihoods and human well-being is important for guiding policy formulation and management. Here we review the literature on the role of invasive species in livelihoods to assess what is known, identify knowledge gaps and provide recommendations for future research. Literature was collected using key word searches and included both journal publications and grey literature. Slightly less than half (48%) of species studied had both substantial positive and negative impacts on local livelihoods (e.g. Australian Acacia spp. species; Camelus dromedaries; Lantana camara; Prosopis spp.), with 37% inducing mainly costs (Chromolaena odorata; Lissachatina fulica; Opuntia stricta) and 16% producing mainly benefits (Opuntia ficus-indica; Acacia spp.). Some species, such as Acacia dealbata, fell into different categories depending on the social-ecological context. Key benefits or services included the provision of fuelwood, fodder, timber and food products for local households communities and to a lesser extent supporting and regulating services such as soil improvement and shade. A number of species also provided cultural services such as recreation and spiritual values and provided many with an opportunity to earn a cash income. However, invasive species also harm livelihoods and increase vulnerability through encroaching on land and reducing mobility or access. They can also decrease the supply of natural resources used by households and reduce agricultural production (livestock and/or crops) which can result in losses of income and increased vulnerability. Furthermore, some invasive species were seen to have negative implications for human health and safety and reduce the cultural value of landscapes. Economic impacts on livelihoods as a result of invasive species were highly variable and very dependent on the social-ecological contexts. These negative implications can reduce resilience and adaptive capacity of households and communities thus increasing their vulnerability to change. Drawing on case studies we highlight that efforts for managing invasive species need to safeguard livelihood benefits while mitigating negative impacts. In concluding we highlight future research and policy needs on the topic of invasive species, livelihoods and human well-being.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
The contribution of NTFPs to rural livelihoods in different agro-ecological zones of South Africa
- Mugido, Worship, Shackleton, Charlie M
- Authors: Mugido, Worship , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182308 , vital:43819 , xlink:href="Commonwealth Forestry Association"
- Description: In South Africa, there is extensive NTFP trade within communities and via external markets. However, there is a limited indication of the proportion of all households trading one or more NTFPs, and how it varies in relation to local context. Therefore, this study sought to establish the proportion of households trading in NTFPs in sites of different distances to urban markets and agro-ecological zones of South Africa. The results showed that about 6.4% households reported selling NTFPs for various reasons, with many (22%) citing the need to earn cash income and limited employment opportunities (16.9%). Even though the returns from trading NTFPs are relatively low, every earning is very important to many cash-strapped rural households. This was demonstrated by the fact that many sellers of NTFPs used their earnings to augment household income and cover their living expenses.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Mugido, Worship , Shackleton, Charlie M
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182308 , vital:43819 , xlink:href="Commonwealth Forestry Association"
- Description: In South Africa, there is extensive NTFP trade within communities and via external markets. However, there is a limited indication of the proportion of all households trading one or more NTFPs, and how it varies in relation to local context. Therefore, this study sought to establish the proportion of households trading in NTFPs in sites of different distances to urban markets and agro-ecological zones of South Africa. The results showed that about 6.4% households reported selling NTFPs for various reasons, with many (22%) citing the need to earn cash income and limited employment opportunities (16.9%). Even though the returns from trading NTFPs are relatively low, every earning is very important to many cash-strapped rural households. This was demonstrated by the fact that many sellers of NTFPs used their earnings to augment household income and cover their living expenses.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
The meaning and practice of stewardship in South Africa
- Cockburn, Jessica, Cundill, Georgina, Shackleton, Sheona, Rouget, Mathieu
- Authors: Cockburn, Jessica , Cundill, Georgina , Shackleton, Sheona , Rouget, Mathieu
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/390683 , vital:68574 , xlink:href="http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2019/5339"
- Description: Stewardship offers a means of addressing social-ecological sustainability challenges, from the local to the global level. The concept of stewardship has had various meanings attached to it over time, and the links between the theory and practice of stewardship are not well understood. We sought to characterise the practice of stewardship in South Africa, to better understand the relationship between theory and practice. We found that practitioners’ understandings of stewardship coalesce around two core notions: the idea of stewardship as ‘responsible use and care’ of nature, and stewardship as a ‘balancing act’ between stewards’ use of natural resources for agricultural production and their responsibility to protect and manage the wider ecosystem. Stewardship practice in South Africa is strongly influenced by the biodiversity stewardship tool; however, many practitioners are integrating biodiversity stewardship with other approaches. These emerging social-ecological stewardship initiatives operate at landscape-level and work towards integrated social and ecological stewardship outcomes, by facilitating collaboration among diverse stakeholders. Further research is needed to better understand what is required to support these integrated, collaborative and cross-sectoral initiatives. Policy mechanisms that facilitate integrated place-based stewardship practice can contribute to expanding the practice of biodiversity stewardship in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Cockburn, Jessica , Cundill, Georgina , Shackleton, Sheona , Rouget, Mathieu
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/390683 , vital:68574 , xlink:href="http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2019/5339"
- Description: Stewardship offers a means of addressing social-ecological sustainability challenges, from the local to the global level. The concept of stewardship has had various meanings attached to it over time, and the links between the theory and practice of stewardship are not well understood. We sought to characterise the practice of stewardship in South Africa, to better understand the relationship between theory and practice. We found that practitioners’ understandings of stewardship coalesce around two core notions: the idea of stewardship as ‘responsible use and care’ of nature, and stewardship as a ‘balancing act’ between stewards’ use of natural resources for agricultural production and their responsibility to protect and manage the wider ecosystem. Stewardship practice in South Africa is strongly influenced by the biodiversity stewardship tool; however, many practitioners are integrating biodiversity stewardship with other approaches. These emerging social-ecological stewardship initiatives operate at landscape-level and work towards integrated social and ecological stewardship outcomes, by facilitating collaboration among diverse stakeholders. Further research is needed to better understand what is required to support these integrated, collaborative and cross-sectoral initiatives. Policy mechanisms that facilitate integrated place-based stewardship practice can contribute to expanding the practice of biodiversity stewardship in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
“It is a thing that depends on God”
- Samandari, Ghazaleh, Grant, Carolyn, Brent, Lily, Gullo, Sara
- Authors: Samandari, Ghazaleh , Grant, Carolyn , Brent, Lily , Gullo, Sara
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/281091 , vital:55691 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-019-0757-y"
- Description: Background: Pregnancy among adolescent girls in Niger contributes to 34% of all deaths among females ages 15–19, but there is a dearth of research as to the specific contextual causes. In Zinder region, an area that is especially impoverished and where girls are at heightened risk, there is very little information on the main obstacles to improving adolescents’ health and well-being. This qualitative study examines the underlying social, individual and structural factors influencing married girls’ early first birth and participation in alternative opportunities (such as education or economic pursuits) in Niger. Methodology: In July of 2017, researchers conducted in-depth interviews with a non-probability sample of community members in three communes of Zinder Region, Niger. Participants (n = 107) included adolescent girls, husbands of adolescent girls, influential adults, community leaders, health providers, and positive deviants. All interviews were transcribed, coded and analyzed using Dedoose software. Results: Participants recognize the health benefits of delaying first birth, but stigma around infertility and contraceptive use, desire for children, and belief that childbirth is “God’s will” interfere with a girl’s ability to delay. Girls’ social isolation, lack of mobility or autonomy, and inability to envision alternatives to early motherhood compound the issue. Participants favor adolescents’ pursuit of increased economic opportunities or education, but would not support delaying birth to do so. Conclusions: Findings indicate the need for a holistic approach to delaying early birth and stimulating girls’ participation in economic and educational pursuits. Potential interventions include mitigating barriers to reproductive health care; training adolescent girls on viable economic activities; and providing educational opportunities for girls. Effective programs should also include or target immediate members of the girls’ families (husbands, parents, in-laws), influential local leaders and members of the community at large.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Samandari, Ghazaleh , Grant, Carolyn , Brent, Lily , Gullo, Sara
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/281091 , vital:55691 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-019-0757-y"
- Description: Background: Pregnancy among adolescent girls in Niger contributes to 34% of all deaths among females ages 15–19, but there is a dearth of research as to the specific contextual causes. In Zinder region, an area that is especially impoverished and where girls are at heightened risk, there is very little information on the main obstacles to improving adolescents’ health and well-being. This qualitative study examines the underlying social, individual and structural factors influencing married girls’ early first birth and participation in alternative opportunities (such as education or economic pursuits) in Niger. Methodology: In July of 2017, researchers conducted in-depth interviews with a non-probability sample of community members in three communes of Zinder Region, Niger. Participants (n = 107) included adolescent girls, husbands of adolescent girls, influential adults, community leaders, health providers, and positive deviants. All interviews were transcribed, coded and analyzed using Dedoose software. Results: Participants recognize the health benefits of delaying first birth, but stigma around infertility and contraceptive use, desire for children, and belief that childbirth is “God’s will” interfere with a girl’s ability to delay. Girls’ social isolation, lack of mobility or autonomy, and inability to envision alternatives to early motherhood compound the issue. Participants favor adolescents’ pursuit of increased economic opportunities or education, but would not support delaying birth to do so. Conclusions: Findings indicate the need for a holistic approach to delaying early birth and stimulating girls’ participation in economic and educational pursuits. Potential interventions include mitigating barriers to reproductive health care; training adolescent girls on viable economic activities; and providing educational opportunities for girls. Effective programs should also include or target immediate members of the girls’ families (husbands, parents, in-laws), influential local leaders and members of the community at large.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Excavating the South African teacher leadership archive
- Authors: Grant, Carolyn
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/281051 , vital:55687 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143217717274"
- Description: In established democracies, the notion of ‘singular’ school leadership practised by the principal has been challenged and a more expansive approach to leadership which includes the practice of teacher leadership is now widely accepted by practitioners and researchers alike. In contrast, in emerging democracies the practice of teacher leadership is less obvious, despite the embeddedness of the concept in policy discourse. This article takes South Africa as its case and reviews literature on teacher leadership in this emerging African democracy. It draws on published articles and unpublished postgraduate theses with a specific teacher leadership focus and loosely adopts the format of two previously published comprehensive literature reviews in organising its findings. Similar to the findings of these two literature reviews, this South African archive also shows that the majority of research in this domain is conspicuously descriptive rather than explanatory, largely atheoretical and overly reliant on small case study design. In response, this article argues that teacher leadership research must continue to be undertaken in emerging democracies but with far greater use made of critical methodologies underpinned by relevant social theory.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Grant, Carolyn
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/281051 , vital:55687 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143217717274"
- Description: In established democracies, the notion of ‘singular’ school leadership practised by the principal has been challenged and a more expansive approach to leadership which includes the practice of teacher leadership is now widely accepted by practitioners and researchers alike. In contrast, in emerging democracies the practice of teacher leadership is less obvious, despite the embeddedness of the concept in policy discourse. This article takes South Africa as its case and reviews literature on teacher leadership in this emerging African democracy. It draws on published articles and unpublished postgraduate theses with a specific teacher leadership focus and loosely adopts the format of two previously published comprehensive literature reviews in organising its findings. Similar to the findings of these two literature reviews, this South African archive also shows that the majority of research in this domain is conspicuously descriptive rather than explanatory, largely atheoretical and overly reliant on small case study design. In response, this article argues that teacher leadership research must continue to be undertaken in emerging democracies but with far greater use made of critical methodologies underpinned by relevant social theory.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Morphological influence of deposition routes on lead sulfide thin films
- Mlowe, Sixberth, Shombe, Ginena B, Akerman, Matthew P, Mubofu, Egid B, O'Brien, Paul, Mashazi, Philani N, Nyokong, Tebello, Revaprasadu, Neerish
- Authors: Mlowe, Sixberth , Shombe, Ginena B , Akerman, Matthew P , Mubofu, Egid B , O'Brien, Paul , Mashazi, Philani N , Nyokong, Tebello , Revaprasadu, Neerish
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/186780 , vital:44533 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ica.2019.119116"
- Description: A distorted single crystal structure of bis(piperidinedithiocarbamato)lead(II) complex and its subsequent use to deposit thin films is reported. Two deposition routes namely, aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD) and spin coating deposition have been employed to obtain anisotropic lead sulfide (PbS) nanostructures. The thin films displayed rod to cubic shaped crystals for AACVD, and a range of cubes, star and dendritic morphologies with variation of temperatures were displayed for spin coated films. Optical band gaps between 1.32 and 1.55 eV as controlled by the change in temperature were observed for thin films deposited by AACVD. Powder X-ray diffraction (P-XRD) studies show that the films formed are composed of cubic crystalline PbS. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to investigate the effect of activation temperatures (350, 400 and 450 °C) on the chemical composition and oxidation states of PbS samples.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Mlowe, Sixberth , Shombe, Ginena B , Akerman, Matthew P , Mubofu, Egid B , O'Brien, Paul , Mashazi, Philani N , Nyokong, Tebello , Revaprasadu, Neerish
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/186780 , vital:44533 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ica.2019.119116"
- Description: A distorted single crystal structure of bis(piperidinedithiocarbamato)lead(II) complex and its subsequent use to deposit thin films is reported. Two deposition routes namely, aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD) and spin coating deposition have been employed to obtain anisotropic lead sulfide (PbS) nanostructures. The thin films displayed rod to cubic shaped crystals for AACVD, and a range of cubes, star and dendritic morphologies with variation of temperatures were displayed for spin coated films. Optical band gaps between 1.32 and 1.55 eV as controlled by the change in temperature were observed for thin films deposited by AACVD. Powder X-ray diffraction (P-XRD) studies show that the films formed are composed of cubic crystalline PbS. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to investigate the effect of activation temperatures (350, 400 and 450 °C) on the chemical composition and oxidation states of PbS samples.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Chlorophyll fluorometry as a method of determining the effectiveness of a biological control agent in post-release evaluations
- Miller, Benjamin E, Coetzee, Julie A, Hill, Martin P
- Authors: Miller, Benjamin E , Coetzee, Julie A , Hill, Martin P
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/417438 , vital:71453 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09583157.2019.1656165"
- Description: The impact of the planthopper Megamelus scutellaris, a biocontrol agent of water hyacinth in South Africa, was assessed using chlorophyll fluorometry in a greenhouse study under two different eutrophic nutrient treatments and agent densities (high and low). The results indicated that plants grown in low nutrients with high densities of M. scutellaris showed the greatest reduction in the fluorescence parameters Fv/Fm and PIabs. The successful use of chlorophyll fluorometry for the detection of subtle insect damage to water hyacinth leaves could have future application in post-release studies to measure the impact of M. scutellaris in the field.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Miller, Benjamin E , Coetzee, Julie A , Hill, Martin P
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/417438 , vital:71453 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09583157.2019.1656165"
- Description: The impact of the planthopper Megamelus scutellaris, a biocontrol agent of water hyacinth in South Africa, was assessed using chlorophyll fluorometry in a greenhouse study under two different eutrophic nutrient treatments and agent densities (high and low). The results indicated that plants grown in low nutrients with high densities of M. scutellaris showed the greatest reduction in the fluorescence parameters Fv/Fm and PIabs. The successful use of chlorophyll fluorometry for the detection of subtle insect damage to water hyacinth leaves could have future application in post-release studies to measure the impact of M. scutellaris in the field.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Expansive Social Learning, Morphogenesis and Reflexive Action in an Organization Responding to Wetland Degradation
- Lindley, David S, Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Authors: Lindley, David S , Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182450 , vital:43831 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.3390/su11154230"
- Description: This study (conducted as PhD research at Rhodes University, South Africa) describes a formative interventionist research project conducted to explore factors inhibiting improved wetland management within a corporate plantation forestry context and determine if, and how, expansive social learning processes could strengthen organizational learning and development to overcome these factors. A series of formative interventionist workshops and feedback meetings took place over three years; developing new knowledge amongst staff of Company X, and improved wetland management practices. Through the expansive learning process, the tensions and contradictions that emerged became generative, supporting expansive learning that was reflectively engaged with throughout the research period. The study was== supported by an epistemological framework of cultural historical activity theory and expansive learning. Realist social theory, emerging from critical realism, with its methodological compliment the morphogenetic framework gave the research the depth of detail required to explain how the expansive learning, organizational social change, and boundary crossings that are necessary for assembling the collective were taking place. This provided ontological depth to the research. The research found that expansive learning processes, which are also social learning processes (hence we use the term ‘expansive social learning’, supported organizational learning and development for improved wetland management. Five types of changes emerged from the research: (1) Changes in structure, (2) changes in practice, (3) changes in approach, (4) changes in discourse, and (5) changes in knowledge, values, and thinking. The study was able to explain how these changes occurred via the interaction of structural emergent properties and powers; cultural emergent properties and powers; and personal emergent properties and powers of agents. It was concluded that expansive learning could provide an environmental education platform to proactively work with the sociological potential of morphogenesis to bring about future change via an open-ended participatory and reflexive expansive learning process.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Lindley, David S , Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182450 , vital:43831 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.3390/su11154230"
- Description: This study (conducted as PhD research at Rhodes University, South Africa) describes a formative interventionist research project conducted to explore factors inhibiting improved wetland management within a corporate plantation forestry context and determine if, and how, expansive social learning processes could strengthen organizational learning and development to overcome these factors. A series of formative interventionist workshops and feedback meetings took place over three years; developing new knowledge amongst staff of Company X, and improved wetland management practices. Through the expansive learning process, the tensions and contradictions that emerged became generative, supporting expansive learning that was reflectively engaged with throughout the research period. The study was== supported by an epistemological framework of cultural historical activity theory and expansive learning. Realist social theory, emerging from critical realism, with its methodological compliment the morphogenetic framework gave the research the depth of detail required to explain how the expansive learning, organizational social change, and boundary crossings that are necessary for assembling the collective were taking place. This provided ontological depth to the research. The research found that expansive learning processes, which are also social learning processes (hence we use the term ‘expansive social learning’, supported organizational learning and development for improved wetland management. Five types of changes emerged from the research: (1) Changes in structure, (2) changes in practice, (3) changes in approach, (4) changes in discourse, and (5) changes in knowledge, values, and thinking. The study was able to explain how these changes occurred via the interaction of structural emergent properties and powers; cultural emergent properties and powers; and personal emergent properties and powers of agents. It was concluded that expansive learning could provide an environmental education platform to proactively work with the sociological potential of morphogenesis to bring about future change via an open-ended participatory and reflexive expansive learning process.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Engagement in local social-ecological knowledge practices in a seasonal cycles approach for transitioning to future sustainability
- Authors: O'Donoghue, Rob
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/387971 , vital:68294 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/186419"
- Description: This paper explores climate as variable natural forces driving seasonal cycles1 that many African cultures had adjusted themselves to within intergenerational knowledge practices of longue durée. The study points to the need to re-orientate and expand climate science education so that it is centred on the seasonal cycles and intergenerational learning to better align transitioning to future sustainability with these in our southern African contexts of climate change today. The narrative touches upon historical accounts of knowledge practices amongst the Krobo, Bemba, Shona, Zulu and Xhosa, briefly pointing to how each, as an African culture, is situated as a social-ecological entity within the climatic tapestries of our African landscapes. It takes note of how cultural articulation within the seasonal cycles of regional climate have a long history with adaptive change in some contexts in more recent times. The review suggests that our learning in relation to emerging climate change should be informed by these histories of intergenerational knowledge practice. It notes how a better grasp of these could be important drivers of a widening cultural response to the changing dynamics in our climatic surroundings today. The brief study suggests that southern Africa is a special place with many unique and interesting climatic processes and associated socio-ecological systems and practices. These can provide engaging perspectives for informing education to mitigate or adapt to climate change. Here, a situated exploration of seasonal cycles can draw on both the latest in modern climate science and the rich social-ecological heritage of Africa briefly touched upon in the study. A model of process is offered for how both can be used in a seasonal cycles approach climate change education. This better situated and more inclusive approach can enable us to contemplate how we might best adjust our social-ecological dispositions and practices in the changing world that we all share.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: O'Donoghue, Rob
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/387971 , vital:68294 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/186419"
- Description: This paper explores climate as variable natural forces driving seasonal cycles1 that many African cultures had adjusted themselves to within intergenerational knowledge practices of longue durée. The study points to the need to re-orientate and expand climate science education so that it is centred on the seasonal cycles and intergenerational learning to better align transitioning to future sustainability with these in our southern African contexts of climate change today. The narrative touches upon historical accounts of knowledge practices amongst the Krobo, Bemba, Shona, Zulu and Xhosa, briefly pointing to how each, as an African culture, is situated as a social-ecological entity within the climatic tapestries of our African landscapes. It takes note of how cultural articulation within the seasonal cycles of regional climate have a long history with adaptive change in some contexts in more recent times. The review suggests that our learning in relation to emerging climate change should be informed by these histories of intergenerational knowledge practice. It notes how a better grasp of these could be important drivers of a widening cultural response to the changing dynamics in our climatic surroundings today. The brief study suggests that southern Africa is a special place with many unique and interesting climatic processes and associated socio-ecological systems and practices. These can provide engaging perspectives for informing education to mitigate or adapt to climate change. Here, a situated exploration of seasonal cycles can draw on both the latest in modern climate science and the rich social-ecological heritage of Africa briefly touched upon in the study. A model of process is offered for how both can be used in a seasonal cycles approach climate change education. This better situated and more inclusive approach can enable us to contemplate how we might best adjust our social-ecological dispositions and practices in the changing world that we all share.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Think Piece. Situating Education for Sustainable Development in southern African philosophy and contexts of social-ecological change to enhance curriculum relevance and the common good
- Pesanayi, Tichaona V, O'Donoghue, Rob B, Shava, Soul
- Authors: Pesanayi, Tichaona V , O'Donoghue, Rob B , Shava, Soul
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/388105 , vital:68307 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/187217"
- Description: The study opens with a brief review of how education in colonial southern Africa was steered by a succession of externally framed abstractions that have been implemented within the prevailing hegemony of western modernisation that dominated and marginalised indigenous cultures. It probes how, within an expanding functionalist framework, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has been similarly constituted as a proposition for implementation. Here the supposition is that implementing ESD as an intervention will transform education into an inclusive and collaborative pedagogy that will shape competences for participants to transform society towards a sustainable future. In an effort to explore the possibility of making a break from a succession of education imperatives functioning as ‘salvation narratives’ to put things right in Africa, the study explores ESD from a more situated and emergent vantage point within African landscapes, philosophy and cultural practices. This requires a shift from a view of ESD as a perspective to be brought in and enacted to foster change, to ESD as a situated engagement in education as a process where relevance is deliberated and brought out in quality education with high order skills. This perspective exemplifies working with a more fully situated framing of deliberative social learning for the common good. It is explored here to contemplate how socio-cultural processes of deliberative ethics and co-engaged reflexive processes of learning-led change might emerge. Here, also, using a capabilities approach might provide useful starting points for ESD as an expansive process of transformative social learning.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Pesanayi, Tichaona V , O'Donoghue, Rob B , Shava, Soul
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/388105 , vital:68307 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/187217"
- Description: The study opens with a brief review of how education in colonial southern Africa was steered by a succession of externally framed abstractions that have been implemented within the prevailing hegemony of western modernisation that dominated and marginalised indigenous cultures. It probes how, within an expanding functionalist framework, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has been similarly constituted as a proposition for implementation. Here the supposition is that implementing ESD as an intervention will transform education into an inclusive and collaborative pedagogy that will shape competences for participants to transform society towards a sustainable future. In an effort to explore the possibility of making a break from a succession of education imperatives functioning as ‘salvation narratives’ to put things right in Africa, the study explores ESD from a more situated and emergent vantage point within African landscapes, philosophy and cultural practices. This requires a shift from a view of ESD as a perspective to be brought in and enacted to foster change, to ESD as a situated engagement in education as a process where relevance is deliberated and brought out in quality education with high order skills. This perspective exemplifies working with a more fully situated framing of deliberative social learning for the common good. It is explored here to contemplate how socio-cultural processes of deliberative ethics and co-engaged reflexive processes of learning-led change might emerge. Here, also, using a capabilities approach might provide useful starting points for ESD as an expansive process of transformative social learning.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Navigating non-sense by exemplifying situated life experience and intergenerational heritage knowledge in Education for Sustainable Development learning spaces
- O'Donoghue, Rob B, Kibuka-Sebitosi, Esther, Tshiningayamwe, Sirkka A N, Palmer, Carl
- Authors: O'Donoghue, Rob B , Kibuka-Sebitosi, Esther , Tshiningayamwe, Sirkka A N , Palmer, Carl
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/388122 , vital:68308 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/186410"
- Description: This paper uses an activity system perspective to probe the related problems of knowledge abstraction and a lack of relevance as a modern legacy of colonial education practices in Africa. Its purpose is to contemplate Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) pedagogy to support learning that might be better situated in and resonate with local African contexts and the emerging sustainability concerns in everyday life. Colonial education trajectories and the recent inclusion of new environmental knowledge in African curriculum and civic learning contexts are examined. This points to how circulating environment and sustainability knowledge is being constituted in disciplinary fields as abstract concepts that are often difficult to relate to local sustainability concerns. Socio-cultural heritage and intergenerational meaning making are explored to uncover better situated ways of navigating much of the abstract ‘non-sense’ confronting African learners in many modern education contexts today. Illustrative examples of historical patterns of exclusion are scoped and two cases of pedagogical innovation are examined to contemplate how to navigate better situated and more relevant learning processes. Enacted in situated and co-engaged ways, ESD practices may enable the socio-cultural capital and environmental realities of local social-ecological contexts to articulate with better situated sustainability propositions for transitioning to more peaceful, just and sustainable futures.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: O'Donoghue, Rob B , Kibuka-Sebitosi, Esther , Tshiningayamwe, Sirkka A N , Palmer, Carl
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/388122 , vital:68308 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/186410"
- Description: This paper uses an activity system perspective to probe the related problems of knowledge abstraction and a lack of relevance as a modern legacy of colonial education practices in Africa. Its purpose is to contemplate Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) pedagogy to support learning that might be better situated in and resonate with local African contexts and the emerging sustainability concerns in everyday life. Colonial education trajectories and the recent inclusion of new environmental knowledge in African curriculum and civic learning contexts are examined. This points to how circulating environment and sustainability knowledge is being constituted in disciplinary fields as abstract concepts that are often difficult to relate to local sustainability concerns. Socio-cultural heritage and intergenerational meaning making are explored to uncover better situated ways of navigating much of the abstract ‘non-sense’ confronting African learners in many modern education contexts today. Illustrative examples of historical patterns of exclusion are scoped and two cases of pedagogical innovation are examined to contemplate how to navigate better situated and more relevant learning processes. Enacted in situated and co-engaged ways, ESD practices may enable the socio-cultural capital and environmental realities of local social-ecological contexts to articulate with better situated sustainability propositions for transitioning to more peaceful, just and sustainable futures.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Landscape, memory and learning to change in changing worlds: Contemplating intergenerational learning and traditional knowledge practices within social-ecological landscapes of change
- O'Donoghue, Rob B, Sandoval-Rivera, Juan Carlos, Payyappallimana, Unnikrishnan
- Authors: O'Donoghue, Rob B , Sandoval-Rivera, Juan Carlos , Payyappallimana, Unnikrishnan
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/388061 , vital:68304 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/187218"
- Description: The core paper and collection of short papers from Mexico, Africa, India and Sweden that make up this study on social-ecological landscapes developed as a South–South collaboration that was extended to include a case in the North. Our concern was to explore how situated, intergenerational knowledge commonly takes a back seat to the conceptual propositions that the environmental sciences have developed around matters of concern like biodiversity loss. In this way, scientific propositions have become the conceptual capital for informing future sustainability through Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). In response to this, a more situated turn has developed to engage both intergenerational practices and the institutional sciences, but the playing fields are seldom level and deliberations are often rife with misunderstandings.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: O'Donoghue, Rob B , Sandoval-Rivera, Juan Carlos , Payyappallimana, Unnikrishnan
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/388061 , vital:68304 , xlink:href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/sajee/article/view/187218"
- Description: The core paper and collection of short papers from Mexico, Africa, India and Sweden that make up this study on social-ecological landscapes developed as a South–South collaboration that was extended to include a case in the North. Our concern was to explore how situated, intergenerational knowledge commonly takes a back seat to the conceptual propositions that the environmental sciences have developed around matters of concern like biodiversity loss. In this way, scientific propositions have become the conceptual capital for informing future sustainability through Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). In response to this, a more situated turn has developed to engage both intergenerational practices and the institutional sciences, but the playing fields are seldom level and deliberations are often rife with misunderstandings.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
An integrated framework for assessing coastal community vulnerability across cultures, oceans and scales
- Aswani, Shankar, Howard, J A, Gasalla, Maria A, Jennings, Sarah, Malherbe, W, Martins, I M, Salim Shyam, Van Putten, Ingrid E, Swathilekshmi, P S, Narayanakumar, R, Watmough G R
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Howard, J A , Gasalla, Maria A , Jennings, Sarah , Malherbe, W , Martins, I M , Salim Shyam , Van Putten, Ingrid E , Swathilekshmi, P S , Narayanakumar, R , Watmough G R
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/421581 , vital:71863 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2018.1442795"
- Description: Coastal communities are some of the most at-risk populations with respect to climate change impacts. It is therefore important to determine the vulnerability of such communities to co-develop viable adaptation options. Global efforts to address this issue include international scientific projects, such as Global Learning for Local Solutions (GULLS), which focuses on five fast warming regions of the southern hemisphere and aims to provide an understanding of the local scale processes influencing community vulnerability that can then be up-scaled to regional, country and global levels. This paper describes the development of a new social and ecological vulnerability framework which integrates exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity with the social livelihoods and food security approaches. It also measures community flexibility to understand better the adaptive capacity of different levels of community organization. The translation of the conceptual framework to an implementable method is described and its application in a number of “hotspot” countries, where ocean waters are warming faster than the rest of the world, is presented. Opportunities for cross-cultural comparisons to uncover similarities and differences in vulnerability and adaptation patterns among the study’s coastal communities, which can provide accelerated learning mechanisms to other coastal regions, are highlighted. The social and ecological framework and the associated survey approach allow for future integration of local-level vulnerability data with ecological and oceanographic models.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Aswani, Shankar , Howard, J A , Gasalla, Maria A , Jennings, Sarah , Malherbe, W , Martins, I M , Salim Shyam , Van Putten, Ingrid E , Swathilekshmi, P S , Narayanakumar, R , Watmough G R
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/421581 , vital:71863 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2018.1442795"
- Description: Coastal communities are some of the most at-risk populations with respect to climate change impacts. It is therefore important to determine the vulnerability of such communities to co-develop viable adaptation options. Global efforts to address this issue include international scientific projects, such as Global Learning for Local Solutions (GULLS), which focuses on five fast warming regions of the southern hemisphere and aims to provide an understanding of the local scale processes influencing community vulnerability that can then be up-scaled to regional, country and global levels. This paper describes the development of a new social and ecological vulnerability framework which integrates exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity with the social livelihoods and food security approaches. It also measures community flexibility to understand better the adaptive capacity of different levels of community organization. The translation of the conceptual framework to an implementable method is described and its application in a number of “hotspot” countries, where ocean waters are warming faster than the rest of the world, is presented. Opportunities for cross-cultural comparisons to uncover similarities and differences in vulnerability and adaptation patterns among the study’s coastal communities, which can provide accelerated learning mechanisms to other coastal regions, are highlighted. The social and ecological framework and the associated survey approach allow for future integration of local-level vulnerability data with ecological and oceanographic models.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Testing the thermal limits of Eccritotarsus catarinensis: a case of thermal plasticity
- Porter, Jordan D, Owen, Candice A, Compton, Stephen G, Coetzee, Julie A
- Authors: Porter, Jordan D , Owen, Candice A , Compton, Stephen G , Coetzee, Julie A
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/417533 , vital:71461 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09583157.2019.1572712"
- Description: Water hyacinth is considered the most damaging aquatic weed in South Africa. The success of biocontrol initiatives against the weed varies nation-wide, but control remains generally unattainable in higher altitude, temperate regions. Eccritotarsus catarinensis (Hemiptera: Miridae) is a biocontrol agent of water hyacinth that was first released in South Africa in 1996. By 2011, it was established at over 30 sites across the country. These include the Kubusi River, a site with a temperate climate where agent establishment and persistence was unexpected. This study compared the critical thermal limits of the Kubusi River insect population with a laboratory-reared culture to determine whether any physiological plasticity was evident that could account for its unexpected establishment. There were no significant differences in critical thermal maxima (CTmax) or minima (CTmin) between sexes, while the effect of rate of temperature change on the thermal parameters in the experiments had a significant impact in some trials. Both CTmax and CTmin differed significantly between the two populations, with the field individuals tolerating significantly lower temperatures (CTmin: −0.3°C ± 0.063 [SE], CTmax: 42.8°C ± 0.155 [SE]) than those maintained in the laboratory (CTmin: 1.1°C ± 0.054 [SE], CTmax: 44.9°C ± 0.196 [SE]). Acclimation of each population to the environmental conditions typical of the other for a five-day period illustrated that short-term acclimation accounted for some, but not all of the variation between their lower thermal limits. This study provides evidence for the first cold-adapted strain of E. catarinensis in the field, with potential value for introduction into other colder regions where water hyacinth control is currently unattainable.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Porter, Jordan D , Owen, Candice A , Compton, Stephen G , Coetzee, Julie A
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/417533 , vital:71461 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09583157.2019.1572712"
- Description: Water hyacinth is considered the most damaging aquatic weed in South Africa. The success of biocontrol initiatives against the weed varies nation-wide, but control remains generally unattainable in higher altitude, temperate regions. Eccritotarsus catarinensis (Hemiptera: Miridae) is a biocontrol agent of water hyacinth that was first released in South Africa in 1996. By 2011, it was established at over 30 sites across the country. These include the Kubusi River, a site with a temperate climate where agent establishment and persistence was unexpected. This study compared the critical thermal limits of the Kubusi River insect population with a laboratory-reared culture to determine whether any physiological plasticity was evident that could account for its unexpected establishment. There were no significant differences in critical thermal maxima (CTmax) or minima (CTmin) between sexes, while the effect of rate of temperature change on the thermal parameters in the experiments had a significant impact in some trials. Both CTmax and CTmin differed significantly between the two populations, with the field individuals tolerating significantly lower temperatures (CTmin: −0.3°C ± 0.063 [SE], CTmax: 42.8°C ± 0.155 [SE]) than those maintained in the laboratory (CTmin: 1.1°C ± 0.054 [SE], CTmax: 44.9°C ± 0.196 [SE]). Acclimation of each population to the environmental conditions typical of the other for a five-day period illustrated that short-term acclimation accounted for some, but not all of the variation between their lower thermal limits. This study provides evidence for the first cold-adapted strain of E. catarinensis in the field, with potential value for introduction into other colder regions where water hyacinth control is currently unattainable.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
The Stinking Ontology of Sh#t in the Water: Higher Education Public Pedagogy and “Existance”?
- Authors: Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182754 , vital:43871 , xlink:href="http://doi.org/10.1089/sus.2019.29161"
- Description: “Existance” is not a spelling mistake. It is a word from Soweto street poet Zachariah Rapola’s poem, questioning our “stance in existence” . In the context of this essay, the poem raises the challenging perspective of our “stance in existence.” for engaging with the SDGs. The SDGs set a range of clear targets, but in doing so, they fail to give a good account of the stinking ontology of some of the issues to be dealt with, and thus lack a certain sense of realism.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182754 , vital:43871 , xlink:href="http://doi.org/10.1089/sus.2019.29161"
- Description: “Existance” is not a spelling mistake. It is a word from Soweto street poet Zachariah Rapola’s poem, questioning our “stance in existence” . In the context of this essay, the poem raises the challenging perspective of our “stance in existence.” for engaging with the SDGs. The SDGs set a range of clear targets, but in doing so, they fail to give a good account of the stinking ontology of some of the issues to be dealt with, and thus lack a certain sense of realism.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Mainstreaming education for sustainable development: Elaborating the role of position-practice systems using seven laminations of scale
- Agbedahin, Adesuwa V, Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Authors: Agbedahin, Adesuwa V , Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182428 , vital:43829 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2019.1602975"
- Description: The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4.7 proposes that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) should be included at all levels of education, known as ‘mainstreaming’. However, there is little guidance as to how to achieve this. ESD mainstreaming demands more than simply a technical policy transfer; it also requires attention to the position-practice systems of involved agents. This article critically assesses the mainstreaming of ESD in the case of university educators in Africa who have participated in the International Training Programme on ESD in higher education. It clarifies their position-practice systems in terms of Bhaskar’s seven laminations of scale. This article therefore provides a detailed description of the ways in which agents' position-practice systems enable and constrain ESD mainstreaming. It also demonstrates that a critical realist perspective can contribute towards the understanding and achievement of transformation towards sustainability and can help to ensure the flourishing of both current and future generations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Agbedahin, Adesuwa V , Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182428 , vital:43829 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2019.1602975"
- Description: The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4.7 proposes that Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) should be included at all levels of education, known as ‘mainstreaming’. However, there is little guidance as to how to achieve this. ESD mainstreaming demands more than simply a technical policy transfer; it also requires attention to the position-practice systems of involved agents. This article critically assesses the mainstreaming of ESD in the case of university educators in Africa who have participated in the International Training Programme on ESD in higher education. It clarifies their position-practice systems in terms of Bhaskar’s seven laminations of scale. This article therefore provides a detailed description of the ways in which agents' position-practice systems enable and constrain ESD mainstreaming. It also demonstrates that a critical realist perspective can contribute towards the understanding and achievement of transformation towards sustainability and can help to ensure the flourishing of both current and future generations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Consider the unexpected: Scaling ESD as a matter of learning
- Mickelsson, Martin, Kronlid, David O, Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Authors: Mickelsson, Martin , Kronlid, David O , Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182438 , vital:43830 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2018.1429572"
- Description: This article aims to introduce a view of scaling as a learning process. In the article we discuss the concept of ‘scaling up’ or ‘scaling’ of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) activities on the basis of how ‘scaling up’ ESD is highlighted in the UNESCO Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD. Drawing on a Deweyan theory of learning as processes of transactional encounters, the article presents a conceptual framework of scaling-ESD-activities-as-learning. This conceptual framework is intended to have implications for ESD policy and ESE research. The theoretical specifications and practical implications presented are results of data collected using a participatory research approach (Re-Solve) and an abductive analysis. In this article, we argue that viewing scaling as a learning process enables a nuanced notion of scaling ESD-activities. This should be seen in relation to (a) complex sustainability challenges, (b) ethical aspects, (c) a more attentive and strict approach to scaling in ESD policy and (d) addressing questions of significant importance to scaling research.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
- Authors: Mickelsson, Martin , Kronlid, David O , Lotz-Sisitka, Heila
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/182438 , vital:43830 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2018.1429572"
- Description: This article aims to introduce a view of scaling as a learning process. In the article we discuss the concept of ‘scaling up’ or ‘scaling’ of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) activities on the basis of how ‘scaling up’ ESD is highlighted in the UNESCO Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD. Drawing on a Deweyan theory of learning as processes of transactional encounters, the article presents a conceptual framework of scaling-ESD-activities-as-learning. This conceptual framework is intended to have implications for ESD policy and ESE research. The theoretical specifications and practical implications presented are results of data collected using a participatory research approach (Re-Solve) and an abductive analysis. In this article, we argue that viewing scaling as a learning process enables a nuanced notion of scaling ESD-activities. This should be seen in relation to (a) complex sustainability challenges, (b) ethical aspects, (c) a more attentive and strict approach to scaling in ESD policy and (d) addressing questions of significant importance to scaling research.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019