Conventional fisheries management approaches have been shown, in many instances, to have been ineffective in dealing with complex conservation concerns such as bycatch. Greater considerations for broader-scale and holistic approaches, as proposed by the 'Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries' (EAF) and the 'balanced harvesting approach', are beginning to challenge some of the negative misconceptions around bycatch, especially in small-scale fisheries. The need for a more holistic approach to fisheries management, particularly in small-scale fisheries, in South Africa is highlighted by its commitment to an EAF and the recent Small-Scale Fisheries Policy, for which the Marine living Resource Act of 1998 provides the legal framework to implement. The case study of the Olifants estuary small-scale traditional gillnet fishing community, located on the west coast of South Africa, provides a particularly relevant example of a complex fishery requiring a holistic approach. Current regulations prohibit the harvesting or retention of any bycatch species. Fisheries management worldwide and in South Africa, generally view gillnet fisheries as destructive, due to the occurrence of bycatch and the fact that many of these bycatch species are considered overexploited, which has led to numerous attempts over the years to phase out the Olifants gillnet fishery. The purpose of this study was to, firstly, use an EAF framework to contextualise the issue of bycatch in the Olifants gillnet fishery, and secondly, to identify the relative contributions of all fisheriy sectors to the four key selected linefish species caught as bycatch by the fishery. An extensive review and analysis of available secondary data, as well as primary data collected for this study, have estimated, with acknowledged limitations, the magnitude of the exploitation by all known fisheries of these species. Key information from small-scale fisher interviews and community-monitoring data highlight the capture rate of key linefish species by this fishery. This is echoed by recent landings for 2012 indicating the relative contribution of the national beache seine and gillnet fishery to the overall catch of (Elf [Pomatomus saltatrix] - 26.94%; Silver Kob [Argyrosomus inodorus] - 0.88%; White Stumpnose [Rhabdosargus globiceps] - 1.05% - excluding the recreational sector). A significant finding of this study is the substantial levels of cross-sectorial exploitation of Silver Kob and White Stumpnose, and to a somewhat lesser extent Elf and White Steenbras.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS THESIS IS EMBARGOED. Historically, urban agriculture (UA) in the African context has been viewed as a food security and livelihood intervention. However, influenced primarily by discourses in the Global North, the framing of urban agriculture has shifted. Increasingly, advocacy from urban planners has shaped how UA “gets done”. Drawing on contemporary planning concepts, these practitioners have been innovating new forms of urban agriculture that connect UA to the built environment, such as vertical farming, rooftop gardens, and mixed-use urban “agrihoods”. However, scholars from the fields of Southern and African urbanism and critical urban planning, have raised concerns regarding the uncritical application of Northern theories, including those from urban planning, into the African context. Specifically, there is concern around planners’ lack of regard for the inherent characteristics of African cities as they attempt to world them into global cities. Against this background, this dissertation examines the process behind attempts to integrate these new forms of urban agriculture into the African context through a case study of the Lukhanyo Hub project in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa. Focusing specifically on visions for urban agriculture at the Lukhanyo Hub, this dissertation asks, How do each of the actors articulate the purpose/function of urban agriculture? What is the spatiality of their ideal urban agriculture and why? and What is the role the state, civil society organizations and community in that vision? To answer these questions, participants from the project development team, municipal government, and civil society organisations were engaged in in-depth interviews and participant observation. The results centred around four themes: creating a farmer network, urban agriculture and environmental education/training, economic or distribution model, and creating a contextualised but replicable Hub model. Several challenges and critiques emerged throughout the data collection process, which seemed to stall the development. The author argues that this forced the development team to take a more participatory, co-development approach. This should have positive effects on the future of the project, though further research will be required to say for certain.

There is a recognised need to turn the abstract concept of resilience thinking into practical action for resource management. This is often difficult as resource management is complex and multifaceted. Nexus thinking attempts to address this by promoting a framework that integrates and coordinates resource management across many different but interlinked resource pillars and sectors. This research focuses on the local level implementation of the food, energy, water, land and biodiversity (FEWLB) nexus framework, and assesses farmers' understanding and implementation of nexus thinking in relation to the support of the Bergrivier Municipality. Agriculturalists (farmers) have been described as significant custodians of natural resources, as they sit in a key position when it comes to implementing and practising sustainable development. There has been little research into the relationship between farmers and local municipalities, or into the role that local government can play in supporting holistic resource management through agriculture. While there are many different actors contributing towards resource management, this research focuses on the agricultural sector within the municipality. Qualitative research methods, including semi-structured interviews, participant observation and surveys, were used to undertake a case study of the agricultural sector within the Bergrivier Municipality. In a context where local government struggles to find its role in supporting socio-ecological resilience, the FEWLB nexus framework offers an opportunity to implement effective planning and policies that could enable more efficient resource use.

The use of genetically modified (GM) crops to resolve food security and poverty issues has been met with controversy and scepticism. The rationale for this research was to highlight the nuanced reasons as to why smallholder farmers are motivated to use agricultural biotechnology. The aim of this study was to explore the uptake of GM maize by South African smallholder farmers in order to contribute towards understanding the implications of agricultural biotechnology in smallholder agriculture. Using the case studies of Hlabisa in KwaZulu-Natal, the objectives were; (i) to investigate the perceived benefits and problems associated with the uptake of GM maize. (ii) to identify which institutional, political, social, and environmental factors influence the choices and decisions made by smallholder farmers to grow GM maize and (iii) to assess how GM maize has affected the well-being of farmers, including social cohesion in the farming communities. The reason Hlabisa was selected for the case study is that it represents one of the few areas in South Africa where GM crops (white GM maize in particular) has been cultivated on a long term basis by smallholder farmers. The necessary information was obtained through the means of a survey in which a number of farmers in the Hlabisa area participated in this regard the participants were; 40 farmers who used white GM maize that possessed the herbicide tolerant and insect resistant traits; seven farmers who used white insect resistant maize and 11 non-GM maize farmers. In addition, five key informant interviews and three focus group discussions were used to collect data. The history of agriculture in the area reveals that modern maize varieties were introduced when agricultural extension officers started operating in the area, beginning with maize seed hybrids in the 1970s. Maize hybrids were framed as better varieties compared to traditional maize in terms of performance. Later, in the 2000s, the seed company Monsanto, and the local department of agriculture introduced various GM maize varieties through farmers' days. This marked the addition of another institution providing so-called expert knowledge about maize farming in Hlabisa. It was argued that relationships between the local department of agriculture, farmers' associations and seed companies were instrumental in encouraging the uptake of GM maize seeds. It is also posited that the GM maize farmers in this study received pseudo-extension and advisory services. These had the agenda of promoting GM maize varieties over traditional varieties, relaying inappropriate agricultural knowledge in the process. There was also a lack of transparency in communicating the potential health and environmental risks associated with GM maize farming. Farmers were unaware that they were legally not allowed to save and exchange the patented GM maize seeds and had to plant refugia to prevent insect resistance. The uptake of GM maize has not significantly affected the seed saving and exchange practices of farmers. Fifty-two percent (24) of the 47 respondents no longer exchanged or saved any of their maize seeds in the study. A chi-squared test for independence indicated that the GM maize farmers were less likely to save and exchange seeds. The non-GM maize farmers were deterred from planting GM crops by the expensive input costs. The issue of affordability of the GM technology also extended to GM farmers, most of whom used social grants to purchase their GM maize seeds. Forty-nine percent of these farmers were in debt due to their uptake of the GM maize. Despite this debt, 74% of respondents claimed that they had perceived an improvement in their quality of life after using white GM maize, as they harvested enough maize to last them to the next planting season and were able to sell surplus maize. However, they only made marginal profits to cover household expenses. There are several conclusions that can be drawn from this study. First, there is a noticeable shift from farmers relying on their own knowledge and experience to using that of seed companies and agricultural extension officers. Second, Seed companies are beginning to fill the gaps left by public extension and advisory institutions and farmers are vulnerable to making uninformed decisions as they are not given relevant information. It is recommended that farmers are given agency through the provision of transparent information. This should be the responsibility of the government and not seed companies with vested interests. The government should try to move away from the idea that farmers need to scale up production through using modern varieties. A better approach would be the strengthening of appropriate support and extension services for South African smallholder farmers who use various maize systems. Lastly there is a need to raise awareness about the social, economic and environmental implications to farmers who elect to use GM seeds.

Wildfire, an essential element for the Fynbos Biome of South Africa, can be a threat to property and human life if it is not well managed. Despite many studies on the dynamics and management of wildfire, the role of the atmosphere in inducing regional circulations that promote widespread wildfire is not well known. This dissertation studies the characteristics of wildfire in the Fynbos Biome, identifies synoptic-scale atmospheric features that produce favourable conditions for the wildfire, and examines possibility of using the features as indicators for wildfire occurrence. Ten years (2003 - 2012) of fire data from the MODIS "active-fires" datasets were analysed over the study domain. Daily Fire Danger Index (FDI) was calculated over Southern Africa for this period using maximum temperature (Tmax), minimum relative humidity (RHmin), and maximum wind speed (Wmax) data from the Climate Forecasting System Reanalysis datasets (CFSR) at a 0.5°x0.5° horizontal resolution. The Self Organising Maps (SOMs) technique was used to classify the FDI (anomaly) patterns on the fire days, and the atmospheric dynamics associated with each pattern were studied.

Includes bibliographical references / A great deal is riding on conservation efforts of the twenty-first century. In an era of extinction rates one thousand times faster than ever before, protected areas have emerged as the most widely used tool available to conservationists to curb the loss of species (Child, 2004; Jepson & Ladle, 2010) . The number and extent of protected areas has increased dramatically over the past century, and their future growth is guaranteed by international and national policies (Brockington et al., 2008). The growing prevalence of protected areas on a global landscape has increased contact between communities and conservation, frequently with conflict arising as a consequence (Dowie, 2009). Increasing recognition of the impact of protected areas on local people has given rise to international consensus is that there is a dearth of knowledge surrounding these implications which needs to be addressed (Brockington et al., 2006; Igoe, 2006; West et al., 2006) . It is this gap that this study sets out to ameliorate. The overarching aim of this research was to investigate the benefits and burdens that local communities experience from living beside a protected area. Further, this study also investigated the causes of these benefits and burdens, how they were distributed between communities at a local scale, and how local perception of the protected area was influenced as a result of these experiences. The Cederberg Wilderness Area, which has a history of restricting resource use dating back to the 1890s, was selected as the protected area of interest. Of the nine neighbouring communities, consideration of the origin and similarity between communities resulted in Bosdorp and Heuningvlei adopted as representatives for the study area. Household surveys, key informant interviews, observations and documentary evidence were utilised to obtain data, and triangulation was used across methods to validate findings (Jick, 1979). Household surveys and key informant interviews were conducted over two separate field visits between March and April, 2014. In particular, the findings of this study were considered in terms of the ecosystem services framework, as the dominant theory suggested in literature surrounding the benefits and burdens that people obtain from protected areas (CBD, 1992; Government of South Africa, 2010; MA, 2005). This study found that a total of 14 beneficial uses of natural resources provided directly or indirectly by the Cederberg Wilderness Area were enjoyed by the case study communities at a local scale. The distribution of these beneficial resource uses between the two communities varied widely, with just six of the 14 uses enjoyed in both communities. In addition to income generated directly by the Cederberg Wilderness Area through conservation and indirectly through tourism, participants agreed that they received benefits in terms of aesthetics, recreation, education, and spirituality. Seven burdens were raised by participants, with all but one shared between communities. However, the less economically able of the two communities, Heuningvlei, did experience a greater number and distribution of burdens than Bosdorp, the village from which most employees of the CWA originate, and the community who receive considerably more average monthly household income. Although all participants in Bosdorp disagreed with the statement that life would be better without rules associated with the Cederberg Wilderness Area, a third of Heuningvlei participants agreed therewith. The most noteworthy observation in terms of incongruence with the literature was the extent to which both communities benefited from the protected area. The reason suggested for this observation was twofold. First, the long history of living with resource restrictions in Heuningvlei has allowed the community to adjust its norms, values and practices in order to maximise benefit from the Cederberg Wilderness Area. Second, the establishment of the Bosdorp community in close proximity to the operational offices for the Cederberg Wilderness Area has allowed residents to maximise employment and other opportunities from the protected area. In order to ascertain the causes of the observations mentioned above, the findings were framed in terms of the ecosystem services framework. This framework was subsequently found to be ineffective in identifying these causes. However, all observations left unexplained by the ecosystem services framework were explained by adopting Access Theory (Ribot & Peluso, 2003). This highlighted the important role the communities played in realising ecosystem services, and allowed for an evaluation of the appropriateness of the ecosystem services framework for incorporating social dimensions in conservation approaches. In conclusion, it was ascertained that many of the findings observed in this study were highly contextual and more often determined by the social systems in question as opposed to ecological systems. Therefore, conservation approaches that aim to achieve more resilient systems must take these social systems into consideration. It was also concluded that the current dearth of information about the social implications of protected areas limits the utility of debates surrounding the need to take these implications into consideration in conservation practices, and poses a potential fatal flaw to conservation practices based on false assumptions of social systems. This study ends by calling for further research on this matter in order to achieve management approaches that result in resilient biodiversity conservation.

This research investigates how environmental consultancies frame participation as a tool for project implementation using a cross-border conservation initiative as a case study. The study focuses on the facilitation process led by Eco-Africa Environmental Consultants during the establishment of the /Ai-/Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Conservation Area. This study analyzes the promise of participation as a crucial component for Transfrontier Conservation Areas. Analyzing participation of the Richtersvelders is necessary for understanding the work that was carried out and how it was experienced by the stakeholders. The study refers to participation in conservancies in community-based resource management, where the role of non-government organizations and environmental consultancies is well established. Primary data were collected through qualitative document analysis, semi-structured interviews with members of the four communities and with Eco-Africa Environmental Consultants. The findings of the study are that there was a strong attempt towards an all-inclusive bottom-up approach to participation. However, such the success of such an approach was hampered by local mismanagement, politics of money, and a marketing strategy favoring the South African National Parks and the Transfrontier Conservation project.

Transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) are considered the latest evolution of a more holistic approach to transnational environmental management that brings together conservation and development agendas. As part of bio political governance, TFCAs are ecologically, economically and politically motivated. Using a discourse analytical perspective of claims advanced for TFCAs in Southern Africa, this study explores how Kavango-Zambezi (KAZA) TFCA has been motivated. The study questions the interests of Botswana government participation in the KAZA TFCA and examines the effects of the KAZA TFCA on local communities. This study employs a qualitative approach employing triangulation methods of data collection. KAZA is one of the largest and most ambitious transboundary initiative in the world that stretches across the political borders of five sovereign states. KAZA acknowledges that nature knows no boundaries hence conservation corridors should traverse political boundaries and borders of the state. Against this backdrop, the rationale for KAZA is to provide the large herds of elephants (approximately 120,000) in Botswana with access to large area of grazing land. The study demonstrates how the burgeoning elephant population is inextricably linked with border policing, tourism and conservation. KAZA considers participation and local community involvement in planning and decision making as legitimate for sustainable natural resource management. However, the current realities exist in contrast to these considerations. The study reveals that there is a disparity between theory and practice as KAZA is yet to deliver its promises to the local communities. The thesis asserts that it is critical to view KAZA as a complex, evolving and long-term initiative that will be interesting to follow in the future.

This research assesses the scope of stakeholder engagement and its effectiveness in the development and implementation of an Environmental Management Plan at project level. The theoretical basis of this research is the methodological premise that stakeholder engagement encourages quality environmental decisions and further promotes acceptable interventions for environmental management purposes towards sustainable development. A case study of the Berg Water Project is used to explore this premise through an evaluation of the scope and effectiveness of engagement of stakeholders in the formulation and implementation of the construction environmental management plan, to satisfy conditions of authorization. Focus is placed on the scope of stakeholders and their issues, and evaluation of the effectiveness of the engagement process in considering the issues during decision-making processes. The scope focuses on who was involved, the context in which they were involved, and the extent to which they were involved. An engagement framework is used to assess the effectiveness of the engagement process, including project institutions for stakeholder engagement, levels and methods of engagement applied, and their contribution to an effective Environmental Impact Assessment process with regard to its review areas of procedural, substantive and transactive effectiveness. The assessment seeks insights on how issues and concerns relating to activities of engagement were dealt with, and the extent to which issues raised through engagement contributed into project decisions. Evaluation of activities applies a stakeholder mapping and analysis concept found in stakeholder engagement literature in order to establish the suitability of level of engagement and methods of engagement. Logistical support for the engagement process is also assessed to establish how the support, or lack thereof, affected engagement effectiveness. An assessment is made of project documents within formation on stakeholders engaged during the environmental impact assessment process leading to the production of the construction environmental management plan, and information obtained from 45 interviewees from stakeholders who were engaged. The engagement process is accepted to be significantly inclusive as it covered a wide spectrum of stakeholders and gave them an opportunity to voice their concerns, and the outcomes indicated that the engagement process was adequate. Some notable weaknesses of the engagement process included failure to establish clear roles and responsibilities of the environmental monitoring committee-the entity which represented the interested and affected parties, failure to establish explicit engagement targets, and failure to identify potential trade-offs of environmental, economic and social expectations of stakeholders. By and large the effectiveness of engagement during the project was found to rest on commitment by project authorities to prioritize economic benefits for the local community, and the communication of relevant messages to stakeholders. Important lessons can be derived from this research towards improving the theory and practice of Environmental Impact Assessment. Firstly, explicit legal and funding requirements for stakeholder engagement are important prerequisites which should be imposed on project implementers regarding how they conduct the engagement process. Secondly, the presence, composition and functioning of a formal entity which represents the interests of identified interested and affected parties can broaden the range of issues that can inform project decisions. This entity should have clear roles which satisfy engagement objectives through scheduled activities which receive adequate logistical support. Thirdly, a communication approach should be devised to enable communication of relevant messages and ensure feedback mechanisms which inform and can improve the process. Lastly monitoring and auditing during the engagement process should have been done to assess satisfaction of substantive outcomes of engagement and environmental impact assessment beyond mere process compliance.

Climate and environmental change is a phenomenon which is having a significant effect on human-ecological systems around the world. It is predicted to have a detrimental impact on certain groups and populations; among those most at risk are those who have the highest exposure and sensitivity to the climate and environmental changes and the lowest adaptive capacity. This includes coastal fishing communities and therefore necessitates action at a variety of scales in order to build the resilience of these individuals and groups to the predicted changes and their potential impacts. Vulnerability assessments (VAs) have been identified as an effective way to discover who is most vulnerable and to what threats or hazards. This is valuable as assistance can then be provided to the individuals, groups, regions or countries identified as most vulnerable. VAs can be conducted at a variety of scales and can be either quantitative or qualitative. This research project focused on vulnerability assessments conducted at the local level. These community-scale assessments are important as they are able to elicit finer-scale details, identify the greatest hazards and stressors, and conceptualize adaptation strategies that are locally-informed, context specific and targeted towards a specific community. The focus of this research project was to first assess the vulnerability of two coastal communities in South Africa, namely Doringbaai and St Helena Bay, using a suite of mixed methods which included focus group discussions, the review of secondary data, and key informant interviews. Secondly, this project aimed to assess the potential contribution of a 'rapid vulnerability assessment' (RVA) methodology, conducted in the same two coastal fishing communities, to gain information required to identify appropriate adaptation strategies in the context of climate and environmental change. The RVA is conducted as a workshop over a two-day period and may be followed by key informant interviews on the third day, if appropriate and required. This research sought to compare and contrast the information emanating from the RVA workshops with information obtained from the triangulation of mixed methods used in this study with respect to: key threats and stressors faced by the two small-scale fishing communities, identified environmental changes, impacts of these changes on fisher livelihoods, current coping strategies and potential adaptation strategies. Criteria for assessing the performance of the two different approaches were drawn from the literature and systematically documented. The outcome of the assessment showed that the RVA has value as a VA methodology and is able to identify locally relevant, potentially viable adaptation strategies. It is an effective approach for obtaining a good overview of the vulnerabilities of a community and is thus especially useful in under-resourced and data-poor regions. The conclusion was therefore that it is an exceptionally useful tool as a starting point for vulnerability assessments but can be enriched by combining it with other methods such as the review of secondary data, focus group discussions, surveys, questionnaires and key informant interviews. Furthermore, it is recommended that the RVA includes follow-up research and focuses on flexible adaptation strategies.