The coastal zone accommodates some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world and offers a wide range of ecosystem goods and services; consequently it has become a focal point of human development. People are attracted to the coast because of access to resources, favourable climate, aesthetic appeal and potential for recreational activities. As pressure for utilisation and development increases, so does the need to manage the coastal system more effectively. This research focuses on the coastal zone of the Ndlambe and Ngqushwa local municipalities in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, which are physically and environmentally similar, yet have distinct demographic and socio-economic differences. The research integrates information using GIS, from three time epochs, to determine where development and land use change is occurring. The Ndlambe Local Municipality displays high levels of formal development, while the Ngqushwa Local Municipality exhibits little formal development. These differences in development and land use are related to economic, social and legislative ‘drivers’ based on an adapted Driver-Pressure-State- Impact-Response model. The model identifies that development and land use changes lead to increased pressure on the natural system, which in turn leads to shifts in the natural state of the coastal zone, resulting in adverse impacts on the coastal zone. Changes in the natural functioning of the coastal zone highlight the need for a response in terms of changes in legislation governing coastal management and spatial planning. This research concludes that pressure for development in the coastal zone within the research site is beginning to increase and will adversely affect the coastal zone if not managed effectively. These two local municipalities have the opportunity to move forward and develop in such a way that allows for conservation and sound management of the coastal zone, which will ensure long-term sustainability within the coastal zones of the Ndlambe and Ngqushwa local municipalities

Agriculture plays a major role in development, as it creates jobs, develops the economy and reduces poverty. An important drawback in agriculture in South Africa is access to agricultural land and other agricultural resources by African farmers. Many African farmers still own small units of land, which are still mostly used for subsistence farming. These racial inequalities in the agricultural sector date back to colonial and apartheid eras. During the apartheid era, government policies separated white farmers from black farmers resulting in an unequal spatial distribution of farming and development in the country. The post-apartheid government that came into power in 1994 was committed to the eradication of racial legislation and implemented new agricultural policies. Twenty years later many inequalities still exit within the agricultural sector. There is a need to investigate the social and spatial inequalities in the emerging farming section. Since the Limpopo province is one of the poorest provinces in South Africa, consisting of large areas of former homelands, the aim of this research is to investigate and describe the impact of the implementation of agricultural policies on the spatial distribution of the emerging farming sector in the Mopani District of the Limpopo province. This research was done within the framework of the post-modernism paradigm. The study used mostly qualitative data but some quantitative data and methods were also used. Primary data was collected from sampled emerging farmers in the Mopani district, some officials from the local municipality and one provincial official. Evidence from analysed data indicated that the uneven spatial distribution of farms still exists despite numerous policies and programmes implemented by government through its provinces, and local and district municipalities. Structurally there is a lack of proper coordination, inadequate provision of both human and material resources, monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of policies and programmes are some contributory factors. It is recommended that policies be implemented that strategically target investment and infrastructural development to reduce poverty, unemployment and uneven spatial distribution of farms in the Mopani district municipalities in the Limpopo province. / Geography / 1 online resource (xvi, 128 leaves) : color maps / D. Phil. (Geography)

Land is a major factor in agricultural production, so agricultural land allocated to smallholder farmers through Land Reform Program or by traditional leader need to be actively utilised for enhancement of agricultural business. The study assessed land utilisation by small and emerging farmers in the Greater Tzaneen Municipality. Data was collected from 86 farms and analysed using SPSS Version 23. The results indicate that 74% of the farmers fully utilised their farm lands. Results of Logit model revealed that, the amount received from leasing, value adding to products, annual farm income and savings had positive significant impact on the area of cultivation, while skills pertaining to farming activities and the proportion of farm inputs purchased with the farmer’s own money had negative impact. The significant variables should be considered to influence full farmland utilisation by small and emerging farmers in the study area; farmers need production inputs, affordable loans and other forms of funding to improve farmland utilisation / Agriculture, Animal Health and Human Ecology / M. Sc. (Agriculture)

Over the past fifteen years there has been an extensive conversion of land use from traditional farming practices to conservation and private game reserves. It has been suggested by Langholz and Kerley (2006:2) that privately owned preserved areas can engage in ecotourism initiatives by protecting biodiversity, succeeding financially and contributing to social upliftment. However, ecotourism has to operate within the context of historical land dispossession of the majority black population and current land reform initiatives to address this problem. In view of the economic, social and environmental importance of ecotourism based private game reserves (PGRs) in South Africa, particularly the Eastern Cape, the main goal of this research is to examine the Indalo association of private game reserves in the Eastern Cape Province’s development model for ex-farmworkers and adjacent communities. This was done through a literature survey and analysis of existing studies and by interviewing the managers of the Indalo PGRs and a few farmworkers to get their opinions of the tension between what they are doing and the imperatives of land reform. This involved an exploration of their community development work, particularly around issues of job creation, participation in decision-making, capacity building and sustainability. The thesis comes to the following conclusions. The first is that the establishment of PGRs have a significant positive impact on the local areas in which they are established. As a land-use, ecotourism based game reserves are an economically and ecologically desirable alternative to other land uses. Therefore the ecotourism based private game reserve industry with its extensive community development focus for farmworkers and local communities is a viable and sustainable alternative to conventional land reform. The second is that the Indalo PGRs development work has built capacity in the communities it has served. However, community participation, particularly in decision-making is limited and needs more attention if productive and sustainable development is to be achieved. Lastly, communities rely heavily on external support for their development and upliftment. However, the majority of the PGRs have/or are putting measures in place to ensure the continuation of community development projects to ensure the long-term sustainability of projects.

Department of Soil Science / PhD (Agric)

MRDV / Institute for Rural Development / The study was carried out to assess the community-perceived determinants of access to land for development in Mutale Local Municipality. It was conducted in the Makuya and Mutele Traditional Authority areas of the former Mutale Local Municipality. All the views relating to access to land for housing, agriculture and business development expressed during the Vhembe District Land Development Summits and Forum meetings held in 2008, 2010 and 2014 were consolidated. Using this information, a questionnaire comprising entirely closed-ended answers requiring responses on a Likert-type scale of 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree) was prepared. The questionnaire was administered through focus group discussions in community workshops during which youth (male and female), women, men and community leaders were the respondents. Open-ended questions were also administered focusing on the factors hindering or enabling access to land, and solutions that the community perceived needed to be taken. Mean and mode for each response were calculated. Chi-Square tests for association were conducted to determine whether there was any association in the responses obtained from the traditional authority areas. Kruskal Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were conducted to determine the level of agreement of perceptions respondents with Vhembe district land development summits resolutions among youth, adults and community leaders. There were no statistically significant differences (P > 0.05) in perception of issues relating to access to land for housing, agriculture and business development of land development. Thus, the issues are real and should form a solid basis for planning interventions that might unlock access to land for different types of uses. Moreover, improving transparency and deepening community participation and consultation over classification and sale of unoccupied land could minimise the likelihood of potential land conflict.

MENVSC / Department of Ecology and Resource Management / This study uses lens to understand conflict over the use of land and its resources in the Mapungubwe area. The main underlying assumption of the study is that various land use activities that are not compatible with each other lead to land use conflict. The aim of the study is to assess land use conflict in the Mapungubwe area. In particular, the study intends to find out the historical and contemporary land-use conflict, compare and contrast the historical conservation objectives with the current conservation objectives in the Mapungubwe area, find out the reasons that made farmers to oppose conservation objectives now and in the 1940s and to investigate the effects of historical and contemporary land use conflict in the Mapungubwe area. In order to achieve these objectives, primary and secondary data were collected. Secondary data that was used included historical documents about Mapungubwe, Hansards or House of Assembly debates of South Africa from 1940 to 1948, newspapers articles, books and journal articles. Secondary data were used to find out the historical land use conflict that took place in the Mapungubwe area. Primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews with private game farmers, commercial irrigation farmers, farm workers (former and current), Mapungubwe National Park officials and land claimants. Field observations were used to corroborate information collected through interviews. Primary data were collected in order to find out the contemporary land use conflict taking place in the Mapungubwe area. The main findings of this study are that land use conflict in Mapungubwe area is not new; rather it started in the 1940s when the United Party government intended to establish the Dongola Wildlife Sanctuary. However, the idea of a wildlife sanctuary led to land use conflict, particularly between farmers and the ruling United Party government. In other words, land use conflict was mainly among conservationists (who were members of United Party) and farmers. Unfortunately, the idea of a wildlife sanctuary in the Mapungubwe area was caught up in political battles between the governing United Party and the opposition National Party that eventually led to its abandonment following the electoral victory of the National Party in the general elections of 1948. The study also found that the contemporary Mapungubwe is also affected by land use conflict. The conflict is mainly because of various land use activities including irrigation farming, game farming, mining, settlement, and land claims that are not compatible with conservation. Land use activities including irrigation and ii game farming, settlement and mining are happening within and around Mapungubwe National Park. This has made it difficult to consolidate the core area of Mapungubwe National Park. As a result, although Mapungubwe National Park has been established in 1995, the park remains fragmented. This study has used Mapungubwe as a case study to demonstrate that the interest over land and its resources in an area by various stakeholders create land use conflict. / NRF

Thesis (M.Sc. (Soil Science)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / In South Africa, land use planning has received limited attention in areas perceived as suitable for agricultural production. In the lack of reliable soil type and fertility status information, crop yields remain lower than the land’s potential, with subsequent land degradation. Despite this, studies that focused on land capability and soil suitability to date have not considered the spatial variability of the soil nutrients and factors influencing their variability. However, this information is key for site-specific soil management. Therefore, it is vital to link land capability and soi suitability with the spatial variability of soil nutrients as it opens opportunities for more rational management of the soil resources since soil nutrients directly affect crop growth and consequently yield. To address this issue, a study was conducted on a 12 ha banana plantation portion of the Makuleke farm. The main objectives of this study were to (1) survey, classify and characterise soils in order to derive and map land capability classes of Makuleke farm, (2) quantify the physical and chemical properties of the soils in order to derive and map the soil suitability of Makuleke farm for banana production, (3) assess the spatial variability and structure of soil nutrients across the Makuleke farm and (4) Identify the factors of control of the spatial variability of the soil nutrients across the Makuleke farm. To begin with, a field soil survey was conducted using transect walks complemented by auger observations to sub-divide the 12 ha banana plantation portion of the farm into varied soil mapping units. Thereafter, soil classification was done to group soils based on their morphological properties and pedological processes. During soil classification, a total of 12 representative profile pits (1.5 m × 1.5 m long × 2 m deep/limiting layer) were excavated, studied, described, and sampled. At each profile pit, three replicates samples were collected at 0 – 30 cm depth intervals giving rise to 36 bulk soil samples. From the gathered soil profile information, four soil units were thus delineated and identified across the 12 ha banana plantation. For soil fertility assessment, a grid sampling strategy at 50 × 50 m was adopted to collect the samples across the 12 ha banana plantation. A total of 27 composite samples were collected at the nodes of the grid, and thereafter bagged, labelled, and transported to the laboratory. In the laboratory, all collected samples were air-dried and sieved using a 2 mm sieve in preparation for soil physical and chemical properties analysis. The land capability assessment of Makuleke farm was done using the concepts and principles of the FAO framework for Land Evaluation (FAO, 1976), but adapted to South African conditions by Smith (2006). Soil suitability assessment was done using the FAO framework for Land Evaluation (FAO, 1976) coupled with the guidelines for rainfed agriculture (FAO, 1983) and the criteria proposed by Sys et al. (1993) and Naidu et al. (2006). To assess the spatial variability and structure of the soil nutrients across the farm, classical and geostatistical techniques were employed respectively. A correlation matrix was employed to identify key factors influencing the spatial variability of soil nutrients across the farm. For interpolation, ordinary kriging was used to generate soil nutrient spatial distribution maps. In this study, four soil forms were identified and classified as Hutton, Westleigh, Glenrosa, and Valsrivier, which are broadly distinguished as Lixisols, Plinthosols, Leptosols, and Cambisols. Land capability results revealed that 17% of the 12 ha portion of the farm has very high arable potential (I), 60% of the farm has medium arable potential (III), 6% has low arable potential (IV) and 17 % is non-arable (VI), which might explain the varied banana yields in the farm. Soil suitability analysis revealed that 12% of the 12 ha farm is highly suitable (S1), 34% is moderately suitable (S2), 38% is marginally suitable (S3) and 16% is permanently not suitable (N2) for banana production. The low arable and marginally suitable portion of the farm was under Valsrivier soils which were limited by its shallow depth, shallow rooting depth, acidic soil pH, low organic carbon (OC), and the fact that it was located on a steeper slope gradient. The non-arable and not suitable portion of the farm for banana production was under Glenrosa and it was limited by its location on a steep slope gradient and was characterised by shallow effective rooting depth, low OC, low clay content, and acidic soil pH. Classical statistical techniques revealed that phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), and copper (Cu) content varied highly across the banana plantation, while magnesium (Mg) and total nitrogen (TN) varied moderately. In addition, the geostatistical analysis revealed that spatial dependency was weak (Ca, Cu, and TN), moderate (Mg and Zn), and strong (P, K, and Mn) for the different soil nutrients across the 12 ha banana plantation. Soil nutrients with strong spatial dependency have a good spatial structure and are easily manageable (in terms of fertilisation, liming, and irrigation) across the farm compared to the ones with weak spatial dependency which have a poor structure. This study also found that land attributes, which are soil type and topographic position were the main factors driving the spatial variability of the soil nutrients across the farm. In terms of soil type, soils such as Valsrivier and Glenrosa with 2:1 clay-type smectite were the ones that had nutrient content compared to soils with 1:1 clay-type kaolinite (e.g., Westleigh and Hutton). Higher nutrient contents were also observed in the footslope position compared to the middleslope of the farmland. Correlation analysis revealed that Mn was the key polyvalent cation influencing the spatial variability of P, K, and Zn. Soil pH and effective cation exchanges capacity (ECEC) were the key soil factors driving the spatial variability of Ca, while ECEC was the key factor affecting the spatial variability of Mg. Moreover, the spatial variability of soil Mn and Cu was driven by soil Cu and clay content, respectively. The kriged maps showed that P, Mg, Zn, and Mn were high in the northeast part and low in the northwest part of the farm. Similarly, K and Ca were low in the northwest part, but they were high in the south to the southwest part of the study area. Total nitrogen was high in the west part and low in the east-northeast part, while Cu was evenly distributed across the plantation. This study highlights the importance of prior land use planning (i.e., land capability and soil suitability) and fertility assessment for agricultural production. The research results obtained provide the actual reference state of the capability of the land for arable farming and soil suitability for banana production at Makuleke farm. Moreover, the research results provide the spatial variability and structure of the soil nutrients which have a greater impact on the growth and yield of bananas. The results obtained in this study will be useful for site-specific management of soil nutrients and other soil management practices (e.g., irrigation, fertilisation, liming, etc.), developing appropriate land use plans, and quantifying anthropogenic impacts on the soil system and thus improving land productivity. / National Research Foundation (NRF)

The purpose of this research was to assess the condition of open spaces, community perceptions, benefits, threats and challenges faced by open spaces within KwaDukuza. The research is regarded as important within the context of threats posed by uncontrolled development to urban biodiversity. Primary and secondary documentary sources on open spaces in the study area were consulted. Data was gathered through the use of a questionnaire, with a sample of 100 respondents; observation; structured interviews with key respondents and discussions with focus groups. The research revealed a consistent pattern of threatened urban biodiversity when compared with other studies. The main finding was that the open spaces were under severe strain and threat in the area of KwaDukuza due to development. There was a noted lack of knowledge about key tools meant to safeguard the environment. The study concluded by recommending community participation, education and an open space policy framework for KwaDukuza. / Geography / M.A. (Geography)

The purpose of this research was to assess the condition of open spaces, community perceptions, benefits, threats and challenges faced by open spaces within KwaDukuza. The research is regarded as important within the context of threats posed by uncontrolled development to urban biodiversity. Primary and secondary documentary sources on open spaces in the study area were consulted. Data was gathered through the use of a questionnaire, with a sample of 100 respondents; observation; structured interviews with key respondents and discussions with focus groups. The research revealed a consistent pattern of threatened urban biodiversity when compared with other studies. The main finding was that the open spaces were under severe strain and threat in the area of KwaDukuza due to development. There was a noted lack of knowledge about key tools meant to safeguard the environment. The study concluded by recommending community participation, education and an open space policy framework for KwaDukuza. / Geography / M.A. (Geography)