The continual increase in elephant numbers across southern Africa raises concern, though the interventions to manage these populations are more contentious. Within small, enclosed reserves active management is necessary to limit elephant impact. Various management tools exist with which to control fluctuations in elephant population numbers or density and simulate natural large stochastic events to control population growth. During this study, undertaken in the Munyawana Conservancy, KwaZulu-Natal, and Pilanesberg National Park, North West Province, South Africa, several management options were implemented. In order to lower the population numbers, family groups were translocated from the Munyawana Conservancy to other reserves, while to reduce population growth rate an immunocontraception was implemented. Both conservation areas introduced older bulls to normalise the bull population age structure, and expanded the conservation area by inclusion of new land to reduce population density. The influence of these management interventions on the elephant population were measured by their social, behavioural, spatial and movement responses. The older bull introduction was successful as bulls set up exclusive bull areas. There was a quick, subtle affect on the bull groups' size immediately after the older bull introduction, while there was no immediate change within the resident bulls' musth behaviour or duration. During area expansion, elephants appeared to perceive the new unexplored area as a threat although this threat became reduced through time as they became more familiar with it. The spatial scale of response was relatively small, while the temporal scale of response was relatively large. Rotational immunocontraception was shown to be a successful tool to alter herd structure by aging the population and maintaining a low population growth rate. The process of immunocontraception darting had no significant effect on herd associations and movement rates, accordingly the duration of the disruption effects were short lived. During multi-management interventions, no differences were found within the elephant social grouping. Management interventions may pose unforeseen social risks and different populations may respond differently to management induced stress. Therefore, interventions need to be considered for each elephant population which will achieve the conservation area's objectives with the most effective outcome, but with lowest holistic impact. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2012.

No abstract available. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1966.

The Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany (MPA) hotspot, as is the case of all such global biodiversity hotspots, has primarily been recognised based on its high floristic endemism and delimited intuitively. Boundaries of global biodiversity hotspots have seldom been empirically tested in terms of species distribution patterns and only a few have been examined for patterns of animal endemism. This thesis presents the results of a zoogeographical study of all five major vertebrate groups and selected invertebrate groups in south-eastern Africa, refining the delimitation of the MPA hotspot and identifying areas and centres of endemism within and around it. It also provides zoogeographical regionalisation schemata for the whole of south-eastern Africa. The study employed methods of, (a) preliminary qualitative identification of “Endemic Vertebrate Distributions”, (b) phenetic clustering of operational geographical units based on species incidence matrices, using the Jaccard’s coefficient of similarity and the Unweighted Pair-Group Method using Arithmetic means (UPGMA) clustering algorithm, (c) Parsimony Analysis of Endemicity, and (d) ArcGIS-based mapping of various measures of endemism (e.g. narrow endemism and weighted endemism). The results reveal that the MPA hotspot, though defined so due to its exceptional floristic endemism, is a hotspot for the endemism of animals too, especially for the herpetofauna and invertebrate groups like the velvet worms, land snails and many others. But the current boundary of the hotspot is arbitrarily defined and not exactly matching the patterns of animal endemism (and, likely, neither those in plants). Hence, a greater Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany (GMPA) region of animal endemism is proposed as a broad priority region of conservation concern, while centres of endemism within the GMPA are identified and patterns of quantitative measures of endemism are mapped. The study also proposes a zoogeographical regionalisation placing the GMPA and Highveld regions at the province rank in the global zoogeographical hierarchy, within the south east African dominion, also describing zoogeographical districts and assemblages nested within each. Results from the vertebrate and invertebrate analyses reveals the possibility of a common zoogeographical regionalisation for south-eastern Africa. The study emphasises the importance of quantitative biogeographical methodologies in conservation biogeography, in addition to their uses in the theoretical/descriptive biogeography. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

The aim of the study was to investigate the role of democratisation in peace building and conflict resolution. The findings of the study have revealed that democratisation plays a pivotal role in conflict resolution and peace building. It provides legitimacy for governments and encourages people's participation in decision-making on issues that affect their lives; democratic processes contribute to the effectiveness of the state policies and developmental strategies. The study has also showed that democratic institutions and practices foster the governmental accountability and transparency necessary to deter national and transnational crime and corruption and encourage increased responsiveness to popular concerns. In development, they increase the likelihood that the state goals reflect broad societal concerns and that the government is sensitive to the societal environmental costs of its development policies. By involving people in decision-making, democracy ensures mutual respect and satisfaction between the state and its citizens, and this in turn promotes peace and stability in a country. / M.A. (Peace studies and International Studies) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2005

Records from the Quaternary period are used to confirm possible inferred climatic changes, reveal the responses of species to these changes, and serve as an archive against which modern environmental dynamics can be assessed. Fueled by a need to understand current climatic changes, the call for palaeoclimatic research in the southern African subregion has become more compelling. In southern Africa, such research has been largely restricted to springs and swamps as the subregion lacks natural lakes, with some exception of a few coastal lakes such as Lake Sibaya and Lake Eteza. Due to the arid and semi-arid landscapes which prevail in southern Africa, there is a paucity of suitable sedimentary deposits in the region. The highly organic peat deposit of Mutale Wetland, situated in the Tate Vondo region of the northeastern Soutpansberg presents an ideal opportunity for conducting palaeoenvironmental research. The Mutale Wetland contains relatively old sediments dating back to >30,000 cal years BP, placing this record within the late Quaternary period. Palaeoenvironmental techniques including radiocarbon, pollen and charcoal analyses were applied to produce a palaeoenvironmental reconstruction for Tate Vondo. A 302 cm sedimentary core was extracted from the Mutale Wetland. Detailed analyses show that prior to ca. 34,000 cal yr BP, conditions were fairly warm and dry. This is inferred from a dominance of open grassland vegetation. An expansion of Podocarpus forests together with an increase in fynbos elements suggest a shift to cool, subhumid conditions during the LGM. Cooler conditions persisted until ca. 12,000 cal yr BP. Thereafter, a climatic amelioration was experienced. The appearance of low charcoal concentrations throughout the late Pleistocene suggests that fire was infrequent. Between ca. 4000 – 1500 cal yr BP, conditions became warmer and drier, inferred from the development of arid savanna vegetation. The sharp increase in charcoal after ca. 4000 cal yr BP, broadly coinciding with the arrival of the first agriculturalists in the area, has implications for the history of human occupation in the Soutpansberg rather than shifts in climate. The succession from savanna to fynbos vegetation together with expanded forests implies a return to cool and moist conditions from ca. 1500 – 400 cal yr BP. Arid savanna persists from ca. 400 to the present, implying warmer and drier conditions towards the present day. Furthermore, from ca. 400 cal yr BP, the pollen and charcoal record indicate that the majority of recent changes in vegetation have been driven by anthropogenic activity. This record has contributed to an improved understanding of late Quaternary changes in climate, vegetation history and human impact in the northeastern Soutpansberg. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2014.

This study focussed on the transformation of the institutions of local government from deconcentration, delegation to devolution. This transformation can be looked at starting with the institutions inherited from the colonial era, which started after the Berlin Conference of 1884, which divided Africa among the western powers. Then the transformation, which took place immediately after independence / that is the period of 1960s, the changes made in the 1980s and finally the transformation taking place following the multiparty democracy in the 1990s. The study looked at decentralisation during the colonial period / decentralisation after independence, with a particular focus on the institutions under a single party system / transformation of local government under multiparty system. It also examined the challenges facing decentralisation in the SADC region.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2008. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 166-177). Also available online via ProQuest, free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (Ph. D. in History)--Vanderbilt University, May 2006. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Marburg, University, Diss., Diss., 2003.

No description available.