Includes bibliography. / This report reviews the potential of financial incentives and compensatory mechanisms for achieving conservation goals on privately owned land in South Africa. Legal concepts, such as the notion of absolute ownership of property, are examined in the context of South Africa's historical and political circumstances to highlight how they have contributed to a highly individualistic attitude to land ownership in South Africa. The achievement of environmental objectives has relied largely on outright control of, and prohibitions on, the use of land. Incentives and compensatory mechanisms offer complementary methods of encouraging the diminution of ownership rights in private land for the public interest. A review of some foreign legal systems shows that compensation for the diminution of private rights in land is a grossly neglected area of South African law. It is found that attention should be given to the development of satisfactory principles of compensation as well as to the incorporation of incentives into South African legislation. It is concluded that the success of such recommendations is dependant on the fulfilment of certain administrative prerequisites, including the formulation of a national strategy for the conservation of private land in South Africa and the constitution of a formal body of experts to advise on compensation and incentive schemes.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 132-151). / The Succulent Karoo is a biodiversity hot spot situated along the west coast of southern Africa. While it is predominantly recognized as a west coast vegetation type its borders stretch as far east as Steytlerville in the Little Karoo. The area contains the largest number of endemic succulent species in the world and harbors nearly 10 percent of the of the total number of succulent species worldwide. Furthermore, spring mass-flowering events draw thousands of tourists to the region, providing welcome input to the local economies. The floral diversity is however, under threat from various environmental forces. These forces include inappropriate land use practices resulting in Land Degradation and the ever-present threat of Climate Change.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-124). / This study aims to understand what role the landscape, and the management thereof, played in the March 2003 floods in the Kogmans River catchment. The Kogmans River (H3) secondary catchment is situated in the Klein (Uttle) Karoo region of the Western Cape, approximately 170km east of the city of Cape Town.

Bibliography: leaves 104-109. / This study assesses the process of solid waste management, from generation to disposal, on Robben Island. The major objectives of this research were the following: * To assess the quantity and the type of solid waste generated on Robben Island; * To investigate the areas where waste is generated; * To assess current waste management practices that are undertaken on Robben Island; and * To assess the level of understanding, the attitudes and the behaviour of people working and residing on Robben Island with regards to waste management issues. As a popular tourist destination site, the researcher took into consideration during the investigation that, waste quantities generated on Robben Island might vary from season to season depending on the number of tourists visiting the island per season.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / This study provides insight into the barriers of adapting to urban flooding as well as how flooding is responded to in informal settlements in order to increase adaptive capacity to future climate change. There is a growing concern over the increase in extreme events expected as part of climate change.

Includes bibliographical references. / Wheat producers in the South Western Cape (SWC) of South Africa need to cope with biophysical and socio-economic systems exposing farmers to a multidimensional decision- making environment. The rain fed wheat production in the Swartland region is highly susceptible to the interannual variability of winter rainfall. Producers, therefore, need relevant climatic information to identify ways to improve profitability and to make sound economic decisions. Seasonal forecasting has the potential to provide wheat producers with invaluable information regarding the climatic conditions. However, due to the complex nature of the atmospheric dynamics associated with winter rainfall in South Africa, seasonal forecasting models have been found to have very little skill in predicting the variability of winter rainfall. Such a shortfall has created a gap for which this study has attempted to bridge. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between wheat-specific rainfall characteristics, large-scale modes of climate variability and wheat yields in the Swartland region to assess whether these relationships could provide useful climatic information to the wheat farmers. Six wheat-specific rainfall characteristics (total rainfall ; number of wet days ; number of ‘good’ rainfall events; number of heavy rainfall events; percentage ‘good’ rainfall ; and the number of dry dekads ) on various time scales (winter; seasonal; monthly and dekadal) were correlated against wheat yield records over a 17 year period from 1994 to 2010. From this analysis, the distribution and timing of the rainfall throughout the wheat growing season (April to September) emerged as an important determinant of wheat yield. An accurate statistical wheat prediction model was created using farmer stipulated rainfall- wheat yield thresholds. Three teleconnections (El Niño-Southern Oscillation [ENSO], Antarctic Oscillation [AAO] and South Atlantic sea surface temperatures [SSTs]) represented by eight climate indices (Nino 3.4 Index, Ocean Nino Index [ONI], Southern Oscillation Index [SOI], AAO index, Southern Annular Mode Index [SAM], South Atlantic Dipole Index [SADI], South Western Atlantic SST Index [SWAI] and South Central Atlantic SST Index [SCAI]), were correlated against wheat yield data over a 17 year period from 1994 to 2010. The relationships between the three teleconnections and wheat yield in the Swartland were established. Teleconnection-wheat yield correlations were found to be limited, with regards to the application of this information to farmers, due to the lack of a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics of how the three teleconnections influence the local climate and, therefore, the wheat yield in the Swartland. The eight climate indices, representing the three teleconnections, were correlated against the six wheat-specific rainfall characteristic indices from each of the three study areas over the period from 1980 to 2012. The state of ENSO during the first half of the year was shown to be correlated with rainfall characteristics during both the first (April to July) and second (July to September) halves of the wheat growing season; however, these correlations differ ed in their sign. Correlations suggested a negative phase of AAO was associated with above normal rainfall throughout the year across the Swartland region. Sea surface temperatures in the central South Atlantic during March to October showed significant negative correlations with rainfall during the latter half of the wheat growing season (July to October) across the Swartland region. This study presented evidence supporting the plausibility and validity for the use of the state of large-scale modes of variability in the prediction of wheat-specific rainfall characteristics and aggregated yields in the Swartland region. This has the potential to provide useful information to wheat farmers in the Swartland to aid in their decision making process

Future climate is projected to deviate from present-day by unprecedented measure, hereafter climate departure, with direct consequences on food security. West Africa, one of the hotspots for climate departure globally, has suffered significantly from climate change impacts via extreme events with large impacts on food production. A better understanding of the impact of climate departure on crop growth suitability and planting season is still unknown and is highly needed in West Africa, owing to its high vulnerability and low adaptive capacity. This thesis developed a methodology aimed at defining the cropping system to investigate the projected timing of climate departures from historical variability and their impact on crop growth suitability over West Africa. For the study we used 4 statistically downscaled Global Climate Models, GCMs at station level for the period 1951- 2100 under RCP8.5 across the three AgroEcological Zones (AEZs) of West Africa for eight crops, cassava, maize, mango, orange, pearl millet, plantain, pineapple and tomato. Climate variables minimum mean monthly temperature and total monthly precipitation were used as input crop suitability model, Ecocrop to develop a new approach to define and characterise cropping systems departure from their normal regime, called crop-climate departure (CCD), to better understand the timing of future changes in crop suitability. Also, the concept of CCD was defined, tested and applied in West Africa for five different crops types, using 10 GCMs downscaled by regional climate model, RCA4 as input into crop suitability model Ecocrop. The downscaled GCMs were also employed to examine the impact at the different global warming levels, 1.5, 2.0 and 3.0oC on crop suitability over West Africa. Using the GCMs at station level, we develop the concept of crop-climate used in characterizing the suitability of different crop across the three AEZs of West Africa. The result highlights the constraint, a reduction in suitable area, of growing cassava and pineapple only in the Guinea zone by mid and end of century. In contrast, there is an observed and projected opportunity, increase in suitable areas, of growing maize in southern Sahel by the end of the century while mango remains suitable across the three West African AEZs. The application applying the concept crop-climate departure on different crop types showed in decrease suitable areas for most crops by the end of century with horticultural, cassava and cereals respectively are the crops mostly affected. The changes in crop-climate relationship suggests a future constraint in crop suitability could be detrimental to future food security over West Africa. Finally, our findings from the impact of different global warming levels, 1.5. 2.0 and 3.0oC highlights the potential of sustained suitability for all the crops and improved food security under 1.5oC global warming for all the six crops but a contrast under 3oC over West Africa except for cowpea and groundnut. Our findings for cowpea and groundnut showed an increase suitable area into the southern Sahel with increasing global warming level. The study holds great value at regional scale where improved preparedness and regional cohesion could make the difference in making decision for a food secure Africa. Further studies to explore associated short and long-term adaptation options to changes in crop-climate relationship are recommended.

Bibliography: leaves 37-41

The total urban area of each study site was calculated for each time slice and the results were represented as maps depicting urban expansion. Graphs were also created depicting the total urban area vs. total population for each time slice (1970s, 1990s and 2000s).

Bibliography: pages 97-102. / The assessment conducted in this dissertation was shaped by the intended formulation of an Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan (ICZMP), as proposed by the Danish Co-operation for Environment and Development. An ICZMP provides an integrated and holistic approach to planning, in which the various activities and resource demands that occur within the coastal belt and neighbouring regions are appropriately coordinated. The first phase of the formulation of this management plan entailed the compilation of a baseline report summarising the present state of the environment in the study area, with particular emphasis on the major issues which will require attention in an ICZMP. This study was undertaken by Masters students from the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science at the University of Cape Town. The study area is located within the coastal belt of Namibia's Erongo Region, and more specifically within the magisterial districts of Swakopmund and Walvis Bay (Map 3). This includes the National West Coast Tourist Recreation Area and a portion of the Namib Naukluft Park. The southern boundary extends to the Sandwich Harbour, while the northern boundary extends to the southern bank of the Ugab River. The eastern perimeter is that of the Swakopmund magisterial district, and includes the municipal areas of Walvis Bay, Henties Bay and Arandis, together with Rossing Mine and its immediate environment. The seaward boundary is defined by the three nautical mile limit from shore. The Baseline Report: Coastal Zone Management Plan for the Erongo Region, Namibia was submitted to DANCED in March 1996. The findings of the investigation, as recorded in the report, highlight a number of issues which require urgent attention in the ICZMP. One such issue concerns the rapid influx of migrants to the urban centres in the study area. Population is a determining factor which significantly influences the functioning of other key sectors within a given location. As such, an understanding of the ramifications of increased population numbers is imperative to the formulation of an ICZMP. The objective of this dissertation was, therefore, to identify the factors generating rapid migration to the study area, and to facilitate an assessment of the impacts of this phenomenon. Once identified and assessed, these impacts can be better managed within a holistic, integrated framework.