The purpose of this study was to investigate the Willingness to Pay (WTP) of conserving a ten hectares forest area in Rutvik, amongst the population of Luleå municipality. Furthermore, the study investigated the factors influencing the WTP and its impact on a Faustmann-Hartman rotation period. The tested influential factors were both socio-economic and attitudes towards use values and non-use vales that a forest stand can provide the society. The study used an empirical approach, were a survey was created using a Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). The survey consisted of three parts, where the first part asked the respondents general questions, the second part let the respondent rate different type of forest values and finally a last part where an open-ended question asked the respondents of their maximum WTP. The results indicated that the mean WTP was equal to 15.9 SEK for the total forest area. The results also demonstrated that income had a significant positive impact on WTP and that living nearer the targeted forest gave a higher probability of having a WTP. The only service that indicated significant result was altruistic values, which value had a positive impact on the WTP. It also indicated that the researched WTP extended the traditional Faustmann rotation formula from 56 to 58 years for pine and 75 to 78 years for spruce.

Systematic conservation planning (SCP) relies fundamentally on spatial information about the distribution of biodiversity, and applying the principles of conserving a representative sample of biodiversity pattern that can persist over time, and the translation of conservation objectives into explicit quantitative targets. My thesis focuses on the development of appropriate data sets to include Mpumalanga Province’s indigenous forests (South Africa) within a regional SCP. My aim is to investigate and describe forest pattern and ecological processes at appropriate scales to inform a provincial SCP assessment. A large data set consisting of 506 plots of 20 m x 20 m sampled the indigenous forests in and around Mpumalanga to inform the identification of SCP forest features and conservation targets. The current National Forest Classification (NFC) identifies forest types at a national scale, inappropriate for a regional assessment. I identified a hierarchy of forest subtypes, nested within the NFC based on Flexible beta (β = –0.25) clustering and Bray-Curtis resemblance measure. This classification procedure is selected after a detailed evaluation of available methods to identify a robust numerical classification technique, optimising on statistically identified faithful species. Fourteen forest subtypes are distinguished within three national forest types. I propose that the Wakkerstroom Midlands Forest Subtype be embedded within the Northern Highveld Forest Type, and not the Low Escarpment Mistbelt Forest Type as is currently recognised in the NFC. The proposed forest subtypes are described in terms of dominant plant families and genera, growth forms, seasonality or leaf retention characteristics, and the proportion of forest dependant species. A total of 125 plant families, 375 genera and 619 species are identified to occur in the Mpumalanga forests, with the most abundant species per family being Rubiaceae (33 plant species), Fabaceae (26), Celastraceae (25), Orchidaceae (23), Euphorbiaceae (22), Aspleniaceae (21) and Apocynaceae (20). 76% of all forest plant species are obligate forest species and 80% of all tree cover is evergreen. The identification and understanding of underlying ecological processes is informed by the analysis of three scales of environmental variables and geographic space on forest composition using variation partitioning and ordination. I propose the application of semivariogram analysis to categorise environmental variables into three scales of influence (local, regional and supra-regional scales). The largest fraction of variation is explained by the regional variables (45%), followed by the effects of supra-regional (21%) and local variables (19%). Using the full floristic data, both the environmental and geographic variable matrices accounted for 55% of observed variation. Geographic space (23%) partially explains the important role of dispersal in influencing variation in species patterns across all forest strata, even in the herbaceous stratum where the substantial contribution of dispersal is unexpected. My analysis provides insight into the relative contributions of environmental variables and the scale of their influence, and highlights the importance of dispersal in explaining forest vegetation patterns in Mpumalanga. The use of ecological processes within SCP is still in its infancy, particularly in light of the threat of climate change. I propose a new method based on graph theory that incorporates dispersal distance to identify connectivity importance values for each forest patch based on their contribution towards landscape connectivity. Minimum patch distance is informed through a dispersal range ensuring 75% of flora can disperse between patches. The connectivity analysis supports resilience and persistence in SCP scenarios. Finally I needed to set quantitative targets for the pattern and process features for their inclusion within a SCP. With an overarching goal of ensuring that at least 75% of all species are represented by at least one individual within each forest subtype in a SCP, I utilised the Species Area Relationship (SAR) to determine the slope of the relationship and to estimate the proportion of area required to represent 75% of species. The number of plots in my data set was low for certain forest subtypes, which necessitated an approach of utilising highest values from estimators of species richness and integrating forest subtype targets with those for forest types of a higher level in the NFC. I integrate forest connectivity into pattern targets as a precautionary approach given the vulnerability of naturally disconnected forest patches and the importance of emigration and immigration of plant diaspores in maintaining forest composition across a network of small forest patches. The resulting forest pattern targets ranged between 24.9% and 49.7% for forest subtypes, with a mean value of 34.8%. I also propose forest process targets for more spatially fixed processes, such as the important forest patches supporting connectivity, as well as the spatially flexible buffers around each priority forest patch. Spatially fixed forest process targets are set at 100% and for spatially flexible forest processes the targets are set at 60% of original extent. Consideration also needs to be given to design criteria that can assist in developing a framework for prioritising conservation actions based on vulnerability and irreplaceability.

Abordagens integrativas considerando diferentes dimensões da diversidade (p.ex., taxonômica, funcional, ou filogenética) cada vez mais estão sendo utilizadas para (1) avançar o nosso conhecimento sobre os mecanismos que criam e mantém a biodiversidade, e (2) elucidar a distribuição da biodiversidade tanto em áreas geográficas de interesse como dentro de áreas protegidas. De fato, entender como a biodiversidade se distribui no espaço e como ela é mantida ao longo do tempo é fundamental para embasar o planejamento de áreas protegidas e corredores ecológicos, assim como auxiliar no manejo de espécies invasoras, restauração de habitats degradados e manejo de ecossistemas. Nessa perspectiva, os objetivos centrais desta tese foram: (1) avaliar os mecanismos ecológicos e evolutivos, que potencialmente influenciam a diversidade beta taxonômica e filogenética de árvores nas florestas Atlânticas do sul do Brasil, e (2) avaliar como os componentes taxonômicos e filogenéticos se distribuem ao longo destas florestas, e como eles são representados dentro da rede regional de áreas protegidas. Para tal, utilizei modelagem de equações estruturais (capítulo 1) para testar a validade de uma rede de hipóteses ligando dados e teoria. No capítulo 1, avaliei a relação entre a diversidade beta taxonômica e filogenética, e como elas se relacionam com a riqueza de espécies, filtragem ambiental, espaço geográfico e estrutura filogenética (agrupamento filogenético). Nesse capítulo, concluí que a diversidade beta taxonômica é influenciada principalmente pelos gradientes altitudinais e climáticos, enquanto que a diversidade beta filogenética é determinada também pelo grau de agrupamento filogenético, em nível local, que provavelmente reflete o conservadorismo de nicho dentro das linhagens e distúrbio humano, que historicamente tem conduzido as florestas estudadas a um processo de homogeneização biótica. Em relação ao segundo objetivo, utilizei uma abordagem integrativa para predizer e mapear os componentes taxonômicos e filogenéticos da diversidade de árvores e, em seguida, avaliar a efetividade da rede de áreas protegidas em representar tais componentes nas florestas Atlânticas do sul Brasil. Nesse capítulo, concluí que as áreas protegidas são insuficientes para preservar adequadamente a biodiversidade de árvores nestas florestas. Sugeri que a expansão da rede em direção as áreas de alta singularidade taxonômica e filogenética, como definidas aqui, poderia aumentar, ao mesmo tempo, a representação da riqueza de espécies, da diversidade beta e da história evolutiva das espécies estudadas. Sugeri também que a inclusão de áreas de alta insubstituibilidade, em termos de história evolutiva, poderia ajudar a aumentar a proteção da diversidade de características e do potencial evolutivo das espécies. / Integrative approaches considering different dimensions of biodiversity are increasingly being used in ecology and conservation to (1) advance our knowledge about the mechanisms underlying current patterns of biological diversity, and (2) elucidate the distribution of biodiversity in geographical areas of interest, and within the protected areas. Indeed, understanding how biodiversity is distributed in space and how it is maintained over time is critical to support the planning of protected areas and ecological corridors as well as assist the management of invasive species, the restoration of degraded areas and ecosystem management. In this perspective, the central goals of this thesis were: (1) to evaluate the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that potentially influence the tree taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity in Atlantic forests located in southern Brazil, and (2) to evaluate how the taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity components are distributed across these forests, and how they are represented within the regional network of protected areas. For this, I used structural equation modeling (chapter 1) to test the validity of a network of hypotheses linking data and theory. In the chapter 1, I evaluate the relationship between taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity, and how they are related to species richness, environmental filtering, geographical space and phylogenetic structure (phylogenetic clustering). In this chapter, I conclude that taxonomic beta diversity (at the study scale) is mainly driven by the altitudinal and climatic gradients, while phylogenetic beta diversity is also determined by the degree of phylogenetic clustering at local level, more likely reflecting niche conservatism within lineages and human disturbance that has historically conducted the studied forests to a process of biotic homogenization. In relation to the second goal, I used an integrative approach to predict and map the taxonomic and phylogenetic components of tree diversity, and to assess the effectiveness of the protected areas network in representing these components in the Atlantic forests. In this chapter, I conclude that protected areas are insufficient to adequately preserve the tree biodiversity in these forests. I suggest that expanding the network towards the areas of taxonomic and phylogenetic uniqueness, as defined here, could increase the representation of species richness, beta diversity and evolutionary history of angiosperm trees at the same time. Furthermore, the inclusion of areas of high irreplaceability in terms of evolutionary history could help to improve the protection of feature diversity and evolutionary potential of species.

Muitos dos severos impactos causados ao ambiente nos dias atuais estão intimamente relacionados com a total ou parcial retirada da cobertura vegetal nativa do solo. Com o crescimento acelerado da população humana, a vegetação nativa bem como outros recursos naturais está sofrendo uma crescente pressão. Esta, por sua vez, influencia diretamente a perda e fragmentação de habitats, repercutindo em danos significativos na biodiversidade local e regional. Nestas condições, a sub-bacia hidrográfica do arroio Retiro, localizada nos municípios de Veranópolis, Vila Flores, Cotiporã e Nova Prata, estado do Rio Grande do Sul, apresenta grande fragmentação florestal, principalmente em função do elevado nível de desmatamento para fins agropecuários e para a silvicultura. O arroio Retiro possui grande importância devido ao seu potencial hídrico, sendo ele o maior fornecedor de água potável para os municípios do entorno. A sub-bacia hidrográfica está inserida em sua totalidade no Bioma Mata Atlântica, mais especificamente na região fitoecológica denominada Floresta Ombrófila Mista (FOM). Desta forma, este estudo tem o objetivo de analisar temporalmente a estrutura da paisagem da sub-bacia do Arroio Retiro e identificar as áreas prioritárias à conservação, por meio de análise multicritério enfocando características ideais para o incremento da biodiversidade local e regional. Para a análise da estrutura da paisagem foram utilizadas séries temporais do satélite Landsat 5 e 8, além de índices de ecologia de paisagem. Para a identificação de áreas prioritárias foi utilizada a abordagem multicriterial, através do Método de Média Ponderada Ordenada, para a combinação dos fatores. Os fatores utilizados são: proximidade a cobertura florestal; proximidade aos fragmentos de maior área nuclear; proximidade à rede hidrográfica; distância aos centros urbanos; distância a malha viária e distância aos processos de mineração existentes. Os mapas de prioridades foram reclassificados de maneira a apresentar cinco classes de prioridades: muito baixa, baixa, média, alta e muito alta. Em relação à fragmentação, a sub-bacia apresentou melhoras entre os anos de 1990 para 2005, com diminuição de fragmentos e acréscimo de áreas para os já existentes. Após 2005, houve um intenso processo de fragmentação, onde novos pequenos fragmentos foram criados e alguns fragmentos maiores obtiveram incremento de áreas. Este dado é comprovado pelo aumento de 11,61 km² na classe de mata nativa e pelo surgimento de 119 fragmentos a mais que em 1990. Em relação ao maior fragmento da paisagem, este contava com 3275 há em 1990 e passou para 5003 há em 2016. A área nuclear deste fragmento também teve incremento, estando com 2473.47 há em 1990 e passando para 3745.62 há em 2016. A maior parte das áreas de maior prioridade foram escolhidas simultaneamente próximas aos melhores fragmentos em relação as suas áreas nucleares e além de estarem próximos a rede hidrográfica. O mapa de áreas prioritárias para conservação que mais se adaptou a área foi o de risco alto, devido as suas características. Desta forma, a abordagem multicriterial bem como o método da média ponderada ordenada, foi eficiente para a definição de áreas prioritárias para a conservação, utilizando pesos de compensação e ordenação. / Many of the severe impacts on the environment nowadays are closely related to the total or partial remove of native ground vegetation. With the accelerated growth of human population, the native vegetation as other natural resources are suffering increasing pressure. And this, in turn, directly influences the lost and fragmentation of habitats, reflecting in significant damages to local and regional biodiversity. In this conditions, the hydrographic mycro-basin of the Arroio Retiro, located in the cities of Veranópolis, Vila Flores, Cotiporã and Nova Prata, at Rio Grande do Sul State, has a big forest fragmentation, mainly in function of the high level of deforestation for agriculture and sylviculture. Arroio Retiro has a big value due to its water potencial, being the biggest drinking water provider to the cities surrounding. The hydrographic mycro-basin is included in its totality at Mata Atlântica Biome, more specifically in the phytoecological region called Mixed Rain Forest (MRF). By this way, this search has the purpose of analyze temporally the landscape structure from Arroio Retiro mycro-basin and identify priority areas for conservation using the multicriteria analysis focusing ideal characteristics for the local and regional biodiversity development. For landscape structure analysis were used time series from Landsat 5 and 8 satellite, as well as landscape ecology rates. For the identification of priority areas was used multicriteria approach through the ordered weighted average method for the combination of factors. The factors used are: forest cover proximity; largest nuclear area fragments proximity; hydrographical network proximity; distance to urban centers; road distance and minig process distance. The maps of priorities were reclassified in order to present five priority groups: very low, low, medium, high and very high. Related to fragmentation, the mycro-basin showed progess between the years 1990 to 2005, with fragments reduction and areas addition to the already existing. After 2005, there was na intense process of fragmentation, where small new fragments were created and some larger fragments got area increase. This fact is evidenced by the increase of 11,61km2 of native forest and the appearance of 119 fragments more than in 1990. About the biggest landscape fragmente, that it has 3275ha in 1990, now it passed to 5003ha in 2006. The nuclear area of this fragment also had increase, in 1990 it had 2473.47ha and now, in 2016 it has 3745.62ha. The most part of the areas with big priority were chosen close to the best fragments for its nuclear areas in addition to be next to hydrographic net. The map of priority areas for conservation that best adapted to the area was high risk, due to their characteristics. Therefore, this multicriteria approach and the ordered weighted average method, was eficient for the definition of priority areas for conservation, using compensation and ordering weights.

Vegetation along the River Murray floodplains has been shown to be in a severe state of decline. This decline is amplified by the impositions of river regulation. In South Australia, where vegetation losses have been great, regeneration is limited and may result in not only individual tree losses but also widespread population decline. This study aimed to examine the relationship between river flows and the regeneration process in populations of Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Eucalyptus largiflorens. The current structure of the populations was examined to determine if a viable number of varying age-classed trees were present. Tree surveys conducted at Banrock Station determined that while densities were low for both species, E. camaldulensis had a more sustainable population structure than E. largiflorens. Growth stages for both species illustrated highly clumped distribution, which is believed to correspond with river flooding magnitudes and frequencies. To address the potential link between tree distribution and flooding within the River Murray, a hydrological analysis was conducted for Banrock Station using river flows at the South Australian border from 1900 to 2003. The amount of time growth stages for each species were inundated was found to be greatly reduced under regulated flows compared to natural flows. This has resulted in shifted localized regeneration patterns corresponding with E. camaldulensis' greater demand for inundation than E. largiflorens. Moderate magnitude flows have been most impacted by regulation, and consequently these are the very flows needed for floodplain tree population maintenance. Flowering and seed fall for E. camaldulensis and E. largiflorens were monitored at Banrock Station for 22 months to identify losses in reproductive potential resulting from tree decline. While seed viability was not affected by vigour, trees with visually reduced vigour were found to produce less fruit and had reduced seed fall, as well as a reduced rate of fruit development. Dendrochronological techniques were applied to floodplain trees. Age and size relationships could be established, implying that such techniques can be applied in South Australia to high quality sites. Growth responses within cohorts were similar and easily matched between individuals illustrating cyclic, but not necessarily seasonal correlations. This work verified the preferential selection of younger trees for dendroecological studies, and identified a relationship between on moderate flows and measurable girth expansion in both floodplain tree species. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 2004.

Forest assemblage composition is determined by local ecological (e.g. patch area, species interactions), landscape (e.g. patch connectivity) and regional (e.g. historical change in forest distribution) processes. I investigated the relative effect of these processes on bird and frog assemblage composition in two isolated archipelagos of Afrotemperate forest in the Limpopo Province. The linear relationship between local and regional species diversity suggests that forest bird assemblages in the Limpopo Province are unsaturated. In addition, 66% of bird species and 42% of frog species in southern African forests are generalist species (i.e., forest associated as opposed to forest dependent), suggesting that matrix species have invaded forest assemblages. I thus argue that forest bird and frog assemblage composition is primarily determined by regional (historical) processes and that local ecological processes play a relatively minor role. Forests in the Limpopo Province were eliminated by major climatic changes during the Quaternary with major forest expansion only in the last 6000 years. Limpopo Province forest assemblages have thus established fairly recently. No forest dependent frogs and one forest dependent bird have established in the Limpopo Province forests from the relatively proximate forests in eastern Zimbabwe. This suggests that the Limpopo River catchment has acted as a significant barrier to the dispersal of forest vertebrate faunas. Cluster analyses showed that the forest bird and frog assemblages are essentially Afrotemperate and South African in origin with all forest dependent frogs and 97% of forest dependent birds occurring in the KwaZulu-Natal scarp forests. In addition the most important environmental gradient of change in the southern African forest bird faunas was the geographical distance from northern KwaZulu-Natal. This gradient is congruent with a major northward radiation of faunas from the KwaZulu-Natal scarp into the Limpopo Province. As a result the Limpopo Province forests have low biodiversity values compared to the KwaZulu-Natal scarp because forest frog and bird faunas are largely derived from the latter region. However, the importance of the Limpopo Province forests lies in their protection of threatened vertebrates as well as in providing landscape heterogeneity and ecological services to the surrounding matrix. Soutpansberg forest bird assemblages appear to be more robust and resilient and comprise a significantly greater proportion of forest associated species than those of the Limpopo Province Drakensberg. This is likely to be a consequence of more severe climatic extinction filtering of these faunas caused primarily by the proximity of the Soutpansberg forests to the arid Limpopo valley during the development of these forests. Consequently, regional and historical processes have played a relatively greater role in determining forest bird assemblages in the Soutpansberg than in the Limpopo Province Drakensberg and species richness in the former region was not significantly affected by local ecological processes (including forest area, isolation and habitat heterogeneity). Forest area and habitat heterogeneity did, however, affect forest bird species richness and abundance in the Limpopo Province Drakensberg where the relatively lower importance of regional processes (compared to the Soutpansberg) has combined with anthropogenic disturbance of smaller forests to increase the influence of local ecological processes. However, the role of local processes in determining local species richness is likely to increase in both archipelagos if the current rates of anthropogenic change and disturbance to forests are sustained. Forests greater than 138 ha (minimum critical patch size) are needed to avoid an island effect on bird species richness in the Limpopo Province Drakensberg. However, the long-term conservation of vertebrate assemblages in Limpopo province forests depends upon the successful conservation of evolutionary and landscape processes. This can best be achieved by maximising forest connectivity and landscape heterogeneity through the protection of both riparian corridors and forests of all sizes. The maintenance of historical dispersal routes, in particular connectivity along the escarpment with the scarp forests of KwaZulu-Natal, is important. This would require the protection of forests on the KwaZulu-Natal scarp and along the entire northern Drakensberg escarpment. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003.

This thesis concerns the cultural and scientific practices involved with turn-of-the-century struggles to conserve the Maine Woods. Conservation was underwritten by the powerful and productive fiction that an essential nature exists as something completely apart from the elaborately organized exhibitions by which it has been staged for our benefit. The absolute distinction between nature and culture is profoundly problematic but tremendously productive as well. Drawing on a variety of historical and theoretical sources, this thesis describes the various ways in which the essential nature of the Maine Woods was set up and represented as something demanding protection and conservation. The thesis is divided into three parts. Part I sets the stage for the historical discussions that follow by assessing debates in geography and environmental history about the social construction of knowledge and nature. Recent scholarship has been caught on the horns of a theoretical dilemma: while understanding of the present environmental crisis and its historical roots seems to demand recognition of the independent agency of nature, social theory suggests the impossibility of stepping outside the bounds of culture to represent an independent nature as it really is. Different responses to this dilemma are discussed. It is argued that environmental critique demands a more humble approach to truth, one sensitive to the meanings of its metaphors and the politics of its practices. Part II assesses the forest conservation movement. The objects of scientific forestry depended fundamentally upon the ways in which the forest was framed as an object of knowledge. Very different programs of action flowed from competing metaphorical definitions of the Maine Woods as a crop, a mine, or a kind of capital. The ascendency of technical and quantitative knowledge of the forest and its displacement of local understandings are described as are public policy disputes in Maine about the regulation of private property, the institution of publicly owned forest reserves, and the role of the state in forestry. Part in deals with the conservation of wildlife for sport. Flocking to the forest to hunt, wealthy sportsmen articulated a variety of sexual, class, and racial anxieties about the debilitating embrace of modern life. The transfomation of the Maine Woods into a vacationland for their manly recreation demanded the institution of game laws and the criminalization of traditional lifeways to save the game for sport. In these struggles, conservationists had to contend not only with local residents, who resisted this construction of the Maine Woods, but also with a variety of non-human actors, such as deer, predators, and pathogens, whose presence, though difficult to deny outright, was culturally framed and mediated in materially significant ways.

For decades linkages between population, development and environment have been related to population growth which refers to the increase of population size without consideration of its internal dynamics, i.e. sex composition and age structure. It was the prime aim of the thesis to establish whether changes in population structure and age structure have any impact on the environmental changes, catchment forest in particular and the extended effects on catchment value and micro climatic change. Basing on the available quantitative data from the household survey and the qualitative data based on PRA discussions, it became apparent that both sex composition and age structure significantly influenced household members' involvement in activities related to both deforestation and those linked to conservation. A remarkable variation was noted in terms of involvement of males and females in specific activities that led to deforestation such as expansion of farms and firewood collecting. Males dealt with cutting of trees for firewood while females collected firewood from those trees cut by males. Male dominance was also clearly observed in conservation-related activities, particularly in tree planting. Sex and/or gender issues were noted to play a vital role in livelihood activities because sex differences and inequalities constitute social systems with consequences on environment changes. Individual's age also influenced one's involvement in livelihood activities. This based on biological capability for performing certain tasks and the socially assignment of duties and responsibilities, i.e. age-based division of labour and specialization which is part of culture. It is therefore imperative for demographic knowledge to be taken into account in the analysis of environmental changes. Gender based division of labour and specialization was the basis for differential involvement of household members in livelihood/development activities. It is argued that unless the key actors in deforestation and conservation are identified basing in the demographic characteristics no sustainable conservation may be attained. Even in the event of urging for participatory or joint forest management, like vast literature points out, a need to focus and target the key actors, by their demographic characteristics, becomes an indispensable and important aspect for attaining sustainable conservation. Poverty conditions that prevail in most developing countries, that limit availability of funds for broadbased extension service, would ensure its effective utilization of little financial resources available through adoption of a more focussed or targeted conservation strategy. Such scientifically planned extension interventions accrue from and are directed towards the identified environmentally significant population segments rather than the entire population. This is the essence of effectiveness and sustainability of conservation efforts based on demographic analysis of the in situ population. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

Indigenous forests are an integral part of rural communities in Africa, and they are socio-ecologically managed and conserved by customary laws. Most of these forests are important reserves of cultural and ecological values, although they are threatened by modern economic and political developments and often by foreign religious intrusion. Based on this background the Thathe sacred forest in the Zoutpansberg mountains of the Northern Province, in South Africa, was chosen for investigation. The perceptions and conservation attitudes of the rural communities living around the forest were investigated. In addition, the contribution of the traditional ethics of the local people to forest biodiversity management were also assessed. The extent to which the rural communities attach consumptive and/or non-consumptive values to the Thathe forest was examined for insight to the survival of the forest into the future. Data collection included a field survey, interviews with key informants, structured and semi-structured interviews, and a documentary survey (documents or records such as monthly or annual reports of an institution like the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) about its activities, and government gazettes). Responses of 201 interviewees from around the Thathe forest were analysed. Data was arranged by age, sex, educational background and area of residence. The majority of the respondents (76.6%) across the gender categories regarded the forest as sacred, while 20.4% felt it is an area of conservation importance. A strong cultural link between the local people and the forest is inferred from these positive attitudes! in spite of a history of forced removals of the surrounding communities from the Thathe-Vondo forest area. The attitudes of the people around the forest are wide-spread and consistent across the tribal areas. Nevertheless, cultural usage of the forest has waned in recent years (a consequence of restrictions on access to the forest) and few people (13.4%) actively use it for cultural rituals. Based on the research findings it is imperative that an attempt is made to reconcile the local people and the government institution managing indigenous forests and policing forestry in general (DWAF). The relevance of conventional conservation principles must be brought to the attention of the local people! and these ought to be integrated with cultural methods of forest resource management and conservation. This will serve as a foundation for sustainable indigenous forest resource management in Thathe forest. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1999.

Thesis (M.E.S.)--The Evergreen State College, 2007. / Title from title screen (viewed on 1/10/2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 48-51).