Bibliography: leaves [109]-118. / Precipitation is possibly the most important climatic variable in southern Africa. The absence of a good rainy season is often marked with low productivity and in some cases starvation. However, excessive rainfall can also bring with it disaster and destruction. Investigating the causes of such events has been the aim of a number of studies in the past. The interest shown in extreme events, including that of precipitation has been growing in the last couple of years. This comes as a result of understanding that the change in the mean of variables can have a large influence on the extremes of these same variables. In fact, changes in the extremes can be disproportionate and often have more impact on both society and the environment. This raises concerns especially in poorer nations who often lack the financial resources to deal with such impacts. The primary aim of the present study is to investigate spatially extensive heavy precipitation events in South Africa. It explores the possible spatial patterns that exists within these events and also investigates the non-local sources of moisture for them. In order to do this, the study firstly utilises a categorisation technique called Self Organising Maps (SOMs). A number of groups were identified through this process and sample events from this were then further analysed with the use of a kinematic trajectory model. The results indicated that moisture for these events were most likely to be transported from the south Indian Ocean. Although this finding has been shown previously in other similar studies, the present investigation shows that the possible source of moisture to be further south that previously thought. Further investigation was done by examining a case event more closely. The results also show that an area in the south Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar to be the possible source of moisture for this particular event.

Includes bibliographical references. / This short dissertation aims to contribute to the academic discussion centered on land reform and rural development efforts to date and their effectiveness in supporting livelihoods rooted in small-scale agriculture for those living in a former Group Area. Research was conducted in February/March 2013 in the Karoo community of Dysselsdorp in the Western Cape. Dysselsdorp was identified as a pilot location for Comprehensive Rural Development, a relatively recent program by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform blending rural development and land reform efforts for the first time. This study used a combination of quantitative survey and questionnaire data with extensive qualitative data in the form of farmer focus groups and key informant interviews. Results gathered from this demonstrated conflicting views about the capacity of the Comprehensive Rural Development Program to support livelihoods based on small-scale agriculture. Coupling discussions with community members and government officials with literature written on rural development in southern Africa revealed that stakeholder involvement within the CRDP structure is both a bane and a benefit to the progress of economic development in the community.

As coastal development pressures continue to transform coastal regions into private havens for the benefit of a privileged few, conflicts over coastal access issues continue to increase. The southern Cape coast of South Africa is no exception to this phenomenon and the privatization of this coastal region is taking place at a rapid rate. Associated with this trend is the notable increase in large-scale golf estates developed along this coastline. Due to their size, their close proximity to the coast and their exclusive nature, loss of public access to the coast has been identified as a negative impact of such developments. The aim of this research is therefore to enhance understanding of changing coastal access patterns associated with two coastal golf estate developments along the southern Cape coast of South Africa and in particular to review and analyse the role that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) processes played in influencing such access patterns.

Includes bibliographical references. / The interaction between land use and water quality in urban catchments is closely linked. As pollutants accumulate on land surfaces they are carried in runoff. This has led to increasing concerns that stormwater is responsible for adversely affecting the quality of freshwater resources. Total phosphorus and total suspended solids represent two forms of pollutants that are commonly found in non point source discharge...This study evaluated water quality modelling as an alternative monitoring technique. The study was aimed at determining the potential use of a simple water quality model to evaluate pollution in stormwater runoff. The study was conducted in the Kuils River catchment using the BASINS PLOAD model (PLOAD) to estimate pollutant loads of total suspended solids (TSS) and total phosphorus (TP) in runoff...

The aim of this research was to unpack and analyse the emergence of narratives around urban green spaces as sites of community interaction, social activity and cultural and conservational value. I used the case study of the Rondebosch Common in Cape Town, South Africa during the period 1900 to 2015 to accomplish these aims. The Rondebosch Common has been fixture of the southern suburbs of the city for over one hundred years and provided a public green space for community interactions. I was able to gather letters and memos sent and received from the Town Clerk's Office from the South African National Archives Repository in Cape Town as well as newspaper articles from the Cape Argus and Cape News newspapers. The archival materials were chosen because they provided the point of view of the local government, the residents of Rondebosch and other users of the Rondebosch Common during the twentieth century. The newspaper articles were used to understand these points of views in the twenty-first century. Public spaces such as the Rondebosch Common are constructed in different ways, i.e. socially, politically, and these constructions determine the appropriate behaviours for the spaces as well as the values and meanings attributed to them. A public open green space such as the Rondebosch Common, which has existed as such for so long, provides an opportunity to examine the inherent political and social nature of old green spaces within the Global South context. Cape Town's colonial and apartheid state added a tension to interactions in the twentieth century as well as a layer of aspiration towards the English or Western ideal. The post-apartheid Cape Town urban and suburban landscape is still fraught with racial and socio-economic divisions. The purpose of my research was to determine how socio-economic, political and ideological context of the Rondebosch Common, in terms of both its physical location and the historical time period, has affected the way in which has been perceived by various groups and how it has been contested by those groups. I also attempt to unpack some of the uses of the Rondebosch Common and how and why they changed over time. It is argued that the demands and claims placed over a public green space such as the Rondebosch Common are represented over broader issues such as belonging, identity and civic entitlements (Di Masso, 2012).

PM10 is a notorious air pollutant that often degrades the air quality in Cape Town. Previous studies have attributed high concentrations of PM10 over Cape Town to local sources, neglecting the influence of remote sources. The present study investigates the influence of remote and local pollution sources to PM10 episodes over the city. The study analysed observations from Cape Town’s air quality monitoring stations and simulations from the Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRFChem). The observation data were used to identify PM10 episodes over the city between 2008 and 2014 and WRF-Chem was applied to simulate the atmospheric conditions and PM10 transport over southern Africa a few days before, during, and after each episode. To examine the sensitivity of the simulations to chemistry parameterisation, two chemistry parameterisation schemes were used in the study. The two schemes are RADM2 chemistry scheme coupled with the MADE/SORGAM aerosol module (RMS) and RADM2 coupled with the GOCART aerosol module (RGC). While RMS accounts for aerosol feedbacks, RGC does not. The capability of the model (with each scheme) to reproduce the PM10 concentration and wind over Cape Town was quantified by comparing the simulations with the station observation data. To identify the paths of air parcels that arrived in Cape Town during each episode, the study employed back trajectory simulations from the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model and from the WRF-Chem output. A third WRFChem simulation (KAYE) was performed in order to investigate the influence of idealized local emissions from Khayelitsha (one of the largest local sources of the pollutant in Cape Town) on the spatial distribution of PM10 concentration over the city. The results show that all the WRF-Chem simulations reproduce well the observed wind speed and direction over Cape Town during the episodes but struggle to reproduce the observed PM10. The simulations under-estimate the observed PM10 concentration over the city and, in most cases, reproduce peaks in PM10 concentration days earlier or later than the observations. However, the simulations agree with the HYSPLIT back-trajectory simulations that most of the air parcels over Cape Town during the episodes came from central southern Africa or the Namibian coast and travelled over the Kalahari, Namib, or both deserts before reaching Cape Town. The RMS simulations link the peaks in PM10 concentration over Cape Town with the transport of the pollutant from the north-west coast of southern Africa, featuring a coastal trough and a plume of PM10 along the coast. The study reveals that northwesterly flows provides a conducive condition for the long-range transport of PM10 to Cape Town, while south-easterly winds favour the transport of PM10 from Khayelitsha emissions to the city.

Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) have emerged in recent years to become an important means of governing conservation land across the national boundaries of contemporary states. Southern Africa’s TFCAs have developed as ‘new conservation’ spaces, which are considered to promote a more holistic approach to managing protected areas by effectively integrating conservation and development ideals. However, these initiatives require complex management structures that extend across and engage with a complex mosaic of land uses, while effectively trying to reconcile diverse ecological, social, and economic agendas. The Kavango-Zambezi (KAZA) TFCA is the largest of these initiatives extending across the borders of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. This research traces the expansion of the TFCA from its formation in 2003 to 2018, with a particular focus on its land integration and resource management processes in Botswana. To examine this expansion, this research utilizes the concept of ‘territory’ as a lens of land control which draws attention to the ways in which land within various spaces is valued, utilized and accessed. For this research, territory provides a useful perspective with which land and resource valuation, land-use conflict and resource rights within the TFCA’s boundaries can be critically engaged with. In order to better understand the territorial expansion processes of the TFCA, this research examines firstly, the objectives of the Botswana state in terms of the growth of the TFCA; secondly, the motives behind the expansion processes; thirdly, the ways in which land under various tenure regimes is involved within the expansion processes; and finally, the impacts of these processes on local communities within these areas. The methodology adopted in this research involves (a) document analysis primarily focused on Botswana’s Integrated Development Plan (IDP) for the KAZA to understand the planned political processes of expansion; (b) GIS mapping activities to identify the areas and types of land tenure that have been integrated into the TFCA; and (c) interviews with stakeholders and local communities to understand the expansion processes on the ground. From this territorial orientation, this research demonstrates how the Botswana state has placed a strong strategic focus on the development of a luxury tourism industry based on wildlife and non-consumptive resource uses. This focus aligns with the growth of the KAZA TFCA in the region, which aims to develop the region’s tourist potential by expanding its conservation estate. Within these processes, land and natural resources are increasingly being seen as a means of revenue and capital accumulation in the KAZA region. These revaluations of land and resources have translated into changing land dynamics in areas that have been integrated into the TFCA. For communities in these areas, this has resulted in increasing resource restrictions, land-use and human-wildlife conflict, as well as a disengagement from resource management activities. These processes lead to unintended consequences in that they pit local communities against conservation agendas in the area.

Bibliography: leaves 58-61. / Ecotourism¹ is rapidly growing global phenomenon that has significant impacts on wilderness areas around the world (Honey 1999). Ecotoursim projects that have shown to be successful in achieving sustainability² are however rare³, despite the hope and funding that continues to be invested into them⁴. In order to distribute the costs and benefits of ecotourism equitably among the role players⁵ (RPs) and mitigate negative social and environmental impacts, a different approach to ecotourism development is required. The study aims to explore process facilitation and focusses on three main objectives. These objectives include assessing the relations and institutional arrangements between RPs, assessing the flow of information within the networks andfinally comparing the institutional arrangements and RPs for each case study. These aspects were studied in the Richtersveld region in north-western South Arica, well known for diamond mining. The historical trend of mining in South Africa has denied the local people access to financial benefits or development opportunities. The local economy is thus dependent on mining, which employs approximately half of the Richtersveld population. The diamond mines are scaling down as the non-renewable diamond stocks have become depleted. The region thus faces a rising issue of unemployment, which will place added pressure on the land. Alternative livelihood strategies therefore need to be developed in order to avoid the poverty trap and environmental degradation.

This study assesses the social and environmental legacy that is currently being left in the wake of diamond mining along the north west coast of South Africa as a result of almost century of diamond mining. This involves an inquiry into the political, economic and ideological forces that enabled the establishment of the extractive industry, and a critical assessment of the role the industry has come to play in the region.

Bibliography : pages 138-149. / Expanding areas under cultivation and settlement are a global trend with significant effects on existing land cover types and ecosystems. High rates of human population growth in southern Africa and subsequent increased pressure on land has led to the extension of cultivation and settlement into marginal lands. This study investigates the spatial patterns ofland cover change in a communal land in Zimbabwe over the period 1973 to 1993, and their likely ecological effects. The study site is in the Zambezi Valley and has a well­ preserved area ofmiombo woodland and has the potential to become an important wildlife corridor between a national park, safari area and communal lands with local community based wildlife management projects. The area is divided into wildlife and settled areas by a game fence so provided an opportunity to compare patterns ofland cover change vvith and without extensive human impact within the same administrative area. The land cover types were derived from manually interpreted aerial photographs as multispectral satellite imagery is not available before the 1980's and is expensive. Geographical Information Systems were used to analyse the spatial patterns ofland covers identified, the sizes and shapes of spatial entities and the spatial distribution of land cover types in relation to slope and proximity to rivers. The likely ecological effects of land cover change were investigated by deriving habitat suitability maps using the habitat requirements of seven large herbivore species: buffalo, bushbuck, elephant, kudu, sable, waterbuck and zebra.