Bibliography: leaves 23-25.

Bibliography: leaves 33-34.

Includes bibliography.

Includes bibliographical references. / Describing the history of Semuliki National Park from the late 19th century till the presentday, this study elucidates the origins of conservation in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.Using post-colonial and border studies as a theoretical framework, and using a combination of archival and qualitative data, the study questions how and why conservation praxis and policy has changed since the colonial era. The research presented here reveals that the conservation status of Semuliki Forest, as a forest estate on the Uganda - Congo border (and originally administered by the Uganda Forest Department) arose primarily because of geographical and logistical impediments that hindered commercial exploitation, and secondly in recognition of the unique ecological phenomena that occur within the protected area. However, over time, the physical boundaries of the forest were successfully contested by local inhabitants to accommodate population growth and increased agricultural production. The study reveals the flexible nature of the borders of Semuliki National Park (both national and international) and describes how these borders were constructed and subsequently challenged. It also reveals the enduring legacy of colonial border-making in that current conservationstratagems in the region (exemplified by Transboundary Natural Resource Management) aim to find ways of addressing conservation imperatives at locations such as Semuliki where important ecological areas are naturally contiguous but divided by international borders.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 211-250). / The issue of urban food security is a critical global issue, especially in Southern Africa. It is of such a pressing nature the United Nations (UN) has made it a Millennium Development Goal (MDG). Without a focus on urban food security the UN MDGs, regional goals and national goals will not be achievable. There is an urgent need to collect evidence and monitor the food security situation at the urban scale in Southern Africa (Crush and Frayne, 2010)...

This research evaluates the effectiveness of Namibia's institutional framework for environmental impact assessment. This effectiveness evaluation consists of two parts: firstly, an evaluation of the extent to which the formal laws, regulations and procedures conform to internationally established norms for EIA systems; and secondly, an evaluation of the implementation of these formal laws, regulations and procedures in Namibian EIA practice. The research utilises a qualitative research approach, which is considered suitable for research that seeks to provide understanding with respect to 'why' and 'how' questions pertaining to policy phenomena. Several qualitative research methods were utilised including the case study method, document analysis and semi-structured interviews. Three cases from two development sectors namely, mining (two cases) and agriculture, were selected with the aid of an experienced Environmental Assessment Practitioner in order to attain the maximum information related to the focus of this research. Two sets of semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 participants. One set was conducted with 10 individuals, including representatives from both the state and private sector, with significant experience (i.e. more than 10 years) in terms of engagement with Namibia's EIA system. Eleven interview participants, including representatives from both the state and private sector, were interviewed as part of the three selected case studies. The findings reveal that Namibia's EIA system conforms in part to internationally established norms for EIA systems in terms of the formal laws, regulations and procedures, with a few significant omissions. The findings also reveal that the implementation of these laws regulations and procedures in practice, as observed in the three selected cases, is lacking. The environmental authority lacks capacity, both in staffing and expertise. Elements of best practice on the part of proponents and their Environmental Assessment consultants were observed, however improvement in alternatives consideration and public consultation and participation is needed. The main weaknesses relate to the screening of activities that require EIA, implementation and impact monitoring and auditing, the centrality of the findings of the EIA report to decision taking, EIA system monitoring and the environmental assessment of policies, plans and programmes. To conclude, the research findings reveal that Namibia's EIA system has a significant number of weaknesses. This is however consistent with similar research conducted within a developing country context. Further research should focus on seeking to better understand the potential causes for the observed weaknesses.

Bibliography: leaves 27-28.

Bibliography: leaves 26-31.

Includes bibliography. / The pilot balloon runs and synoptic charts show that mountain and valley winds at the Jonkershoek valley correspond with the west to east ridging of anticyclones over the South Western Cape. Saddles between the South Atlantic and South Indian anticyclones are particularly conducive to the development of well established local wind circulations at Jonkershoek. Gradient winds during the occurrence of saddles are shown to be light and variable. Deep gradient southeasterlies undergo an acceleration to the lee of the ridges resulting in strong airflow at the Jonkershoek valley bottom. The topography at Jonkershoek is shown not have any meaningful modifying effect on the gradient northwesterlies.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-118). / The research focuses on an objective analysis of austral summer rainfall variability over Zimbabwe as well as characterization of rainfall patterns and frequency analysis over southern Africa region. A statistical analysis of historical trends in climate extreme events is used and lays a foundation of projecting into future climates. A trend analysis done on rainfall patterns attained from SOMs approach compliments the RClimdex statistical approach and strengthens some of the historical trends findings on climate extremes. Thereafter, some exploratory research seeks to explain the trends observed using the land-atmosphere interactions and shows the response of rainfall to anomalous soil moisture conditions during an extreme wet and dry seasons using RegCM3. Finally, some radiation effects results are presented from these soil moisture perturbations experiments. Results show drying out patterns over the region from the historical records analysed. The trend analysis done with SOM arrays revealed a positive trend towards drier conditions and a negative trend for wet conditions. The climate extremes indices analysis complimented these findings as shown in the decrease in total precipitation and an increase in the number of dry spells. This is supported by the circulation patterns showing an increase in frequency of the 500hPa anticyclones and a decrease of low pressures. However, some high altitude stations showed an intensification of precipitation events. This would exacerbate need for proper planning of future water resource management and farming strategies. Soil moisture rainfall feedback mechanisms were not fully explored. However drier conditions experiments showed a stronger response to soil moisture perturbations than in wetter conditions experiments. No consistent response to soil moisture initialisation over southern Africa was found. The altitude does modulate these feedback mechanisms with low-lying areas depicting a stronger response. A better understanding of the observed rainfall patterns, historical climate trends and soil moisture-rainfall feedback mechanisms are essential for improved short-term and seasonal forecasting and will aid the generation of plausible climate change impact predictions.