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...

Stormwater pollution has been recognised as a leading cause of ecological degradation of urban streams. Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) attempt to address stormwater impacts by flow attenuation and pollutant treatment, simultaneously providing amenities such as water for use in irrigation or other suitable uses. Permeable pavements are a form of SuDS that provide on-source treatment and storage of stormwater while retaining the functionality of hardened surfaces. They have been studied extensively in the international literature but no studies in a South African context have been published. This study investigated the water quality performance of a recently constructed permeable pavement at the University of Cape Town. Effluent quality was assessed against the South African Water Quality Guidelines and an ecosystem assessment tool. The results showed that, while the pavement had been constructed with unwashed aggregate and therefore exported suspended solids, effluent still met the standards required for irrigation and some industrial uses. However, the effluent did not meet desirable nutrient standards for discharge into the aquatic ecosystem. The performance of the pavement was similar to values reported in the international literature, suggesting that the quality ranges can be extrapolated to other permeable pavements. The newly constructed pavement displayed noteworthy inter-event progression, as well as identifiable intra-event variation of pollutant concentrations. Further research into effluent toxicity, long-term impacts of unwashed aggregate and catchment-wide impacts of permeable pavements are recommended.

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.

Public culture creates an image of the city for both local and international publics to engage and encounter. The needs of the city to be globally recognised and create opportunities for economic growth can reveal discrepancies in development agendas and raises questions about fulfilling the needs of the local public to express their understanding and selection of cultural expression. This dissertation seeks to understand the tensions in the role of street art productions in Cape Town in place making, arguing that it can run the risk of being an expression of suppression, shaped by the graffiti by-law and approval procedures. The way street art is selected, commissioned, and regulated has become an expression of culture for the global market to consume for economic development, largely through tourism as opposed to representing local cultural expressions. Previous studies of street art in Cape Town have failed to address the tension in limiting cultural producers to solely express marketable street art for tourism over the needs of social change for local publics. To identify the tensions experienced by cultural producers in producing street art in Cape Town I have examined the trade-offs of two cultural producers in becoming active participants in dominating prime locations of walls in the Cape Town central business district areas: Baz Art and Urban Khoi Soldier. Using qualitative and visual methodologies, this research explored street art in Brazil and Cape Town. The Brazilian example shows a context of unregulated expression of plural political views and citizenship within a multicultural nation. The regulation of street art in Cape Town reveals new forms of cultural colonisation where cultural representation and narratives are dominated by a globalised framework of ‘Africanity'. Therefore, this research demonstrates the lack of a variety of multicultural expressions and forms of citizenship which robs the various publics of encountering meaningful ways of seeing and being in Cape Town.

Small-scale fisheries contribute to the food security of a significant portion of the global population through direct consumption and indirectly as a vital source of income. Approximately, 50 million individuals involved in capture fisheries are small-scale fishers and they contribute to 80 percent of the global catch that is used for domestic consumption. Smallscale fishers provide their immediate communities with a vital source of protein. The sector enables an income source through full-time or part-time work to vulnerable coastal communities. In South Africa, approximately 28,000 small-scale fishers rely on marine resources for food security and livelihoods; however, continued marginalisation of small-scale fishers through discriminatory fisheries regulations favouring the large-scale fisheries sector and poor reallocation of access rights challenges the contribution of small-scale fisheries for community food security. While there is evidence that suggests small-scale fisheries in South Africa contribute to the food security of coastal communities, there is little know about the extent of the contribution as well as how the sector contributes to community food security and what factors influence community food security outcomes. The purpose of this research was to examine the contribution of small-scale fisheries to the community food security of one South African coastal community. Lambert’s Bay, Western Cape served as the case study and a mixed methods approach was employed to address three research objectives. Forty household surveys were completed at fisher and non-fisher households to examine the current level of household food security within the community and address the first research objective. Secondly, focus group discussions were completed with men and women to understand perceptions of food security and the food culture of the community. Lastly, the third objective was to examine the potential impacts of a reconfigured market on the local food system. This objective was addressed through a scenario planning workshop that was conducted with fishermen and women. This research utilised a community food security lens to broadly examine the role of smallscale fisheries to food security. Community food security is a holistic term that builds upon food security, food sovereignty and cultural food security but explores food security at both the household and community level as well as how outcomes are shaped by socio-economic, institutional and environmental drivers. The lens enabled the reframing of food security within the context of a fishing community and provided a scope to address the research objectives. Overall, Lambert’s Bay case study indicates high levels of food insecurity characterised by significant seasonal variation and low dietary diversity. Reported consumption of fish was relatively low; however, during the Snoek run, findings indicated consumption of fish throughout the community increased. Moreover, the Snoek season, is significant for its contribution food security indirectly as it provides livelihoods for many individuals. Historically, fishing activities and fish was a key aspect to the cultural identity of Lambert’s Bay. While fish remains a component of culture, the decline in traditional food ways associated with fish suggested a weakening of its cultural significance. Environmental, economic and institutional factors threaten the contribution of small-scale fisheries to the community food security of Lambert’s Bay. Most notably, poor governance in the small scale-fisheries sector has compromised the role of fish for food, livelihoods and culture. Secondly, environmental changes due to climate change and human activities reduce access and availability of fish for food and livelihoods. The key finding of this research was that small-scale fisheries contributes to the community food security of Lambert’s Bay through direct consumption and indirectly though the provision of livelihoods. Seasonality, unfavourable fishing conditions as well as the presence of Snoek, a migratory species, dictates the role of small-scale fisheries for food security. Poor seasonal fishing conditions negatively impacts the consumption of fish throughout the community as well as income for fishers. Conversely, the Snoek season provides critical livelihoods opportunities for community members and increased consumption of fish throughout the community. Environmental and institutional factors influence food security outcomes derived from small-scale fisheries. In addition, the prevalence of traditional food practices and the functionality of the social economy associated with fish is adversely affected by these drivers. This research contributes to scholarship within the small-scale fisheries and food security sphere as well as food systems research. It highlights the interconnectedness of various factors and the complexity of coastal food systems through the application of a community food security lens. A deeper understanding of the factors that influence food security outcomes in the context of fishing communities is advantageous as it can guide targeted research and initiatives that strengthen the well-being of fisher communities.

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.