Department of Geography amd Geo-Information Sciences / PhDGEO / This study set out to evaluate the extent of land use change, competition and conflict in Polokwane city and in selected land restitution areas of Limpopo province. The methods of data collection and analysis included document analysis, triangulation of quantitative and qualitative survey methods, use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) techniques and field observations. The restitution studies relied on information from the regional land claims commission regarding land dispossessions, land claims and post settlement activities which were analysed using content analysis. Land use maps and data from department of land affairs were obtained covering different time periods from 1994 to 2002 and GIS analysis was used to document land use change, competition and conflicts. A questionnaire survey involving a sample of 240 residents, 164 business people and 16 government officials was conducted and analysed quantitatively to establish perceptions and experiences with land use changes. In-depth interviews with key informants were also conducted and information analysed qualitatively. The researcher also engaged in extensive field observations in the city and surrounding land restitution areas. The study found that both Polokwane city and the surrounding land reform areas were characterised by rapid land use change, competing interests, conflict, disputes and tensions related to access, control and use of land resources historically and currently. Other key findings include the fact that the structure of Polokwane area is a result of apartheid planning. It has a distorted spatial pattern, the result of political factors that can be identified as: a legacy of apartheid; land use policy; competition among potential users; inadequate legislation and planning; low provisions for land use control and rezoning; land use speculation and lack of adequate public participation in the planning processes. Polokwane interaction with the rural areas is inadequate and does not support development of these areas leading to persistent service delivery issues. A management strategy is recommended with the following features: Capacity building, Conflict resolution, Stakeholders participation and Governance. Adequate land use control mechanism need to be put in place; public policies should minimise conflicts between alternative land development strategies; existing policies and procedures applicable to land management should be reviewed. An effective national land reform programme is required to drive development; public participation is key in all planning activities. Mediation is essential because it is a more efficient and less costly means of concluding land use conflicts. Polokwane needs to play a greater role in managing land use, changes, competition and conflicts both in the capital city and in the surrounding rural areas.

The research attempted to demystify the Zimbabwean land reform that was spear headed by war veterans’ in Zimbabwe. This research investigated the impact of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) in 2000 on Household Food Security. It was generally assumed that the programme did not improve Household Food Security. To verify that assertion the research used questionnaires in a survey research design. The questionnaires were administered to 322 household heads that had been selected by the random stratified sampling method in Mutare District. The results established that Household Food Security in Mutare District improved after the implementation of the FTLRP. The national grain storage however was depleted because the new farmers reduced the production levels set by the former white farmers. The research therefore recommends an orderly and sustainable transition of Land Reform in future programmes to enhance national grain reserves. This also further improves the Household Food Security.

The research presented here informs the confidence that can be placed in the simulations of land-surface models (LSMs). After introducing a method for simplifying a complex, heterogeneous land-cover dataset for use in LSMs, I show that LSMs can realistically represent the spatial distribution of heterogeneous land-cover processes (e.g., biogenic emission of volatile organic compounds) in Texas. LSM-derived estimates of biogenic emissions are sensitive (varying up to a factor of 3) to land-cover data, which is not well constrained by observations. Simulated emissions are most sensitive to land-cover data in eastern and central Texas, where tropospheric ozone pollution is a concern. I further demonstrate that interannual variation in leaf mass is at least as important to variation in biogenic emissions as is interannual variation in shortwave radiation and temperature. Model estimates show that more-humid regions with less year-to-year variation in precipitation have lower year-to-year variation in biogenic emissions: as modeled mean emissions increase, their mean-normalized standard deviation decreases. I evaluate three parameterizations of subsurface hydrology in LSMs (with (1) a shallow, 10-layer soil; (2) a deeper, many-layered soil; and (3) a lumped aquifer model) under increasing parameter uncertainty. When given their optimal parameter sets, all three versions perform equivalently well when simulating monthly change in terrestrial water storage. The most conceptually realistic model is least sensitive to errant parameter values. However, even when using the most conceptually realistic model, parameter interaction ensures that knowing ranges for individual parameters is insufficient to guarantee realistic simulation. LSMs are often developed and evaluated at data-rich sites but are then applied in regions where data are sparse or unavailable. I present a framework for model evaluation that explicitly acknowledges perennial sources of uncertainty in LSM simulations (e.g., parameter uncertainty, meteorological forcing-data uncertainty, evaluation-data uncertainty) and that evaluates LSMs in a way that is consistent with models’ typical application. The model performance score quantifies the likelihood that a representative ensemble of model performance will bracket observations with high skill and low spread. The robustness score quantifies the sensitivity of model performance to parameter error or data error. The fitness score ranks models’ suitability for broad application. / text

<p>The problem with unequal distribution of land ownership, in developing countries, has been debated in numerous papers. It is important to solve this problem and one of the major contributions in finding a solution is the implementation of a land reform. The aim of this paper is to elucidate the outcome of two different approaches to land reform, i.e. coercive and market based, and to find out how successful they are in reducing the concentration of land ownership in a sustainable direction. The conclusion of this paper is that neither of the approaches alone is successful in this task, the strength lies instead in a combination of the coercive and market based approach.</p>

This dissertation reconstructs the settlement of the Middle Jubba Valley of Somalia by ex-slaves, their descendents, and other Somalis from 1850 to the present. It is an historical study of the construction of a social identity of the Jubba Valley agriculturalist population, and of the evolution of land tenure and land use patterns in the mid-valley. In examining the effects on valley farmers of new land tenure laws requiring registration of land, it shows how power dynamics are integral to the working of land tenure systems.

The development of and changes in human social organization have been a concern of anthropological research since the inception of the discipline. A perspective that focuses on the interaction between exogenous (ecological and historical) variables and social organization is argued for herein. This study tests the idea that inheritance patterns reflect both land use and sociohistorical factors. Further, it is suggested that after their move into the American Southwest, the inheritance of agricultural land was influential in the development, although not necessarily the origins, of matrilineality among the Navajo. Data were obtained on land tenure practices in Canyon de Chelly and its major tributary, Canyon del Muerto, historically important centers of Navajo agriculture. Detailed interviews with 93% of the Navajo families owning land in the canyons provided information on land use and inheritance patterns since the 1880s. Data from over 400 cases of land transfers were analyzed. Historical documents and archaeological studies also provided information on Navajo settlement patterns, changes in farming practices and environmental fluctuations since the mid-1700s. Within the past fifty years, and probably longer, topographic and physiographic differences between Canyon de Chelly and Canyon del Muerto have contributed to variations in land use within the canyon system. Ditch irrigated feed crops are now only grown in Canyon del Muerto, and they are commonly used by families involved in market oriented cattle ranching. Further, as a result of erosion problems, the production potential of some canyon areas, as well as the quantity of arable land, is declining. Not all families are able to meet the increasing need for labor and capital intensive practices that could maximize agricultural production on their canyon land, but it remains a highly valued resource. This research indicates that since the 1880s agricultural land in Canyon de Chelly has been transferred more frequently along matrilineal lines, and the explanations for the differences in land tenure patterns between the canyons over time relate both to ecological and socio-historical variables. In conclusion, it is argued that the complexity found within this canyon system reflects a heterogeneity common to any culture, but which anthropologists tend to overlook.

No description available.

<p>Communal land tenure reform in Zambia is the overarching subject of study in this thesis. It is an important issue across southern Africa, raising questions of governance, livelihood security and conservation. WIldlife is a 'fugitive' and 'mobile' resource that traverses the spatially fixed tenure of communal lands, national parks and public forest reserves. The management of wildlife therefore requires that spatially defined proprietorial rights accommodate wildlife's temporal forage use. Land may bebounded in tenure, but if bounded by fences its utility as wildlife habitat is undermined. If land is unfenced, but its landholder cannot use wildlife then it is more a liability than an asset. Africa's terrestrial wildlife has enormous biodiversity value but its mobility requires management collaboration throughout its range, and the resolution of conflicting ecological and economic management scales. The paper does not aim to describe and explain the internal communal system of tenure over land and natural resources but rather how the communal system interacts with the state and the private sector.</p>

No description available.

Half of Earth's land surface has been altered by human activities, creating various consequences on the climate and weather systems at local to global scales, which in turn affect a myriad of land surface processes and the adaptation behaviors. This study reviews the status and major knowledge gaps in the interactions of land and atmospheric changes and present 11 grand challenge areas for the scientific research and adaptation community in the coming decade. These land-cover and land-use change (LCLUC)-related areas include 1) impacts on weather and climate, 2) carbon and other biogeochemical cycles, 3) biospheric emissions, 4) the water cycle, 5) agriculture, 6) urbanization, 7) acclimation of biogeochemical processes to climate change, 8) plant migration, 9) land-use projections, 10) model and data uncertainties, and, finally, 11) adaptation strategies. Numerous studies have demonstrated the effects of LCLUC on local to global climate and weather systems, but these putative effects vary greatly in magnitude and even sign across space, time, and scale and thus remain highly uncertain. At the same time, many challenges exist toward improved understanding of the consequences of atmospheric and climate change on land process dynamics and services. Future effort must improve the understanding of the scale-dependent, multifaceted perturbations and feedbacks between land and climate changes in both reality and models. To this end, one critical cross-disciplinary need is to systematically quantify and better understand measurement and model uncertainties. Finally, LCLUC mitigation and adaptation assessments must be strengthened to identify implementation barriers, evaluate and prioritize opportunities, and examine how decisionmaking processes work in specific contexts.