Thesis (MPhil (Public Management and Planning))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa is unique in that its globally significant biodiversity, which is under major threat,
coexists with an apartheid history of dispossession that produced a starkly unequal land
ownership pattern and widespread rural poverty. It is in this context that the post-apartheid
government must fulfil constitutional and international obligations to safeguard environmental
assets as well as undertake land reform benefiting the previously dispossessed. Consequently,
there is a continuous challenge of reconciling complex and often conflicting relationships
between poverty, inequitable access to resources, and the protection of biodiversity. Current
efforts to conserve the Cape Floral Kingdom emphasise partnerships between private
landowners and existing nature reserves to promote sustainable utilisation of biodiversity. This
paper explores the potential impact of this approach on farm dwellers, and how changing land
use may affect their land tenure rights and livelihoods. Primary research was undertaken in the
Baviaanskloof, where this model is in an early stage of implementation. The paper identifies
systemic and structural tensions in current attempts to reconcile biodiversity conservation and
farm dwellers’ interests, and documents issues of process and principle that could become
important in the future. In doing so, it highlights the influence of on-farm power relations and
highly complex institutional arrangements in determining the real extent of participation by
affected farm dwellers and the efficacy of social safeguard policies. Findings also caution
against an over-reliance on ecotourism as the major occupation and argues instead for support
to multiple livelihood strategies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/1054 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Crane, Wendy |
| Contributors | Swilling, M. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Stellenbosch |
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