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Current Research Projects
A weed by any other name? Comparing local knowledge and uses of
environmental weeds around the Indian Ocean
Outline
This project adopts a comparative framework of analysis to
investigate how indigenous and rural communities around the Indian
Ocean perceive, classify, and use environmental weeds in their
everyday livelihood and cultural activities. It considers all weeds
within the selected study sites, but uses Lantana camara L.
as a common benchmark across the sites. Lantana is a plant
introduced from tropical America to tropical regions around the
Indian Ocean and regarded a serious agricultural, pastoral, and
environmental weed. The study investigates how indigenous and rural
communities in Australia, India, Madagascar and South Africa regard
Lantana in relation to other weedy plants in their landscapes
and use them to manage landscapes and livelihoods in the context of
dynamic economic and environmental change. The project is led by
Monash University (Australia) with partners being Rhodes University
(SA) and ATRRE (India).
Time Frame:
2013-2014
Contact:
Charlie Shackleton
Attaining Sustainable Services from Ecosystem Services through Trade
off Scenarios
Outline
The overarching goal is to explicitly quantify the
linkages between the natural ecosystem services that affect – and
are affected by – food security and nutritional health for the rural
poor at the forest-agricultural interfaceThe
project is led by the University of Southampton (UK), with
collaborators being University of Malawi and Rhodes (SA), along with
Conservation International (USA), Basque Centre for Climate Change
(Spain), CIAT: International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (Cali,
Colombia), Worldfish (Malawi) and LEAD Africa (Malawi). See
Http://espa-assets.org/
for more details. The study sites are in southern Malawi and
northeast Colombia.
Time Frame:
2013-2016
Contact:
Charlie Shackleton
Interdisciplinary
Science in Land and Natural Resource Use for
Sustainable Livelihoods
O utline
This long term initiative aims to develop interdisciplinary
understandings of and methods to reveal the role, value and
importance of natural resources in rural and urban livelihoods for
poverty alleviation. Simplistically, that requires attention to four
‘subsystems’, namely (i) the growth and production of specific
natural resources, (ii) the household use of natural resources for
consumptive and non-consumptive purposes, (iii) small-scale trade in
natural resources, and (iv) the scale-dependent contextual
attributes that influence each of the other three subsystems and how
they interact with one another and change in time and space. The
relative magnitude of these to other livelihood strategies,
especially with respect to use of land for varying purposes, will be
examined to understand the potential for poverty alleviation. The
trade-offs made within and barriers between each subsystem are of
particular interest. Additionally, the spatial and temporal shocks
(short-term) and drivers of change (long-term) buffeting each
subsystem require deep understanding and debate as they have
potentially profound influences on livelihood decisions, trade-offs,
use patterns and poverty outcomes. Lastly, the role of governance,
management and government (all levels) in shaping the drivers of
change and the subsystems themselves and the range of possible
responses at the household or community level need to be teased out
to ultimately be able to offer informed policy options. At the
intra-household scale differentiation on the grounds of age and
gender need to be understood as these are central to implicit and
explicit trade-offs.
Time Frame: 2013-2018
Contact: Charlie
Shackleton
The contribution of trees to local
livelihoods along urbanisation gradients: their role in human
well-being and livelihoods.
Outline
The primary research question is “what are the
nature, availability, use and contribution of trees and trees
products to household well-being and livelihoods in different urban
settings and duration of residency in such settings?” The specific
research objectives are to determine (i) The magnitude and nature of
the contribution of trees and tree products to local livelihoods and
human well-being within different urban settings; (ii) The local
perceptions, beliefs, and values regarding trees, trees products and
their uses, and how this varies with respect to urban context and
residency time; and (iii) How the formal and informal governance
institutions operate and vary in different urban settings to
facilitate or limit the real and potential contributions that trees
and tree products can make? The project is led by the Dept of
Environmental Science at Rhodes, with collaboration from CIFOR
regional office in Zambia and Wageningen University (Netherlands).
Time frame:
2012-2014
Contact:
Charlie Shackleton
Urbanisation and its impacts on the use of natural resources in
Africa
Outline
The aim of the project is to develop research partnerships and
training to investigate the impact of urbanization on use of natural
resources in selected Africa countries. It covers the following key
questions: (i) What is the rate of urbanization around selected
African towns and cities? (ii) What is the nature of the periurban
environments, and how can they be defined and categorised? (iii) How
do peoples’ livelihood strategies change along the rural-urban
continuum especially in relation to the use of natural resources,
resource niches, urban and periurban agriculture and the use of
waste? (iv) How does the abundance, quality, access and supply of
natural resources change along the rural-urban continuum? (v) How
can planning structures and processes guiding urban development
safeguard natural resources as a source of livelihoods within a
dynamic urbanisation process? (vi) How can urban planning processes
be best equipped to accommodate the temporally and spatially dynamic
nature of the urbanization processes and expanding periurban zone.
The programme has research sites in Botswana, Cameroon,
Côte d'Ivoire,
South Africa and Tanzania. Collaborating agencies are Albert
Ludwigs-Universität (Germany), Arnold-Berstraesser-Institut
(Germany), Rhodes University (SA),
Centre National de Recherche Agronomique (Côte d'Ivoire),
Université de Bouake (Côte d'Ivoire), Mwenge University College of
Education (Tanzania) and the World Vegetable Centre (Tanzania).
Time frame:
2011-2013
Contact:
Charlie Shackleton
Land acquisitions for biofuel production in Chisumbanje communal
lands of Zimbabwe: Conflict between national and local interests
Outline
In recent
days, proponents of ‘green and clean fuel’ have argued that the
costs of overreliance on traditional fuel (oil) could be reduced
through transition to biofuel such as bio-ethanol. Transition to
biofuel is believed to invariably result in significant benefits
including job creation, local infrastructural development, less
reliance on fuel and energy imports, high revenue generations for
local government authorities and minimum negative impacts on the
environment. However, minimum attention has been given to the local
livelihood impacts related to land acquisition for the development
of biofuel. There is thin academic understanding on the ground
regarding the processes of land acquisition for biofuel production
and how this in turn affects local people – whose livelihoods depend
on land-based activities. With many risks and costs associated with
traditional fuels, it is likely that many countries will move
towards the ‘green and clean fuel’ alternative. Taking a case study
of bio-ethanol development project in Chisumbanje communal lands of
Zimbabwe, this project will assess the processes and local
livelihood implications of biofuel development, and will consider
who is likely to bear the costs. This project is generously funded
by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI),
Canada, under The African Initiative programme.
Time
frame: July
2012 to July 2013
Contact:
Dr Gladman Thondhlana
Supporting Change Facilitators in the
face of multiple stressors: The development of a handbook for
practitioners
Outline
In contexts where communities and researchers are
unable to predict with certainty the nature of future stressors,
resources that support community adaptation to experienced
vulnerabilities must include human capital or skills that are not
sectorally bounded. In other words, the focus should fall on
building agency and capabilities. In these contexts, at least one of
the key skills required is on-going problem solving capacities in
the face of change. Against the backdrop of a long-term social
learning process in support of adaptation to stressors such as
climate change and HIV/Aids, this project is developing a
problem-solving course in two rural communities in South Africa. The
aim of this course is to develop lasting capacity and initiative and
to strengthen local agency such that these individuals take on the
role of ‘change agents and facilitators’ for community adaptation
into the future. A hand book is being developed that will support
local government, practitioners and NGOs in future community
engagement and adaptation initiatives in the context of multiple
stressors such as HIV/AIDs, climate change and food insecurity.
Time frame: Jan - November 2013
Contact:
Georgina Cundill
Opportunities for social-ecological transformation in
the Sundays River Valley, South Africa
Outline
Imagining different, and desirable, trajectories for
future social-ecological change in South Africa is critical to
taking the steps necessary to achieving such possibilities. This
project forms part of a larger SANPAD and GCSSRP funded project
being run through the Institute for Water Research at Rhodes
University. The broader project is exploring transdisciplinary
approaches to dealing with water management challenges in South
Africa. As a part of this broader endeavour, this project is using
the Sundays River Valley as a case study, and is exploring long term
social-ecological change in the catchment, identifying key drivers
of change over time, and using this analysis to build future
scenarios for the catchment. This is an action research project in
which key stakeholders will be engaged throughout the research
process.
Time frame: 2013-2014
Contact:
Georgina Cundill
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Hot off the Press
Biggs, R., Schluter, J., Biggs, D., Bohensky, E.L., BurnSilver, S.,
Cundill, G.,
Dakos, V., Daw, T.M., Evans, L.S., Kotschy, K., Leitch, A.M., Meek, C.,
Quinlan, A., Raudsepp-Hearne, C., Robards, M.D., Schoon, M.L., Schultz,
L. & West, P.C. 2012. Toward principles for enhancing the resilience of
ecosystem services. Annual Review of Environment & Resources, 37:
421-448.
Clarke, C.L., Shackleton, S.E. & Powell, M.
2012. Climate change perceptions, drought responses and views on carbon
farming amongst commercial livestock and game farmers in the semiarid
Great Fish River Valley, Eastern Cape province, South Africa. African
Journal of Range & Forage Science, 29(1): 13-23.
Cundill, G.
& Rodela, R. 2012. A review of assertions about the processes and
outcomes of social learning in natural resource management. Journal
of Environmental Management, 113: 7-14.
Curran, P., Smedley, D., Thompson, P. & Knight, A.T. 2012.
Mapping restoration opportunity for collaborating with land managers in
a carbon credit-funded restoration program in the Makana Municipality,
Eastern Cape, South Africa. Restoration Ecology, 20(1): 56-64.
Davenport, N.A., Shackleton, C.M. & Gambiza, J. 2012. The direct
use value of municipal commonage goods and services to urban households
in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Land Use Policy, 29: 548-557.
Ellery, W.N., Grenfell, S.E., Grenfell, M.C., Humphries, M.S.,
Barnes, K., Dahlber, A. & Kindness, A. 2012. Peat formation in the
context of the development of the Mkuze floodplain on the coastal plain
of Maputaland, South Africa. Geomorphology, 141-142: 11-20.
Kotze, D.C., Ellery, W.N., MacFarlane, D.M. & Jewitt, G.P.W.
2012. A rapid assessment method for coupling anthropogenic stressors and
wetland ecological condition. Ecological Indicators, 13: 284-293.
Kaschula, S.A. & Shackleton, C.M. 2012. How do HIV & AIDS
impact the use of natural resources by poor rural populations? The case
of wild animal products. South African Journal of Science,
108(1/2): 46-54.
Pandey, A.K. & Shackleton, C.M. 2012. The effect of harvesting
approaches, fruit yield, embelin concentration and regrowth dynamics of
a forest shrub, Embelia tsjeriam-cottam in central India.
Forest Ecology & Management, 266: 180-186.
Rodela, R., Georgina, C. & Wals, A.E.J. 2012. An analysis of the
methodological underpinnings of social learning in natural resource
management. Ecological Economics, 77: 16-26.
Shackleton, C.M. 2012. Is there no urban forestry or greening in
the developing world? Scientific Research & Essays, 7(40):
3329-3335.
Shackleton, S.E. & Shackleton, C.M. 2012. Linking poverty,
HIV/AIDS and climate change to human and ecosystem vulnerability in
southern Africa: consequences for livelihoods and sustainable ecosystem
management. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World
Ecology, 19(3): 275-286.
Thondhlana, G., Vedeld, P. & Shackleton, S. 2012. Natural
resource use, income and dependence among San and Mier communities
bordering Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, southern Kahalari, South Africa.
International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology,
19(5): 1-11.
Research Resources
(Re)Views on Social Learning Literature: a monograph for social
learning researchers in natural resources management and environmental
education
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