Bushmeat hunting and use by rural communities living adjacent to indigenous forests in the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Martins, Vusumzi
- Date: 2025-04-03
- Subjects: Wildlife as food South Africa Eastern Cape , Forests and forestry South Africa , Hunting South Africa , Local ecological knowledge , Forest management South Africa , Sustainability , Social ecology
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/479930 , vital:78381 , DOI 10.21504/10962/479930
- Description: The use of forest wild species directly contributes to the well-being of billions of people globally and is particularly important to people living in vulnerable situations. Rural, indigenous communities have harvested a variety of timber and non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for millennia and still do to date. For these people, forests provide many products and benefits such as food, medicine, fuelwood and a source of income from trade in these items. In South Africa, a large number of studies have investigated the harvesting and use of NTFPs, highlighting their importance to rural and urban communities. Additionaly, the hunting of wild mammals occurs throughout the Afro-temperate forests of South Africa. Yet, no comprehensive study has been conducted on the hunting and use of wild forest mammals in the region. I sought to investigate the motivations, extent and impact of local hunting in the indigenous forests of the Eastern Cape. I hypothesize that in the region hunting is not a primary source of nutrition or income, but it continues to hold cultural significance, reflecting deep-rooted traditions within these communities. Understanding bushmeat hunting and use in the region is key to guiding sustainable management and assessing the need for policy adjustments. The current study firstly provides a detailed evaluation of NTFPs harvesting and use, highlighting the livelihood benefits associated with bushmeat hunting by investigating bushmeat hunting patterns and consumption by rural communities surrounding forest patches in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa. Here bushmeat hunting refers to the informal hunting of wild mammals by rural communities, primarily for subsistence consumption. While often organised and small-scale, it is shaped by local ecological knowledge, cultural traditions, and resource availability. The practice occurs within a complex illegal and socio-economic landscape, where access to alternative protein sources, conservation regulations, and historical land-use patterns influence its prevalence and significance. To assess NTFP harvesting and bushmeat hunting, 12 villages at different proximities to forests were selected around the province. Using a quantitative approach in the form of guided, semi-structured interviews, data on the extraction and use of NTFPs, bushmeat hunting, frequency of bushmeat consumption, general protein consumption and food security of each household were solicited. Only 16% of the households attested to hunting in the 12 months prior to the survey, with all these households including an active hunter. Though 64% of the interviewed head of households mentioned that they had consumed bushmeat in the past year, these were mostly men, only 12% percent mentioned that the hunter in the household brought their catch home and consumed the meat with their families. Hunters mostly consumed their catch with other hunters, non-hunting males and young boys. Hence the study concluded that bushmeat consumption was not an important livelihood strategy nor food source of rural people but instead plays a significant social and cultural role in the region. I also provide comprehensive insights into bushmeat hunting practices in the province. Though conducting in-depth questionnaire surveys with self-identifying hunters from the 12 villages I was able to determine the motivations, methods and perceptions behind bushmeat hunting. A total of 147 hunter interviews were conducted. All the interviewees were male, with a mean age of 32 ± 9 years. The primary motivations behind bushmeat hunting were culture (40%), sport/competition (33%) and recreational purposes (20%). Contrary to hunting in the tropics, only 4% mentioned that they hunt for income. Most of the hunters (44%) used mixed hunting methods. This involved setting up or checking snares whilst hunting with dogs and sticks, 27% only used dogs and sticks and 17% only used snares. Hunters reported ten mammal species caught in forests of the Eastern Cape in the last 12 months. Bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus), Common duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia) and Cape porcupine (Hystrix africaeaustralis) were the most hunted species. All the hunters acknowledged that hunting was an illegal activity and if caught they could be arrested. The study further presents a thorough assessment of forest mammal species diversity under hunting pressure. Evidence suggests that higher hunting occurs in communal land forests compared to forests on protected or privately owned land. Hence, data on species richness and abundance within fenced protected forests and neighbouring unfenced communal forests was acquired using a mixed-methods approach in the form of ecological line transects and local ecological knowledge (LEK) surveys. The line transects revealed a mean mammal species richness of 7.6 ±1.3 in the protected forests, 5.3 ±1.4 in the Afromontane communal forests and 3.3 ±1.6 in the Coastal communal forests. The Afromontane and Coastal communal forests had a mean species abundance of 12.1 ± 5.4 and 6.5 ± 5.0, per forest respectively, whilst the protected forests had a mean species abundance of 18.0 ± 7.0. During the LEK surveys hunters from villages close to the forests reported more species (8.9 ±1.7) than those from far villages (7.3 ± 1.2). The regular forest users reported a mean species richness of 5.5 ± 1.2 and the local experts from the protected forests reporting a mean species richness of 13.4 ± 0.7. The study demonstrates the importance of mixed-methods approach in wildlife research and sustainable natural resource use. The current study clearly shows that protected areas support higher biodiversity and that local forest users’ knowledge aligns well with ecological data. Lastly, I present a social-ecological assessment of bushmeat hunting in the forests of the Eastern Cape. The use of traditional biological sustainability indices have proved inadequate for measuring the impact of bushmeat hunting because sustainability is treated as a static, binary question, thus ignoring stochastic processes, the inherent variability of natural systems, and the complexity of hunting systems. I hence used a combination of social and ecological methods to gain insights on how the offtake of forest mammal species affected species density in the communal forests of the Eastern Cape and also how this influenced hunting practices and behaviour. The density estimates of the hunted mammal fauna in the communal forests was significantly less (50%) than in the protected forests in the region. Also, the density estimates for the five most hunted mammal species in the communal forests were significantly lower (15%) than density estimates reported in the literature. Additionally, participatory hunter interviews revealed a decline in catch per unit effort and harvest rates over the past 10 years. This decline resulted in changes in the hunting strategies and patterns of many hunters. I argue that bushmeat hunting systems should be regarded as social-ecological systems in which the animal populations are not the only focus. Instead, understanding the complex and dynamic relationships between the hunting ground, its resources, the stakeholders, and the different exogenous drivers of change that affect these components yields a better interpretation of sustainability. The current study contributes to the growing knowledge of bushmeat hunting and use in the country and also provides novel findings on the sustainability of bushmeat hunting in the forests of the Eastern Cape. Here I provide an all-inclusive appraisal of bushmeat hunting and use by rural communities living adjacent to biodiversity-rich indigenous forests. The study provides in-depth insights on household bushmeat use, hunting practices and motivations of hunters and the effect of hunting on mammalian forest fauna. Furthermore, the study provides a novel approach to determining the sustainability of bushmeat hunting by using mixed social and ecological methods. The study can be used as a model for other studies assessing bushmeat hunting elsewhere in the country. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Environmental Science, 2025
- Full Text:
- Authors: Martins, Vusumzi
- Date: 2025-04-03
- Subjects: Wildlife as food South Africa Eastern Cape , Forests and forestry South Africa , Hunting South Africa , Local ecological knowledge , Forest management South Africa , Sustainability , Social ecology
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/479930 , vital:78381 , DOI 10.21504/10962/479930
- Description: The use of forest wild species directly contributes to the well-being of billions of people globally and is particularly important to people living in vulnerable situations. Rural, indigenous communities have harvested a variety of timber and non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for millennia and still do to date. For these people, forests provide many products and benefits such as food, medicine, fuelwood and a source of income from trade in these items. In South Africa, a large number of studies have investigated the harvesting and use of NTFPs, highlighting their importance to rural and urban communities. Additionaly, the hunting of wild mammals occurs throughout the Afro-temperate forests of South Africa. Yet, no comprehensive study has been conducted on the hunting and use of wild forest mammals in the region. I sought to investigate the motivations, extent and impact of local hunting in the indigenous forests of the Eastern Cape. I hypothesize that in the region hunting is not a primary source of nutrition or income, but it continues to hold cultural significance, reflecting deep-rooted traditions within these communities. Understanding bushmeat hunting and use in the region is key to guiding sustainable management and assessing the need for policy adjustments. The current study firstly provides a detailed evaluation of NTFPs harvesting and use, highlighting the livelihood benefits associated with bushmeat hunting by investigating bushmeat hunting patterns and consumption by rural communities surrounding forest patches in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa. Here bushmeat hunting refers to the informal hunting of wild mammals by rural communities, primarily for subsistence consumption. While often organised and small-scale, it is shaped by local ecological knowledge, cultural traditions, and resource availability. The practice occurs within a complex illegal and socio-economic landscape, where access to alternative protein sources, conservation regulations, and historical land-use patterns influence its prevalence and significance. To assess NTFP harvesting and bushmeat hunting, 12 villages at different proximities to forests were selected around the province. Using a quantitative approach in the form of guided, semi-structured interviews, data on the extraction and use of NTFPs, bushmeat hunting, frequency of bushmeat consumption, general protein consumption and food security of each household were solicited. Only 16% of the households attested to hunting in the 12 months prior to the survey, with all these households including an active hunter. Though 64% of the interviewed head of households mentioned that they had consumed bushmeat in the past year, these were mostly men, only 12% percent mentioned that the hunter in the household brought their catch home and consumed the meat with their families. Hunters mostly consumed their catch with other hunters, non-hunting males and young boys. Hence the study concluded that bushmeat consumption was not an important livelihood strategy nor food source of rural people but instead plays a significant social and cultural role in the region. I also provide comprehensive insights into bushmeat hunting practices in the province. Though conducting in-depth questionnaire surveys with self-identifying hunters from the 12 villages I was able to determine the motivations, methods and perceptions behind bushmeat hunting. A total of 147 hunter interviews were conducted. All the interviewees were male, with a mean age of 32 ± 9 years. The primary motivations behind bushmeat hunting were culture (40%), sport/competition (33%) and recreational purposes (20%). Contrary to hunting in the tropics, only 4% mentioned that they hunt for income. Most of the hunters (44%) used mixed hunting methods. This involved setting up or checking snares whilst hunting with dogs and sticks, 27% only used dogs and sticks and 17% only used snares. Hunters reported ten mammal species caught in forests of the Eastern Cape in the last 12 months. Bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus), Common duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia) and Cape porcupine (Hystrix africaeaustralis) were the most hunted species. All the hunters acknowledged that hunting was an illegal activity and if caught they could be arrested. The study further presents a thorough assessment of forest mammal species diversity under hunting pressure. Evidence suggests that higher hunting occurs in communal land forests compared to forests on protected or privately owned land. Hence, data on species richness and abundance within fenced protected forests and neighbouring unfenced communal forests was acquired using a mixed-methods approach in the form of ecological line transects and local ecological knowledge (LEK) surveys. The line transects revealed a mean mammal species richness of 7.6 ±1.3 in the protected forests, 5.3 ±1.4 in the Afromontane communal forests and 3.3 ±1.6 in the Coastal communal forests. The Afromontane and Coastal communal forests had a mean species abundance of 12.1 ± 5.4 and 6.5 ± 5.0, per forest respectively, whilst the protected forests had a mean species abundance of 18.0 ± 7.0. During the LEK surveys hunters from villages close to the forests reported more species (8.9 ±1.7) than those from far villages (7.3 ± 1.2). The regular forest users reported a mean species richness of 5.5 ± 1.2 and the local experts from the protected forests reporting a mean species richness of 13.4 ± 0.7. The study demonstrates the importance of mixed-methods approach in wildlife research and sustainable natural resource use. The current study clearly shows that protected areas support higher biodiversity and that local forest users’ knowledge aligns well with ecological data. Lastly, I present a social-ecological assessment of bushmeat hunting in the forests of the Eastern Cape. The use of traditional biological sustainability indices have proved inadequate for measuring the impact of bushmeat hunting because sustainability is treated as a static, binary question, thus ignoring stochastic processes, the inherent variability of natural systems, and the complexity of hunting systems. I hence used a combination of social and ecological methods to gain insights on how the offtake of forest mammal species affected species density in the communal forests of the Eastern Cape and also how this influenced hunting practices and behaviour. The density estimates of the hunted mammal fauna in the communal forests was significantly less (50%) than in the protected forests in the region. Also, the density estimates for the five most hunted mammal species in the communal forests were significantly lower (15%) than density estimates reported in the literature. Additionally, participatory hunter interviews revealed a decline in catch per unit effort and harvest rates over the past 10 years. This decline resulted in changes in the hunting strategies and patterns of many hunters. I argue that bushmeat hunting systems should be regarded as social-ecological systems in which the animal populations are not the only focus. Instead, understanding the complex and dynamic relationships between the hunting ground, its resources, the stakeholders, and the different exogenous drivers of change that affect these components yields a better interpretation of sustainability. The current study contributes to the growing knowledge of bushmeat hunting and use in the country and also provides novel findings on the sustainability of bushmeat hunting in the forests of the Eastern Cape. Here I provide an all-inclusive appraisal of bushmeat hunting and use by rural communities living adjacent to biodiversity-rich indigenous forests. The study provides in-depth insights on household bushmeat use, hunting practices and motivations of hunters and the effect of hunting on mammalian forest fauna. Furthermore, the study provides a novel approach to determining the sustainability of bushmeat hunting by using mixed social and ecological methods. The study can be used as a model for other studies assessing bushmeat hunting elsewhere in the country. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Environmental Science, 2025
- Full Text:
Status and potential of green infrastructure to support urban resilience in Zomba City, Malawi
- Authors: Likongwe, Patrick Jeremy
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Biodiversity , Ecosystem services Malawi Zomba District , Green space , Land use Malawi Zomba District , Land cover Malawi Zomba District , Social ecology , Sustainability , Urban resilience , Trees Variation
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431821 , vital:72806 , DOI 10.21504/10962/431821
- Description: Small and medium towns with less than one million inhabitants are regarded to be the fastest growing urban centres globally, absorbing the bulk of the urban population growth. This urban growth drives the diminishing natural capital within the urban settings, resulting in compromised ecosystem services delivery, thereby rendering urban dwellers and systems less resilient to hazards and shocks. It is known that urban resilience discourse is rooted in robust, empirical assessments of the nature, composition and distribution of urban green infrastructure. Using the concept of green infrastructure, a mechanism for the delivery of ecosystem services that are multi-functional, well connected, and that integrate the grey-green infrastructure while providing room for social inclusion, anchored the research in a small city of Zomba, Malawi, which is a fast-growing city facing natural resource and ecosystem service degradation. The research therefore was set to understand the status of urban green infrastructure in Zomba over space and time as the basis for enhancing urban resilience. This was facilitated by an understanding of the spatial and temporal quantity, quality, diversity and distribution of urban greenspaces and the composition, structure, diversity and distributional differences of urban trees within different urban greenspace classes. Further to this was an investigation on the perceptions of and preferences for urban greenspaces among the different socio-demographic groups and finally the role of residents, institutions and institutional frameworks in building urban resilience through the delivery of ecosystem services. To achieve these objectives, the study used a suite of methods. First was geographical information system and remote sensing to understand the spatial and temporal changes in greenspaces within the city in terms of quantity and distribution. Ecological methods of assessing the tree species composition, diversity, population structure and distribution were also employed. To gauge the perceptions of and preferences for urban greenspaces, a survey was done, targeting users found within the urban greenspaces plus residents that claimed to have patronised the urban greenspaces. Finally, to understand the role of nature and the relevant urban ecosystem services provided towards building urban resilience, remote sensing and key informant interviews were done to enrich the literature searches on a case study of urban community efforts involved in managing Sadzi hill to reverse ecosystem disservices versus Chiperoni hill that was not managed. A general impression of declining urban green infrastructure was verified through the study. The city has indeed lost 14 % tree cover between 1998 and 2018 due to increased housing and creation of agricultural land to support the growing urban population. The city has 168 tree species with 65 % of them being indigenous. Residential areas were dominated by exotic trees, mainly due to the abundance of exotic fruit trees like Mangifera indica. Generally, the city has a good tree diversity score but unequally distributed, with the formal residential areas, where the colonial masters settled, having more trees than the mixed and informal residential areas. Nine urban greenspace types were identified, but there was a low per capita urban greenspace area of 11.6 m2 per person, slightly above the minimum standard set by World Health Organisation. From the preferences for and perceptions of urban greenspaces, patronage to these greenspaces (treated as parks) was highest among the educated youth, a majority being from the high housing density areas where there are no urban parks. Walking to the nearest urban greenspace took more than 10 minutes for 85 % of the respondents. With the available by-laws in support for the governance of greenspaces within the city and the role of residents towards the same, restoration efforts that targeted Sadzi hill yielded positive results through reversing ecosystem disservices that were being experienced by the community members around the hill. The community enjoys several ecosystem services that have also contributed towards building their resilience to climatic and environmental hazards. The results of this study have unveiled several green infrastructure attributes that can contribute towards building urban social ecological resilience like the presence of high proportion of indigenous tree species, healthy urban forest, high proportion of fruit trees, high diversity scores, unparalleled demand for urban greenspaces for cultural and regulatory ecosystem services, the willingness to pay and work towards managing and conserving greenspaces and the social capital available from the urban communities. However, the study also unveiled several green infrastructure related attributes that if not checked will continue to undermine efforts towards building urban resilience. These included the continued drop in tree and greenspace cover, poor governance of the available public greenspaces, unequal distribution of trees and urban greenspaces, poor management of greenspaces, bare river banks, lack of park amenities and a lack of a clear strategy, policy or an urban plan that clearly outlines green infrastructure. Efforts towards addressing these will mean acknowledging the role of green infrastructure in supporting urban social ecological resilience. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Environmental Science, 2023
- Full Text:
- Authors: Likongwe, Patrick Jeremy
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Biodiversity , Ecosystem services Malawi Zomba District , Green space , Land use Malawi Zomba District , Land cover Malawi Zomba District , Social ecology , Sustainability , Urban resilience , Trees Variation
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/431821 , vital:72806 , DOI 10.21504/10962/431821
- Description: Small and medium towns with less than one million inhabitants are regarded to be the fastest growing urban centres globally, absorbing the bulk of the urban population growth. This urban growth drives the diminishing natural capital within the urban settings, resulting in compromised ecosystem services delivery, thereby rendering urban dwellers and systems less resilient to hazards and shocks. It is known that urban resilience discourse is rooted in robust, empirical assessments of the nature, composition and distribution of urban green infrastructure. Using the concept of green infrastructure, a mechanism for the delivery of ecosystem services that are multi-functional, well connected, and that integrate the grey-green infrastructure while providing room for social inclusion, anchored the research in a small city of Zomba, Malawi, which is a fast-growing city facing natural resource and ecosystem service degradation. The research therefore was set to understand the status of urban green infrastructure in Zomba over space and time as the basis for enhancing urban resilience. This was facilitated by an understanding of the spatial and temporal quantity, quality, diversity and distribution of urban greenspaces and the composition, structure, diversity and distributional differences of urban trees within different urban greenspace classes. Further to this was an investigation on the perceptions of and preferences for urban greenspaces among the different socio-demographic groups and finally the role of residents, institutions and institutional frameworks in building urban resilience through the delivery of ecosystem services. To achieve these objectives, the study used a suite of methods. First was geographical information system and remote sensing to understand the spatial and temporal changes in greenspaces within the city in terms of quantity and distribution. Ecological methods of assessing the tree species composition, diversity, population structure and distribution were also employed. To gauge the perceptions of and preferences for urban greenspaces, a survey was done, targeting users found within the urban greenspaces plus residents that claimed to have patronised the urban greenspaces. Finally, to understand the role of nature and the relevant urban ecosystem services provided towards building urban resilience, remote sensing and key informant interviews were done to enrich the literature searches on a case study of urban community efforts involved in managing Sadzi hill to reverse ecosystem disservices versus Chiperoni hill that was not managed. A general impression of declining urban green infrastructure was verified through the study. The city has indeed lost 14 % tree cover between 1998 and 2018 due to increased housing and creation of agricultural land to support the growing urban population. The city has 168 tree species with 65 % of them being indigenous. Residential areas were dominated by exotic trees, mainly due to the abundance of exotic fruit trees like Mangifera indica. Generally, the city has a good tree diversity score but unequally distributed, with the formal residential areas, where the colonial masters settled, having more trees than the mixed and informal residential areas. Nine urban greenspace types were identified, but there was a low per capita urban greenspace area of 11.6 m2 per person, slightly above the minimum standard set by World Health Organisation. From the preferences for and perceptions of urban greenspaces, patronage to these greenspaces (treated as parks) was highest among the educated youth, a majority being from the high housing density areas where there are no urban parks. Walking to the nearest urban greenspace took more than 10 minutes for 85 % of the respondents. With the available by-laws in support for the governance of greenspaces within the city and the role of residents towards the same, restoration efforts that targeted Sadzi hill yielded positive results through reversing ecosystem disservices that were being experienced by the community members around the hill. The community enjoys several ecosystem services that have also contributed towards building their resilience to climatic and environmental hazards. The results of this study have unveiled several green infrastructure attributes that can contribute towards building urban social ecological resilience like the presence of high proportion of indigenous tree species, healthy urban forest, high proportion of fruit trees, high diversity scores, unparalleled demand for urban greenspaces for cultural and regulatory ecosystem services, the willingness to pay and work towards managing and conserving greenspaces and the social capital available from the urban communities. However, the study also unveiled several green infrastructure related attributes that if not checked will continue to undermine efforts towards building urban resilience. These included the continued drop in tree and greenspace cover, poor governance of the available public greenspaces, unequal distribution of trees and urban greenspaces, poor management of greenspaces, bare river banks, lack of park amenities and a lack of a clear strategy, policy or an urban plan that clearly outlines green infrastructure. Efforts towards addressing these will mean acknowledging the role of green infrastructure in supporting urban social ecological resilience. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Environmental Science, 2023
- Full Text:
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