Invasive alien plants and rural livelihoods: a case of Gwanda District, Zimbabwe
- Authors: Dube, Nqobizitha
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Cylindropuntia fulgida , Invasive plants -- Economic aspects , Invasive plants -- Control , Invasive plants -- Economic aspects -- Zimbabwe , Ecosystem services -- Zimbabwe , Environmental policy -- Zimbabwe , Ecosystem management -- Zimbabwe , Cactus -- Economic aspects -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/4368 , vital:20653
- Description: Biodiversity is the cornerstone of ecosystem functioning and the realisation that most rural African community livelihoods are directly dependent on ecosystem goods and services warrants its conservation. Invasive alien plants threaten biodiversity and compromise the ecosystem's ability to provide goods and services for rural communities, thereby negatively affecting livelihood strategies. Information on IAPs is lacking in most African countries, thus, the livelihood effects of Invasive Alien Plants (IAPs) are not clearly understood. In Zimbabwe, Cylindropuntia fulgida var. fulgida (Cff) has invaded Gwanda district in the Matabeleland south province compromising local household capital assets that contribute to livelihood strategies and altering the ecosystem. This study exposed the rural worldview of the environment, the effect that Cff has on local livelihood strategies and the effectiveness environmental management institutions in rural Gwanda district. The study followed a post positivist paradigm. The impacts of IAPs on rural communities in Zimbabwe were analysed by looking at the livelihood stresses that arise because of Cff. The research used multi-stage sampling to select a representative sample of respondents. Primary data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires, group discussion and key informant guides. Furthermore, document analysis was conducted to collect secondary data. The data analysis process used Computer packages Microsoft Excel, SPSS and NVIVO. Results showed that livelihood benefits that species in the natural environment provide strongly influence environmental perceptions of rural African communities. Additionally, the study showed that Cff compromises the local ecosystem and reduces its ability to support the dominant livelihoods in the study area. The long-term result of such a situation in the absence of control is increased poverty and the failure to realise sustainable development. However, results indicated that IAPs could also improve the poverty situation of a community before they have reached the threshold points. It is therefore imperative to know the threshold points of an invasive plant in order to ascertain the efficient point to intervene. The study also showed that benefits of invasive plants accrue to different members of a society at different times (private/public). This knowledge allows the adoption of efficient and effective control strategies.
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Institutional change, institutional isolation and biodiversity governance in South Africa: a case study of the trout industry in alien and invasive species regulatory reforms
- Authors: Marire, Juniours
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/639 , vital:19977
- Description: The world, in recent decades, has witnessed an incalculable surge in global “wicked” policy problems that have long-term, and most often irreversible, impacts, not least terrorism, climate change, biodiversity losses and desertification. Wicked problems are wicked because there is no single epistemological system that can adequately coordinate policy action for addressing them. Literature abounds with international case studies of opposition to national institutions that are designed to put into effect global and regional policies for resolving wicked problems. This raises questions about what constitutes reasonable institutions, how such institutions can be designed and why societies sometimes fail to develop such institutions despite the obvious need for them. As a point of entry into these issues, the thesis adapted and extended the Northean (2007, 2012) macro meta-theoretic framework for studying the violence-development relationship, which focuses on the role of political and economic competition in the emergence of ‘right’ institutions that promote development, while containing violence. The Northean framework conceptualises two mutually exclusive social orders – the limited access order and the open access order – which provide the socio-cultural context for the evolution of specific institutions. The macro meta-theoretic framework was transformed into a micro metatheoretic framework in such a way that the limited access order and the open access order co-existed in the evolution of specific institutions. This reconceptualisation built on Bromley’s (2004, 2006) two realms of public policy: the realm of reasons (legislative-judicial system) and the realm of rules (administrative system) as well as the feminist concept of epistemic violence, which broadened the concept of violence from being exclusively physical to including the sociocognitive. The feminist concept of epistemic oppression logically fitted into, and became a new sub-category of, Commons’ (1899, 1924, 1934) theories of sovereignty and negotiational psychology. The innovations showed that either of these realms can be a limited access order, while the other can be an open access order or both can be open access orders or both can be limited access orders. The conceptual innovations were then used as an interpretive scheme in analysing the evolution of the South African invasive alien species regulatory reforms under the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act of 2004, using a case study of the trout sector, which was the most opposed to the reforms. There was a general perception among socioeconomic sectors that utilise invasive alien species that the regulatory reform processes for the governance of such species had institutionally isolated the sectors. Because of this perception, the regulatory reform process was contested, and implementation of the Fifth Chapter of the Act, which deals with the governance of invasive alien species, was delayed for nearly a decade. The thesis evaluated whether institutional isolation existed and how and why it came to be since it has implications for the reasonableness of emerging regulatory institutions, economic performance of sectors and efficient allocation of fiscal resources in institutional design processes. A mixed methods methodology was used, which included data analysis techniques such as semiosis, exploratory factor analysis, econometric estimation and document analysis. Policy documents, an online survey and key informant interviews comprised the data. The findings suggested six dimensions of institutional change that a theory of institutional change might have to address: the origin and continuity of pecuniary institutions; selfreinforcing mechanisms of the limited access policymaking order; succession and disbandment of the limited access policymaking order; exclusivity of negotiations in institutional design; tiers of institutional isolation; and the role of administrative discontinuities. Findings suggested that institutional isolation existed in the regulatory process, manifesting in three forms: administrative isolation, epistemological isolation and sectoral isolation. Administrative isolation was the most complex of the three in that it also involved a less obvious process of institutional isolation in the form of administrative redefinition of opportunity sets that were already legislatively redefined. The mechanisms of institutional isolation through which administrative isolation was sustained were administrative financing of research and careerism. The two mechanisms created a revolving door-type scenario through which invasion biologists supplied the administrative agency with candidates for senior (decision making) positions and the administrative agency, in turn, demanded specific types of knowledge over which the same epistemic community had a monopoly. The revolving door-type scenario was found to ideologically and physically entrench invasion biologists into the regulatory community. The consequence of the entrenchment was institutional hegemony, which manifested itself through the mechanism of epistemic violence insofar as the invasion biologists became the epistemic arbiters about what kinds of ideas and institutions really mattered in the governance of invasive alien species. Econometric estimates suggested that the extent to which an emerging institution is perceived to be reasonable by regulated sectors depends on the extent to which the institution is designed in a participatory and inclusive manner (that is, using integrative knowledge systems), the extent to which the designers used credible evidence and contextualised international evidence as well as the extent to which the emergent biodiversity governance institution was anthropocentric. However, findings suggested that the South African regulatory reform process fell short on all these four dimensions of reasonable institutions, which is characteristic of institutional design process shaped by hegemonic social imaginaries, resulting in institutional isolation. Emerging from the findings are several theoretical insights. Bush’s (1987) concept of institutional spaces under the Veblenian Dichotomy was extended, the result of which was identification of two stable institutional equilibria – one ceremonial and another instrumental. The ceremonial equilibrium was a typical limited access policymaking order and was responsible for the historical and present emergence of regressive institutions. Findings also suggested that the entrenched invasion biologists ceremonially encapsulated the knowledge fund that had been accumulated since the 1980s, which could have facilitated the consensual design of regulatory institutions for invasive alien species without protracted controversy. Findings suggested that a limited access policymaking order could only be disbanded by the intervention of an external sovereign agent (in this case the office of the state president) since the administrative agency, and the epistemic community that advised it, adopted the solutions that were empirically tested and proposed in the 1980s only after the intervention of the external sovereign agent. The instrumental equilibrium repealed the contested prisoner’s dilemma that was characteristic of the policy process and turned it into an assurance policy game by facilitating the identification of common interests. This finding logically links the study to a recent theoretical development in institutional theory – Ordonomics – which focuses on the causality between ideas and institutions. The findings imply that it is possible to design reasonable institutions as long as integrative (transdisciplinary) knowledge systems, including the non-scientific knowledge of the resource users, are incorporated. Integrative knowledge systems facilitate semantic innovations, which create social DNA, but epistemic violence destroys social DNA. They also imply that reliance on unidisciplinary knowledge systems in institutional design induces a large and inefficient transaction cost burden of public policy on the fiscus and private agents alike because of the inevitability of controversy, especially for wicked policy problems.
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A water footprint assessment of primary citrus production in the Lower Sundays River Valley Citrus Farms, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Munro, Samantha Alanna
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Water efficiency -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Evaluation , Water consumption -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Citrus -- Water requirements -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:1120 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1017558
- Description: With the current implementation of the South African National Water Act (NWA) underway, comprehensive tools to assist in the efficient, fair and sustainable management of water resources are needed. Water footprints (WFs) are increasingly being recognised as a meaningful way to represent human appropriation of water resources and provide a framework for assessing the sustainability of water use. The study calculated blue, green and grey WFs for the lower Sundays River Valley (LSRV) citrus sector across dry, humid and long-term average climates for a number of cultivars. The sustainability of both the LSRV and the production process of citrus were examined through the adoption of a number of environmental, social and economic indicators. The study revealed that there was no water scarcity in the area because of an inter-basin transfer and that water pollution levels attributed to citrus production required a more comprehensive indicator than the grey WF. Results showed that navels, despite being the dominant cultivar, had the highest WF and the lowest water productivity and technical efficiency. It also provided lower benefits of income and employment in terms of water use in comparison to other cultivars. Conversely, cultivars such as lemons, which required a greater amount of water and fertiliser, were the most productive cultivar with the lowest blue, green and grey WF. The study demonstrated the complexity of decisions regarding water management and the need to assess accurately the environmental, social and economic implications of strategies to increase efficiency of water. The importance of incorporating local data and verifying WFs was also illustrated. The analysis highlighted that WF assessments could be useful for the South African government and agricultural sectors to assist in future water management decisions and promote increased collaboration between stakeholders. The study found that the adoption of local benchmarks could be useful in aiding the promotion of more efficient water use and could factor in sensitive economic and social attributes. WFs in conjunction with other economic and social indicators could also be used to evaluate the sustainability of current and future allocations pertaining to the implementation of the NWA. It was however noted that this requires vast amounts of accurate data.
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An investigation into the impact of fairtrade in South Africa
- Authors: Jari, Bridget
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Competition, Unfair -- Research -- South Africa Price maintenance -- Research -- South Africa Fair trade associations -- South Africa Sustainable development -- Africa, Southern
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:1006 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002741
- Description: World international trade is moving towards more free trade, through globalization and trade liberalization. These moves are guided by trade theories which state that on an aggregated level, nations involved in free trade should benefit, and further that free trade is fair. However, in practice, contradictory views have been raised, stating that free trade may not necessarily be benefiting all participants equally. Rather, other nations, especially developing nations, have become worse-off after opening up their markets for free trade. On the other hand, many developed nations have benefited substantially from free trade. Among other factors, the difference in benefits is believed to have been influenced by the types of commodities being traded (where developing nations mainly trade in primary goods and developed nations in anufactured goods) and unequal power relations (some nations for example, the EU and the US, still adopt protectionism in their agricultural sector). In order to address market imbalances resulting from free trade, Fairtrade has arisen. Fairtrade aims to improve international trading conditions in order to benefit small-scale farmers and farm workers in the developing nations. The Fairtrade organization further claims that its principles are in line with sustainable development. However, Fairtrade suffers a credibility gap because there is a lack of independent research to support their claims. To date in South Africa, there is little research examining the claims of the Fairtrade organization. In order to contribute to the Fairtrade discussion in South Africa, this study has investigated the validity of Fairtrade‘s claims that it contributes towards sustainable development. The study utilised primary data, which was collected from ten commercial farms and two small-scale farmer cooperatives located in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces that are/were Fairtrade certified. The main reason for including commercial farmers and small-scale farmer cooperatives in the study was for comparing relative impacts in the two Fairtrade structures. The data was then analysed using a sustainable livelihoods framework, which was developed in the study. The study focussed on investigating the impact of Fairtrade tools, which are minimum prices, premiums, pre-financing and support for long-term relationships, on its intended beneficiaries. Minimum prices offered to producers cover production costs and are above market prices, and Fairtrade premiums are to be invested in developmental projects. Therefore, examining the influence of Fairtrade tools on individuals and communities provides an overview of how Fairtrade influences development. The results of the study show that sampled Fairtrade beneficiaries in South Africa have witnessed substantial positive changes as a result of Fairtrade. The Fairtrade initiative has managed to empower small-scale producers and farm workers, as well as leverage development opportunities for their wider communities. It has supported organizational development in the supply chain, facilitated investment in community development projects and in business-related training. Producers, both commercial and small-scale producers, managed to access a market that offers stable prices, and have gained from minimum prices. Furthermore, small-scale farmers have been allowed an opportunity to expand their business into export markets, and enjoyed an increase in incomes. Fairtrade benefits further trickle down to non-Fairtrade community members, in the form of employment creation and community development. Despite positive effects, Fairtrade producers faced challenges, including high Fairtrade administration costs and a small market for Fairtrade commodities. The study concludes that in the face of challenges, Fairtrade brings economic, social and environmental benefits, but as compared to economic and social development, the impact on environmental development is rather limited. Even though that is the case, Fairtrade offers valuable development opportunities to producers in South Africa.
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Economic impact studies and methodological bias : the case of the National Arts Festival in South Africa
- Authors: Bragge, Brent Reuben
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Standard Bank National Arts Festival Standard Bank National Arts Festival -- Economic aspects Performing arts festivals- Economic aspects -- South Africa Arts -- Economic aspects -- South Africa Economic impact analysis Edinburgh International Festival -- Economic aspects Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (Oudtshoorn, South Africa) -- Economic aspects Volksbladfees (Bloemfontein, South Africa) -- Economic aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEcon
- Identifier: vital:968 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002702
- Description: Over the course of the last three decades, it has become popular practice to evaluate tourism events like cultural festivals in financial terms, through the use of economic impact studies. This can be attributed at least in part to the notable growth in the number of festivals being held globally and, as such, a higher level of competition between festivals for the limited funding which is available. Economic impact studies, and the resultant findings, have thus become powerful tools for the lobbying of sponsorship, and it has become increasingly important that the impact calculations be as accurate as possible, so as to effectively allocate both government and private resources to projects which will be of the greatest benefit to the host region. The allocation of funding is especially vital in an area like the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, which is faced with many financial difficulties. The allocation of public funds to an event like the National Arts Festival, which is hosted in a relatively wealthy part of the province, might be weighed against initiatives which directly benefit the poorer parts of the region. Although it is acknowledged that the benefits which are felt by the host community of a cultural event go beyond that of the financial, it is often on this basis that festivals are most easily compared. The primary goal of the thesis was to analyse the various forms of methodological bias which can exist in the economic impact analyses (EIA) associated with cultural events. Theoretical considerations were discussed, specifically regarding economic impact as a method of measuring value. Various forms of bias (including data collection, the calculation of visitor numbers, multipliers, defining the area of interest, inclusion of visitor spending, and accounting for benefits only, not costs) are put into a real-life context, through the investigation of economic impact studies conducted on three selected South African festivals (the Volksblad, the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstfees, and the National Arts Festival), and one international festival (the Edinburgh Festival). An in-depth comparison of two separate studies conducted at the National Arts Festival (NAF) in 2004 (by Antrobus and Snowball) and 2005 (by Saayman et al.) was made, focussing on the manner in which the economic impact was calculated. Having considered the common forms of bias, and assessing several possible reasons for the difference of approximately twenty million Rand in the advertised economic impacts, it was concluded that, most likely, the miscalculation of visitor numbers was the cause. This was confirmed when the Antrobus and Saayman methods were applied to the 2006 NAF data, and noting that the economic impact figures arrived at were strikingly similar. As such, it is advisable that extreme caution be taken when calculating visitor numbers, as they can significantly influence the outcome of an economic impact study. It is recommended that each study should also have transparent checks in place, regarding the key calculation figures, to ensure that less scrupulous researchers are not as easily able to succumb to the pressure event sponsors might impose to produce inflated impact values.
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Examining the feasibility of introducing environmental surcharges to finance local coastal management initiatives in South Africa : a case study in Plettenberg Bay
- Authors: Mollatt, David G R
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Marine resources -- South Africa Marine resources conservation -- South Africa Coastal zone management -- South Africa Marine parks and reserves -- Management--South Africa Tourism--South Africa -- Taxation Tourism -- South Africa -- Economic aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEcon
- Identifier: vital:999 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002734
- Description: The management of coastal resources in South Africa has come under review as a result of the degradation of environmental resources along the coast. The challenge being faced by resource managers is to achieve economic growth while sustaining South Africa’s coastal resource base (Nobel, 2000). The South African government (RSA, 2000) has developed a coastal management strategy to meet this challenge: The strategy involves the inclusion of all stakeholders in the formation of policy regarding the management of coastal resources, in a more integrated approach to coastal management. To effectively achieve this stakeholder inclusion, it has become necessary to decentralize the political, administrative and fiscal authority to conduct coastal management functions. With regard to the need for fiscal decentralisation this thesis considers the possibility of implementing localised environmental surcharges to finance coastal management initiatives. The ability of the White Paper for Sustainable Coastal Development (RSA, 2000) to provide theformal institutional structure necessary for the introduction of environmental surcharges is firstconsidered. It is shown that the decentralised management strategy has the potential to create a management style that is transparent and accountability orientated. In addition to this the style is capable of adapting to dynamic local coastal conditions and is therefore an appropriate direction in which to steer coastal management in South Africa. The effectiveness of coastal co-management as an informal institutional arrangement is then examined. Provided that local Coastal Management Fora are created to include all relevant stakeholders and that a source of long term financing is secured co-management has the potential to create the conditions necessary for effective coastal management. With regard to a source of long term financing, local environmental surcharges to finance coastal management initiatives are considered. The public’s willingness to contribute to such a surcharge is analysed in the context of Plettenberg Bay by probing their willingness to pay (WTP) for a Bay Management Plan. A survey instrument is developed to measure the public’s WTP. The design of the instrument is based on the Contingent Valuation (CV) method that is used to analyse the nonmarket benefits that environmental resources (such as Plettenberg Bay) provide the public. It is found that the resident population is willing to pay R15 per month toward a Bay Management Plan whilst domestic and foreign tourists respectively are willing to pay R6 and R22 daily. The aggregation of these WTP estimates yields a total passive use value of between R15 397 900 – R20330 500 annually. This nuclear value of the Bay should be included in the formation of local coastal management policy and provides guidance for the introduction of a local environmental surcharge. A budget for a Bay Management Plan is proposed and a progressive surcharge based on municipal property value is set. To finance the local residents’ share of the budget, a monthly surcharge of R1 would be required of the average valued property. To calculate the domestic and foreign tourist contribution to the budget a schedule of accommodation offering property will be required. However, to finance the entire budget a residential surcharge of approximately R10 would be required of the average valued property. This figure is well below the average resident population WTP of R15, highlighting the fact that an environmental surcharge in Plettenberg Bay is indeed feasible. The difference in reported WTP and the contribution required to finance the Bay Management Plan also highlights that there is scope for experimentation in the introduction of such a surcharge.
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