Integrating local and scientific knowledge for adaptation to land degradation: Kalahari rangeland management options

Land Degradation and Development - Tập 18 Số 3 - Trang 249-268 - 2007
Mark S. Reed1, Andrew J. Dougill1, Michael Taylor2
1Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, West Yorkshire
2Indigenous Vegetation Project, UNDP/ Ministry of Agriculture, Private Bag 003, Gaborone

Tóm tắt

AbstractDespite numerous assessments of the sensitivity and resilience of drylands to degradation, there has been little research into the way affected communities innovate and adapt in response to land degradation. This paper shows how local and scientific knowledge can be combined to identify rangeland management strategies to reduce or adapt to land degradation. To achieve this, we have developed and applied a four‐stage social learning approach based on stakeholder participation in three degradation ‘hotspots’ in communal rangelands of the Kalahari, Botswana. This approach aims to collate, evaluate and apply both scientific and local knowledge on rangeland degradation and management options. First, current practice and possible management options were identified from the literature. Second, a series of semi‐structured interviews with rangeland users identified local knowledge of strategies to reduce and adapt to land degradation. Third, these options were discussed and evaluated with rangeland stakeholders in focus groups held across each study region. Finally, the outputs from these focus groups were used to produce rangeland assessment guides for each region that provided management options agreed to be locally relevant by both researchers and local stakeholders. The study found that the majority of strategies reported in the literature were not suitable for use by pastoralists in the Kalahari. However, many of the strategies suggested by stakeholders could only be applied effectively under common property regimes, giving impetus to the growing literature encouraging institutional reform to strengthen common property management regimes. The research stimulated a social learning process that combined knowledge from local stakeholders (both pastoralists and extension workers) with the scientific knowledge of researchers to provide a range of management options that could help land managers reduce or adapt to land degradation. By combining participatory research with insights from scientific literature in this way, more relevant results were provided than either approach could have achieved alone. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

10.1016/S0277-9536(02)00343-X

Bandura A, 1977, Social Learning Theory

Barrow CJ, 1991, Land Degradation: Development and Breakdown of Terrestrial Environments

Bayer W, 1995, Living with Uncertainty

Behnke R, 1994, Redesigning for Risk: Tracking and Buffering Environmental Variability in Africa's Rangelands

Behnke RH, 1993, Range Ecology at Disequilibrium: New Models of Natural Vulnerability and Pastoral Adaptation in African Savannas

10.1002/sd.225

10.1023/A:1018783725398

10.1016/S0308-521X(01)00055-5

Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA).2002.Final Report of the Review of the 1973 Rural Development Policy. Report to the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning Government of Botswana.

Bryman A, 2001, Social Research Methods

BurgessJ.2003.Country Pasture/Forage Resource Profiles: Botswana. United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation Rome [Online]. [Accessed 29/12/04]. Available on World Wide Web at: <http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOINFO/AGRICULT/AGP/AGPC/doc/Counprof/Botswana/botswana.htm>

BussHJ NuppenauEA.2003.Sustainable range use in semi‐arid eco‐systems through adapted management: A case study on Namibian farms based on bio‐economic models. InProceedings of the VIIth International Rangelands Congress 26th July–1st August Durban South Africa Allsopp N Palmer AR Milton SJ Kirkman KP Kerley GIH Hurt CR Brown CJ (eds).1949–1952.

10.1016/S0921-8009(00)00150-6

Chambers R, 1983, Rural Development: Putting the Last First

10.3362/9781780440149

Cole M, 1993, Distributed Cognitions: Psychological and Educational Considerations, 1

Cooke B, 2001, Participation: The New Tyranny?, 102

Cooke B, 2001, Participation: The New Tyranny?

CorellE.1999.The Negotiable Desert: Expert Knowledge in the Negotiations of the CCD. Linkoping Studies in Arts and Science no. 191 Linkoping.

CullisA WatsonC.2004.Winners and Losers: Privatising the commons in Botswana. Briefing Paper International Institute for Environment and Development and Resource Conflict Institute London.

Cunningham PL, 1998, Potential wood biomass suitable for charcoal production in Namibia. Directorate of Agricultural Research and Training, Namibia, Agri‐Info, 4, 4

DahlG HjortA.1976.Having herds: Pastoral herd growth and household economy. Stockholm Studies in Social Anthropology 2 University of Stockholm Stockholm.

10.1016/0195-9255(96)00003-0

Dougill AJ, 2002, Sustainable Livelihoods in Kalahari Environments, 91, 10.1093/oso/9780198234197.003.0005

10.1111/0004-5608.00156

10.1111/j.1477-9552.2006.00051.x

10.1016/S0921-8009(01)00167-7

10.1016/0305-750X(95)00026-9

Field D, 1978, A Handbook of Basic Ecology for Veld Management in Botswana

10.1579/0044-7447-31.5.437

Forester J, 1999, The Deliberative Practitioner

10.1016/S0016-7185(96)00020-6

10.1016/j.jenvman.2005.04.009

Fynn RWS, 2000, Effect of stocking rate and rainfall on rangeland dynamics and cattle performance in a semi‐arid savanna, South Africa Journal of Applied Ecology, 37, 491, 10.1046/j.1365-2664.2000.00513.x

10.1300/J064v21n01_06

10.2307/143889

Government of Botswana.2002.National Action Programme to combat desertification[Online]. [Accessed 04/05/05]. Available on World Wide Web at: <http://www.unccd.int/actionprogrammes/africa/national/2001/botswana‐eng.pdf>

10.1126/science.162.3859.1243

Hendzel, 1981, Range Management Handbook for Botswana

Hitchcock RK, 2002, Sustainable Livelihoods in Kalahari Environments, 221

Horn BE, 2002, Management of rangeland livestock under drought, Annals of Arid Zone, 41, 1

10.1016/S0308-521X(98)00025-0

JonesBTB.2003.Using wildlife and tourism for the diversification of rangeland use in Namibia. InProceedings of the VIIth International Rangelands Congress 26th July–1st August Durban South Africa Allsopp N Palmer AR Milton SJ Kirkman KP Kerley GIH Hurt CR Brown CJ (eds).1635–1643.

10.1080/08941920600663896

10.2307/2258773

Kolb DA, 1984, Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development

Kothari U, 2001, Participation: The New Tyranny?, 139

10.5751/ES-00131-030203

Leeuwis C, 2002, Wheelbarrows Full of Frogs: Social Learning in Rural Resource Management

10.1111/1467-7717.00201

10.3362/9781780445649

10.1177/0308275X9901900304

10.1126/science.284.5412.278

10.1002/casp.774

10.1006/jare.1996.0086

10.1002/ldr.3400040307

Perkins JS, 2002, Sustainable Livelihoods in Kalahari Environments, 66

Powell NS, 1994, Participatory Land Use Planning: Methods Development Incorporating the Needs and Aspirations of Indigenous Peoples in Natural Resource Management. A Case from Eastern Bushmanland, Namibia

QuanJ BartonD ConroyC.1994.A Preliminary Assessment of the Economic Impact of Desertification in Namibia. DEA Research Discussion Paper 3 Directorate of Environmental Affairs Ministry of Agriculture Water and Rural Development Namibia.

10.1111/1475-4959.00050

10.1016/j.ecolecon.2005.11.008

Rennie JK, 1996, Participatory Research for Sustainable Livelihoods: A Guidebook for Field Projects

Robbins PF, 2002, Global Desertification: Do Humans Cause Deserts?

Rogers EM, 1995, Diffusion of Innovations

10.1016/j.envsci.2005.11.009

Rothauge A, 1998, Drought management in Namibia Part II: Anticipatory Management, Directorate of Agricultural Research and Training, Namibia, Agri‐Info, 4, 8

10.1080/08941920390178874

ScogingsP.2003.Impacts of ruminants on woody plants in African savannas: An overview. InProceedings of the VIIth International Rangelands Congress 26th July–1st August Durban South Africa Allsopp N Palmer AR Milton SJ Kirkman KP Kerley GIH Hurt CR Brown CJ (eds);955–957.

Scoones I, 1993, Range Ecology at Disequilibrium: New Models of Natural Vulnerability and Pastoral adaptation in African Savannas

10.3362/9781780445335

Smit GN, 1999, Veld Managmenet in South Africa

Sporton D, 2002, Sustainable Livelihoods in Kalahari Environments, 10.1093/oso/9780198234197.001.0001

Sullivan S, 2000, Political Ecology: Science, Myth and Power

Suyanto S, 2004, The role of fire in changing land use and livelihoods in riau‐sumatra, Ecology and Society, 9, U150, 10.5751/ES-00632-090115

Swift J, 1975, Pastoralism in Tropical Africa, 443

Tabor R, 1994, Traditional Woodland Crafts

Tainton N, 1999, Veld Management in South Africa

TaylorMJ. In press.Rangeland tenure and pastoral development in Botswana: Is there a future for community based management?Commons Southern Africa Breaking New Ground: Approaches to People‐Centred Natural Resource Management for Development in Southern Africa. Centre for Applied Social Sciences/Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies University of Zimbabwe and University of Western Cape.

TaylorMJ.2003.Trajectories in Community Based Natural Resource Management in southern Africa.Proceedings of the Arid Climate Adaptation and Cultural Innovation in Africa Conference University of Cologne 1–3 October.

10.1006/jare.1997.0293

10.1002/1099-145X(200007/08)11:4<327::AID-LDR395>3.0.CO;2-V

10.1080/00725560.1974.9648722

Trollope WSW, 1989, Veld Management in the Eastern Cape, 67

Trollope WSW, 1992, Prestige Farmers Day Proceedings 1991–1992, 8

TrollopeWSW DondofemaF.2003.Role of fire continuous browsing and grazing in controlling bush encroachment in the arid savannas of the eastern cape province in South Africa. InProceedings of the VIIth International Rangelands Congress 26th July–1st August Durban South Africa Allsopp N Palmer AR Milton SJ Kirkman KP Kerley GIH Hurt CR Brown CJ. (eds);408–411.

10.1080/03056240108704500

UNCCD, 1994, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

UNCED, 1992, Agenda 21 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development

UNEP, 1997, World atlas of desertification

van der Walt P, 1999, The Kalahari and its Plants

10.1006/jare.1998.0407

Waters‐BayerA BayerW CritchleyW.2003.Anything new in the rangelands? Participatory approaches to innovation by pastoralists. InProceedings of the VIIth International Rangelands Congress 26th July–1st August Durban South Africa Allsopp N Palmer AR Milton SJ Kirkman KP Kerley GIH Hurt CR Brown CJ. (eds);1780–1790.

10.1023/A:1026570218977

10.1111/j.1467-7660.1982.tb00117.x

White R, 1993, Livestock Development and Pastoral Production on Communal Rangeland in Botswana

10.1016/S0305-750X(02)00030-X

ZimmermannI Mwazi1FN ZensiP.2003.Application of goat pressure after fire aimed at controlling bush thickening in the mountain savanna of Namibia. InProceedings of the VIIth International Rangelands Congress 26th July–1st August Durban South Africa Allsopp N Palmer AR Milton SJ Kirkman KP Kerley GIH Hurt CR Brown CJ. (eds);981–983.

Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Land Degradation and Development

Tập 18 Số 3

249-268

Thông tin tác giả