Perceptions of the natural environment from a rural African perspective: a case of Cylondropuntia fulgida var. fulgida in Gwanda district, Zimbabwe

Dube, Nqobizitha; Snowball, Jeanette D; Fraser, Gavin C G

Title: Perceptions of the natural environment from a rural African perspective: a case of Cylondropuntia fulgida var. fulgida in Gwanda district, Zimbabwe
Creator: Dube, Nqobizitha
Creator: Snowball, Jeanette D
Creator: Fraser, Gavin C G
Date Issued: 2015
Date: 2015
Type: text
Type: article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68578
Identifier: vital:29289
Identifier: http://2015.essa.org.za/fullpaper/essa_2994.pdf
Description: Publisher version
Description: Community environmental perceptions are instrumental in environmental management programmes given that perspectives govern human-environment relations. Despite numerous studies on environmental perceptions, little is known about how the rural poor particularly in Africa conceptualize, live with, and respond to pressing environmental issues facing them. As such, this paper uses the case of an invasive alien plant (IAP) (Cylindropuntia fulgida var. fulgida (Cff)) in a rural community (Gwanda district, Zimbabwe) to unveil the conceptualisation of the natural environment from a rural African perspective. This paper discloses the environmental worldview of the community and explains the formulation of the attitudes by the local households towards species in the environment. The study uses two horizontal dimensions of environmental attitudes formulation (New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) Scale and Kellet’s (1996) classification of environmental values). Data was collected using a questionnaire survey, group discussions and key informant interviews. A sample of 156 individuals comprised the study respondents. Results showed the residents of rural Gwanda district to hold both a conservation and utilisation conviction (syncretic view) towards the environment. However, utilisation outweighs conservation. Furthermore, older residents are more inclined to conservation in comparison to the youth. The study also divulged that the origin of a species in the natural environment was insignificant to the host community. However, the livelihood effects that species had (regardless of origins) were the major determinants of attitudes developed towards it.
Format: 23 pages
Format: pdf
Publisher: Economic Society of South Africa (ESSA)
Language: English
Relation: Economic Society of South Africa (ESSA)
Relation: Dube, N., Snowball, J., Fraser, G. (2015) Perceptions of the natural environment from a rural African perspective: a case of Cylondropuntia fulgida var. fulgida in Gwanda district, Zimbabwe . Economic Society of South Africa (ESSA), 2994 (1-23)
Relation: Economic Society of South Africa (ESSA) volume 2994 number 1 23 2015
Rights: Copyright held by the Authors
Rights: Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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