Using Citizen Science to Protect Natural Untreated Drinking Water Sources: Natural Springs in Rural Catchments and B3 Municipalities in the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Mtati, Nosi , Chetty, Preven , Norman, Yondela , Mvulane, Paulose , Libala, Notiswa , Weaver, Matthew J T , Wolff, Margaret M , Cockburn, Jessica J , Mazibuko, Thembalani
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/425732 , vital:72279 , ISBN 978-0-6392-0550-2 , https://wrcwebsite.azurewebsites.net/wp-content/uploads/mdocs/3097 final.pdf
- Description: Citizen science is a well-known mechanism used by researchers to col-lect scientific data working together with citizens. It can also be used by interested and concerned citizens (social activists regarding environ-mental threats) to protect natural occurring things like biodiversity, rare species that are threatened extension and much more. It can be a natu-ral occurring process that evolves with time but it can also have some guidelines of how to monitor, collect, analyse and disseminate data. In this project we used participatory action research processes to co-develop tools (co-create being one of the types of citizen science) with local communities, using their knowledge of their area to monitor and protect natural springs. Springs are useful for providing drinking water for people but also for livestock. In rural areas and small towns where service delivery is not reliable, natural occurring water sources become the reliable supply for these communities. Springs also provide ecosys-tem services as they are a keystone ecological infrastructure. These natural water sources can be threatened by pollution, especially that of livestock which is mostly unattended, because they are sometimes shared by people and animals. This poses health risks to the users. This study co-developed the “spring protection and sustainable use” tool/s that can be used to guide communities and local government on how to protect these important water sources. Citizen science also cre-ates opportunities for learning to take place among the participants as well as the researchers involved.
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- Date Issued: 2023
A relational approach to landscape stewardship: Towards a new perspective for multi-actor collaboration
- Authors: Cockburn, Jessica J , Rosenberg, Eureta , Copteros, Athina , Cornelius, Susanna F , Libala, Notiswa , Metcalfe, Liz , Van der Waal, Benjamin C W
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/370098 , vital:66297 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.3390/land9070224"
- Description: Landscape stewardship is increasingly understood within the framing of complex social-ecological systems. To consider the implications of this, we focus on one of the key characteristics of complex social-ecological systems: they are relationally constituted, meaning that system characteristics emerge out of dynamic relations between system components. We focus on multi-actor collaboration as a key form of relationality in landscapes, seeking a more textured understanding of the social relations between landscape actors. We draw on a set of ‘gardening tools’ to analyse the boundary-crossing work of multi-actor collaboration. These tools comprise three key concepts: relational expertise, common knowledge, and relational agency. We apply the tools to two cases of landscape stewardship in South Africa: the Langkloof Region and the Tsitsa River catchment. These landscapes are characterised by economically, socio-culturally, and politically diverse groups of actors. Our analysis reveals that history and context strongly influence relational processes, that boundary-crossing work is indeed difficult, and that doing boundary-crossing work in smaller pockets within a landscape is helpful. The tools also helped to identify three key social-relational practices which lend a new perspective on boundary-crossing work: 1. belonging while differing, 2. growing together by interacting regularly and building common knowledge, and 3. learning and adapting together with humility and empathy.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Exploring and expanding transdisciplinary research for sustainable and just natural resource management
- Authors: Finca, Andiswa , Wolff, Margaret G , Cockburn, Jessica J , de Wet, Christopher J , Bezerra, Joana C , Weaver, Matthew J T , de Vos, Alta , Ralekhetla, Mateboho M , Libala, Notiswa , Mkabile, Qawekazi B , Odume, Oghenekaro N , Palmer, Carolyn G
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/416307 , vital:71337 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11077-240414"
- Description: Transdisciplinarity is gaining acceptance in sustainability science research as an approach to work across disparate types of knowledge and practices in order to tackle complex social-ecological problems. On paper, transdisciplinarity appears to be substantially helpful, but in practice, participants may remain voiceless and disadvantaged. In this paper, we retrospectively investigate four case studies using recent design principles for transdisciplinary research, to explore a deeper understanding of the practical successes and failures of transdisciplinary research engagement. We show that the transdisciplinary way of working is time consuming, challenging, and insists that researchers and participants contribute reflexively. Careful attention to research design and methodology is central. The acceptance that complexity renders knowledge provisional, and complete honesty about the purpose of the research are critical to building relationships between researchers and participants. Gaining an understanding of the values people hold influences the research process and the possible outcomes toward sustainable and just natural resource management. We suggest that in order to enable sustainable and just natural resource management, transdisciplinary research should include values and ethics in the design, implementation, and reporting of projects.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Using a social-ecological systems approach to investigate hillslope seep wetlands ecosystem structure and functionality in the Tsitsa River catchment, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Libala, Notiswa
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Wetland management -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Wetland ecology -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Wetland conservation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Slopes (Physical geography) -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Vegetation management -- South Africa -- Tsitsa River Catchment , Land degradation -- Control -- South Africa -- Tsitsa River Catchment , Grazing -- Environmental aspects -- South Africa -- Tsitsa River Catchment , Ecosystem management -- South Africa -- Tsitsa River Catchment , Wetland plants -- Effect of grazing on
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/115936 , vital:34270
- Description: Wetlands are critical ecosystems that can provide services of great social, economic and environmental value to the society. Yet, in South Africa, hillslope seep wetlands are among the most threatened ecosystems due to human-induced activities and are disappearing rapidly. Further, despite the potential vulnerability of hillslope seep wetland to disturbances, and their criticality in relation to all year round provision of forage for livestock grazing, they are among the most poorly studied wetland systems. Using a social-ecological system framing, and drawing on a range of ecological and social sciences methods, this study shed light on ways in which an integrative approach can contribute to sustainable utilisation of hillslope seep wetlands in the Tsitsa River catchment in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The study specific objectives were to i) evaluate the performance of Floristic Quality Assessment Index (FQAI), WET-Health and Floristic Assessment Quotient for Wetlands Index (FQAWet) indices for assessing hillslope seep wetlands ecological health ii) develop a trait-based approach for assessing the potential resilience and vulnerability of hillslope seep wetland plant species to disturbances, iii) assess the role of hillslope seep wetlands in the local communities in relation to livestock, and explore understanding of local people about the value of hillslope seep wetlands, iv) demonstrate collaborative insights emerging from an integrative social-ecological system research process to inform sustainable management of hillslope seep wetlands. A total of 11 hillslope seep wetlands were visually classified based on the level of erosion. Plant species composition within the wetlands was determined along a 100 m line transects across the hillslope wetland sites. 5 quadrats of 0.2m2 were also placed along transect for vegetation collection and cover. The plant species collected were used to calculate (FQAI) and FQAWet scores to evaluate the condition of hillslope seep wetlands. The degree of human disturbances was assessed using the Anthropogenic Activity Index (AAI), an index for qualitatively assessing the degree of human disturbance based on visual inspection of a wetland site. Factors represented in the AAI, include: (i) surrounding land use intensity; (ii) soil disturbance; (iii) hydrological alteration; (iv) habitat alteration within wetland; (v) vegetation community quality. The vegetation samples were collected in summer 2016 and winter 2017. All assessed indices were regressed against AAI to evaluate their performances. All assessed indices FQAI, FQAWet and WET-Health showed that hillslope seep wetland were impacted by human activities. FQAIall and WET-Health showed the strongest response to AAI in winter, while FQAIdom and FAQWet showed a weak response to AAI in all seasons. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that FQAIall and WET-Health are potentially better tools for assessing the biological conditions of hillslope seep wetland in South Africa. A novel trait-based approach was developed using seven plant traits and 27 trait attributes. Based on the developed approach, plant species were grouped into three potentially vulnerable groups in relation to grazing pressure. It was then predicted that species belonging to the highly vulnerable group would be less dominant at the highly disturbed sites, as well as in the winter season when grazing pressure is at its highest. The result corresponds largely with the seasonal predictions; however this was not the case for sites. The approach developed in this study worked and it was useful for predicting the potential responses of plant species in hillslope seep wetlands to grazing pressure. The success of the approach seasonally could be attributed to the careful selection of the traits, reflecting the mechanistic relationship between the grazing mode of stress on vegetation and trait-mediated biotic response. However, this still need to be refined using accurate vegetation cover methods that might have had impact on the lack of correspondence within sites. The results of the present study revealed that communities largely perceive hillslope seep wetlands as important ecosystems for their livelihoods. They recognise that the importance stems from services provided by the wetlands, particularly for livestock grazing during the dry season. Although hillslope seep wetlands are viewed as important ecosystems for livelihoods, the communities also perceive these wetlands as highly eroded ecosystems. Community members indicate willingness to strengthen local natural resource governance systems, which could lead to better management of hillslope seep wetlands. A range of protective strategies for hillslope seep were suggested by community members, including fencing, active herding and rotational grazing. The study suggests that active involvement of local communities is critical to the successful management of natural resources. The study highlights the need to consider the role of local people as influential components within social-ecological systems in order to promote effective management and conservation interventions of hillslope seep wetlands. Overall, the study highlights the criticality of an integrative social-ecological system approach for holistic management of hillslope seep wetlands within the studied catchment.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Bush encroachment in the semi-arid communal grazing lands of Eastern Cape and farmer's perception of causes and livelihood impacts
- Authors: Libala, Notiswa
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Communal rangelands--South Africa--Eastern Cape Grazing--South Africa--Eastern Cape egetation management--South Africa--Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , Pasture Science
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11817 , vital:39109
- Description: The study was conducted in two communal rangelands of the Eastern Cape Province (Thorn and Mixed bush veld). The objective of the study was to investigate 1) the historical trends of bush encroachment, causes and impacts based on indigenous knowledge and perceptions of the communal people in two savannah vegetation types and 2) to determine the density and cover of woody species in the grazing areas. In each veld type, two villages were selected purposefully. A total of 120 households who own livestock were randomly selected from the four communal areas and a total of 48 elders were selected to provide information on bush encroachment and rangeland condition. For woody density and cover, grazing areas surrounding two homesteads (settlements) were selected from each communal rangeland, Two long transects radiating in the opposite direction from each homestead were established. The woody vegetation survey was conducted at 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800 and 900m distance from each homestead. In each distance, 3 (10 m x 10 m) quadrates were laid to record individual woody plant species, the height, basal stem and canopy diameters. Woody species were classified into seedlings (>0 - 1 m), saplings (>1 - 1.5 m), young shrubs (>1.5 - 2.0 m), mature shrubs (>2 - 3.0 m) and mature trees (>3.0 m). The average household size in of goat was higher than that of other livestock species. A total of 40 woody plant species were identified in all study areas. Acacia karoo, Coddia rudis and Scutia myrtina were the most dominant woody species in all study areas. Most of the woody plant species had the highest abundance in the height class >0 - 1 m. The average total woody plant density in Thorn bush and Mixed bush were 3461 and 2416 number ha-1, respectively. In conclusion both study areas were highly encroached and it was also perceived by elder from both areas that bush encroachment is a problem in the rangelands.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015