Bibliography: Land Degradation in South Africa project

DESERTIFICATION ASSESSMENT; VEGETATION CHANGE; DESSICATION; VELD MANAGEMENT;

NAMA KAROO; SUCCULENT KAROO

Ref ID : 1195

753. Deshingkar, P. Integrating gender concerns into natural resource management

policies in South Africa.Anonymous Stockholm, Sweden:Stockholm Environment

Institute. :1-22, 1995. The purpose of this.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : POLICY; FOREST; RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Notes : The purpose of this report is to bring an international perspective to

bear upon the debate on gender and natural resources in SA and to highlight

issues for consideration during the formulation of policy. By and large natural

resource management programmes in developing countries have failed to address

the needs of women and involve them in the planning, implementation and

evaluation of projects. This is largely due to ignorance about the gender

differences in the ownership of assets and access to resources. However, recent

environmental literature is replete with examples of successful initiatives

where rural women have participated in projects to change their lives and

enhance the natural resource base. There is no single formula for success and

these projects have varied tremendously in the way they are organised and

managed. Some of these examples have been cited in the following pages. It is

not suggested that the design of these projects is necessarily applicable to SA,

nor is it suggested that they should simply be transplanted directly. Rather,

they are cited as examples which illustrate the importance of being aware of

gender issues for effective formulation of policy. Many of the general beliefs

about gender and natural resources are indeed borne out by the situation

encountered in SA. For example, men and women have distinct roles and rights in

the use and management of natural resources. As opposed to men, the lives of a

majority of women in rural and peri-urban areas of SA are linked intimately with

their natural environment in the course of their daily activities. Women are

responsible for providing food, water and fuel (survival tasks); preparing food

and caring for children (household tasks) and income generating activities such

as trading of forest products. At the same time they are poor and face many

legal and cultural obstacles which deny them the rights to own and control

natural resources. There are two important features which make SA a special

case in the context of gender and natural resources. First, the relationship of

rural women and their environment has been artificially distorted over the

apartheid years. Decades of forced removals, relocation and crowding of rural

black people into the bantustands or homelands has exacerbated pressures on

fragile environments. Second, the focus of apartheid on the white economy meant

that the rural and peri-urban sectors were almost completely ignored. In

general, there is very little understanding of the constraints faced by real and

peri-urban people in using and managing natural resources. The particular

problems faced by women in the underlying historical and social processes are

even less well understood. The research for this report was conducted just

before the first democratic elections in SA. Persons invovled in rural

development, particularly researchers working on policy-related subjects, were

under tremedous work pressure. Hence discussions with many of them were not as

detailed as one would have liked. Despite these limitations, the available

environmental literature and discussions have helped to construct a picture

(albeit incomplete) of the gender dynamics of natural resource use and

management in SA. Due to the time constraints on this study only selected

natural resources, namely land, trees and water have been dealt with in depth.

However, it is hoped that the general poicy recommendations presented at the end

of the report will be applicable to a range of natural resources. What is clear

is that any attempt to manage the natural resource base in SA in a sustainable

manner will succeed only if: (1) Interventions are informed by the gender

dynamics of natural resource use and management; (2) Women are empowered -

through confidence building, education and training - to take control of their

lives; (3) Women are economically liberated through legal reform and income-

generating influences; and (4) There is a simultaneous change in the values of

society away from the subordination of women. In other words, natural resource

policies to help women cannot be pursued in isolation. Unless they are

accompanied by wider changes in society and the economy, they are not likely to

succeed. The report is divided into five parts. The first part provides a

brief overview of the debate on gender and natural resources. The second part

contains a discussion on the use and management of different natural resources

such as trees, crops, water and land. This section also cites examples of

experiments which have been successful in the sustainable management of natural

resources and empowerment of women. The third section discusses the constraints

and opportunities facing rural women in taking control of their own lives and

ameliorating problems of natural resource management and availability. The

fourth section summarises the findings of this study. Finally the fifth section

sets out general principles for policy formulation.

Ref ID : 1504

754. Deshmukh, I.K. A common relationship between precipitation and grassland

peak for East and Southern Africa. African Journal of Ecology 22(3):181-

186, 1984.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : GRASSLAND; SOUTHERN AFRICA; RAINFALL

Ref ID : 2461

755. Development Planning Associates Report to accompany map on distribution of

agricultural land and land use.Anonymous Dhone Agricultural Development Research

Institute. , 1994.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : MAPS; LAND USE; CISKEI; EASTERN CAPE; FOREST; AGRICULTURAL

DEVELOPMENT; AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION; GRAZING EFFECTS

Notes : The purpose of the study was to redress the limitations in the data on

land use categories in the former Ciskei by examining all uses of land for

agricultural purposes and to provide the most up-to-date information thereon.

The study was conducted by examining topocadastral map sheets at 1:250 000 and

1:500 000, topographic sheets at 1:50 000, 1:30 000 vertical aerial photography,

1:10 000 orthophoto maps, a sequence of scenes from Landsat images and the

review of various reports on land use in the Eastern Cape in general and the

Ciskei in particular. The general distribution of the various land types in the

former Ciskei is shown on an accompanying 1:250 000 map sheet. The land was

broadly classified into five major land types namely, arable land, extensive

grazing land, dissected and broken terrain only suitable for rough grazing land,

national parks and state forests, and mountains. There is very little Class "A"

land in the former Ciskei. The study further reports on changes in land use,

most especially the ubiquitous trend of people utilizing grazing and non-arable

land for crop production. The report contains information on land areas per

magisterial district covered by land unit. This report is obtainable from the

Dhone Agricultural Development Research Institute. See also ID ref. no. 2339.

Ref ID : 2462

756. Dewar, D. Planning for the rural-urban interface: A case study of

Transkei.Anonymous Port Elizabeth:University of Port Elizabeth. , 1994.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : TRANSKEI; SETTLEMENT IMPACTS; INSTITUTIONAL ASPECTS

Notes : To identify broad settlement types in Transkei and conceptualise these

in terms which are useful to the management. The method for the study consisted

of literature review, statistical analysis, field observations and interviews.

The findings show that development problems of peripheral areas such as the

Transkei are growing and that there is an increasing dislocation or imbalance

between the emerging settlement pattern and the maximisation of development

opportunities. There are a number of institutional issues that were identified

as stumbling blocks to development and these are institutional gaps and

imbalances in the management of the largest towns and the need to release some

strategic land parcels from tribal systems of allocation and control. This

report is available at the University of Port Elizabeth. See also ID ref. no.

2339.

Ref ID : 945

757. Dikeni, L., Moorhead, R., and Scoones, I. Land use and environmental policy

in the rangelands of South Africa: case studies from the Free State and Northern

Province. Working Paper 38.Anonymous Witwatersrand:LAPC. :1-60, 1996.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : LAND USE; ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY; FREE STATE; NORTHERN PROVINCE; VELD

MANAGEMENT; POLICY; CARRYING CAPACITY; LAND DEGRADATION; CONSERVATION

Notes : This brief and limited study highlights how, in many ways, the

challenges of policy in the eastern Free State and the Northern Province lowveld

are different. Clearly different ecologies, different histories, different

economic conditions and different people, mean that different policies will be

appropriate for different places. However, it is striking that a number of

themes which emerged appeared to be common to both sites. The cross-cutting of

themes of carrying capacity and land degradation, risk management and

livelihoods, economic and livelihood units, tenure and property rights,

protected areas and conservation options and community approaches discussed in

this report, appear to be central to the rangeland use policy debate in both

areas.

Ref ID : 1189

758. Dillon, R. The creation of an individual resource base: a Free State case

study. In: Proceedings of the international conference on land tenure in the

developing world with a focus on Southern Africa, held at the University of Cape

Town, 27-29 January 1998, edited by Barry, M.Cape Town:Department of Geomatics,

University of Cape Town, 1998,p. 126-134.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : LAND REFORM; POVERTY; FREE STATE

Abstract : The land reform programme in SA began with furious activity and

enthusiasm. The initial land redistribution projects, mostly within the pilot

areas, all focused on collective or communally owned projects involving land.

The critics were soon shouting. The major outcry from the agricultural sector

was that these projects were unsustainable, were focused on obtaining grant

money, would lead to poverty traps and ultimately land degradation. The focus

of land reform, they argued, should be the creation of commercial farmers much

like the status quo. The outcry from the small farmer sector was that there was

no way for resource poor farmers to access land. The grant was too small to buy

commercial farms in the market and size of these farms was too large for the

immediate needs of someone owning 10 to 20 head of livestock. The Rural

Strategy Unit, an article 21 company of the Free State goverment, took the

challenge further. They argued that ownership of an individual resource base is

the first step in the creation of a functioning land market which in turn is an

important contributor to rural development. What was further challenged, was the

notion that all farms have to fit the criteria of the outdated Act 70 of 1970.

The creation of well-conceived guidelines and norms for the development and/or

subdivision of agricultural land to satisfy some political objectives of the new

government are discussed. The findings of two test cases from the Eastern Free

State are presented within the framework of how they were developed, what

problems were experienced and how these cases may contribute to land

redistribution in the future. Of particular interest are the norms used to

subdivide the farms and the selection process used to identify the

beneficiaries.

Ref ID : 2348

759. Dinga, A.N. The impact of a non-governmental organisation on the promotion

of improved agricultural practices in the Umtata District, Transkei. 1987.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : TRANSKEI; METHODOLOGIES; FORESTRY; INSTITUTIONAL ASPECTS; RURAL

DEVELOPMENT; AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION; AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

Notes : The aim of the study was to establish the impact of non-governmental

organisations (NGOs) called rural training centres on the promotion of the

production of Transkei's stable food, and its production practices, namely maize

at the local level. The methodology involved the collection and compilation of

both primary and secondary data. The primary data collection process invovled

an interview questionnaire, which was administered to respondents. For the

desktop secondary data collection process individuals and group conservationists

were held as well as information obtained from the planning division of the

Agriculture and Forestry services. The findings revealed that the impact of the

rural centres in improved maize production technologies can be effectively

measured if these centres can set a priority for literacy classes since 62% of

the respondents were considered as illiterates in terms of years of schooling.

This dissertation can be found at the Document Centre, Agriculture (UFH). See

ref. I.D. no: 2339.

Ref ID : 1369

760. Directorate Communication Publications available from the resource centre.

Pretoria:National Department of Agriculture. , 1998.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : BIBLIOGRAPHY

Notes : The list contains both free and priced publications published by the

National Department of Agriculture.

Ref ID : 2401

761. Dlulane, N.B. The diffusion of maize growing practices in Maqhingeni

Administrative Area of Libode District in Transkei. 1990.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : TRANSKEI; LABOUR; AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION; SOCIOECONOMIC ASPECTS;

AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION; POLITICAL ASPECTS

Notes : The objectives of this study were to: 1. determine the rate of diffusion

and adoption of four maize practices; 2. determine the influence of personal

factors on the diffusion of information from the source to the farmer; 3.

determine the influence of socio-psychological factors on the diffusion of

information from the source to the farmer; 4. determine the influence of

extension contact and communication channels on the diffusion of maize

production innovations from the source to the farmer; and 5. make suggestions in

order to improve process. The data for the study was collected by means of a

structured questionnaire. The findings indicated a lack of extension contact,

which has retarded the process of diffusion in the area. During the period of

decline in extension contact, informal opinion leaders played a significant role

in the diffusion process. They shared not only information, but also in many

cases, inputs. Migrant labour also had an influence on the diffusion process.

The recommendation is made that the communication media used in the diffusion

process should be used in parallel, more frequently. This thesis is obtainable

from the Document Centre, Agriculture, UFH. See ref. I.D. no: 2339.

Ref ID : 2341

762. Dodson, B. Falling on stony ground: soil conservation in 1940's South

Africa. Paper to be presented at 'African Environments Past and Present'

conference held at St. Anthony's College, Oxford, 5 - 8 July 1999.Anonymous

Anonymous Oxford:St. Anthony's College. , 1999. This paper examines the history

of soil conservation in South Africa in the 1940s. It focuses on official

conservation efforts, seeking not simply to reconstruct a chronology of

legislation, policy and practice, but to locate soil conservation in the social,

political and economic framework by which it was supported and informed. The

decade contained a number of landmark events. The end of the Second World War

ushered in a new era, and environmental concerns formed part of the post-war

social and economic reconstruction here as elsewhere. In South Africa itself,

this was a politically tumultuous period, culminating in the election of a

National Party government in 1948. In the field of soil conservation, 1940s

South Africa saw a tour by "Big Hugh" Bennett of the US Soil Conservation

Service, the passing of the 1946 Soil Conservation Act, and the establishment of

the National Veld Trust. As the records show, soil conservation has always been

as much a function of political economy as of physical ecology. Underpinning

(or, in truth, undermining) the government's conservation efforts was their

policy of race-based segregation. This meant grossly inequitable land

distribution as well as institutional duplication, with responsibility for soil

conservation falling to the Department of Agriculture in 'white' farming areas

and the Department of Native Affairs in 'native' areas. Indeed soil

conservation was itself marshalled as an argument justifying segregationist

policies. Rather than being simply either a straightforward response to the

physical problem of soil erosion or a local manifestation of conservationist

ideology, soil conservation was more strongly shaped by other social, economic

and political agendas.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : SOIL CONSERVATION; CONSERVATION; LEGISLATION; POLICY; SOIL EROSION;

EROSION; SOUTHERN AFRICA; SOCIOECONOMIC ASPECTS; POLITICAL ASPECTS;

ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY; ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY; INSTITUTIONAL ASPECTS

Ref ID : 442

763. Dollar, E.S. and Rowntree, K. Sediment sources, hydroclimatic trends and

geomorphic responses in a mountainous catchment, north eastern Cape, South

Africa. Unpublished paper presented at Conference "Soil Erosion and Degradation

as a Result of Land Use Practices" IGU Study group on Mediterranean Erosion,

Cape Town, February 1994. 1994.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : SOIL EROSION; SEDIMENTATION; HYDROMETEOROLOGY; GEOMORPHOLOGY; EASTERN

CAPE; LAND USE

Ref ID : 1127

764. Dollar, E.S.J. and Goudie, A.S. Environmental change. In: Geography of

South Africa in a changing world, edited by Fox, R.C. and Rowntree, K.M.Cape

Town:Oxford University Press, 1998,p. 1-37.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : CLIMATE CHANGE; DESERTIFICATION ASSESSMENT; VEGETATION CHANGE;

PALAEOENVIRONMENTS; SOIL EROSION

Notes : Research into environmental change has been led by physical and

biological scientists, while only lip-service has been paid to the social

sciences. Human-induced environmental changes have everything to do with socio-

economic and political factors. More attention needs to be paid to the socio-

economic and political causes of environmental change if these problems are to

be tackled. Technocratic scientific approaches to the problem answer only a

small part of the problem. Furthermore, it has been shown in this chapter that

environmental change is a natural process. In fact, natural environmental

change is placed in its correct context, that is to say, environmental change is

a natural process, that has been impacted on by human influence, that not all

environmental change is negative, and that environmental degradation, especially

in developing nations, is often driven by socio-economic and political reasons

over which the developing nations have very little control.

Ref ID : 180

765. Donaldson, C. Bush encroachment menaces Karoo. Karoo Region Newsletter :16-

17, 1987.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : BUSH ENCROACHMENT; PRODUCTION POTENTIAL; VELD CONDITION; KAROO

DESERTIFICATION; NAMA KAROO; EASTERN CAPE

Notes : The working group on Chemical Control of Veld Invaders, established in

1983, comprises core representatives from the Plant Protection Research

Institute, the Department of Agriculture and Water Supply and commercial

chemical companies. It meets annually, the venue being rotated among the

various regions. The 1987 meeting was held recently in the Eastern Cape at Port

Alfred. The theme was "The control and economics of bush encroachment in the

Eastern Cape". The writer of this article was asked to give a talk on bush

encroachment. Millions of hectares of formerly and potentially good grazing

land of the Karoo Region are infested with worthless shrub. He concluded that

most woody plants can be effectively controlled by known methods of control.

Bush clearing and conversion to grassveld is, however, proceeding very slowly,

mainly owing to ecnomic implications.

Ref ID : 1269

766. Donaldson, C.H. Bush encroachment with special reference to the Blackthorn

problem of the Molopo area.Anonymous Pretoria:Department of Agricultural

Technical Services. :1-xx, 1969. The encroachment of blackthorn (Acacia

mellifera subsp. detinens) into the veld of the Molopo ranching area is

threatening the cattle industry of this area. Events leading up to the bush

encroachment problem of the area are discussed. The factors of the environment

of the Molopo area, namely topography, soils, vegetation and climate are

described. An account of the distribution of blackthorn and a description of

this species is presented. Investigations into the micro-environment and

ecology of plants reveal the following: (1) The mean summer air temperatures at

grass height were up to four degrees Fahrenheit higher in bushveld than in open

grassveld. (2) Blackthorn had an ameliorating effect on the fertility of the

soil underneath its canopy spread. (3) A medium-size plant produced in a normal

season about 12,000 seeds. Apprxoimately 0.5 per cent of the seeds survived

destruction from rain water. Seed dispersal, by winds, and ecesis is mainly

restricted to a zone around the parent plant. Two per cent of the seeds

ingested by cattle ultimately germinated in the laboratory. (4) Rainfall

interception investigations revealed that about 50% of the rain falling on the

foliage of blackthorn was intercepted by the leaves and stems of the plant and

concentrated around the base of the trunk. Soil moisture penetration in the

zone adjacent to the base of the plant was three and a half times greater than