Bibliography: Land Degradation in South Africa project

incentives for rural groupings to engage in collective action and appropriate

structures of authority. However, these can be addressed in large part by

approaching common property problems with an adequate understanding of the

central issues involved and by making institutional development a central

concern of development agencies. Central to this understanding must be a

disaggregation of 'community' and an analysis of competing interests within

essentially political process. The influence of ecological dynamics is another

crucial factor to take into account. The argument has been developed largely

through an examination of relevant literature of a theoretical nature, and of

lessons from the wider African context. How can these lessons be applied in SA,

and what modifications and adaptations will this require? These challenging

questions require a response from both theory and practice. Some affiliates of

the National Land Committee, a non-governmental body, have begun to take up the

practical challenge and soon those government departments responsible for land

reform and rural development will be engaged in similar processes. The

conceptual framework outlined in this paper may help to inform these

interventions and over time practice may inform the development of a set of more

finely tuned and locally appropriate analytical tools.

Ref ID : 1020

643. Cousins, B. Range management and land reform policy in post-apartheid South

Africa. Paper presented at the Vth International Rangeland Congress. 1995.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : LAND REFORM; COMMUNAL AREA; POLICY; VELD MANAGEMENT; STOCKING RATE;

NORTHERN CAPE

Abstract : South Africa's post-apartheid government is planning an ambitious

programme of land reform. Policies should be informed by a sound understanding

of livestock systems found in black rural areas at present. Central features

include the multiple functions of livestock; high stocking rates and their

maintenance through opportunistic strategies; a differentiated social structure;

and politicised forms of communal tenure. Recent thinking in range ecology

suggests that policy should enhance tracking of environmental variation and

flexible tenure regimes. This will be difficult to achieve, but participatory

approaches show promise. This is illustrated by a case study of range

management planning in Leliefontein Reserve in the Northern Cape Province.

Ref ID : 1019

644. Cousins, B. A role for common property institutions in land redistribution

programmes in South Africa. Gatekeeper Series No 53.Anonymous Anonymous IIED.

:1-20, 1995.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : LAND TENURE; COMMUNAL AREA; LAND REFORM

Notes : The focus of this paper is on the design and development of common

property institutions (CPIs) for the management of natural resources,

particularly communal grazing land, within land redistribution programmes in SA.

It first considers the nature of common property regimes, the rationales for

supporting them and their vulnerability as institutions. This reveals critical

issues related to the design and development of these institutions, which the

remainder of the paper discusses.

Ref ID : 1315

645. Cousins, B. Range management and land reform policy in post-apartheid South

Africa.Anonymous Bellville:Programme for land and Agrarian Studies. 2:1-23,

1996.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : POLICY

Ref ID : 124

646. Cousins, B. Range management and land reform policy in post-apartheid South

Africa. Land Reform and Agrarian Change in Southern Africa: An Occasional Paper

Series.Anonymous Anonymous University of the Western Cape, South

Africa:Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS). :1-24, 1996. South

Africa's post-apartheid government is planning and ambitious programme of land

reform. Policies should be informed by a sound understanding of livestock

systems found in black rural areas at present. Central features include the

multiple functions of livestock; high stocking rates and their maintenance

through opportunistic strategies; a differentiated social structure; and

politicised forms of communal tenure. Recent thinking in range ecology suggests

that policy should enhance tracking of environmental variation and flexible

tenure regimes. This will be difficult to achieve, but participatory approaches

show promise. This is illustrated by a case study of range management planning

in Leliefontein Reserve in the Northern Cape Province.1-86808-347-0.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : LAND REFORM; VELD MANAGEMENT; POLITICAL ASPECTS; STOCKING RATE;

NORTHERN CAPE; SUCCULENT KAROO

Ref ID : 1190

647. Cousins, B. How do rights become real? Formal and informal institutions in

South Africa's tenure reform programme. 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. 88-

100.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : LAND REFORM; LEGISLATION; POLICY

Abstract : Central components of SA's post-apartheid land reform comprise

ambitious and wide-ranging "rights-based" laws and programmes. But how do

legally defined rights to resources become effective command over those

resources? And what are the limits to social change though legal reform? Two

central issues which arise are (1) supplementing the passing of new legislation

with the detailed design of programmes to implement these laws, and (2) the

interplay of formal and informal institutions in the complex social arenas

within which people actually live. Both centrally involve issues of power,

authority and contestation, and require us to consider law as only one source of

rule-making in society. Numerous conflicting or competing rule-orders exist,

characterised more often than not by "ambiguities, inconsistencies, gaps,

conflicts and the like" (Moore 1975: 3). The complexity of both the structural

and the processual dimensions, as well as the need to always focus on both

aspects simultaneously, is well illustrated in SA's tenure reform programme, at

the heart of which is the challenge to make rights real. This is illustrated by

discussion of the difficulties of implementing three recent tenure reform laws,

and by an analysis of the dilemmas faced by policy makers in relation to

democratic reform of communal tenure systems in which traditional leaders

continue to play a central role. The notion of "messy matrices" of formal and

informal institutions could help to inform the difficult choices inherent in

policy making and implementation.

Ref ID : 812

648. Cowan, J.A.C. and Skivington, P. Assessment of the feasibility and impact

of alternative water pollution control options on TDS concentrations in the Vaal

Barrage and Middle Vaal.Anonymous Pretoria:Water Research Commission. 326/1/93,

1993.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : IRRIGATION; POLLUTION; WATER QUALITY

Ref ID : 983

649. Cowling, R.M. Whither Karoo research? South African Journal of Science

82:409-411, 1986.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : NAMA KAROO; METHODOLOGIES; CONSERVATION; POPULATION

Abstract : Activities in the Karoo Biome Project were reviewed at its first

annual research meeting at the end of last year (1985). The Karoo has features

which make it biologically unique - it is home to the richest succulent flora in

the world, and according to one speaker is the 'richest archaeological area on

earth' - yet the conservation status of the biome is the poorest in SA. There

is an inability of researchers to appreciate theories relevant to understanding

pattern and process in semi-arid ecosystems. Many of the research projects in

ecology are descriptive; more studies are desirable in the fields of

ecophysiology, population dynamics and species interactions. The CSIR's

Committee for Terrestrial Ecosystems provides excellent support for the

research, yet the quality of the graduate students and research leadership

involved is generally poor.

Ref ID : 557

650. Cowling, R.M. Options for rural land use in Southern Africa: an ecological

perspective. In: A harvest of discontent: the land question in South

Africa,Anonymous 1998,p. 11-22.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : LAND USE; COMMUNAL AREA; LAND REFORM; PRODUCTION POTENTIAL;

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

Notes : This pioneering book assembles data from a variety of disciplines and

perspectives pertinent to 'the land question' - perhaps the most fraught and

complex issue on the negotiation agenda in SA. It sketches the limits imposed

by the ecology of the land, examines in depth the question of ownership and

tenure, disentangles the 'labyrinthe complexity' of laws governing access and

use, and explores essential aspects of agricultural production. Above all, it

identifies key issues and options for the urgent project of land reform.

Ref ID : 2287

651. Cowling, R.M. Classics in physical geography revisited. Progress in

Physical Geography 23(2):251-255, 1999.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : MAPS

Notes : This is an article written on the work of J.P.H. Acocks. It is

suggested that his most perceptive and radical contribution to ecology, which is

only briefly alluded to in his 'Veld Types' and is more fully developed in

Acocks (1966), is his explanation for the grazing-induced degradation of the

South African veld. His argument is deceptively simple: veld is degraded

because it is understocked but overgrazed. To his problem, he proposed a

solution of nonselective grazing which simulated precolonial ungulate impacts by

concetrating livestock in small camps for short periods, followed by very long

rest periods. 'Veld Types' has become a classic because it provided a useful

and much-needed vegetation typology and map, and because it posed so many

interesting questions. The author has no doubt that 'Veld Types' will continue

to inspire future generations of South African plant ecologists.

Ref ID : 2003

652. Cowling, R.M. and Hilton-Taylor, C. Phytogeography, flora and endemism. In:

Vegetation of Southern Africa, edited by Cowling, R.M., Richardson, D.M., and

Pierce, S.M.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1997,p. 43-61.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : SOUTHERN AFRICA

Ref ID : 242

653. Cowling, R.M., Richardson, D.M., and Mustart, P.J. Fynbos. In: Vegetation

of Southern Africa. edited by Cowling, R.M., Richardson, D.M., and Pierce,

S.M.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1997,p. 99-130.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : BOTANICAL SURVEY; FYNBOS; ALIEN PLANTS; MODELS; GLOBAL CHANGE;

BIODIVERSITY; RENOSTERVELD; FIRE

Notes : The past two decades have witnessed great advances in our understanding

of vegetation patterns and processes in the fynbos biome. There are, however,

still large gaps in our knowledge. This chapter is concluded by listing some of

the more important ones: (1) there is an inadequate understanding of the causal

determinants of vegetation boundaries at all spatial scales. The results of

such studies are an essential input for mechanistic models aimed at predicting

the impact of global change on vegetation and species distributions; (2) because

of the scale of the problem, more research is required on developing models that

predict the rates of spread, and impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem

processes, of invasive alien plants; (3) more research is required on all

aspects of the ecology of renosterveld and the dry fynbos communities of the

northwest; (4) very little research has been done on the biology of facultative

and obligate resprouters in fynbos and renosterveld. Since species in these

groups are likely to persist in the face of global change it is important to

understand their role in ecosystem functioning; (5) more research is required on

the autecology of restioids, ericoids (especially ericaceous ericoids) and fire

ephemerals; (6) further reserach is needed to determine the magnitude of the

threat posed by invasive alien herbs in lowland communities; and (7) more

research is needed in order to make recommendations for sustainable harvesting

practices of plants with soil-stored seed banks.

Ref ID : 1416

654. Craib, I.J. State afforestation after the war. Journal of the South African

Forestry Association :5-18, 1942.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : FORESTRY; ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY; FOREST; POLICY

Notes : A review of the whole timber position in SA is warranted because of the

notable achievements of the Forest Service (which is detailed in this article)

and the consistent support which a policy of afforestation has always receivd

from the press, public and legislature. Because of the period of time required

to bring a forestry project to maturity, afforestation provides the most notable

example where the onus for the development of the natural resources of a country

in this respect should, of necessity, devolve upon the State. Wood is a basic

raw material and, because of its low price, is the universal sustitute for all

the materials which compete with it. The demand for softwood timber and pulp is

virtually unlimited. A survey of the timber position of the world urges a

courageous and drastic revision of local policy. The recommendations made here

constitute an opportunity and a challenge for State afforestation after the war.

Ref ID : 1927

655. Critchley, W. and Netshikovhela. Perceptions of erosion and traditions of

soil and water conservation amongst the Venda: a case study from Thohoyando

district, Northern Region, South Africa.Anonymous , 1997.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : EROSION; WATER CONSERVATION; CONSERVATION; VENDA

Ref ID : 1220

656. Cross, C.R. The land question Kwazulu: Is land reform necessary.

Development Southern Africa 4(3):408-419, 1987.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : KWAZULU; LAND REFORM

Ref ID : 1137

657. Cross, C.R. Mythology and mystery tours in land reform: getting some focus

on the South African debate. Development Southern Africa 7:535-560, 1990.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : LAND REFORM; AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT; INSTITUTIONAL ASPECTS;

ZIMBABWE; POPULATION; POLICY; ENERGY

Notes : Before any real-world plan for land reform can be framed, it will be

necessary for the debate to reach some degree of clarity on guidelines as to the

weight to be given to the larger interests which claim a share in the process.

The tide here appears to be running toward equity over technicism, but also to

some degree of captialism over populism, if populism in this case is taken as

representing the interests of the small-scale household unit which has or wants

land access. This kind of line-up, if it is reallly what is emerging, is

contradictory; and at the same time, Cliffe's material on Zimbabwe suggests that

even in a genuinely revolutionary context the weight of the capital interests

can in the end over-balance an ideological commitment on the part of the state

to a more populist approach. This outcome may obtain more easily where emphasis

on state centralism accompanies a reluctance to trust the popular level, and

acutely so where the rural communities do not yet have effective representation

through mass movements. The bulk of the population on the land in SA's present

black rural areas is voiceless, and so far largely unorganized in any

institutional sense outside of their birthright participation in local

organization in the form of settlement clusters and ward or section structures.

In any policy process in which squeaky wheels are the ones that get attention,

the only recourse open to ordinary people in rural areas may be violence unless

and until representation is obtained. Failing this means of putting their case,

technicist and centralized approaches which are deeply entrenched in the

bureaucracy and also in the academic community are likely to survive the state's

transition and may well continue to dominate the land agenda. These approaches

have always been able to at least coexist with captialist interests despite the

evident contradiction, and despite capital's interest in getting direct and

unfettered access to black land and buying power. Even with popular needs a

major icon in post-apartheid policy construction, Zimbabwe's example suggests

that actual popular priorities are little understood and may well be lost in a

flurry of national planning that responds more than it should to entrenched

positions and organized interest groups. Rather than directing attention to

establishing ideal freehold, ideal planning or ideal socialism, it needs to be

recognized by the various constituencies of these approaches that none of them

is likely to materialize on the ground in impoverished African rural areas.

Attention might better be directed to what kind of land system can be

administered effectively and legitimately and at the same time serve the real

needs of the local economy, both as it is now and as it can be developed in the

future. At present, capacity simply does not exist to restructure the rural

economy, white and black, at a single stroke, a point which is reluctantly

recognized by the major players. Equity and production will both have to be

built from the ground up, using freed popular energies, and building on the

rural economy as it exists at present. If it can be done at all in the present

space economy, this will be a vast task. Therefore, any new land system will

have to be able to cater for emerging change; it will need to use available

administrative capacity; and it will have to recognize the transaction costs of

change for the different groupings and interests involved. In addition, the

need to allow for change suggests that tenure systems be given room to adapt

informally, without being too closely regulated in law. International evidence

suggests that centralized systems of land control tend to flatten initiative and

encourage official corruption and popular alienation. They are also rigid and

resist change. In this light, they have negative effects on production even when

administered by state sympathetic to the interests of the rural people. This is

not to suggest that nominal state ownership of land, or leasing of state land to

ambitious farmers, should be ruled out; both are compatible with indigenous

tenure alternatives. But close state administration of land down to household

and community level appears to be counterproductive. African evidence suggests

that freehold title ownership is flawed too, and that it may be too expensive,

unwieldy, and inconvenient for both owners and administrators when land

administration capacity is weak on the ground. Given serious administrative

problems, a system of title ownership may break down even if some form of land

market is presnt - or, alternatively, once the title system is established no

real land market may develop. Finally, even if the market works and the land

registry works, the consequences may not be what is intended by advocates of the

title system. If strict state controls are not applied, what is actually done

with land, registered or not, will depend on what people want to do with it

under local conditions. This may well turn out to be tenancy, agricultural or

residential, rather than owner-farmer production. These considerations suggest

that some renovated form of indigenous tenure may be effective and acceptable

alongside other systems. For all these reasons, it may be worthwhile to

consider trying such modified indigenous systems outside the areas where they

originate. If they make sense to people on the ground and are easy to operate,

they would retain advantages over introduced systems. The key consideration for

renovated indigenous tenure systems, as for any other kind, is likely to be

accountability and openness to the needs and grievances of ordinary people. As

rural differentiation gathers force and elites come into position to dominate

land transactions at the local level, maintaining an unbiased and open system

will become increasingly difficult. Social justice at this level may need

planning as sensitive as anything done at the national level, and both may be

necessary before production rises. Failing this, land reform of any kind will

achieve little more than the further marginalization of the poor.

Ref ID : 1696

658. Cullum, J. Beetle will halt Karoo invader. Port Elizabeth: Weekend Post ,

1988.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : BUSH ENCROACHMENT; DESERTIFICATION CONTROL; PLANT-ANIMAL INTERACTIONS

Notes : This article describes how the release of 10 000 bruchid bettles of two

types, Algarobius prosopis and A bottimeri, on two farms at Vanwyksvlei in

Bushmanland is aimed at stymying the growth of Prosopis glandulosa or mesquite.

It was found that these beetles eat only prosopis seeds and are not a threat to

other vegetation. If they become established, it will take several years before

they multiply sufficiently to make inroads on the spread of the trees. Prosopis

can also be curbed by spraying from the air, which costs about R300 a ha, by

spraying from vehicles, by hand spraying and, most effectively, by chopping down

and treating the stem with weed killer.

Ref ID : 248

659. Cunningham, A.B. and Davis, G.W. Human use of plants. In: Vegetation of

Southern Africa. edited by Cowling, R.M., Richardson, D.M., and Pierce,

S.M.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1997,p. 474-506.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : ETHNOBOTANY; SOUTHERN AFRICA; CONSERVATION; POLICY

Notes : The combination of high biological and cultural diversity in a region

with a well-developed research capability has resulted in a unique record of

people-plant interaction in southern Africa. Neither ecological nor social

processes are static and we need to continue to be able to study - and predict -

future changes. Economic factors are a major driving force of this change. One