Determinants of environmental perceptions of rural inhabitants in Bushbuckridge, South Africa

[摘要] Environmental perceptions have been researched in a wide range of communities globally. However, the environmental perceptions of rural people in the developing world, as well as their determinants, remain understudied. Investigating rural inhabitants’ environmental perceptions and what shapes them can produce useful information that could be incorporated into decision-making process that help resolve environmental issues. This study aimed to investigate dominant environmental perceptions and their determinants at individual, household and village levels, with a focus on environmental resource use, resource availability, and resource governance and management, among rural inhabitants of Bushbuckridge region in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. This study used unanalysed pre-existing data for 300 rural households across five villages, collected via a questionnaire in 2006. Of the twelve local resources considered, fuelwood, edible wild herbs, grass and twigs for brooms, reed mats and wooden carvings were the most widely used resources. Building poles, thatch for roofs, and bushmeat were the least widely used resources. On the frequency of use of consumable resources, most households consumed fuelwood every day while edible wild herbs, wild fruits and edible insects were mostly consumed 1-3 times/week. The majority of user households used traditional medicine and bushmeat less than once a month. The majority of respondents perceived local availability of edible wild herbs, traditional medicine, edible insects, and wild fruits to be adequate. By contrast, less than a third of respondents indicated sufficient local supply of building poles, bushmeat and fuelwood. However, it was dominantly perceived that it is not necessary to get harvesting permits for most resources, except in the case of traditional medicines. The chief was repeatedly perceived to be the ultimate authority in issuing harvesting permits and regulating access to natural resources. Individual and household level characteristics, as well as village resided in, were found to shape a range of individuals’ environmental perceptions with regards to resource availability and resource governance and management, but their influence was not consistent across resource or governance issues. For instance, at the individual level, age significantly shaped individuals perceptions of resource governance and management regarding who controls access to natural resources. The youth and middle aged compared to elderly were less likely to perceive that the chief controls access to resources and were also more likely to perceive that the government controls access to resources than elderly. Household-level characteristics were found to have no influence on perceptions of who controls access to resources. Village resided in shaped perceptions of resource availability,for every resource, and most aspects of resource governance issues. Village resided in had a stronger influence on range of individuals’ environmental perceptions than individual and household level factors. Households which depended highly on natural resources were more likely to perceive shortages of resources and an increase in household resource use, the likelihoods of individuals perceiving community development forum and the community itself regulating access to the natural resources increased. It is clear that environmental perceptions vary within and between communities, and are shaped by the characteristics and circumstances of the individual, their households and the community they live in. Furthermore, the strength of influence of these determinants varies according to the particular resource and environmental governance issue concerned. The understanding and identification of factors that shapes individuals’ environmental perceptions will be helpful for policy makers, as it could establish solutions that are grounded in rural communities’ realities and their environmental perceptions.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand