A comparison of standard scientific methods and pastoralists' perceptions of vegetation responses to livestock exclusion in Namaqualand, South Africa

[摘要] ENGLISH SUMMARY: Protected areas do not always achieve the desired level of biodiversity conservation, whileoften reducing the welfare of indigenous communities by reducing availability of land forsubsistence. Traditional agricultural landscapes are significant biodiversity refugia and cancontribute meaningfully to conservation.Rangelands comprise one-third to one-half of the world's terrestrial surface, providinglivelihoods for around 220 million people, usually in a communal subsistence system.Colonial practices impinged on traditional land-use practices with far-reaching social andenvironmental impacts. This has resulted in management based on assumptions regardingvegetation dynamics and traditional lifestyles that are increasingly shown to be inaccurate. Acomparison of a vegetation survey based on conventional scientific methods and a survey ofthe perceptions of pastoralists was undertaken to highlight differences and similaritiesbetween the two knowledge systems with the hope of providing guidelines for moresustainable land-use practices in the communal rangelands of Namaqualand, South Africa.Vegetation responses to removal of grazing pressure revealed complex interactions that donot correspond with the prevailing management paradigm. Rather than a predictiverelationship between livestock and vegetation, environmental factors play a large role indetermining plant composition, abundance and cover. Pastoralists' perceptions reflected thiscomplexity in rangeland resource dynamics. The impact of livestock on rangeland resourcedynamics was perceived by herders to be secondary to a range of environmental and climaticfactors. Both sets of results were at odds with the theories that currently govern managementin this system.Studies in rangeland systems must take the complexity of the subject into account.Research into such socio-ecological systems must take a multiplicity of factors – social,environmental, economic, political and other – into account. Implications for management arethat it is inappropriate to adhere strictly to the conventional, conservative strategies that areprescribed by conservation and agricultural authorities. Rather, a more flexible, opportunisticgrazing strategy would allow the persistence of traditional subsistence livelihoods withoutserious negative consequences for biodiversity conservation.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University