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1.
In the former coloured rural reserves of Namaqualand, land is held under an evolving form of communal tenure. This study, using in-depth interviews with both women farmers and non-farmers in Namaqualand, explores women's attitudes towards land and their experience of agriculture. It finds that women gain access to land for residential and production purposes mainly through dependent relationships with husbands, fathers and sons, and that unmarried women find it virtually impossible to obtain land rights in their own name. In the event of divorce or widowhood, women are vulnerable to loss of land rights and other resources. Women were found to engage in a range of agricultural activities, both on land allocated for their own use and on land controlled by male relatives, while a few better-off women engage in independent livestock farming. While the South African government's land reform programme has extended the area of communal land and attempted to secure the rights of existing land holders, this has largely benefited existing male farmers and appears to offer little to women farmers. Women's attitudes to the patriarchal system of land holding were found to be largely conservative. Few are willing to challenge the highly gendered nature of land rights within families, and women generally feel excluded from public processes around land. Nonetheless, women in the study expressed a demand for more secure access to land and an interest in agriculture as part of wider livelihood strategies.  相似文献   

2.
Three-quarters of a century ago diamond mining was added to livestock grazing and cereal cropping as a serious cause of landscape degradation in the north-western semi-arid region of South Africa, Namaqualand. Since that time the activities of diamond mine operators and prospectors have eclipsed all other land uses as a cause of degradation in this region. Discontinuous patches along virtually all of the 400 km of the Namaqualand coastline have been, or are currently, being mined or prospected. Prior to 1992 little was done to restore the landscapes and ecosystems to their pre-mining state, but since then legislation has placed a clear responsibility for restoration on mining operators. Implementation of ecological restoration was initially slow, but has recently gained momentum, in line with a growing awareness of environmental responsibilities amongst the global mining industry. In general, autogenic recovery of the perennial vegetation does not take place. The low annual rainfall and prevailing strong windy conditions present the greatest climatic challenges to the restoration of the flora. While the unique vegetation, and its features (e.g. poor representation of perennial species in the seedbank) present challenges to understanding the interventions that are critical in achieving ecological restoration. At the same time, climatic conditions such as the strong seasonality and low variability of rainfall, together with floristic features such as the high incidence of succulence, and the extraordinary drought tolerance of many seedlings, present opportunities for restoration. Perhaps the greatest challenges to restoration derive from the unsuitability of much of the mined overburden soils for plant growth. The nature and importance of climatic conditions, mined soils, topsoils, soil nutrients, landscaping, seedbanks, seeding, transplantation, and the interactions between these and other factors are evaluated in the context of this semi-arid environment and the prevailing mining practices.  相似文献   

3.
The reserves and homelands across South Africa share a common history of policy interventions resulting in sedentarization, villagization and formalization of communal land use. In Namaqualand, such interventions culminated in the 1980s with attempts by the state and local vested interests to privatize the commons in the three largest Namaqualand reserves, including Leliefontein. This proposed privatization, although ostensibly aimed at averting land degradation and modernizing agricultural production, was as much about the apartheid state's broader strategy of co-option, and served to further long standing processes of class formation in the coloured communal areas of Namaqualand. In the post-apartheid period land reform has expanded the communal land-base in Namaqualand by over 25%. In spite of this, the management of the new commons in Leliefontein has many of the characteristics of land management policies imposed during apartheid. As a result, the new commons have effectively been arrogated by the same category of people who would have benefited under past privatization initiatives.This paper examines how the interests of a local elite have gained exclusive access to the new commonage farms. This has come about despite the government's commonage policy which privileges access by poorer, disadvantaged communal farmers. This case study uncovers the dynamic complexity of community driven land reform especially in relation to the roles of rural elites and their relationship to government institutions.  相似文献   

4.
With the transition to democracy in 1994, South Africa was faced with an enormous challenge in redressing the highly unequal and racialized pattern of land rights inherited from the colonial and apartheid past. In Namaqualand, a history of land dispossession and racial segregation presented the new government with a complex set of problems, which led to a series of distinct policy responses within the context of the wider national land reform programme. Land reform in Namaqualand aims to impact positively on local people's access to land, improve livelihood opportunities and develop the local economy. Unique features of the land reform process in Namaqualand include the reform of tenure in the former Coloured Rural Areas, the prominent role played by local municipalities and the heavy reliance on municipal commonage as a form of landholding. This study provides and overview of the process of land reform in Namaqualand since 1994, considering the three elements of tenure reform, land redistribution and restitution of historical land rights. It concludes that, while considerable progress has been made in provision of additional land to historically disadvantaged communities, obstacles remain in the area of post-transfer support to new and emerging farmers.  相似文献   

5.
This study explored the impacts of sustained heavy grazing in six vegetation types across an altitudinal and rainfall gradient in the Kamiesberg mountain range in Namaqualand. The study was carried out across the fence separating the Leliefontein communal area and surrounding privately owned farms. The communal area has been stocked over decades at approximately twice the government recommended stocking rate, while adjacent privately owned farms have generally adhered to recommended rates. Plant community data were collected from 66, 0.1 ha modified Whittaker plots and analysed for diversity and compositional changes. Consideration of community-wide responses through NMDS ordination showed that heavy grazing did not result in the dominance of a few wide-spread, weedy species in communal areas. Species richness at the 0.1 ha scale was also not affected by different land use practices. However, there was a significant compositional shift away from large woody and succulent shrubs, and an associated increase in dwarf shrubs and herbaceous perennial plants on the communal areas. This shift was only evident on the sandy lowland habitats, while a reduction in perennial grass was recorded in the rocky upland habitats on the communal areas. Compositional shifts towards smaller and more ephemeral species in the communal area are indicative of a system more closely dependent on rainfall. This has implications for people's livelihoods in the region, particularly in light of predicted climate change.  相似文献   

6.
In South Africa, interventions in communal rangelands proposed by most agriculture-sector institutions are still dominated by the belief that communal herders have little technical skills and by the tenets of “the tragedy of the Commons”, assuming that individual livestock keepers are selfish, norm free, and aiming at maximising short-term offtake and that there is no consistent management of the commons. In this study we show that practices of a diversity of livestock keepers on the Leliefontein Commons of Namaqualand are at odds with this viewpoint: access to rangeland and its use are structured by collective norms and concerns regarding both the sharing of resources and their long-term sustainability. We also show that part of the management of the commons relies on grazing practices which involve tacit and formalised technical knowledge that can be described and modelled. Livestock keepers assess the heterogeneity of the grazing quality of the commons. They are aware of the toxicity and unpalatability of some plants, of the way this differs according to the amount ingested and the availability of other forage, and of the variations of these two factors over seasons of grazing. They classify grazing areas and decide on daily grazing routes according to a complex set of criteria. Carrying capacity of each area is not considered as a fixed parameter but rather as a variable dependant on rainfall. Seasonal movements between areas are designed accordingly. These findings offer a new perspective for research agendas on technical models and extension measures for communal rangeland management particularly in arid and semi-arid areas.  相似文献   

7.
We use the concept of ecological revolutions to explain the environmental history of Namaqualand, from the advent of pastoralism 2000 years BP, to colonial settlement in the 18th century and finally to the recent trend of de-agrarianization from the middle of the 20th century. Early traveller's records and census data are used to assess changes in the human population of the region and how this affected wildlife and agricultural practices. Pre-colonial indigenous hunter-gatherer (Bushmen) and pastoralist (Khoekhoen) populations in Namaqualand consisted of probably no more than a few thousand individuals. Over the next three centuries, the general population rose steadily to more than 65,000 people but has fallen in recent years. Wildlife appears not to have been abundant in Namaqualand's pre-colonial landscapes and large springbok ‘treks’ were probably a rare event. The number of domestic livestock in Namaqualand peaked in 1957 largely as a result of an increase in the number of sheep which have fallen steadily since this time. Crop production was absent from Namaqualand's pre-colonial landscapes but increased to cover nearly 30,000 ha in the early 1970s. The area under cultivation has declined by nearly two thirds since this time largely as a result of the large-scale abandonment of wheat farming in marginal environments. We touch on differences between the communal areas and private farms, particularly in terms of their human populations and agricultural impact on the land. Repeat landscape photographs support our main findings which suggest that both rocky, upland habitats and rivers have not been transformed substantially by land use practices in Namaqualand. Instead, sandy pediments have borne the brunt of human impacts in the region. Finally, we highlight the beginning of a new ecological revolution in Namaqualand due to changes in the global and national political economy.  相似文献   

8.
We investigated the effects of rainfall and the number of animals on changes in vegetation and on the output of milk and meat from the communal areas of Namaqualand. Previously published short- and long-term models link processes that range from the levels of tissue (in, for example, the mammary gland), to the milk yields of individual animals, to the growth and survival of their young and to long-term changes in plant species populations at the ecosystem level. These models have been used to study how different factors and management strategies affect livestock productivity and vegetation composition on a 20,000 ha rangeland in Namaqualand. First, the inter-relations between rainfall, stocking rate and productivity were studied using the short-term model. This model shows that in addition to total rainfall and stocking rate, the timing of rainfall within a year also influences doe live weight and survival to the end of the year. When the long-term model is run, using recorded rainfall, predictions of small stock numbers agree closely with livestock data recorded over the same 30-year period. One thousand replicates of 100-year runs of the long-term model were then used to study the probable impact of different upper limits to stock numbers on animal performance. Off take (sales and slaughterings) are maximal when stock numbers are limited to 2000 adults. Animal numbers increase marginally as the limit is increased above this level, but the variability between years in numbers increases. Secondly, the long-term model was used to study the long-term effects of the stocking rate strategies on rangeland condition. The model predicts that although these effects are variable, when moderately degraded range is stocked with an upper limit at the recommended level it is unable to recover to less degraded states over 100 years. Thirdly, the model was used to examine the effects of reduction in stock numbers and slaughtering of kids in a drought year on goat numbers during the subsequent 5 years. Finally, the model predicts that a 10% reduction in mean annual rainfall will lead to a 35% reduction in animal numbers over 200 years.  相似文献   

9.
晨光  张凤荣  张佰林 《地理科学进展》2015,34(10):1316-1323
以农牧交错区的阿鲁科尔沁旗为例,选取7个典型村,运用参与式农村评估(PRA)、GIS与遥感技术相结合的方法,探讨农牧交错区农村居民点土地利用形态特征及其与农牧户生计的关系。结果表明:①半农半牧型农村居民点由纯牧型农村居民点演变而来。人口增加导致人地矛盾突出和草原开垦耕种,农牧户生计策略转为畜牧业和种植业结合,农村居民点向半农半牧型转变;②半农半牧型农村居民点内部用地类型逐渐多样化。从改革开放前居民点内部以农村宅基地占主导,到改革开放后居民点内部公共设施用地、商服用地、工矿仓储用地迅速扩大;③由于农牧户生计活动的多样化和非农化,农村宅基地内部不但包括居住用地(住房),还包括生产性用地和生产辅助性用地(如牲畜的棚圈、菜园和粮草仓库等)。研究认为,半农半牧型农村居民点人均居民点用地和户均宅基地都远大于国家规定的用地标准,是与半农半牧的生产方式和生计需求紧密相关的。  相似文献   

10.
The aim of this study was to determine the effect of drought on grazing patterns of livestock in a communal rangeland in Namaqualand. Water points were the foci of almost all grazing routes even after the drought, and the areas away from the water points were less heavily utilized. The mountains could be regarded as key resource areas for livestock since the grazing intensity was higher in the elevated areas of the rangeland than on the surrounding low lying areas during and immediately after drought. Spatial patterns of resource use by livestock on the commons did not differ during the drought and post-drought period. The lengths of the daily grazing routes were similar for both periods. This may be a consequence of the weakness of animals during the drought when forage was scarce which prevented them from walking further. The size of home ranges of the herds did not change during the two monitoring periods. We attribute this to social reasons because herders try to avoid the mixing of herds. In the commons of Namaqualand, herders are also spatially constrained and this restricts their options to adapt to drought, and hence many animals died.  相似文献   

11.
The changing contexts in the drylands of Africa in which pastoralists operate pose potential negative effects for the livelihood sustenance of pastoralists. We examined present livelihood adaptations among Afar pastoralists in north eastern Ethiopia through a household survey. With an average per capita income of 1.20 USD a day (PPP-adjusted in 2006), all households surveyed in the study area fall below the international 2 USD a day poverty line. Most Afar pastoralists have become increasingly involved in farming and non-farming/non-pastoral activities, but do not display a total detachment from traditional mobile herding. Pastoral households are still less likely to diversify their livelihoods, while semi-pastoral and agro-pastoral households keep livestock more as an additional insurance against failure in other livelihood activities such as farming. This indicates combining livestock production and farming has improved or at least constrained declines in livelihood outcomes. Our quantitative findings are congruent with the general patterns of pastoral livelihood contraction occurring in the region even if a substantial group of pastoralists continue to engage in keeping livestock. These findings are highly relevant in a management context, suggesting more encompassing, and locally adapted policy and development strategy rather than a wholesale abandonment of support to pastoral livelihood styles.  相似文献   

12.
This paper provides a brief introduction to the physical environment of Namaqualand as well as an overview of patterns of plant diversity. The diverse array of parent material and geological processes that have shaped the region since the break up of Gondwanaland have created a complex, and sometimes dynamic physical environment, that is partly responsible for the patterns and processes observed in the biota today. The contemporary climate is characterised by relatively reliable, albeit low (50–250 mm pa), winter rainfall (>60% winter precipitation) arriving between May and September. East of the central mountains, tropical thunderstorms penetrate the region in late summer (February–April). The presence of the cold Atlantic Ocean in the west not only moderates temperatures throughout Namaqualand (mean max summer temperature <30 °C), but also provides alternative sources of moisture in the form of coastal fog and heavy dew experienced in winter months. Recent analyses show that the flora of the Succulent Karoo is part of the Cape Floral Kingdom, now termed the Greater Cape Floral Kingdom. It is one of only two desert regions recognised as a global biodiversity hot-spot and contains an estimated 6356 plant species in 168 families and 1002 genera. Namaqualand, which comprises about one quarter of the area of the Succulent Karoo, contains about 3500 species in 135 families and 724 genera, with about 25% of this flora endemic to Namaqualand. This remarkable diversity, however, is not distributed evenly throughout the region, but is concentrated in many local centres of endemism usually associated either with quartzite mountain complexes or lag-gravel plains (quartz-patches). A major exception to the general pattern of centres of diversity is the true Fynbos vegetation of the highest Kamiesberg peaks where rainfall exceeds 400 mm pa. Suggested determinants of the region's exceptional floral diversity include the complex physical environment, a unique past and present climate and the region's diverse fauna, most notably insects. The challenge for the current inhabitants and scientists working in the region is to develop a better understanding of this ecosystem so that they will be equipped to deal with the challenges posed by the demands for land and the prospect of global climate change.  相似文献   

13.
Biodiversity is a critical component of the natural environment and the protection of it often meant the displacement of local communities in developing countries. The Richtersveld National Park (South Africa) is unusual in that it forms part of the Richtersveld communal rangeland and is currently managed for goat and sheep farming as well as biodiversity conservation under a contractual agreement. These two objectives are not regarded as mutually compatible and have created tension between conservation management officials and pastoralists. We set out to examine the consequences of reducing herd size in a communal livestock production system in support of biodiversity conservation in a protected area. Kidding, animal offtake (sales and slaughter), mortality and herd persistence showed no clear incentives for an individual pastoralist to reduce herd size. Reducing herd size is not considered a recommended intervention for the conservation of biodiversity or livelihood improvement of pastoralists in the park. The future of the natural resources of the national park is dependent on a delicate balance between the needs of the pastoralists and the conservation of those very same resources that the pastoralists use.  相似文献   

14.
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is characterized by high population growth, degraded and fragile nat-ural ecosystems, and a limited amount of arable lands. It is one of the most water-sc...  相似文献   

15.
In South Africa, “black” and “coloured” farmers engaged in several occupational activities are often considered as being “not interested in farming” or “not serious”. However, in Namaqualand the large majority of “coloured” farmers and especially the most successful ones are pluriactive and have off-farm incomes. Investigations were therefore carried out in that region to better understand the role of pluriactivity. Observations focus on middle-income households from the mining sector entering into small-scale commercial farming. Based on surveys in both non-farm and farm sectors, the results show that, for many households, access to sufficient farm assets depends strongly on the employment situation of the sector of origin and requires a level of investment which can be reached only progressively. This obliges these households to rely on off-farm incomes and communal land at least during the early transitional stage. These results stress the importance of taking into account the diversity of paths and of differentiating the various stages in the transitional period between two occupational activities. Finally, the paper emphasises the importance of taking these specific situations into consideration in the management of the commons.  相似文献   

16.
基于可持续生计框架,采用统计分析和深度访谈法,将研究区293户农户按生计活动类型划为牧户(牛户、羊户、牛羊户和马户)、种植户和非农户,并按农户生计资产总值进一步划为高、中、低3个等级类型,进而分析了不同类型和不同等级农户的生计资产与生计活动及方式的依存关系。研究发现:各类农户的生计资产均值差距明显,牧户最高,为0.37,种植户为0.25,非农户为0.21;牧户的劳动力、草场、牲畜、现金、贷款等资产均值最高,种植户的农机和耕地资产均值最高,非农户的社会资产均值最高。目前,半农半牧区的农户仍然以旱作种植业和草地畜牧业为主要生计,但农牧业生产均面临较大的资源环境压力;非农户只占15.3%,且面临非农就业机会不足、个人技能缺失、语言障碍和务农时间与用工季节的冲突。最后,提出了提高农户收入和改善农户生计的对策建议。  相似文献   

17.
青藏高原东部山地农牧区生计与耕地利用模式   总被引:15,自引:1,他引:14  
利用分层随机抽样、参与式农村评估及其工具、地块调查、数理统计等方法,对63个农户、272个地块进行了系统的调查与取样,研究了青藏高原东部山地农牧区金川县克尔马村的生计多样化与耕地利用模式。结果表明:①不同类型农户的生计策略选择、组合及收入不同,生计多样化,引入并扩大非农活动是当地生计策略的发展趋势,但不利的自然环境和社会经济条件以及农户自身素质共同影响了生计和土地利用的可持续性;②各种生计策略对土地利用的影响不同,主要影响土地利用类型和土地利用集约化水平;③以非农活动为主的生计多样化可能是该区构建可持续生计的核心,同时也是实现土地可持续利用的根本途径。  相似文献   

18.
This study examines the changes in climate and land-use/land-cover (LULC) along the livestock seasonal migration routes in El Gedaref region (eastern Sudan). Analysis of temperature, rainfall and aridity index (ratio of rainfall to reference evapotranspiration) data during 1941–2009 shows significant warming of the climate, increasing rainfall variability and seasonality, and intensifying aridity conditions during the start and end of the wet season. The somewhat recent enhancement of the overall (annual) rainfall has reflected only in the mid wet season and were caused by few very wet days, indicating increased rainfall concentration and possible risk of soil erosion. Such climatic alterations and variability have inherent implications for land-use and land-cover over the region. LULC changes were investigated using multi-temporal satellite imagery from three sites along the livestock routes. The major trends were drastic conversions of natural vegetation areas into large-scale mechanized agricultural land. This resulted in a progressive loss and degradation of grazing area in the entire region. Overall, the documented LULC changes may cause an irreversible loss of biodiversity and a depletion of other ecological services provided by natural vegetation. The results of this study provide useful information when seeking to resolve complex land-management issues.  相似文献   

19.
苏芳  郑亚萍 《干旱区地理》2018,41(4):826-832
劳动力转移的行为和经历对贫困农(牧)户的生计产生了并继续产生着复杂而深远的影响,并构成了留守家庭成员进行新的生计选择的背景和前提条件。在资本变动和要素约束下,西部民族地区农(牧)户进行着不同的生产决策,并形成不同类型的生计策略。以甘南牧区为例,通过解析劳动力转移的特征变量,总结典型的劳动力转移农(牧)户家庭主要的生计策略模式,揭示了甘南牧区劳动力转移对留守农(牧)户生计策略选择的作用关系,并得出相应的结论。结果表明:转移劳动力文化水平、劳动力转移的外出时间、务工去向与转移劳动力工种类型在一定程度上影响了留守农(牧)户生计策略的选择。这可为西部民族地区政府部门制定科学、合理、可持续的劳动力资源利用政策,促进当地农(牧)户生计的可持续发展提供参考依据。  相似文献   

20.
The Richtersveld is situated in an arid environment and its inhabitants are confronted with various hazards. Based on data collected during 22 months of ethnographic fieldwork, the livelihood strategies of Richtersvelders are explored. Besides a thorough examination of the diversified economy, the internal institutional arrangements for pooling and redistributing resources within households are analysed in this paper. Encouraging household members to engage in different activities and to share their income—as well as skills to manage the household budget properly—are integral to diversification and reducing the vulnerability of households. This study has shown that even in a community marked by considerable dependence on wage labour, almost three-quarters of the households are directly involved in stock farming. Although pastoralism still plays an important role for households, it has shifted from being the core economic activity to being an insurance against unemployment and contributing to subsistence. Stock farming serves to build up resilience through the diversification of economic activities inside the household. In the South African context, the relevance of activities dependent on land has implications not only for rural development, but also for post-apartheid land and agrarian reform.  相似文献   

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