Browsing by Subject "environmental and geographical science"
Now showing 1 - 10 of 10
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- ItemOpen AccessA heritage interpretation plan for the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve(1992) Hallinan, James; Fuggle, R. F.Environmental education. It interpretation is a field of non-formal has evolved largely this century as an aid in visitor resource management and the conservation of places of natural or cultural interest. Interpretation establishes channels of communication between visitors and the agencies which manage these attractions. Through these contacts information can be presented to enhance the visitor experience. In addition messages can be conveyed to direct visitor impact or achieve other management objectives which require communication between the controlling authority and the visiting public. Interpretation today is recognised to be a blending of two streams of historical development (Aldridge, 1989; Phillips, 1989). The first emerged in the early years of the United States National Park Service (Tilden, 1977). It was here that information officers began to realise that their work called for much more than simply the provision of information on a particular area or deeper awareness; cultural/historical asset. A of caring and responsibility sense of for the resource, had to be engendered in visitors to ensure that the parks were utilised properly, as well as promote public support for their continued conservation.
- ItemOpen AccessA preliminary assessment into perceptions of accuracy and utility of the environmental impact assessment screening tool, South Africa(2022) Lambrecht, Michael; Sowman, Merle; Day, KirstenScreening is an essential stage within the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process. In this stage, the type and scale of the environmental assessment are determined based on the potential environmental impacts of a development. The South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment (DFFE) has implemented a national web-based spatial screening tool which became mandatory when applying for environmental authorisation as of October 2019. The screening tool identifies environmental sensitivities and prescribes the relevant specialist assessments associated with a development footprint. Since the introduction of the screening tool, environmental assessment professionals' (EAProfs') perceptions regarding the functioning of the tool remain undetermined. Therefore, this research project aims to undertake a preliminary assessment of EAProfs' perceptions of the screening tool's accuracy and utility. A mixed-methods approach involving interviews and an online survey was used to collect qualitative and quantitative data from EAProfs, respectively. The research findings reveal mixed perceptions of the screening tool but with some more unequivocal findings. The results suggest EAProfs generally do not believe the screening tool accurately assigns sensitivity ratings for the various biodiversity themes. In terms of utility, the research found that EAProfs hold a neutral opinion meaning they do not believe the screening tool is useful or not useful, as per the survey. The interviews revealed that several EAProfs believe that the screening tool increases the time and costs of the EIA process, adding nuance to the survey results. Based on these findings, a recommended solution to the accuracy issues is to implement a specialist feedback loop. Additionally, better communication from the DFFE on the process of assigning sensitivity ratings could also enhance perceptions. A potential way forward is for the screening tool to adopt a less prescriptive and more voluntary approach, as used by CapeFarmMapper and Ireland's Environmental Sensitivity Mapping Webtool. Lastly, this research opens avenues for further work on how the accuracy and utility of the screening tool can be improved.
- ItemOpen AccessA system for predicting burning weather in the south-western Cape mountain catchment areas(1985) Juhnke, Sieghard Rüdiger; Fuggle, Richard FThis study addresses the problem of predicting suitable burning weather for the south-western Cape Province by means of synoptic analysis. Weather which is suitable for veld burning is defined in terms of maximum hourly windspeed (< 16 km/hr), maximum daily temperature (18° - 28°C) and minimum daily humidity (15 - 45%). Synoptic conditions which are associated with favourable burning weather are outlined. Burning weather in the study area was found to be associated with weak anticyclonic air flow. The pressure configuration which gives rise to the required anticyclonic flow consists of a high pressure cell over the eastern part of the subcontinent, a trough of low pressure along the north-western interior and the location of the climatological high pressure system of the South Atlantic Ocean to the south-west of the subcontinent. A model five-day sequence of pressure charts was developed for use as an analogue consultation system for predicting burning weather. During a test application of the model five-day sequence it could be shown that the system is useful for alerting catchment managers three days in advance, when to expect weather suitable for controlled burning.
- ItemOpen AccessA system for predicting burning weather in the south-western Cape mountain catchment areas(1985) Juhnke, Sieghard Rüdiger; Fuggle, Richard FThis study addresses the problem of predicting suitable burning weather for the south-western Cape Province by means of synoptic analysis. Weather which is suitable for veld burning is defined in terms of maximum hourly windspeed (< 16 km/hr), maximum daily temperature (18° - 28°C) and minimum daily humidity (15 - 45%). Synoptic conditions which are associated with favourable burning weather are outlined. Burning weather in the study area was found to be associated with weak anticyclonic air flow. The pressure configuration which gives rise to the required anticyclonic flow consists of a high pressure cell over the eastern part of the subcontinent, a trough of low pressure along the north-western interior and the location of the climatological high pressure system of the South Atlantic Ocean to the south-west of the subcontinent. A model five-day sequence of pressure charts was developed for use as an analogue consultation system for predicting burning weather. During a test application of the model five-day sequence it could be shown that the system is useful for alerting catchment managers three days in advance, when to expect weather suitable for controlled burning.
- ItemOpen AccessAn assessment of land degradation and alien plants invasion in the Waterberg Biosphere Reserve, Limpopo Province(2022) Mokubedi, Lucia Macheba; Meadows, Michael, Jonas, Zuziwe; Rahlao, SebataoloLand degradation and invasion by alien plants are interconnecting issues that span both natural and socio-economic systems. As a result, addressing the complexity and severity of these pressures requires the use of a multidisciplinary approach. This study aims to assess land degradation and invasive alien plants distribution and their impacts on the ecosystem services within the WBR. An area outside the reserve was designated as a control to compare how degradation processes have evolved over the last few decades. Landsat images captured in 1989, 2000, 2013, and 2017 were used to analyse and map the land use/cover change. The images were classified into the following classes: water bodies, woody vegetation, grasslands, cultivated fields, bare lands, and settlements. Change detection performed between the years showed that the area outside the WBR has been losing grasslands and woody vegetation and gained more bare lands, cultivated fields, and settlements. On the contrary, the area within the WBR lost a significant amount of bare land and gained grasslands, woody vegetation, and a small amount of cultivated fields and settlements. The roadside survey was used to assess the distribution of invasive alien plants along the main roads in the selected areas. A single observer drive-by method was used to record the alien plants present at an interval of 5 km. To understand how the communities are being influenced by land degradation and alien plants invasion, focus group discussions were held to understand how their livelihoods are affected. Four important indicators, namely vegetation loss, land-use intensity, alien plants distribution, and population pressure, were overlaid using ArcMap 10.1 to determine the land degradation severity in both study areas. The results revealed that land degradation was severe outside the WBR, where most human activities occur, regardless of population pressure and alien plant distribution. These issues were intensifying with profound, severe implications for people's livelihoods, as land is the leading resource from which communities, both within and outside the WBR, eke their living. The WBR experienced land recovery following the proclamation of the area as a formal biosphere reserve by UNESCO, which has constrained the harmful impact of human activities. Reversing degradation and invasion by alien plant species requires sustainable land use and planning based on the current land-use practices and landscape attributes. Therefore, integrating local and scientific knowledge is helpful in the planning of sustainable and efficient land management.
- ItemOpen Access"Golden forests" of the sea: assessing values and perceptions of kelp in the Western Cape region of South Africa(2022) Mehta, Akshata; Wynberg, Rachel; Smith, AjKelp are large seaweeds that provide a variety of contributions to humans and the environment. In South Africa, kelps forests are expanding as a consequence of climate change. In light of this expansion, assessing perceptions and values around kelp may contribute to the implementation of successful marine resource management initiatives. The lack of consideration of non-market values is a gap in kelp valuation studies with kelp ecosystems and their use rarely valued outside of classical economic valuation frameworks. This study aims to fill this research gap, with the intention to elicit perceptions about other value dimensions related to kelp. The study investigates the attitudes and perceptions of value of three groups of actors' (Recreational Users and/or Coastal Community Members, Environmental Managers and Conservationists, and Kelp and/or Abalone Industry Actors) towards kelp in the Western Cape region of South Africa. This is done using the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services' (IPBES) conceptual framework, that considers: (i) kelp as a facet of nature, and (ii) kelp's contributions to people as foci of value that contribute to quality of life. The results of the study indicate that the perceived value of kelp extends far beyond its economic value as a harvested resource. Rather, actors highly value kelp's ecological and social contributions, and have strong relational values towards kelp, recognizing its role in enhancing their quality of life and well-being. Areas of dissonances in valuing kelp's contributions — such as differences in perceptions around kelp's ability to increase one's safety from extreme natural events, or its importance as a source of food and feed for domestic animals — are attributed to individuals' held values as well as their socio-demographic characteristics and situational contexts. While actors did not display significant negative perceptions around kelp, Kelp and/or Abalone Industry Actors indicated frustrations with kelp management strategies and kelp concession permit allocation processes. In turn, 27% of Kelp and/or Abalone Industry Actors perceived inequality in the kelp sector, contributing to a reduction in their appreciation of kelp. The dissertation makes a case for integrated marine resource management solutions aimed towards just and sustainable futures through the recognition of the plurality and complexity of values around kelp. A critique of the IPBES conceptual framework as a methodology is also included, suggesting that its utility is dependent on the objectives of its application. It is recommended that NCP should be considered within the context of governance and access dimensions to elicit a holistic view on assigned values and perceptions towards nature.
- ItemOpen AccessMediating social entrepreneurship in South Africa and India: exploring the entanglements of neoliberal logics and social missions(2022) Chopra, Vrinda; Daya, Shari; Chaturvedi, RuchiEntrepreneurial approaches advocated as pathways for addressing development goals of unemployment and inequality have been heavily criticised. Critical development scholarship argues that entrepreneurship for development contributes to the deepening hegemony of neoliberal logics (market and finance). I argue that there is scope to problematise the claims of the power and centrality of neoliberal economic logics by viewing these logics in relation with social ones such as trust, morality, reciprocity, exchange, justice (among others). Towards these ends, I focus on social entrepreneurship given the assertions of it being a hybrid field combining the logics of the private sector (markets, finance) with those of the state and civil society (socio-economic change) to deepen efficiency in addressing development goals. Specifically, I focus on a qualitative study based on ethnographic principles of thick description of the meso in-between scales (that is between macro-perspectives on social entrepreneurship and micro-realities of social enterprise practice) in postcolonial emerging economies of South Africa and India. The meso-scale is made up of intermediary organisations providing support services, networking spaces and knowledge to start and grow enterprises geared towards development goals. An analysis of these intermediaries enabled a view into three interlinked issues that I demonstrate in the thesis. One, applying and deploying entrepreneurial approaches like social entrepreneurship produces significant tensions as practitioners attempt to align with economic logics of market and finance, while dealing with complex development challenges. Two, the daily work of intermediaries is fraught with confusions as they attempt to balance out economic and social logics, often resulting in visible leanings towards measurable categories to manage the arising difficulties. Finally, as intermediaries navigate entangled economic and social logics, the ambivalent nature of their work emerges. It is precisely this inchoate and ambivalent nature of practice that problematises the centrality of neoliberal economic logics within development, leading to considerations that power between economic and social logics is negotiated relationally, in an on-going, uncertain manner.
- ItemOpen AccessPotential impacts of climate change on hydrological extremes in the Incomati River Basin(2021) Mogebisa, Tlakale; Abiodun, Babatunde JClimate change has been shown to influence extreme rainfall and flooding events over many river basins, yet there is a dearth of information on how to mitigate future risks and vulnerabilities in the Incomati River Basin (IRB), a basin known for extreme devastating flood events. This thesis investigates the potential impacts of climate change on extreme hydrological events that induce flood in the Incomati River Basin (IRB). A series of climate and hydrological simulation datasets were analysed for the study. The climate simulation datasets were acquired from the Global Meteorological Forcing Dataset (GMFD) and the CO-ordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX), but the hydrological simulation datasets were generated with the latest version of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (called SWAT+), using GMFD and CORDEX as the climate forcing data. The CORDEX dataset was biased-corrected with GMFD, using the Quantile Delta Mapping (QDM) method. The SWAT+ was calibrated and evaluated over the basin to investigate the role of objective functions in SWAT+ calibration, four sensitivity experiments were performed using four objective functions (hereafter, 1-NSE or RMSE, 1-R 2 and PBIAS). To study the influence of the bias correction of CORDEX on hydrological simulations, the SWAT+ simulations were performed using the original and biased-corrected CORDEX datasets as the climate forcing. The impacts of climate change on the mean hydroclimate variables and on characteristics of extreme hydrological events (i.e. the intensity and frequency of extreme precipitation and streamflow events) were examined at four global warming levels (i.e. GWL1.5, GWL2.0, GWL2.5, GWL3.0) under the RCP8.5 future climate scenario. The results of the study show that SWAT+ gives realistic simulations of hydrological processes in the basin, although with notable biases in the simulated streamflow. The SWAT+ calibration over the basin is sensitive to the choice of objective function for the calibration. The calibration converges faster with 1-NSE or RMSE than with R2 or PBIAS. The performance of SWAT+ in simulating the streamflow over the basin depends on the statistical metrics used in the evaluation, while the NSE of the model SWAT+ simulation is poor (i.e. NSE ≈ -0.08) over all the stations, the PBIAS is very good (i.e. PBIAS ≈ 13.7%) at some stations. The bias correction of CORDEX datasets substantially reduces errors in the climate datasets and improves the quality of SWAT+ simulations over the basin. Moreover, it also reduces the level of uncertainty in the simulations. With global warming, a future increase in temperature is projected over the basin, but a decrease in annual precipitation is indicated over most part of the basin except at the south-west tip of the basin (i.e. around Nooitgedacht Dam), where precipitation is projected to increase. The changes in hydrological extreme events generally follows the precipitation pattern, in that, while less intense and less frequent extreme precipitation and streamflow events are projected over most parts of the basin, more intense and more frequent precipitation and streamflow are indicated in the vicinity of the dam. However, the projection also suggests that an increase in extreme precipitation and streamflow activities surrounding this water body could induce extreme streamflow events downstream of the basin. The results of this thesis have applications in mitigating the impacts of climate change on extreme hydrological events in the basin.
- ItemOpen AccessTourism management guidelines for the Erongo coastal region, Namibia(1996) Kilele, Felicia Chepkurui; FuggleCoastal areas are important as they contain a disproportionately large share of global urban areas; industrial activities; pollution sources; food production; tourism; biodiversity and poverty (Olsen, 1993: 201 ). Throughout much of the world, these areas face considerable population and development pressures. The world's population is projected to grow exponentially from 4.1 billion in 1990 to 6.2 billion by the year 2000. Currently, more than 50% of the world's population lives within 60 kms of the coastline (World Bank, 1993a: 4). A concern resulting from these pressures is degradation of coastal resources. The degrading condition of the coastal resources raises concerns as to the long-term capacity of coastal ecosystems to provide for sustainable development (Olsen, 1993: 20 I). Thus industries that are highly dependent on coastal resources, such as tourism, are particularly vulnerable.
- ItemOpen AccessUnderstanding the impacts of ENSO patterns on droughts over southern Africa using SPEEDY(2019) Gore, Michelle Jacqueline; Abiodun, BabatundeThe El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a major driver of southern Africa droughts, but the nonlinearity of ENSO variation inhibits accurate prediction of droughts. While studies have identified multiple patterns of ENSO, most drought predictions over southern Africa are still based on only two ENSO patterns. This study examines the relationship between southern African droughts and eight ENSO patterns: four El Niño SST conditions (EN1 - EN4) and four La Niña SST conditions (LN1 - LN4). In this study we analyzed multi-forcing ensemble simulations from SPEEDY (a general circulation model from the International Centre for Theoretical Physics) and used two drought indices (SPEI: Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index; SPI: Standardized Precipitation Index) to characterize drought. The capability of SPEEDY in reproducing southern Africa climate was evaluated by comparing the historical simulations (1979- 2008) with the Climate Research Unit (CRU) observation. To obtain the influence of ENSO patterns, we forced the SPEEDY simulations with SST of each ENSO pattern, analyzed the impacts on the simulated drought indices (SPEI and SPI), and studied the atmospheric dynamics that link each ENSO pattern to southern Africa droughts. The results show that SPEEDY generally captures the temporal and spatial distribution of climate variables over southern Africa well, although with warm and wet biases across the region. However, in most cases, these results are comparable with those from more complex atmospheric models. In agreement with previous studies, the results show that El Niño SST conditions weaken the Walker circulation and cause drier conditions over parts of southern Africa, whilst La Niña SST conditions strengthen the Walker Circulation and cause wetter conditions. However, the results show that the differences in the El Niño SST conditions (EN1 - EN4) alter the circulation, thereby influencing the spatial pattern and intensity of drought over the region. For instance, while EN2 induces the most severe drought in the tropical area, EN4 produces it in the southwestern region, because the two patterns feature different characteristics of anticyclonic moisture flux over southern Africa. The same is true of the La Niña SST conditions. Although, LN1 and LN4 show wet conditions across the southern part of the region, LN1 produces drought in the northern part, while LN4 induces it along the western coast. Hence, this study shows that accounting for the differences in El Niño (or La Niña) conditions may improve drought predictions in southern Africa.