Relationship between woody biodiversity and use of non-timber forest products in the Savanna Biome of South Africa

Student Number : 9904953T - PhD thesis - School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Science - Faculty of ScienceThis study seeks to combine the knowledge of science and society to elicit the relationship between the harvesting of woody plant species and the local availability of woody species in South African savannas. Ten villages located in the former communal areas and homelands within three broad vegetation types (i.e., Mixed lowveld bushveld, Eastern thorn bushveld, and Natal lowveld bushveld) were studied. The study, conducted in the framework of the coupled human-environment system poses challenges to both scientists and managers (e.g., setting common goals). Data were collected using modified Whittaker plots (MWP) and focus group discussions (FGD), denoting ecology and society, respectively. There were nine 1000m² MWP plots sampled per village, each having nested 1m², 10m² and 100m² subplots. The FGD involved six groups of local people based on gender and age. The study revealed that the harvesting of woody plant species is a source of local disturbance to woody vegetation. Generally, there were more woody species in locations farther from settlements, having a mean of 41.97 ± 3.9, than for the intermediate (38.27 ± 5.6) and near locations (19.9 ± 4.2) within the 1000m² plots, the result of the reduction in species closer to settlements from higher harvesting levels. The larger sampling plot size of 1000m² of the MWP had the highest diversity, decreasing sequentially to the smallest scale (1m²). The density of the woody species was highest in the intermediate locations (517 ± 80 plants/ha), followed by the far and near, relative to the settlements. The Natal lowveld bushveld broad vegetation type had the highest mean density of trees (573 ± 71 trees/ha) compared to the Mixed lowveld bushveld (366 ± 64 trees/ha) and the Eastern thorn bushveld (312 ± 40 trees/ha). The stem diameters of trees were generally higher in the villages of the Mixed lowveld bushveld than the other two vegetation types. The study reaffirmed that anthropogenic disturbances within savannas impact vegetation and need to be studied concurrently with other disturbance factors (e.g., biotic and abiotic or environmental). The mean total coppice shoots of stumps within the 1000m² plots was relatively higher in the near locations (38.4%), than the far (33.0%) and intermediate (28.7%). This difference in coppicing shows that although near locations were less species rich, which is a result of disturbance, the growth of shoots may nevertheless be greater. Harvesting disturbance will possibly favour the regeneration of some species, as well as the maintenance of biodiversity. Whilst 135 woody species (from a total 191 from 42 plant families) sampled in the field were used by the local people, the community knowledge yielded almost twice as many (267 species, from 69 plant families). The ratio of mean useful woody species to total woody species remained relatively constant at about 1.0:1.1 from the near to far locations around the villages and accompanied by increased woody species diversity with distance from village. The MWP sampling yielded eight broad use categories (i.e., medicinal, wild edible fruits, fuelwood, housing and fencing poles, craft (e.g., carving), cultural, local beverages (e.g., alcohol)), and nine for the FGD (the eight for the MWP plus indigenous furniture). According to the local people, the highest number of species was used for medicine (27.8% of species), followed by fuelwood (19.2%) and wild edible fruits/seeds (19.1%). Over half of the species had multiple uses (i.e., three to eight uses), raising questions of possible threats to their persistence. Useful woody species were not restricted to any particular location or vegetation type. Large sized trees were subjected to even more uses than smaller trees, another source of conservation concern. Fifteen of the woody plant species are presently protected by law in South Africa (e.g., Adansonia digitata, Podocarpus latifolius, Mimusops caffra, Philenoptera violacea), while others are facing various forms of regional threats (e.g., Alberta magna, Catha edulis, Ocotea bullata). There is the need to popularise and make people (both local and outsiders) aware of the state of NTFP species, using local and village level information as an additional criterion for describing conservation threat (e.g., proposed “Locally Brown List” – Chapter 4). The older generation of local people were highly knowledgeable in terms of the woody species used for medicine, craft, fencing and housing poles, the middle aged in beverage making species, and the younger generation in fuelwood species. Overall, older males were highly knowledgeable of the useful species. The generally strong correlation (r = 0.99, p <0.0001) between the cumulative woody species diversity from field and community knowledge suggests the need to integrate data using multi-disciplinary approach and also to manage NTFP species. Although threat reduction assessments (TRA) and monitoring have previously been suggested, the participation of local people, harvesters and users will be crucial in making TRAs effective. In conclusion, the harvesting of NTFPs, and the impacts of the changes in the NTFP species on total diversity in savannas need to be understood in order to move towards a more holistic approach to conserving the woody species that may be at risk of extinction through harvesting. Disturbance criteria that describe harvesting levels should be set to guide research and management protocols. Finally, when discussing NTFPs and the species from which they are harvested, management should aim at incorporating all the factors that affect sustainability, such as land and resource tenure and local participation, the political economy, appropriate production and development cycles

Integrated climate smart flood management for Accra - Ghana : final technical report

This in-depth report reviews the study, which applied a cross-sectional approach to investigate how residents and households within the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area of Ghana (GAMA) manage flood risks. It also worked to obtain useable information about transition to resilience within the study communities to prevent, prepare, respond to and recover from flooding events. Public adaptive measures can help reduce vulnerability to floods in GAMA. Flood hazard is exacerbated by poor waste management, lack of flood management infrastructure, and spatial planning. There is no clearly defined governance structure for flood response due to poor policy coherence and lack of capacity

To live with floods or not : Intersectionality of drivers of urban households’ adaptation and relocation intentions

The intent of households to relocate amidst floods in Ghana's Greater Accra Metropolitan Area, using combined socio-demographic and physical factors is analyzed within 1,206 households. The National Master Sampling Frame of Ghana's Population and Housing Census is utilized for the sampling. The Probit estimation technique is employed to understand the intersectionality of social, economic, demographic, and physical considerations influencing households' decision-making regarding relocation amidst flood risks. The findings show households' reluctance to relocate contrary to relocation considered mostly as preferred adaptation. The likelihood of relocating exhibited a non-linear pattern, decreasing only when a population was younger until age 55 before reversing. Indigenous households preferred not to relocate. In communities where place attachment and revenue sources significantly impacted relocation decisions, households with secondary education, past flood experiences, and non-indigenous status influenced higher perception of flood risk. Therefore, relocation as an effective global adaptation strategy to floods is not widespread. Thus, empowering households to accept a certain level of flood risk potentially avoids maladaptation and involves a combination of hard infrastructure measures and regulatory approaches in places of residence that do not compromise livelihoods. However, if relocation becomes necessary, a right-based approach must be favored over an absolute risk-based approach

Smallholder farmers’ perception of climatic and socio-economic factors influencing livelihoods in the transition zone of Ghana

Background: The study analyzed smallholder farmers’ perception with regards to climatic and socio-economic changes influencing their agriculture livelihoods and coping strategies thereof in the transition zone of Ghana. Methods: We used semi-structured questionnaires for household survey involving 59 households and focus group discussions (n=60) for data collection in three communities. Results: Farming systems are influenced by high and extreme temperatures, delayed onsets of rain, short raining season as well as unpredictable raining seasons. Similarly, socioeconomic factors affecting the communities and their households’ livelihood included i) bad road network; ii) high prices of farm inputs; iii) prevalent crop pests and diseases and iv) absence of irrigation facilities. It was ascertained that though most farmers have not made conscious efforts to adapt strategies in their farming system to climate change and the social stressors, as expressed in ‘doing nothing or bearing losses’ and we are at the ‘mercy’ of the weather, there are hidden resilience mechanisms that can be harnessed to strengthen their adaptation capabilities. Women in the study area have adapted to the changes in the weather and safeguarded against post-harvest loss of cassava more effectively as compared to their male counterparts. Similarly, the prevailing group farming and maintenance structure (locally known as ‘Noboa’) strengthen the shared responsibility and reciprocity among migrant’ farmers. Conclusions: Though these agrarian communities have some coping strategies to overcome some climatic and socioeconomic challenges, their general adaptive capacity in terms of physical, financial and human assets are limited. This, therefore, calls for the capacity building of both men and women on best farming practices, adaptation strategies and piloting of irrigation systems to enhance their major livelihood but these must be complemented with good road network for ease of access to the market centres

Perceived stressors of climate vulnerability across scales in the Savannah zone of Ghana: a participatory approach

Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are confronted with climatic and non-climatic stressors. Research attention has focused on climatic stressors, such as rainfall variability, with few empirical studies exploring non-climatic stressors and how these interact with climatic stressors at multiple scales to affect food security and livelihoods. This focus on climatic factors restricts understanding of the combinations of stressors that exacerbate the vulnerability of farming households and hampers the development of holistic climate change adaptation policies. This study addresses this particular research gap by adopting a multi-scale approach to understand how climatic and non-climatic stressors vary, and interact, across three spatial scales (household, community and district levels) to influence livelihood vulnerability of smallholder farming households in the Savannah zone of northern Ghana. This study across three case study villages utilises a series of participatory tools including semi-structured interviews, key informant interviews and focus group discussions. The incidence, importance, severity and overall risk indices for stressors are calculated at the household, community, and district levels. Results show that climatic and non-climatic stressors were perceived differently; yet, there were a number of common stressors including lack of money, high cost of farm inputs, erratic rainfall, cattle destruction of crops, limited access to markets and lack of agricultural equipment that crossed all scales. Results indicate that the gender of respondents influenced the perception and severity assessment of stressors on rural livelihoods at the community level. Findings suggest a mismatch between local and district level priorities that have implications for policy and development of agricultural and related livelihoods in rural communities. Ghana’s climate change adaptation policies need to take a more holistic approach that integrates both climatic and non-climatic factors to ensure policy coherence between national climate adaptation plans and District development plans

Correlates of flood preparedness in urban households: Evidence from the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area of Ghana

The annual floods in cities in Sub-Saharan Africa are exacerbated by the impacts of climate change. For coastal cities double flood burden from storms and sea level rise are phenomenal and in response, data is gradually emerging on the exposure of urban areas and households’ adaptation of which population determinants are mostly omitted. This paper uses a household survey of flood experiences, analyzed with the Tobit model to understand the social and demographic factors that drive households' preparedness for floods in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area in Ghana. Findings show that the age and income of the household head and planned adaptation significantly increased the likelihood of households’ preparedness for floods. While community access to financial assistance reduced the likelihood of household preparedness, membership in social support groups and the availability of community-level social amenities and shelters increased the likelihood of household preparedness by 0.81 units (p<0.05), 1.72 units (p<0.01) and 1.33 units (p<0.01) respectively. Therefore, enhanced education and awareness of flood risks are major factors of flood disaster risk reduction amidst neighborhood networks towards scaling the relevance of anticipatory flood contingency planning in coastal urban planning and management and a recipe for mainstreaming the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction

Earth System's Gatekeeping of “One Health” Approach to Manage Climate-Sensitive Infectious Diseases

Global response to climate-sensitive infectious diseases has been uncertain and slow. The understanding of the underlying vulnerabilities which forms part of changes created by forces within the Earth system has never before been critical until the coronavirus disease 2019, “COVID-19” pandemic with the initial developmental phase linked to weather elements and climate change. Hence, the heightened interest in climate-sensitive infectious diseases and GeoHealth, evident in the renewed calls for “One Health” approach to disease management. “One Health” explains the commonality of human and animal medicine, and links to the bio-geophysical environment, yet are at crossroads with how forces within the Earth system shape etiologies, incidences, and transmission dynamics of infectious diseases. Hence, the paper explores how these forces, which are multistage and driven by climate change impacts on ecosystems affect emerging infectious diseases, leading to the question “what drive the drivers of diseases?” Three questions that challenge broad theories of Earth system science on boundaries and connectivity emerged to guide study designs to further interrogating disease surveillance and health early warning systems. This is because, climate change (a) drives prevailing biological health hazards as part of forces within the Earth system, (b) shifts disease control services of ecosystems and functioning to effectively regulate disease incidence, and (c) modifies pathogen—species hosts relationships. Hence, the need to rethink pluralistic concepts of climate-sensitive diseases in their infection and management from a GeoHealth perspective, which “One Health” potentially conveys, and to also maintain ecosystem health