A socio-ecological approach towards understanding conflict between leopards (Panthera pardus) and humans in South Africa: Implications for leopard conservation and farming livelihoods

The thesis investigates the socio-ecological factors driving human-leopard conflict due to livestock and game depredation in the Blouberg Mountain Range, South Africa. Local people’s perceptions of conservation are shaped by historical and contemporary relationships with protected areas and particularly, by conflicts of land and natural resource use. Legacies of disempowerment, marginalisation and stigmatisation manifest through people’s conservation discourses, social conflict and resistance towards protected area establishment, a process defined as traumatic nature. Traumatic nature elevates distrust of local people towards wildlife authorities and decreases support for wildlife conservation, aggravating human-leopard conflicts. Leopard predation on livestock and game is most strongly influenced by distance to village and distance to water, respectively, in addition to seasonal grazing patterns, the calving season and poor livestock husbandry practices. Livestock depredation represents significant economic costs for subsistence communal farmers’, which is exacerbated by the erosion of traditional cattle sharing systems and a lack of alternative livelihood strategies. Livestock depredation results in the loss of functional and material benefits, social capital, a spiritual resource, diminished wellbeing and perceived cultural decay. Camera trap results showed a lower leopard density of 0.7 leopards per 100km2 on commercial farms compared to the Blouberg Nature Reserve of 5.4 leopards per 100km2. Commercial farms may function as ecological traps because they represent areas with disproportionate leopard mortality that otherwise provide a high abundance of prey species for leopards. A male-biased sex ratio and a high number of sub-adult male leopards indicate high leopard mortality rates in the population. Camera trap results show low occupancy rates on communal land that may reflect a low large prey biomass, potentially caused by overhunting and habitat conversion. Farming communities ascribe a wide range of environmental values to the leopard that provide barriers and support for leopard conservation. Environmental institutions need to improve responses to reports of human-leopard conflicts and build trust and legitimacy in the eyes of local people by developing stronger working relationships with farming communities. The decentralisation of authority to local government actors to manage human-leopard conflicts and the devolution of responsibility to farmers to improve livestock husbandry practices is necessary to reduce depredation incidents. Incentive and education schemes are important for reducing lethal control measures and to improve tolerance of depredation incidents and leopard conservation

Hierarchies of knowledge: ethnobotanical knowledge, practices and beliefs of the Vhavenda in South Africa for biodiversity conservation

Abstract Background Indigenous and local knowledge systems are characterised by a ‘knowledge-practice-belief’ complex that plays a critical role for biodiversity management and conservation on indigenous lands. However, few studies take into consideration the interconnected relationship between the social processes underpinning knowledge accumulation, generation and transmission. The study draws on ethnobotanical research to explore plant uses, practices and belief systems developed among the indigenous Vhavenda in South Africa for sustaining indigenous plant resources and highlights some of the forces of change influencing the acquisition and transmission of knowledge. Methods Data was collected from September–November 2016 from 31 individuals by means of semi-structured interviews; walks in home gardens, cultivated fields, montane forests and deciduous woodlands; and vouchering of plant species in six villages (Duthuni, Tshidzivhe, Vuvha, Lwamondo, Mashau and Tshiendeulu) in the Vhembe District of South Africa. The Use Value Index (UVI) was used to measure the number of different uses of each species and the Relative Frequency Index (RFI) to measure the local importance of each species. Semi-structured interviews and comparisons with published works also explored cultural practices and belief systems associated with plants, modes and barriers of knowledge transmission. Results Eighty-four plant species were reported within 44 families, with Fabaceae representing the highest diversity of plant species. We identified six species not previously documented in the Vhavenda ethnobotanical literature, 68 novel uses of plants and another 14 variations of known uses. Vhavenda plants were predominantly used for food (36.0%) and medicine (26.1%) and consisted mainly of native (73.8%) compared to non-native species (26.2%). The Vhavenda possess a range of practices for managing plant resources that can be attributed to taboos preventing the use of selected species, promotion of sustainable harvesting practices and the propagation of plant species for ecological restoration. Plant knowledge and management practices were transmitted from relatives (48.4%), self-taught through time spent planting and harvesting plants on the land (19.4%), through apprenticeships with traditional healers (16.1%), initiation schools (9.7%) and clan gatherings (6.4%). Changes in traditional learning platforms for knowledge exchange, erosion of cultural institutions and shifting value systems serve as barriers for knowledge transmission among the Vhavenda. Conclusion The study points to a need for new partnerships to be forged between conservationists, government actors and local and indigenous knowledge holders to foster hybrid knowledge coproduction for developing strategies to enhance the productivity and biodiversity of indigenous lands