The construction of natural resource scarcity : a qualitative study of two case study villages from Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract

Abstract: Scarcity of natural resources in our world today is a serious issue but also controversial topic. Scientists tell us that the earth has available to its diverse population (human, fauna and flora) services provided by our ecosystems, and natural resources, which fuels a variety of processes necessary for life to be sustained. Some of these natural resources, such as water and land, are non-renewable. The biophysical reality of a diminishing natural resource base, especially non-renewable resources, is therefore of particular concern and importance. In response, international treaties and protocols are signed, and across the world citizens are encouraged to live more sustainably. Globally audiences are provided with numbers and data pertaining to the looming crises in terms of the availability of essential resources – and we are shocked. In a world where knowledge and information, no matter its origin, validity or reliability, is readily available, the state and sustainability of our natural resources, as well as our collective and individual role in curbing or exacerbating the situation, is open to perceptions, inferences, interpretations and constructions. Currently, many scientists are looking at ways to manage these resources in an equitable and sustainable way that can serve both human and natural stakeholders. High on the agenda is the availability of these natural resources, their sustainable management, and their ostensible scarcity. However, when ‘scarcity’ does not have the same meaning to all stakeholders involved, the management and distribution of resources, as well as coping strategies for risk and vulnerability become complex and easily misdiagnosed. Hence, I suggest that one has to go beyond the conventional and current dominant framings of natural resource scarcity. Rather, one should interrogate the intuitive metaphors, frameworks of explanation, socio-political processes, worldviews and epistemologies within which narratives of scarcity are constructed and produced...D.Phil. (Anthropology