Nature-based development on the South African Wild Coast. Special edition The Rio Earth Summit of 1992 introduced several new approaches to environmental management under the general heading of sustainable development. One of these approaches has forced conservationists to concede that it is no longer feasible or ethical to exclude resident communities from protected areas, as had been the practice for more than a century. The alternative approach, highlighting considerations of social justice and economic empowerment, is to recognise that humans are also part of the local ecology and to find sustainable ways to maintain local livelihoods along with biodiversity.
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Nature-based development on the South African Wild Coast. Special edition The 1992 Rio Earth Summit introduced several new approaches to environmental management under the general heading of sustainable development. One of these approaches has forced conservationists to concede that it is no longer feasible or ethical to exclude resident communities from protected areas, as had been the practice for more than a century. The alternative approach, highlighting considerations of social justice and economic empowerment, is to recognise that humans are also part of the local ecology and to find sustainable ways to maintain local livelihoods along with biodiversity. Especially in the global South, resource-dependant communities associated with protected areas had long been subject to removals or restrictions by the state and were forced to modify livelihoods historically dependent on abundant natural resources, usually resulting in their acute impoverishment. Eastern and Southern Africa had been particulr sites of the former protectionist policies and their frequently tragic sequels for communities. Following the Summit, much energy has been expended on finding sustainable alternatives to relocation in these regions, particularly new livelihoods linked to ecotourism. From Conflict to Negotiation provides a South African case study of the shift from protectionism to sustainable development in the 1990's. Located on the wild coast of the Eastern Cape, Dwesa-Cwebe consists of a nature and marine reserve with eight adjacent resident communities that have historically depended on local forest, grassland and coastal resources. This has been the focus of one of the earliest efforts in the 'new' South Africa to restore to the Xhosa-speaking residents ownership of the protected area from which they had been excluded for decades. Unusually the resident initiated the process. While others celebrated the advent of the new democracy in South Africa in 1994, the residents of this remote area, whose grievances had been ignored during the political transition, planned a protest strategy featuring coordinated invasions of the protected area. The protest action succeeded to the extent that it gained massive media attention and provoked the special attention of national and regional governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and academic researchers. An early academic intervention designed to bring the residents and conservationists together was later expanded. Complementing the roles of government and NGOs, environmentalists and socio-cultural anthropologists, among others involved in this project, have attempted to address the conundrum of sustainable development policy implementation in a complex setting. From conflict to Negotiation details the findings of this pioneering research project. It is the story of local empowerment regained as confrontation yielded to negotiation, and negotiation yielded co-management, local ownership and developmental partnerships. This landmark study will provoke ongoing discussion and research in an exciting new community development forum.
List of Maps, Figures and Tables
Author Biographies
Forward
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction – Robin Palmer, Herman Timmermans and Derick Fay
Part One
1 The Land Herman – Timmermans and Kamal Naicker
2 The Residents – Robin Palmer and Derick Fay
3 The Outsiders – Robin Palmer and Khayalethu Kralo
Part Two
4 Competing for the Forests: Annexation, Demarcation and their Consequences c. 1878 to 1936 – Derick Fay, Herman Timmermans and Robin Palmer
5 Closing the Forests: Segregation, Exclusion and their consequences from 1936 to1994 – Derick Fay, Herman Timmermans and Robin Palmer
6 Regaining the Forests: Reform and Development from 1994 to 2001 – Robin Palmer, Derick Fay, Herman Timmermans, Fonda Lewis and Johan Viljoen
Part three
7 Poverty and Differentiation at Dwesa-Cwebe – Derick Fay and Robin Palmer
8 Natural Rescource use at Dwesa-Cwebe – Herman Timmermans
9 Contempory Tourism at Dwesa-Cwebe – Robin Palmer and Johan Viljoen
Part Four
10 South Africa and the New Tourism – Robin Palmer and Johan Viljoen
11 Conservation and Communities: Learning from Experience – Christo Fabricius
12 A Development Vision for Dwesa-Cwebe – Robin Palmer, Derick Fay, Herman Timmermans and Christo Fabricius
Conclusion – Robin Palmer, Herman Timmermans and Derick Fay
Postscript
Appendix A
Bibliography