This working group aims to address the challenge of creating actionable pathways towards a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient biodiversity economy for southern Africa. Wild harvesting is critical to the livelihood of millions in the region. However, given the wide range of species, ecosystems, and societal groups involved, planning and implementing such sustainable and just harvesting systems will require substantial cross-sectoral understanding and societal engagement to ensure more equitable dynamics between who benefits and who bears the cost of both conservation and wild species harvest. This project aims to bring together knowledge from multiple wild harvesting systems (including plants, fish, wild meat and illegal trade in high-value wildlife) to consider neglected dimensions of wild harvesting in southern Africa, with a focus on South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia. We will focus on addressing a) the lack of comparison of wild-harvest systems across terrestrial and marine taxa at a regional level, b) limited investigations into the institutional arrangements that foster sustainability and resilience in southern African wild-harvest systems, and c) a current lack of centring wild-harvesters as custodians and guardians of the region’s biodiversity. We aim to co-develop wild-harvester support tools for improved resource-base monitoring and governance participation; develop cross-system insights; and integrate findings for policy information and formulation at different scales.
Group members:
- Dr Rhoda Malgas , Senior Lecturer, School of Natural Resource Science & Management, Nelson Mandela University (lead)
- Dr Julia van Velden, Senior Researcher, Centre for Sustainability Transitions, Stellenbosch University (lead)
- Dr Samantha Williams, Senior Lecturer, School of Public Leadership, Stellenbosch University
- Dr Timothy Kuiper, Senior Lecturer, Department of Conservation Management, Nelson Mandela University
- Dr Vusumzi Martins, Department of Environmental Science, Rhodes University
- Nobesuthu Ngwenya, PhD candidate, Nelson Mandela University/ Zimbabwe Parks & Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks)
- Dr Chimwemwe Tembo-Phiri, Consultant, Sandra Kruger and Associates
- Dr Tawanda Jimu, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Environmental Humanities South, University of Cape Town