A Social-Ecological Systems Understanding of Drivers of Degradation in the Tsitsa River Catchment to Inform Sustainable Land Management

Adela Itzkin,Jai Kumar Clifford-Holmes,Mary C. Scholes,Bennie van der Waal,Kate Rowntree,Kaera Coetzer

doi:10.3390/su13020516

Adela Itzkin, Jai Kumar Clifford-Holmes + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020516

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Abstract

Understanding the interactions of the social and biophysical drivers of land degradation is crucial for developing adaptive management actions for future sustainability. A research-praxis project, the ‘Tsitsa Project’ (TP), applies a social-ecological systems (SES) approach where researchers, natural resource managers, and residents collaborate to support sustainable livelihoods and improved natural resource management for the degraded Tsitsa River Catchment (TRC) in South Africa. A system diagramming approach was coupled with findings from interviews, workshops, literature, and two conceptual frameworks. Data inputs were qualitatively integrated to provide a systemic snapshot of how the context-specific social and biophysical drivers are interlinked and how they interact, revealing multiple processes that operate simultaneously to cause and exacerbate land degradation. Physical and climatic variables, changes in land use and cover, and overgrazing were identified as key factors leading to degradation. Additionally, poverty and disempowerment were also important. While little can be done to influence the physical aspects (steep topography and duplex soils) and climatic variables (extreme rainfall and drought), carefully planned changes in land use and management could produce dual-benefits for improving landscape conditions and sustainable livelihoods. This analysis will inform integrated planning processes to monitor, avoid, reduce and reverse land degradation.

Highlights

Social-ecological systems (SESs) are characterized by complexity, high connectivity, and the presence of positive and negative feedback loops involving social and biophysical variables which can have desirable or undesirable outcomes [1,2]
The major factors leading to land degradation globally are land use changes and unsustainable land management practices; changes in land use and management are often driven by system shocks, trends, or seasonality
The document analysis focuses on synthesizing data from Tsitsa Project’ (TP) documents and published literature on three emphasis points that emerged from the interview and workshop results

Summary

Introduction

Social-ecological systems (SESs) are characterized by complexity, high connectivity, and the presence of positive and negative feedback loops involving social and biophysical variables which can have desirable or undesirable outcomes [1,2]. Land degradation is a process with undesirable social and ecological outcomes that can be especially devastating for the world’s poorest people living in dryland areas. The definition of land degradation traditionally focused on the biophysical aspects (i.e., vegetation change and soil loss), but has more recently been framed as a social-ecological phenomenon resulting in “the reduction in the capacity of the land to provide ecosystem goods and services, over a period of time, for its beneficiaries” [4]. A systemic approach to land degradation can support other SDGs related to climate change, poverty eradication, food security, environmental protection, and the sustainable use of natural resources [7,8]. In recognition of the urgent need to restore degraded ecosystems, 2021–2030 has been declared the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration with the mission of preventing, halting, and reversing the degradation of ecosystems worldwide [8]

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