Deagrarianisation and Forest Revegetation in a Biodiversity Hotspot on the Wild Coast, South Africa

Ross Shackleton,Charlie Shackleton,Sheona Shackleton,James Gambiza,Matt Hayward

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0076939

Abstract

Deagraianisation is a worldwide phenomenon with widespread social, ecological and economic effects yet with little consensus on the local or higher level causes. There have been contested views on the causes and consequences of deagrarianisation on South Africa’s Wild Coast, which is an international biodiversity hotspot. Using GIS, household interviews and ecological sampling, we compared the perspectives of current and former cultivators as to why some have abandoned farming, whilst also tracking the uses and woody plant cover and composition of fields abandoned at different periods. The GIS analysis showed that field abandonment had been ongoing over several decades, with a decline from 12.5 % field cover in 1961 to 2.7 % in 2009. The area of forests and woodlands almost doubled in the corresponding period. There was a distinct peak in field abandonment during the time of political transition at the national level in the early 1990s. This political change led to a decrease in government support for livestock farming, which in turn resulted in reduced animal draught power at the household and community level, and hence reduced cropping. The study showed it is largely the wealthier households that have remained in arable agriculture and that the poorer households have abandoned farming. The abandoned fields show a distinct trend of increasing woody biomass and species richness with length of time since abandonment, with approximately three woody plant species added per decade. Most local respondents dislike the increases in forest and woodland extent and density because of anxiety about wild animals causing harm to crops and even humans, and the loss of an agricultural identity to livelihoods and the landscape.

Highlights

Deagrarianisation is a widespread phenomenon that significantly affects local and national food security, rural livelihoods and the environment [1,2]
Field abandonment may be associated with increased wild fires, soil erosion, and the establishment of invasive species [5,6]
Our study shows that species richness, diversity, basal area and woody cover increased in old fields with time, on a clear trajectory towards that of natural forests

Summary

Introduction

Deagrarianisation is a widespread phenomenon that significantly affects local and national food security, rural livelihoods and the environment [1,2]. Drivers of abandonment of farming as a livelihood include land degradation and declining soil fertility, increasing prices of farming inputs, the migration of rural inhabitants to urban areas and the inability of small-scale farmers to compete with largescale conglomerates [1,2,4]. With increasing human populations and westernisation of consumption patterns any decrease in agricultural production and food security is usually viewed with concern at both local and national scales [5]. Field abandonment may be associated with increased wild fires, soil erosion, and the establishment of invasive species [5,6]. If native plant communities reestablish on abandoned fields it can help reverse local-scale loss of biodiversity and associated ecosystem goods and services of which agriculture is a primary driver [7]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion