Relying on Jobs instead of the Environment? Patterns of Local Securities in Rural Eastern Cape, South Africa

Abstract

Planners and decision-makers on national and regional levels need better approaches to understand local people's perceptions of their own situations, in order to conduct relevant and successful environmental management and developmental planning. The livelihood opportunities that are available to local people, the factors that constrain them from using these opportunities and the strategies they use to secure their livelihoods in a changing social and natural environment are at the centre of this case study from a rural, coastal village in Qawukeni District, South Africa. Comprehensive interviews with every household show that locally created wage work is the predominant livelihood strategy.