Geography and Environmental Studies

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Browsing Geography and Environmental Studies by Subject "Community-Based Conservation"

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    Investigating the impact of Phinda Private Game Reserve on the livelihoods of the community of Mnqobokazi, KwaZulu-Natal
    (University of Zululand, 2019) Xulu, Simphiwe Lindinkosi Ricardo Gcina
    South Africa has witnessed an increase in the development of policies and investments into the conservation of natural resources as well as improving the livelihoods of people, particularly in the rural areas adjacent to Protected Areas. However, the history of unequal and discriminatory land ownership in the country and the establishment of Protected Areas has been one of the main challenges. Most of the Protected Areas were established on land that was forcefully taken away from black communities during the colonial and apartheid era. The dependence of rural communities on natural resources such as land makes it even hard to manage Protected Areas. Against this backdrop, this study investigates the impact of Phinda Private Game Reserve on the livelihoods of the rural community of Mnqobokazi. A mixed method approach was deployed to collect and analyse data from the respondents in the study. Findings suggest that, although there are some positive impacts, Phinda Private Game Reserve has, in the main negatively affected the livelihoods of the rural community of Mnqobokazi. The results also show that there is a general lack of flow of information amongst the stakeholders, which puts the community in disadvantage and favours the elite. Based on this, it is recommended that there must be improvements made to the involvement of the community in decision-making, benefits sharing and the flow of information to the community.
University of Zululand