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Natural forest resources are the most accessible sources of services, products and incomes for many adjacent rural communities. However, the declining resilience of forests and agricultural sectors particularly in South Africa is concerning and a real public policy challenge. Little is known about the determinants of rural community dependence on natural forests, and the importance of this dependence to rural livelihoods and environmental outcomes. This study investigated factors affecting rural household level of forest dependence and the contribution of natural forests to rural household livelihoods in the “KwaZulu-Natal Sandstone Sourveld (KZNSS)” ecosystem. Employing survey data from 150 forest-dependent households and a logit-transformed Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model, the study found that there is significant level of forest dependence in the study area. The empirical findings showed that the contribution of forest resources to rural livelihoods is significantly influenced by off-farm incomes, employment incomes, forest vouchers received from the “Wildlands Project” in exchange for planting trees, values of household assets, changing of time and dates in visiting the forest for the collection of forest products, and perceived changes in temperature. These findings imply that institutional arrangements for programs like the “Wildlands Project” need to be developed from the beginning with the participation of all pertinent stakeholders for everyone to accept it and understand the regulations. Additionally, legislative changes are needed to help rural residents sustainably support their livelihoods and diversify their sources of income to build resilience and ease pressure on natural forests.

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This paper aimed to examine the determinants of willingness to pay for water and electricity services in Moletjie community of Aganang Local Municipality of Limpopo Province. Data were collected through key informant interviews, group discussions, and household surveys from a total of 120 households using probability proportional to sample size technique. The study showed that sampled households were dissatisfied with the unreliable water and electricity services (73%) but were willing to pay to secure reliable water and electricity services (87%). The empirical evidence from ordered logit model indicates that willingness to pay for water and electricity was significantly influenced by gender, adult equivalent, household size, total household expenditure, employment status, total household income above total average household income, sources of income and connection charges. These results have policy implications for government and other stakeholders in response to dissatisfaction of water and electricity supply services. For example, research findings reinforce the need to focus on investing in building institutions, improving access to water and electricity, micro-credit and create employment opportunities for better life for all. It was recommended that there should be collective action by community members and policy-makers to improve access to water and electricity at household level.