Historical Land‐use and Vegetation Change in Northern Kwazulu‐Natal, South Africa

Abstract

The role of anthropogenic activity is increasingly recognized as an agent of environmental change. Photographs, taken more than 130 years ago in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, show a very different landscape to that viewed today. In attempting to understand some of the dynamics behind the changes in the landscape, we explored the history of land-use in communal rangelands in KwaZulu-Natal from the arrival of Iron Age man through to modern practices. Communal farming is frequently cited as a major cause of environmental degradation. Traditional lifestyles have been eroded by social, political and economic changes since the arrival of European explorers and settlers in the early 1800s. This may have contributed to encroachment by woody plants into the open savannas and grasslands of KwaZulu-Natal in recent times because of increased grazing pressure and, perhaps reduced fires. Furthermore, there is decreasing dependence on wood for everyday needs due to the increased availability of electricity. Interviews with a number of community members indicate that they have noted a change in climate and in vegetation structure. Their observations have been confirmed by climate data and historic photographs. Environmental planners need to view change in a holistic manner, taking cognisance not only of the physical changes but also of the history of land-use and human needs and to give credence to community perceptions.

Selection of forest species for the rehabilitation of disturbed soils in oil fields in the Ecuadorian Amazon

“…The degradation of soil and reduction of vegetation cover caused by human activity are increasing globally as a consequence of agriculture, grazing, mining and urban developments (Bruun et al, 2015;Ferreira de Araújo et al, 2015;Ochoa et al, 2016;Russell and Ward, 2016). The loss of soil quality causes a loss in soil functional activities, and this results in the loss of the ecosystem services, resources and goods that these soils offer to humankind; these in turn have important negative effects on the geochemical, hydrological, and biological Earth System cycles (Berendse et al, 2015;Brevik et al, 2015;Decock et al, 2015;Smith et al, 2015;Keesstra et al, 2016).…”

Ecosystem responses to land abandonment in Western Mediterranean Mountains

“…We need better comprehension of the impact of abandonment on water resources (López-Vicente et al, 2016), soil properties (Novara et al, 2015;Brevik et al, 2016;Nadal-Romero et al, 2016) and its impact on the chemical composition of the atmosphere due to changes in the carbon cycle induced by the abandonment (Gabarrón-Galeote, 2016a;2016b;Nadal-Romero et al, 2016;Novara et al, 2016). Although land abandonment mainly occurred in developed countries during the last century and this is where most of the research has been conducted (Shelef et al, 2015), it is now also a process found in developing countries such as some regions of Ethiopia (Mekonnen et al, 2015;Tesfahunegn et al, 2016), China (Kou et al, 2016;Tengberg et al, 2016;Yu et al, 2016), South Africa (Russell and Ward, 2016) and South America (Ochoa-Cueva et al, 2015;Trabaquini et al, 2015). To this point scientific research has mainly focused on the impact of abandonment from the pedological (Giménez-Morera et al, 2010;Brevik, 2013;Bruun et al, 2015;Colazo and Buschiazzo, 2015), hydrological (Keesstra, 2007;Keesstra et al, 2009;Nadal-Romero et al, 2011;Serrano-Muela et al, 2015;Sanjuán et al, 2016), biological (Russell and Ward, 2016;van Hall et al, 2016), geomorphological (Nadal-Romero et al, 2015), and landscape (Lasanta et al, 2015a(Lasanta et al, , 2015b) points of view.…”

“…Although land abandonment mainly occurred in developed countries during the last century and this is where most of the research has been conducted (Shelef et al, 2015), it is now also a process found in developing countries such as some regions of Ethiopia (Mekonnen et al, 2015;Tesfahunegn et al, 2016), China (Kou et al, 2016;Tengberg et al, 2016;Yu et al, 2016), South Africa (Russell and Ward, 2016) and South America (Ochoa-Cueva et al, 2015;Trabaquini et al, 2015). To this point scientific research has mainly focused on the impact of abandonment from the pedological (Giménez-Morera et al, 2010;Brevik, 2013;Bruun et al, 2015;Colazo and Buschiazzo, 2015), hydrological (Keesstra, 2007;Keesstra et al, 2009;Nadal-Romero et al, 2011;Serrano-Muela et al, 2015;Sanjuán et al, 2016), biological (Russell and Ward, 2016;van Hall et al, 2016), geomorphological (Nadal-Romero et al, 2015), and landscape (Lasanta et al, 2015a(Lasanta et al, , 2015b) points of view. There is also an economic issue behind abandonment due to the lack of income for farmers, and there is an interest in the use of abandoned agriculture fields to increase soil carbon sequestration (Alexander et al, 2015) as once the land is abandoned there may be an increase in soil organic matter as new vegetation grows and covers the soil with a consequent sequestration of carbon (Cerdà et al, 2014;Hombegowda et al, 2016).…”

Vegetation greenness response to water availability in northern China from 1982 to 2006

“…Grassland phenology dynamics are closely related to spring precipitation and increasing temperature at the early growing period (Gong et al, 2015). Also, the vegetation changes are affected by other factors, such as anthropogenic activity (Kou et al, 2015;Russell and Ward, 2016).…”