- Cape Town, South Africa
- University of the Free State, Centre for Development Support, Faculty MemberHuman Sciences Research Council, Inclusive Economic Development, Faculty Memberadd
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This research analyses how the urban form and internal structure of the city of Cape Town, South Africa, has changed in recent decades. Using satellite imagery and census data, it examines overall disparities in growth, internal... more
This research analyses how the urban form and internal structure of the city of Cape Town, South Africa, has changed in recent decades. Using satellite imagery and census data, it examines overall disparities in growth, internal socioeconomic dynamics and infrastructure within the city. An innovative, data-driven method is used to identify and compare distinct neighbourhood types that make up the city's physical, social and economic fabric.
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More could be done to improve the chances of upward mobility for tenants of social housing in South Africa. The social housing policy makes no mention of upward mobility for tenants, even though this is implicit within the objectives of... more
More could be done to improve the chances of upward mobility for tenants of social housing in South Africa. The social housing policy makes no mention of upward mobility for tenants, even though this is implicit within the objectives of reducing socio-economic and spatial inequalities. We evaluate evidence of tenant level outcomes from a sample of 1,636 households living in 10 social housing projects in
Johannesburg, Tshwane, eThekwini and Cape Town. The findings present a very mixed picture of the impact of social housing on such outcomes, including racial integration and upward income mobility.
Failure to demonstrate household success risks jeopardising the credibility of the programme. A clear recommendation for policymakers is to update the national monitoring and evaluation framework to
include regular collection of socio-economic information on tenants in order to assess the extent to which their circumstances improve over time.
Johannesburg, Tshwane, eThekwini and Cape Town. The findings present a very mixed picture of the impact of social housing on such outcomes, including racial integration and upward income mobility.
Failure to demonstrate household success risks jeopardising the credibility of the programme. A clear recommendation for policymakers is to update the national monitoring and evaluation framework to
include regular collection of socio-economic information on tenants in order to assess the extent to which their circumstances improve over time.
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Social housing is a powerful tool to integrate divided cities by providing decent rental accommodation for low- and moderate-income working families. It can bring communities together in dense urban areas with plentiful opportunities, and... more
Social housing is a powerful tool to integrate divided cities by providing decent rental accommodation for low- and moderate-income working
families. It can bring communities together in dense urban areas with plentiful opportunities, and revitalise rundown inner cities. Success
depends on several enabling conditions: capable social housing agencies, viable subsidy levels, well-located land, support across government, private sector involvement and determined implementation.
The paper maps the spatial distribution of all social housing projects built in South Africa’s seven largest cities since the 1990s. It reveals a steady ‘spatial drift’ of new projects from inner urban areas towards outlying areas. This contradicts the objectives of urban restructuring and
social integration. The dispersal trend has been driven by the high cost of private land and the failure to make surplus public land available.
Recommendations are offered to steer social housing schemes back towards well located areas.
families. It can bring communities together in dense urban areas with plentiful opportunities, and revitalise rundown inner cities. Success
depends on several enabling conditions: capable social housing agencies, viable subsidy levels, well-located land, support across government, private sector involvement and determined implementation.
The paper maps the spatial distribution of all social housing projects built in South Africa’s seven largest cities since the 1990s. It reveals a steady ‘spatial drift’ of new projects from inner urban areas towards outlying areas. This contradicts the objectives of urban restructuring and
social integration. The dispersal trend has been driven by the high cost of private land and the failure to make surplus public land available.
Recommendations are offered to steer social housing schemes back towards well located areas.
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In South Africa, informal rental accommodation constructed in the backyards of formal houses is the fastest growing housing segment. These backyard dwellings (BDs) are makeshift structures made from timber frames, metal sheets or wooden... more
In South Africa, informal rental accommodation constructed in the backyards of formal houses is the fastest growing housing segment. These backyard dwellings (BDs) are makeshift structures made from timber frames, metal sheets or wooden planks. Despite the proliferation of BDs, national and local governments have done little to improve the living standards of backyard dwellers. The research uses focus groups, interviews and building surveys to examine the current state of backyard dwellings and identify opportunities and barriers for government interventions. We analyse the barriers to home improvements, highlighting the important role of tenant dignity and landlord-tenant relations. Furthermore, the research discusses the challenges of potential government-led interventions, which could easily fail in the context of resistance, mistrust and anxiety over housing. We present four key considerations that any intervention to upgrade BDs in South Africa or similar rental units in other ...
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Informality is growing with Africa’s rapid urbanization. Much like residents of other types of informal housing, backyard dwellers face overall poor living conditions and political marginalization. However, backyard residents are in an... more
Informality is growing with Africa’s rapid urbanization. Much like residents of other types of informal housing, backyard dwellers face overall poor living conditions and political marginalization. However, backyard residents are in an ambiguous legal area and have been far less politically active and organized to pursue their rights to adequate housing. Using a qualitative case study of backyard residents in three Cape Town neighborhoods, Harris, Scheba, and Rice bridge theories of infrastructural citizenship and collective action to shed light on how informality may undermine collective action, and they identify four factors influencing collective action.
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Social housing has the potential to contribute to economic inclusion and urban integration if it is well-located. However, this is complicated by economic forces that shape land and property markets and constrain the ability of social... more
Social housing has the potential to contribute to economic inclusion and urban integration if it is well-located. However, this is complicated by economic forces that shape land and property markets and constrain the ability of social housing organisations to afford suitable sites for development on the open market. The paper shows how South Africa’s transformative vision for social housing has been diluted by the gradual spatial drift of projects from the accessible urban core towards outlying areas. Poor coordination has meant that social housing organisations have operated in relative isolation without the consistent government support required to obtain surplus public land in well-situated areas.
Research Interests: Social Housing and Cities
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Research Interests: Conservation and REDD
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Social housing is a powerful tool to integrate divided cities by providing decent rental accommodation for low- and moderate-income working families. It can bring communities together in dense urban areas with plentiful opportunities, and... more
Social housing is a powerful tool to integrate divided cities by providing decent rental accommodation for low- and moderate-income working families. It can bring communities together in dense urban areas with plentiful opportunities, and revitalise rundown inner cities. Success depends on several enabling conditions: capable social housing agencies, viable subsidy levels, well-located land, support across government, private sector involvement and determined implementation. The paper maps the spatial distribution of all social housing projects built in South Africa’s seven largest cities since the 1990s. It reveals a steady ‘spatial drift’ of new projects from inner urban areas towards outlying areas. This contradicts the objectives of urban restructuring and social integration. The dispersal trend has been driven by the high cost of private land and the failure to make surplus public land available. Recommendations are offered to steer social housing schemes back towards well located areas.
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This research report reviews and analyses South Africa’s planning and urban development policy documents for the last twenty years, identifying the key ideas and policies that have shaped the delivery of public services, paying particular... more
This research report reviews and analyses South Africa’s planning and urban development policy documents for the last twenty years, identifying the key ideas and policies that have shaped the delivery of public services, paying particular attention to education and healthcare. This report also presents city profiles for two of South Africa’s most populous cities: Johannesburg and Cape Town.
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International efforts to promote REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation andforest degradation, and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests andenhancement of forest-carbon stocks) have enjoyed widespread support... more
International efforts to promote REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation andforest degradation, and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests andenhancement of forest-carbon stocks) have enjoyed widespread support in climatenegotiations. While proponents of this ?payments for ecosystem services? approachproclaim win-win benefits, others critique this commodification of forest carbon forcontributing to social and environmental injustices that will undermine conservation anddevelopment in the longer-term. In this dissertation I respond to these concerns bycritically examining how REDD+ initiatives emerge in the context of Lindi Region,Tanzania. I specifically investigate how REDD+ initiatives interact with locallivelihood practices, local forest governance and the drivers of land use in order tointerrogate the mechanism?s contribution to local development. I conductedethnographic fieldwork in two villages, both characterised by relatively large forestareas and ?...
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Informal rental housing is growing rapidly in cities of the global South. Changing needs and circumstances of diverse urban populations produce new forms of rental accommodation and landlord–tenant relations. Focusing on the case of... more
Informal rental housing is growing rapidly in cities of the global South. Changing needs and circumstances of diverse urban populations produce new forms of rental accommodation and landlord–tenant relations. Focusing on the case of backyard renting in South Africa, this paper illustrates how informal rental is undergoing a dynamic process of expansion and upgrading that both reflects and contributes to improved socioeconomic conditions. Commercialization is transforming the material quality and social dynamics of informal rental housing. While there are signs of formalization and professionalization, the government’s neglect of this sector has contributed to the strong persistence of informality, with its associated risks. This paper argues that the informal rental sector deserves more government attention to augment the public benefits and mitigate the costs. The paper ends with suggestions of how a developmental approach by the government could help to convert the negative extern...
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These two books will be of great interest to everyone passionate about the conservation of nature, particularly in the southern African region. Both works are highly critical of the dominant ways in which conservation is currently... more
These two books will be of great interest to everyone passionate about the conservation of nature, particularly in the southern African region. Both works are highly critical of the dominant ways in which conservation is currently practised, and they encourage us to reflect deeply over what is needed to move towards a more sustainable future. By elegantly using the strength of ethnography as their main research strategy, Büscher and Nustad succeed in revealing larger structural processes and meanings of nature conservation while simultaneously offering an in-depth analysis of their particular cases. For Büscher, the particular case under investigation is the Maloti–Drakensberg Transfrontier Project (MDTP), a transfrontier conservation area (TFCA) spanning South Africa and Lesotho. Promoted as ‘Peace Parks’, TFCAs have become a popular conservation strategy in recent years, much supported by powerful conservation organisations and governments as a way to protect biodiversity, promote local economic development and contribute to peacemaking across international borders. In Transforming the Frontier, Büscher critically investigates this hype around TFCAs, posing the question of what makes them the ‘new telos of conservation’ (p. 2). The book consists of preface and introduction, seven substantive chapters and a conclusion. Büscher clearly lays out his main arguments in the introduction. ‘Peace Parks’ are simply the latest tools used by powerful conservation actors to advance neoliberal conservation, which, to him, is the ‘true frontier of contemporary global conservation’ (p. xiii). Building on his extensive theoretical engagement with neoliberalism and neoliberal conservation, Büscher argues that conservation actors use three main political strategies to legitimate and further processes of neoliberalisation in nature conservation: consensus, anti-politics and marketing. These three concepts make up the heart of the book’s main thesis, which he thoroughly develops through studying the politics of designing and implementing the MDTP. His long-term ethnographic commitment to the project allows him to go beyond simplified and generalised assumptions, and enables him to demonstrate the incredibly complex and contradictory nature of neoliberal conservation. His findings about the project are much in contrast to how proponents like to portray transfrontier conservation, which is exactly where his main argument and explicit contribution result from. Büscher posits that in a postcolonial neoliberal economy, conservation actors necessarily have to exploit the tensions between material realities and reified representations in order to gain or maintain competitive advantage over other nature conservation strategies.
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The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which allows carbon trading between developed and developing countries, emerged as the Kyoto Protocol's primary market mechanism that promised a win-win situation. On the one hand, the CDM... more
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which allows carbon trading between developed and developing countries, emerged as the Kyoto Protocol's primary market mechanism that promised a win-win situation. On the one hand, the CDM offers developed countries cost-effectiveness to meet their Kyoto commitments. On the other hand, it proclaims to assist developing countries in achieving sustainable development. This book investigates the theoretical underpinnings of the CDM and its sustainable development promises. It then connects the theoretical findings with an analysis of the mechanism's structure and of the global CDM market. The book then assesses the CDM's contribution to sustainable development in South Africa and examines crucial inhibiting factors. This book is addressed to critical scholars and professionals who are interested in the CDM, particularly with respect to its proposed contribution to sustainable development.
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Neighbourhoods affect people’s livelihoods, and therefore drive and mediate intra-urban inequalities and transformations. While the neighbourhood has long been recognized as an important unit of analysis, there is surprisingly little... more
Neighbourhoods affect people’s livelihoods, and therefore drive and mediate intra-urban inequalities and transformations. While the neighbourhood has long been recognized as an important unit of analysis, there is surprisingly little systematic research on different neighbourhood types, especially in the fast-growing cities of the Global South. In this paper we employ k-means clustering, a common machine-learning algorithm, to develop a neighbourhood typology for South Africa’s eight largest cities. Using census data, we identify and describe eight neighbourhood types, each with distinct demographic, socio-economic, structural and infrastructural characteristics. This is followed by a relational comparison of the neighbourhood types along key variables, where we demonstrate the persistent and multi-dimensional nature of residential inequalities. In addition to shedding new light on the internal structure of South African cities, the paper makes an important contribution by applying an inductive, data-driven approach to developing neighbourhood typologies that advances a more sophisticated and nuanced understanding of cities in the Global South.
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Governments, multilateral organisations, and international conservation NGOs increasingly frame nature conservation in terms that emphasise the importance of technically managing and economically valuing nature, and introducing markets... more
Governments, multilateral organisations, and international conservation NGOs increasingly frame nature conservation in terms that emphasise the importance of technically managing and economically valuing nature, and introducing markets for ecosystem services. New mechanisms, such as REDD+, have been incorporated in national-level policy reforms, and have been piloted and implemented in rural project settings across the Global South. By reflecting on my research on REDD+ implementation in two case study villages in Tanzania, the paper argues that the emergence and nature of market-based conservation are multi-faceted, complex, and more profoundly shaped by structural challenges than is commonly acknowledged. The paper identifies three particularly important challenges: the politics surrounding the establishment of community-based forest management; the mismatch between formal governance institutions and actual practices on the ground; and the fickleness of income from carbon sales an...
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Report to the High Level Panel on the Assessment of key Legislation and the Acceleration of Fundamental Change, August
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This paper examines third sector social housing in early post-apartheid South Africa, hence offering important new insights into how institutions in emerging economies shape the implementation and ...
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Cape Town is widely considered to be South Africa’s most segregated city. The chapter outlines the history of social stratification and spatial segregation, including the coercion of colonial and apartheid governments to divide the... more
Cape Town is widely considered to be South Africa’s most segregated city. The chapter outlines the history of social stratification and spatial segregation, including the coercion of colonial and apartheid governments to divide the population by race. Since 1994, the democratic government has lacked the same resolve and capacity to reverse this legacy and integrate the city. The chapter also analyses the changing socio-economic and residential patterns between 2001 and 2011 in more detail. It shows that the extent of segregation diminished between 2001 and 2011, contrary to expectations. It appears that affluent neighbourhoods became slightly more mixed and people in high-status occupations spread into surrounding areas. Some low-income neighbourhoods also became slightly more mixed by accommodating middle class residents. Further research is required to verify and explain these findings.
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Global policies promote urban compaction to achieve sustainable development. This article highlights the limits of analysing densification at the city scale and advocates for a more granular approach. The case study of Cape Town shows how... more
Global policies promote urban compaction to achieve sustainable development. This article highlights the limits of analysing densification at the city scale and advocates for a more granular approach. The case study of Cape Town shows how overall consolidation has been mainly driven by poor households crowding into already dense neighbourhoods on the urban periphery. This has aggravated historic segregation and intensified urban management challenges. Meanwhile, formal private sector driven densification strengthens the social and economic vibrancy of affluent neighbourhoods. This article argues that uneven residential patterns reflect deep-seated social inequalities that are amplified through labour and property markets. Satellite data also illustrates how Cape Town’s built-up area has changed between 1998 and 2019. Based on geo-spatial analyses, the article suggests that taking these drivers seriously is crucial to promoting a denser and more equitable urban form. Aligning housing...
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Informal rental housing is growing rapidly in cities of the global South. Changing needs and circumstances of diverse urban populations produce new forms of rental accommodation and landlord-tenant relations. Focusing on the case of... more
Informal rental housing is growing rapidly in cities of the global South. Changing needs and circumstances of diverse urban populations produce new forms of rental accommodation and landlord-tenant relations. Focusing on the case of backyard renting in South Africa, this paper illustrates how informal rental is undergoing a dynamic process of expansion and upgrading that both reflects and contributes to improved socioeconomic conditions. Commercialization is transforming the material quality and social dynamics of informal rental housing. While there are signs of formalization and professionalization, the government's neglect of this sector has contributed to the strong persistence of informality, with its associated risks. This paper argues that the informal rental sector deserves more government attention to augment the public benefits and mitigate the costs. The paper ends with suggestions of how a developmental approach by the government could help to convert the negative externalities into a positive dynamic with more equitable and sustainable outcomes.
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Governments, multilateral organisations, and international conservation NGOs increasingly frame nature conservation in terms that emphasise the importance of technically managing and economically valuing nature, and introducing markets... more
Governments, multilateral organisations, and international conservation NGOs increasingly frame nature conservation in terms that emphasise the importance of technically managing and economically valuing nature, and introducing markets for ecosystem services. New mechanisms, such as REDD+, have been incorporated in national-level policy reforms, and have been piloted and implemented in rural project settings across the Global South. By reflecting on my research on REDD+ implementation in two case study villages in Tanzania, the paper argues that the emergence and nature of market-based conservation are multi-faceted, complex, and more profoundly shaped by structural challenges than is commonly acknowledged. The paper identifies three particularly important challenges: the politics surrounding the establishment of community-based forest management; the mismatch between formal governance institutions and actual practices on the ground; and the fickleness of income from carbon sales and alternative livelihood opportunities. I argue that these challenges are not merely teething troubles, but they question fundamental assumptions of market-based conservation, more generally. I end with reference to better ideas for achieving sustainable development.
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The ‘right to the city’ has influenced the New Urban Agenda and other global and national urban policies. In the process, the meaning has narrowed towards realizing human rights in cities. Pursuing the right to housing in South Africa has... more
The ‘right to the city’ has influenced the New Urban Agenda and other global and national urban policies. In the process, the meaning has narrowed towards realizing human rights in cities. Pursuing the right to housing in South Africa has established an important duty on the state to ensure universal access to decent accommodation. This has enabled millions of the poorest households to obtain improved habitation, and
others to gain protection against forced evictions. However, the single-minded focus on state delivery of mass housing has been unable to keep pace with the rising level of need. It has also neglected the economic requirements of households and is proving to be financially unsustainable. Consequently, the housing right has not lifted many people out of income poverty or created more inclusive cities. A
rights-based approach needs to be complemented by collective action and strengthened capabilities to drive progress across a broader agenda than just housing, particularly at the local level where there are major
obstacles to change. A purposeful approach to unlocking urban land and collective efforts to spur socioeconomic development are vital.
others to gain protection against forced evictions. However, the single-minded focus on state delivery of mass housing has been unable to keep pace with the rising level of need. It has also neglected the economic requirements of households and is proving to be financially unsustainable. Consequently, the housing right has not lifted many people out of income poverty or created more inclusive cities. A
rights-based approach needs to be complemented by collective action and strengthened capabilities to drive progress across a broader agenda than just housing, particularly at the local level where there are major
obstacles to change. A purposeful approach to unlocking urban land and collective efforts to spur socioeconomic development are vital.
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Having long depended on fossil fuels for energy generation, South Africa is now investing in renewable energy. Like its mining operations, its renewable energy plants will have local implications. Renewable energy companies are therefore... more
Having long depended on fossil fuels for energy generation, South
Africa is now investing in renewable energy. Like its mining
operations, its renewable energy plants will have local implications.
Renewable energy companies are therefore required by
government to engage with communities to contribute to socioeconomic development. We present seven lessons we believe the
renewable energy sector can learn from the mining industry. We
argue that the new industry must: manage social disruption,
understand community complexities, create responsive institutions
and the capacity to support industry practice, employ trained
community practitioners, be clear about the aims of local
development, encourage economic diversification in remote areas
and, importantly, in view of problems caused by downscaling in
the mining industry, plan for the possible closure of projects.
Renewable energy projects could then serve and shape local
development.
Africa is now investing in renewable energy. Like its mining
operations, its renewable energy plants will have local implications.
Renewable energy companies are therefore required by
government to engage with communities to contribute to socioeconomic development. We present seven lessons we believe the
renewable energy sector can learn from the mining industry. We
argue that the new industry must: manage social disruption,
understand community complexities, create responsive institutions
and the capacity to support industry practice, employ trained
community practitioners, be clear about the aims of local
development, encourage economic diversification in remote areas
and, importantly, in view of problems caused by downscaling in
the mining industry, plan for the possible closure of projects.
Renewable energy projects could then serve and shape local
development.
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In recent years, market-based conservation has emerged as the ‘panacea’ to the environmental crises we face today. A prominent example of this trend is REDD+, which turns terrestrial carbon in the global South into fictitious commodities... more
In recent years, market-based conservation has emerged as the ‘panacea’ to the environmental crises we face today. A prominent example of this trend is REDD+, which turns terrestrial carbon in the global South into fictitious commodities that can be sold for profit. In this paper, we conceptualise REDD+ as a form of ‘inclusive’ neoliberal conservation, highlighting how neoliberalism has embraced notions of good governance, local ownership, social safeguards and active citizenship when promoting global conservation markets. While demonstrating the genuine efforts by project proponents to practice ‘inclusion’, we highlight their limits due to larger structural inequalities and demonstrate how the commodification of carbon inevitably causes new forms of inclusion and exclusion to local forest users. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in two forest-dependent villages in the Lindi Region of Tanzania, where two different REDD+ projects were underway, we show how material and discursive powers shaped ‘inclusive’ strategies to market forest-carbon. We then locate these strategies, concerned with the commodification of forest-carbon, within a historical field of power struggles and local politics over forest resources, strongly evidenced in contestations around establishing community-based forest management. We argue that a sharp disjuncture operated between the ‘inclusive’ strategies to market forest-carbon and the historical dimensions and power relations within the area; resulting in new forms of inclusions and exclusions, both in and outside rural villages.
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In recent years, conservation agriculture (CA) has been increasingly promoted as the best solution to sustainable agricultural development in Africa. Proponents argue that it offers increased yields, reduced labour requirements, improved... more
In recent years, conservation agriculture (CA) has been increasingly promoted as the best solution to sustainable agricultural
development in Africa. Proponents argue that it offers increased yields, reduced labour requirements, improved soil
fertility and climate mitigation benefits. At the same time, a growing number of scholars have questioned its promises,
impacts and applicability to small, resource-poor African farmers. To add to the debate, this paper draws on fieldwork from
two case study villages in the Lindi region of Tanzania. It scrutinizes CA farmer field schools’ performances, the impact on
villagers’ perceptions of core principles and socio-economic/institutional constraints related to its adoption. It demonstrates
how farmer field schools failed to meet initial expectations because of challenges associated with economic benefits, labour
demand, availability and accessibility of inputs, infrastructure, governance, and stakeholder relations. It argues that the
applicability to and adoption of CA depends on the transformation of individual perceptions as well as structural constraints,
including credit facilities, markets for inputs, infrastructure and availability of labour, which has long been a limitation
of donor-initiated programmes. Under constraining socio-economic and institutional conditions, questions continue to
loom large over the long-term applicability of CA to African smallholder farmers.
development in Africa. Proponents argue that it offers increased yields, reduced labour requirements, improved soil
fertility and climate mitigation benefits. At the same time, a growing number of scholars have questioned its promises,
impacts and applicability to small, resource-poor African farmers. To add to the debate, this paper draws on fieldwork from
two case study villages in the Lindi region of Tanzania. It scrutinizes CA farmer field schools’ performances, the impact on
villagers’ perceptions of core principles and socio-economic/institutional constraints related to its adoption. It demonstrates
how farmer field schools failed to meet initial expectations because of challenges associated with economic benefits, labour
demand, availability and accessibility of inputs, infrastructure, governance, and stakeholder relations. It argues that the
applicability to and adoption of CA depends on the transformation of individual perceptions as well as structural constraints,
including credit facilities, markets for inputs, infrastructure and availability of labour, which has long been a limitation
of donor-initiated programmes. Under constraining socio-economic and institutional conditions, questions continue to
loom large over the long-term applicability of CA to African smallholder farmers.
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— REDD+ is an ambition to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in the Global South. This ambition has generated unprecedented commitment of political support and financial funds for the forest-development... more
— REDD+ is an ambition to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in the Global South. This ambition has generated unprecedented commitment of political support and financial funds for the forest-development sector. Many academics and people-centered advocacy organizations have conceptualized REDD+ as an example of ''green grabbing " and have voiced fears of a potential global rush for land and trees. In this paper we argue that, in practice and up until now, REDD+ resembles longstanding dynamics of the development and conservation industry, where the promise of change becomes a discursive commodity that is constantly reproduced and used to generate value and appropriate financial resources. We thus argue for a re-conceptualization of REDD+ as a conservation fad within the broader political economy of development and conservation. We derive this argument from a study that compares the emergence of REDD+ in Tanzania with that of a previous forest-policy model called Participatory Forest Management. Our study describes how the advent of REDD+ implies change at the discursive level, but also continuity and repetitiveness in terms of the initial promises and expectations leading to substantial donor financing, pilot project activities, and policy development and implementation processes. In both epochs, these have achieved little in terms of changing actual forest management and use on the ground outside selected pilot project sites, but have sustained the livelihoods of actors within the development and conservation industry, including academics. Given that there are still many who look to REDD+ in the hope of addressing global climate change, despite less than hoped for financial support at the global level, our study provides an important starting point for questioning the uses of the finances for REDD+ that are actually amassed.
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In this paper we use the lens of political ecology to shed light on the causes and effects of pro-poor REDD+ induced land use conflicts. We build our study on recent theoretical work on territorialisation in nature conservation to analyse... more
In this paper we use the lens of political ecology to shed light on the causes and effects of pro-poor REDD+ induced land use conflicts. We build our study on recent theoretical work on territorialisation in nature conservation to analyse the conflicts and outcomes of the TFCG/Mjumita REDD+ project in Lindi, Tanzania. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork in two case study villages we argue that conservation organisations increasingly make use of participatory tools, FPIC procedures and good governance principles to include local populations in the creation of what we call market-based conservation territories (MBCT). In contrast to project developer’s claims of win–win benefits, we highlight the mixed outcomes of MBCTs and argue that their performance-driven nature and reliance on formal governance arrangements lead to the enclosure of common forests. This inevitably causes conflicts between and within villages over the meaning, ownership and access to forest resources, especially given the importance of customary relations in tropical rural contexts. We argue that despite the extensive community engagement strategy and genuine pro-poor approach of the REDD+ project, project proponents were unable to prevent land use conflicts and risks of economic and physical displacement. The specific social, economic and political conditions shaped the implementation of the project which led to negative consequences to some stakeholders despite genuinely noble intentions. Therefore, we argue that in order to achieve more positive results when creating MBCT, project developers must better acknowledge the inherent trade-offs of markets in conservation and take the limitations and realities of local governance context better into account. We suggest a more explicit assessment of social and environmental justice in the project and more context-specific efforts to prevent social harm from conservation. Theoretically, our study contributes to a better understanding of territorialisation processes under the current trend of market-based conservation.
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The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which allows carbon trading between developed and developing countries, emerged as the Kyoto Protocol's primary market mechanism that promised a win-win situation. On the one hand, the CDM offers... more
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which allows carbon trading between developed and developing countries, emerged as the Kyoto Protocol's primary market mechanism that promised a win-win situation. On the one hand, the CDM offers developed countries cost-effectiveness to meet their Kyoto commitments. On the other hand, it proclaims to assist developing countries in achieving sustainable development. This book investigates the theoretical underpinnings of the CDM and its sustainable development promises. It then connects the theoretical findings with an analysis of the mechanism's structure and of the global CDM market. The book then assesses the CDM's contribution to sustainable development in South Africa and examines crucial inhibiting factors. This book is addressed to critical scholars and professionals who are interested in the CDM, particularly with respect to its proposed contribution to sustainable development.