Herding for Health

Submitted by Kago Morobane on Fri, 15/10/2021 - 14:57
Donors/Funders: 
Herding for Health Program
Countries: 
South Africa
Objectives: 
How do we go about addressing the complexity and scope of challenges Africa’s rangelands face? We applied an adaptive management approach that is cyclical and based on the following seven pillars: 1. Understand the science of rangeland restoration, drivers of degradation, rangeland management, resilience, its social-ecological context, and the most appropriate and effective interventions 2. Enable land stewardship and the empowerment of communities and land users to govern and manage rangelands effectively, equitably, and sustainably 3. Improve management of the natural resources within rangeland ecosystems, including livestock, wildlife, and land use systems 4. Restore rangeland ecosystems and where necessary stakeholder relationships for the sake of climate resilience, peace, partnerships, and landscape cohesion 5. Protect rangeland ecosystems and their function, services and connectivity, its biodiversity, and human well-being 6. Invest in rangeland economies towards livelihood diversification and sustainability 7. Learn and adapt to inform innovation, leadership, sustainability, and resilience

CSA rangeland restoration has evolved from over a decade of experience in studying, developing and implementing integrated rangeland management, restoration and stewardship approaches at landscape level within three southern African biomes and biodiversity hotspots: succulent karoo, mesic grassland, and semi-arid savannahs. These sites were the testing ground for implementation of rangeland management strategies in partnership with communal livestock farmers in some of the most rural, impoverished yet biodiverse environments of the region. The combined efforts of community-driven rangeland restoration, wildlife conservation, and enterprise development by initially the Conservation South Africa country program and since 2017 the Herding for Health Program, as well as the longstanding efforts in Kenyan conservancies have resulted in a rapidly growing rangelands program of which the current impact within the next five years will extend across more than 7M ha of African rangelands.

TFCA: 
/Ai/Ais-Richtersveld Transfrontier Conservation Area
PAs: 
Succulent Karoo
HQ of the Initiative: 
Stellenbosch, South Africa
Timeframe: 
2021
Thematic Focus: 
Agriculture, CC adaptation/mitigation, Community Livelihood Dev, HWC mitigation, Integrated Land Use Planning & Implementation, Policy & Leg frameworks, NR Protect & Mgt, Research, Tourism