The Tsitsa Project – updates from a complex catchment Margaret Wolff for The Tsitsa Project Team
We all live on this planet, in a catchment Human Social – & Ecological Planetary Justice Well-being
The Tsitsa Project (formerly NLEIP) Born in 2014 Two dams planned on the Tsitsa River (Mzimvubu Water Project) Started out as a restoration project to prevent predicted siltation of the dams (….and improve livelihoods)
The Tsitsa Project vision To support sustainable livelihoods for local people through integrated landscape management that strives for resilient social-ecological systems which fosters equity in access to ecosystem services.
Research and praxis in the Tsitsa Project Complex social-ecological systems: A central, accepted concept complex social-ecological system c ircles: elements Arrows: feedbacks complex ecological complex social system (bio-physical) system Image adapted from R. Biggs
Catchments and interventions • Interventions have a history of ambiguous outcomes and outright failures . • How can research-based interventions with stakeholders: government, industry, agriculture, researchers, and residents result in sustainable outcomes that persist beyond the intervention, move towards behavior-change, and adaptive, integrated, sustainable resource management practice among stakeholders? • Sustained, engaged, transdisciplinary action research
Tsitsa Project – Five Principles 1. To embed complex social-ecological system and resilience thinking in praxis 2. To encourage polycentric and participatory governance approaches 3. To generate transdisciplinary, action-oriented and engaged research 4. To work in collaborative, reflexive, adaptive and learning- oriented ways 5. To create enabling conditions for equitable participation and community engagement These are CHALLENGING!
The Objectives Tree
Governance in the Tsitsa Project A team B team FIRE AND GRAZING Wisdom Trust RU C team COP KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT COP SYSTEMS THINKING COP
Institutionalising Strategic Adaptive Management • Deep reflexive thinking and analysis • Aligning diaries • Institutionalising critical meetings • Co-opting the key role players Botha et al. 2017
Output produced by Indicators workshop Development theories are just theories
DEA: NRM, the entire world, and risk mitigation • DEA doesn’t have the capacity to fix everything • Government doesn’t have the capacity to help people manage their own risks • Everyone needs community engagement to get people actively involved in managing their own environmental risks • It’s easier to measure • It’s intuitively obvious • Everyone wants to reduce their risk • Everyone understands risk Bester, 2018
Sustainable HBI/R; Attribution gap Efficiency Impact Effective Goal and radical LED (HBI & effective GGP) GGP/Rand Meta- Environmental Manufactured Financial Social capital Human capital objectives capital capital capital Strategic Nutrition; Hope; Resilience; Productivity; Capital objectives Referrals; Testimonies; Referrals; Referrals; Outcomes Climate change; Testimonies/uptake; Testimonies/uptake; Referrals ; Testimonies ; Gender issues ; (nested: baseline, Bronze certificates (PindaPinda) Food; water; Bronze certificates; Bronze certificates; current value, target, Bronze certificates Productivity Productivity source: ST & LT) Outputs Number of participants Number of participants Number of participants Number of participants Number of participants (nested: baseline, Uptake Uptake Uptake Uptake ??? current value target, ??? ??? ??? ??? source: periodic) Community organisation Productive infrastructive Training 1 – n Pre-productive infrastruce Selling produce Activities Networking development MyFuture implementation MyBusiness First meeting Financial resources Financial resources Financial resources Financial resources Financial resources Management Management Management Management Management Inputs Technical kills Technical skills Technical skills Technical skills Technical skills Experience Experience Experience Experience Experience
Goals High level SDG outcomes Activity / Outcomes Sustainable Complex Social-Ecological Systems Relationships + activities Strategic Land & Water protection Adaptive for using ecosystem services Management checklist: V-STEEP Resource + Services Values Social Technical System adaptive capacity Environmental Economic Political enables Palmer et al., 2018
Bounding
D A T A O V E R L O A D ! !
Tsitsa Project Learning Paper • Full reference: Cockburn, J., Palmer, C. G., Biggs, H., & Rosenberg, E. (2018). Navigating multiple tensions for engaged praxis in a complex social-ecological system. Land, 7:129. • OPEN ACCESS – Freely available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/land7040129 And in 2019 we’ve just appointed a Capacity Development coordinator – more learning together And we acknowledge the need to include climate change and disaster risk reduction implications in our planning Integrating with Elundini LM - IDP
Systems Thinking and System Dynamics Modelling
Tsitsa River catchment, Eastern Cape Traditional council
Community voice – priority NRM issues • Alien invasive trees that invade rangelands and riparian reaches • Degraded springs and seeps • Degraded rangelands and soil erosion
Trying to map it all out Hlankomo Sigoga Qulungashe Emaxesibeni
Working more closely together • Six traditional councils • Farmers associations • Take Note • COGTA
Telling everyone else And always on the look out for additional partners and funding
Build on our strengths, acknowledge our weaknesses
Thank you
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