RESEARCH AND NETWORKING PROJECTS

Research projects undertaken by PLAAS are usually two to three years in duration, are field-based rather than desk-top studies, and seek to draw policy lessons from in-depth case studies informed by  relevant  conceptual  frameworks.  Some  projects  involve  critical  reviews  of  relevant  policy frameworks and implementation procedures. Our research aims to understand social, economic, political, institutional and environmental dynamics, and complex interactions between them, at both  the  local  and  wider  levels.  Both  qualitative  and  quantitative  methods  are  employed,  with particular emphasis on the former. PLAAS has undertaken the following projects since 1995:

LAND REFORM AND RURAL LIVELIHOODS

• Gender, sustainable production systems and land reform in the Eastern Cape  (Kgopotšo Mokgope, 1997– - 1999)
• Land tenure reform, traditional authorities and rural government (Lungisile Ntsebeza, 1997– - 1999)
• Rural  governance,  land  rights  and  sustainable  livelihoods  in  South  Africa:  Policies  and  their  delivery (Lungisile Ntsebeza, 2000– - 2003)
• Sustainable  livelihoods  in  southern  Africa:  Institutions,  governance  and  policy  processes  (Edward  Lahiff and  Zolile  Ntshona,  in  partnership  with  the  Institute  for  Development  Studies,  Sussex  University,  the Overseas Development Institute, IUCN in Mozambique and the University of Zimbabwe, 2000 - –2003)
• Evaluating land and agrarian reform in South Africa (Ruth Hall, Peter Jacobs and Edward Lahiff, 2002– - 2004)
• Livelihood  impacts  of  commercialisation  in  emerging  small-scale  irrigation  schemes  (Barbara  Tapela,  in partnership with the International Water Management Institute, 2003– - 2006)
• The dynamics of poverty and land reform in Namaqualand (Edward Lahiff and Karin Kleinbooi, in partnership with the Surplus People Project and the Centre for Environment and Development Studies (Noragric) at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 2003– - 2005)
• Interrogating ‘viability’: The livelihood impacts of land redistribution in South Africa and Zimbabwe (Edward
• Lahiff, in partnership with Nkuzi Development Association and the Institute for Development Studies, Sussex University, 2004 - –2006)
• Participatory monitoring and evaluation of the South African Land Reform Programme (Karin Kleinboooi and Edward Lahiff, 2004 - –2006)
• Ideology,  practice  and  power:  Linking  land  reform,  conservation  and  democratisation  in  southern  Africa (Webster Whande, in partnership with the Anthropology Department at Köln University, 2004– - 2006)
• Land and water reform in South Africa (Edward Lahiff, in partnership with the Centre for Environment and Development Studies (Noragric) at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 2005 - –2007)

NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND LIVELIHOODS

• Environmental  entitlements:  The  institutional  dynamics  of  environmental  change  (Thembela  Kepe,  in partnership with the Institute for Development Studies, Sussex University, 1996 - –1997)
• Tenure security, environment and economic development on the Wild Coast (Thembela Kepe, 1998–  - 2001)
• National  Desertification  Audit  of  South  Africa:  Socio-economic  dimensions  (Zolile  Ntshona  and  Stephen Turner, in partnership with the National Botanical Institute, 1997– - 1998)
• Communal  rangeland  management  in  the  Eastern  Cape  (Zolile  Ntshona,  in  partnership  with  the  Chr. Michelsen Institute of Norway, 1998– - 2000)
• Global change and subsistence rangelands in southern Africa (Rick Rohde and Hayley Rodkin, in partnership with the National Botanical Institute, 1999– - 2001)
• Governance and trust relations in community-based natural resource management: The #Khomani San land claim (William Ellis, in partnership with the School of Government and the University of Bergen, 1999– - 2002)
• Managerial  and  policy  options  for  sustainable  development  of  communal  rangelands  and  communities in  southern  Africa  (Rick  Rohde,  in  partnership  with  the  Leslie  Hill  Institute  of  Plant  Conservation, 2002– - 2005)

POVERTY DYNAMICS IN RURAL AND URBAN AREAS

• Chronic poverty and development policy in South Africa (Cobus de Swardt, Andries du Toit and Lungiswa
• Tsolekile, in partnership with the School of Public Health at UWC and the Chronic Poverty Research Centre of the UK, 2000 - –2005)
• Vulnerability, labour markets and social protection (Andries du Toit and David Neves, 2005 - –2006)

REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NETWORKING AND RESEARCH PROGRAMMES

• Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) in southern Africa: A regional programme of analysis and communication (Najma Mohamed, Stephen Turner, Webster Whande and Frank Matose, in partnership with the Centre for Applied Social Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, 1999–2006)
• Pan-African  Programme  on  Land  and  Resource  Rights  (Munyaradzi  Saruchera,  in  partnership  with  the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) of Kenya, Community Conservation and Development Initiatives (CCDI) in Nigeria, and the Social Research Centre at the American University of Cairo, Egypt, 2002 - –2004)
• Promoting  common  property  in  Africa:  Networks  for  influencing  policy  and  governance  of  natural resources, (Munyaradzi Saruchera, in partnership with the International Institute for Environment and Development and others, 2003– - 2005)

FISHERIES AND COASTAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

• National  programme  on  coastal  and  fisheries  co-management  (Mafa  Hara  and  Moenieba  Isaacs,  in partnership with the Environmental Evaluation Unit of the University of Cape Town, 2000– - 2005)
• Management  of  community-based  fisheries  in  the  Western  and  Eastern  Cape  (Moenieba  Isaacs,  in partnership with the College of Fisheries Science at the University of Tromsø, 1999 - 2003)
• Fisheries co-management: Knowledge base and institutional arrangements (Mafa Hara, in partnership with the  Institute  for  Fisheries  Management  &  Coastal  Community  Development  of  Denmark  and  others, 2002 - –2004)
• Coastal  sustainable  livelihoods  and  rights-based  fishing  in  Ocean  View,  Cape  Town  (Moenieba  Isaacs, 2003– - 2004)
• Optimal harvesting strategies: The case of hake trawl and long-line fisheries in Namibia and South Africa
• (Moenieba Isaacs, in partnership with the University of British Columbia, the University of Namibia and others, 2003– - 2005)
• Valuation of benefits and sustainable management of coastal ecosystem products and services (Moenieba Isaacs, in partnership with the University of Bangkok, the University of Bremen and others, 2004 - –2006)
• Well-being among fisherfolks in Africa (Moenieba Isaacs, in partnership with the Chr. Michelsen Institute of Norway and others, 2005 - –2008)

SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE WESTERN CAPE’S FRUIT AND WINE INDUSTRIES

• The Ethical Trade Initiative’s South African wine industry pilot: Lessons and implications (Andries du Toit and Fadeela Ally-Schmidt, in partnership with the Centre for Rural Legal Studies, 2000 - –2001)
• Labour process, agrarian reform and informal institutions on Western Cape fruit farms (Andries du Toit and Fadeela Ally-Schmidt, 1999– 2001)