‘Development’ at the crossroads: biodiversity and land-use tensions on South Africa’s Wild Coast

Abstract

In South Africa, extreme rural poverty often geographically overlaps with areas of high and important biodiversity. Attempts to bring about land-based poverty reduction projects in such areas tends to trigger tensions among stakeholders purporting to be concerned about local people’s welfare, as well as the environment. Using discursive document analysis and semi-structured interviews, the paper discusses a case study of the Wild Coast, an area celebrated for its high biodiversity and ‘beauty’, which reveals that a tension among environmental non-government organisations, government agencies and the private sector, on the best development option, exacerbates the threats to local livelihood options and biodiversity conservation.

Keywords:

• South Africa
• Wild Coast
• land use
• biodiversity conservation
• land-based development

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) for their financial support. We appreciate useful feedback from two anonymous reviewers. We are responsible for whatever errors that remain.