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1
Kemper, T., N. Mudau, P. Mangara, and M. Pesaresi. "Towards an automated monitoring of human settlements in South Africa using high resolution SPOT satellite imagery." ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences XL-7/W3 (April 30, 2015): 1389–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/isprsarchives-xl-7-w3-1389-2015.
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Urban areas in sub-Saharan Africa are growing at an unprecedented pace. Much of this growth is taking place in informal settlements. In South Africa more than 10% of the population live in urban informal settlements. South Africa has established a National Informal Settlement Development Programme (NUSP) to respond to these challenges. This programme is designed to support the National Department of Human Settlement (NDHS) in its implementation of the Upgrading Informal Settlements Programme (UISP) with the objective of eventually upgrading all informal settlements in the country. Currently, the NDHS does not have access to an updated national dataset captured at the same scale using source data that can be used to understand the status of informal settlements in the country. <br><br> This pilot study is developing a fully automated workflow for the wall-to-wall processing of SPOT-5 satellite imagery of South Africa. The workflow includes an automatic image information extraction based on multiscale textural and morphological image features extraction. The advanced image feature compression and optimization together with innovative learning and classification techniques allow a processing of the SPOT-5 images using the Landsat-based National Land Cover (NLC) of South Africa from the year 2000 as low-resolution thematic reference layers as. The workflow was tested on 42 SPOT scenes based on a stratified sampling. The derived building information was validated against a visually interpreted building point data set and produced an accuracy of 97 per cent. Given this positive result, is planned to process the most recent wall-to-wall coverage as well as the archived imagery available since 2007 in the near future.
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Khan, Sultan, and Malcolm Wallis. "Planning and Sustainable Development of Low Income Human Settlements in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa." Journal of Human Ecology 50, no. 1 (April 2015): 43–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09709274.2015.11906858.
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KRIGE, S. "THE ROLE OF UNIVERSITIES IN CAPACITY BUILDING FOR BETTER HUMAN SETTLEMENTS IN SOUTH AFRICA." South African Geographical Journal 83, no. 1 (March 2001): 8–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03736245.2001.9713714.
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Musakwa, Walter. "Data on strategically located land and spatially integrated urban human settlements in South Africa." Data in Brief 15 (December 2017): 805–8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2017.10.044.
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FISHER, J. T., E. T. F. WITKOWSKI, B. F. N. ERASMUS, J. VAN AARDT, G. P. ASNER, K. J. WESSELS, and R. MATHIEU. "Human-modified landscapes: patterns of fine-scale woody vegetation structure in communal savannah rangelands." Environmental Conservation 39, no. 1 (November 29, 2011): 72–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0376892911000592.
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SUMMARYDespite electrification, over 90% of rural households in certain areas of South Africa continue to depend on fuelwood, and this affects woody vegetation structure, with associated cascading effects on biodiversity within adjacent lands. To promote sustainable use, the interactions between anthropogenic and environmental factors affecting vegetation structure in savannahs need to be understood. Airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data collected over 4758 ha were used to examine woody vegetation structure in five communal rangelands around 12 settlements in Bushbuckridge, a municipality in the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Reserve (South Africa). The importance of underlying abiotic factors was evaluated by measuring size class distributions across catenas and using canonical correspondence analysis. Landscape position was significant in determining structure, indicating the importance of underlying biophysical factors. Differences in structure were settlement-specific, related to mean annual precipitation at one site, and human population density and intensity of use at the other four sites. Size class distributions of woody vegetation revealed human disturbance gradients around settlements. Intensity of use affected the amplitude, not the shape, of the size class distribution, suggesting the same height classes were being harvested across settlements, but amount harvested varied between settlements. Highly used rangelands result in a disappearance of disturbance gradients, leading to homogeneous patches of low woody cover around settlements with limited rehabilitation options. Reductions in disturbance gradients can serve as early warning indicators of woodland degradation, a useful tool in planning for conservation and sustainable development.
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Durojaye, Ebenezer, Gladys Mirugi-Mukundi, and Oluwafunmilola Adeniyi. "Legal empowerment as a tool for engendering access to justice in South Africa." International Journal of Discrimination and the Law 20, no. 4 (November 4, 2020): 224–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1358229120969602.
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This article examines the concept of access to justice and the challenges vulnerable and marginalised groups encounter in accessing justice. The article further discusses the recognition of access to justice as human rights imperative under international and regional human rights instrument. It then discusses barriers to access to justice for women. It argues that while access to justice remains a challenge for many vulnerable and marginalised groups, women particularly encounter serious barriers to access to justice in society. Furthermore, it discusses the notion of legal empowerment and the significance of this for the realisation of access to justice for vulnerable groups, especially women in disadvantaged communities. This is followed by the discussion on the experience of the Dullah Omar Institute in providing legal empowerment training for women in informal settlements in Cape Town and some of the, important lessons from this process. It concludes by making useful recommendations in ensuring access to justice for vulnerable women in informal settlements.
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Joseph, Stacey-Leigh, and Mirjam van Donk. "Building ‘Positive’ Spaces: Sustainable Human Settlements in The Context of Hiv/Aids." Open House International 33, no. 4 (December 1, 2008): 23–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ohi-04-2008-b0004.
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A key development in South Africa's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic has been the recognition that there are a number of external factors in the socio-economic and physical environment in which people live that are central to the spread of the epidemic. A growing body of evidence suggests that poverty, inequality, inadequate shelter, overcrowding and other symptoms of underdevelopment are fundamental drivers in undermining people's ability to practice and negotiate safe sex, thereby enhancing vulnerability to HIV infection. Similarly, these factors affect the ability of individuals, households and communities to cope with the subsequent health and socio-economic effects of infection. In a context where large numbers of South Africans live in poverty, without adequate shelter and access to basic resources and services, HIV/AIDS will thus have far reaching and serious impacts, not only on citizens and communities but also for and on the state. The South African government has shifted its approach to housing development from the provision of housing to a sustainable human settlements approach, as encapsulated in its 2004 development plan ‘Breaking New Ground’. This paper explores the conceptual and theoretical links between this sustainable human settlements agenda and HIV/AIDS. It argues that the creation of sustainable and integrated human settlements is potentially a crucial component in the response to HIV/AIDS. However, this can only be achieved if HIV/AIDS becomes an explicit component of sustainable human settlements planning, development and management. In light of this, the paper discusses key characteristics of integrated, sustainable human settlements and reviews the current instruments for the implementation of a sustainable settlement agenda in South Africa in relation to the dynamics and implications of HIV/AIDS both for the South African state and its people. The paper concludes with a set of policy recommendations to make HIV/AIDS an integral component of the sustainable human settlements agenda.
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Musakwa, Walter, Rebone M. Tshesane, and Matheri Kangethe. "The strategically located land index support system for human settlements land reform in South Africa." Cities 60 (February 2017): 91–101. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2016.08.007.
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Bradlow, Benjamin, Joel Bolnick, and Clifford Shearing. "Housing, institutions, money: the failures and promise of human settlements policy and practice in South Africa." Environment and Urbanization 23, no. 1 (April 2011): 267–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956247810392272.
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Weimann, Amy, Noxolo Kabane, Tracy Jooste, Anthony Hawkridge, Warren Smit, and Tolu Oni. "Health through human settlements: Investigating policymakers’ perceptions of human settlement action for population health improvement in urban South Africa." Habitat International 103 (September 2020): 102203. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2020.102203.
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Sinchembe, M., and W. N. Ellery. "Human impacts on hydrological health and the provision of ecosystemservices: a case study of the eMthonjeni–Fairview Spring Wetland, Grahamstown, South Africa." African Journal of Aquatic Science 35, no. 3 (December 24, 2010): 227–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.2989/16085914.2010.538508.
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Mokoena, B. T., and W. Musakwa. "MOBILE GIS: A TOOL FOR INFORMAL SETTLEMENT OCCUPANCY AUDIT TO IMPROVE INTEGRATED HUMAN SETTLEMENT IMPLEMENTATION IN EKURHULENI, SOUTH AFRICA." ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences XLI-B2 (June 9, 2016): 735–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/isprsarchives-xli-b2-735-2016.
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Upgrading and relocating people in informal settlements requires consistent commitment, good strategies and systems so as to improve the lives of those who live in them. In South Africa, in order to allocate subsidised housing to beneficiaries of an informal settlement, beneficiary administration needs to be completed to determine the number of people who qualify for a subsidised house. Conventional methods of occupancy audits are often unreliable, cumbersome and non-spatial. Accordingly, this study proposes the use of mobile GIS to conduct these audits to provide up-to-date, accurate, comprehensive and real-time data so as to facilitate the development of integrated human settlements. An occupancy audit was subsequently completed for one of the communities in the Ekurhuleni municipality, Gauteng province, using web-based mobile GIS as a solution to providing smart information through evidence based decision making. Fieldworkers accessed the off-line capturing module on a mobile device recording GPS coordinates, socio-economic information and photographs. The results of this audit indicated that only 56.86% of the households residing within the community could potentially benefit from receiving a subsidised house. Integrated residential development, which includes fully and partially subsidised housing, serviced stands and some fully bonded housing opportunities, would then be key to adequately providing access to suitable housing options within a project in a post-colonial South Africa, creating new post-1994 neighbourhoods, in line with policy. The use of mobile GIS therefore needs to be extended to other informal settlement upgrading projects in South Africa.
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Mokoena, B. T., and W. Musakwa. "MOBILE GIS: A TOOL FOR INFORMAL SETTLEMENT OCCUPANCY AUDIT TO IMPROVE INTEGRATED HUMAN SETTLEMENT IMPLEMENTATION IN EKURHULENI, SOUTH AFRICA." ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences XLI-B2 (June 9, 2016): 735–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-xli-b2-735-2016.
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Upgrading and relocating people in informal settlements requires consistent commitment, good strategies and systems so as to improve the lives of those who live in them. In South Africa, in order to allocate subsidised housing to beneficiaries of an informal settlement, beneficiary administration needs to be completed to determine the number of people who qualify for a subsidised house. Conventional methods of occupancy audits are often unreliable, cumbersome and non-spatial. Accordingly, this study proposes the use of mobile GIS to conduct these audits to provide up-to-date, accurate, comprehensive and real-time data so as to facilitate the development of integrated human settlements. An occupancy audit was subsequently completed for one of the communities in the Ekurhuleni municipality, Gauteng province, using web-based mobile GIS as a solution to providing smart information through evidence based decision making. Fieldworkers accessed the off-line capturing module on a mobile device recording GPS coordinates, socio-economic information and photographs. The results of this audit indicated that only 56.86% of the households residing within the community could potentially benefit from receiving a subsidised house. Integrated residential development, which includes fully and partially subsidised housing, serviced stands and some fully bonded housing opportunities, would then be key to adequately providing access to suitable housing options within a project in a post-colonial South Africa, creating new post-1994 neighbourhoods, in line with policy. The use of mobile GIS therefore needs to be extended to other informal settlement upgrading projects in South Africa.
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Phago, Kedibone. "INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS AND HOUSING POLICY IMPLEMENTATION IN SOUTH AFRICA." Politeia 33, no. 2 (October 20, 2016): 28–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.25159/0256-8845/1778.
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Housing policy in South Africa requires that government departments at different spheres coordinate their activities to facilitate the provision of housing. This coordination is imperative because without such, effective housing provision remains compromised. The question that this paper raises is: whither intergovernmental relations (IGR) for housing policy implementation in South Africa? From this question it is clear that the nature of this discussion is conceptual as it seeks to engage on the institutional IGR model of public housing delivery. This question is raised in this paper because a system that ties activities of different spheres of government is necessary to realise housing policy implementation outcomes. However, in responding to this question several issues receive attention: Firstly, a broader view on a social contract as well as establishing public institutions to facilitate public service delivery.Secondly, intergovernmental relations and housing which consider the nature of IGR system in place, while arguing that this system is not viable for housing delivery. Thirdly, while the municipal accreditation system has been introduced, it remains complex and costly in addressing housing delivery challenges. In the final analysis, this paper argues for a constitutional amendment which would allow housing to become a functional competency of municipalities similar to other human settlements components such as roads constructions, electricity, sanitation and clean drinking water.
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Ngcofe, Luncedo, and Nale Mudau. "An investigation of geographic object based image analysis (GEOBIA) for human settlement detection in South Africa." Abstracts of the ICA 1 (July 15, 2019): 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/ica-abs-1-269-2019.
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<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> The changes to the landscape are constantly occurring both naturally and human induced. One of such changes is the human settlement expansion. The ability to map human settlements is vital for variety of studies including urban development planning and management. For this study human settlement detection is essential for topographic map update. The newly identified human settlements also serves as change detection area indicator for further update of other topographic features that are represented on the topographic map (such as roads etc.). The semi-automated human settlement detection has been conducted through geographic object based image analysis (GEOBIA) method using 2012 SPOT 5 imagery in the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa. GEOBIA is relative new development of image processing and analysis of remote sensed imagery. It involves partitioning an imagery into discrete entities or segments from which meaningful image object, based on the spatial and spectral attributes can be generated. Through a multiresolution segmentation model implemented by the eCognition software, image segmentation was attained. This entailed evaluation of different segmentation parameter in order obtain suitable objects of interest. The following step was to determine appropriate variables obtained from image segmentation to classify the image. These include: layer values, geometry, position, texture, hierarchy and thematic attributes. The layer value option entails spectral statistics such as mean value and mean brightness for image reflectance bands together with capability of further applying band ratio combinations. Under the texture and geometry option also several alternatives are applicable (such as length/width under extend and asymmetry under shape properties). Under the level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) the study explored the contrast textual measurements developed by Haralick et al., (1973). Other assessed variables are mean brightness, density, length/width and band ratios. The last step for GEOBIA was to determine suitable variables for the rule-set based classification. This resulted to 70.7% overall accuracy.</p><p>These results were further compared to the existing South African global human settlement layer (SA_GHSL) for the same study area which also used the same year 2012 SPOT 5 imagery. The SA_GHSL had an overall accuracy of 60%. The GEOBIA presents an opportunity to apply semi-automated method to target areas of new settlement development more efficiently and with consistent repeatable manner. Thus assisting topographic update analyst to be drawn to more areas of new settlement development at an enhanced efficient rate. However the spectral variability of roof tops proved to be the most challenging obstacle towards of both the semi-automated settlement detection methods.</p>
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Foster, Jeremy. "Archaeology, aviation, and the topographical projection of ‘Paradoxical Modernism’ in 1940s South Africa." Architectural Research Quarterly 19, no. 2 (June 2015): 133–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1359135515000214.
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At the time of his premature death in 1942, Rex Martienssen, the gifted South African architect who had helped make Johannesburg an outpost of modernism, had just completed a seminal PhD thesis on Greek space, and was documenting the layout of remote African settlements in South Africa's highlands. Martienssen's writings suggest that the link between these disjunct projects was topographical thinking, a form of architectural seeing and thinking that ontologically articulates time, place and culture. His research project was informed by the white colonial national intellectual search for an alternative to the racialised imaginary geography being promoted by white nationalism in the 1930s, a paradoxical modernity that would be progressive and cosmopolitan, yet also respected a timeless order threatened by European modernity. This re-envisioning of the 'place' of Western culture in Africa was encouraged by two seemingly-unrelated engagements with the sub-continent's terrain: archaeology and commercial aviation. Both practices came into their own in Southern Africa during this period, deploying Western technique and rationality in ways that constructed a vision of the subcontinent that unsettled the territorial limits and historical narratives of the post-colony, and inaugurated perceptions of the African landscape as modern and transcultural, yet situated in the Hegelian geographical movement of history. This made it possible to imagine, for the first time, that the topographical organisation of indigenous settlements might yield a spatial logic for new urban areas. A key figure in understanding this multiscalar geo-historical subjectivity was Le Corbusier, who had close ties with Martienssen and what he called le Groupe Transvaal. Le Corbusier's global journeys during the 1930s had made him increasingly interested in the anthropo-geographic traces left by the 'natural order of things' in human environments, and the possibility of a neo-syndicalist world order based on geo-political regions that were latitudinally complementary.
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Gabru, N. "SOME COMMENTS ON WATER RIGHTS IN SOUTH AFRICA." Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal/Potchefstroomse Elektroniese Regsblad 8, no. 1 (July 10, 2017): 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2005/v8i1a2831.
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Human life, as with all animal and plant life on the planet, is dependant upon fresh water. Water is not only needed to grow food, generate power and run industries, but it is also needed as a basic part of human life. Human dependency upon water is evident through history, which illustrates that human settlements have been closely linked to the availability and supply of fresh water. Access to the limited water resources in South Africa has been historically dominated by those with access to land and economic power, as a result of which the majority of South Africans have struggled to secure the right to water. Apartheid era legislation governing water did not discriminate directly on the grounds of race, but the racial imbalance in ownership of land resulted in the disproportionate denial to black people of the right to water. Beyond racial categorisations, the rural and poor urban populations were traditionally especially vulnerable in terms of the access to the right. The enactment of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996, brought the South African legal system into a new era, by including a bill of fundamental human rights (Bill of Rights). The Bill of Rights makes provision for limited socio-economic rights. Besides making provision for these human rights, the Constitution also makes provision for the establishment of state institutions supporting constitutional democracy. The Constitution has been in operation since May 1996. At this stage, it is important to take stock and measure the success of the implementation of these socio-economic rights. This assessment is important in more ways than one, especially in the light of the fact that many lawyers argued strongly against 1/2the inclusion of the second and third generation of human rights in a Bill of Rights. The argument was that these rights are not enforceable in a court of law and that they would create unnecessary expectations of food, shelter, health, water and the like; and that a clear distinction should be made between first generation and other rights, as well as the relationship of these rights to one another. It should be noted that there are many lawyers and non-lawyers who maintained that in order to confront poverty, brought about by the legacy of apartheid, the socio-economic rights should be included in a Bill of Rights. The inclusion of section 27 of the 1996 Constitution has granted each South African the right to have access to sufficient food and water and has resulted in the rare opportunity for South Africa to reform its water laws completely. It has resulted in the enactment of the Water Services Act 108 of 1997 and the National Water Act 36 of 1998.In this paper the difference between first and second generation rights will be discussed. The justiciability of socio-economic rights also warrants an explanation before the constitutional implications related to water are briefly examined. Then the right to water in international and comparative law will be discussed, followed by a consideration of the South African approach to water and finally, a few concluding remarks will be made.
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Simpson, Greg, Fabiola Quesada, Pranab Chatterjee, Manish Kakkar, Matthew F. Chersich, and Séverine Thys. "Research priorities for control of zoonoses in South Africa." Transactions of The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 115, no. 5 (April 1, 2021): 538–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/trstmh/trab039.
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Abstract Background Zoonoses pose major threats to the health of humans, domestic animals and wildlife, as seen in the COVID-19 pandemic. Zoonoses are the commonest source of emerging human infections and inter-species transmission is facilitated by anthropogenic factors such as encroachment and destruction of wilderness areas, wildlife trafficking and climate change. South Africa was selected for a ‘One Health’ study to identify research priorities for control of zoonoses due to its complex disease burden and an overstretched health system. Methods A multidisciplinary group of 18 experts identified priority zoonotic diseases, knowledge gaps and proposed research priorities for the next 5 y. Each priority was scored using predefined criteria by another group of five experts and then weighted by a reference group (n=28) and the 18 experts. Results Seventeen diseases were mentioned with the top five being rabies (14/18), TB (13/18), brucellosis (11/18), Rift Valley fever (9/11) and cysticercosis (6/18). In total, 97 specific research priorities were listed, with the majority on basic epidemiological research (n=57), such as measuring the burden of various zoonoses (n=24), followed by 20 on development of new interventions. The highest research priority score was for improving existing interventions (0.77/1.0), followed by health policy and systems research (0.72/1.0). Conclusion Future zoonotic research should improve understanding of zoonotic burden and risk factors and new interventions in public health. People with limited rural services, immunocompromised, in informal settlements and high-risk occupations, should be the highest research priority.
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Kanayo, Ogujiuba, and Terfa W. Abraham . "Impact of Public Expenditure on Climate Change in Nigeria: Lessons from South Africa." Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies 4, no. 9 (September 15, 2012): 515–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.22610/jebs.v4i9.353.
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This paper examines the role of public expenditure in enhancing climate change adaptation and mitigation in Nigeria. It examines the trend of carbon dioxide (CO2) in Nigeria alongside those of South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa and investigates the statistical relationship between public expenditure and climate change in Nigeria. The paper hinges on the Climate Public Expenditure and Institutional framework of the Oversee Development Institute (ODI), which argues that climate change, has fiscal implications and can be addressed using national plans and annual budgets. Time series data were then collected for emission, public expenditure, human development index and economic growth from the World Bank and the Central Bank of Nigeria for 1970-2008, while trend analysis and lag regression model were used for data analysis. It was found that public expenditure towards economic services could be used to enhance Nigeria’s climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. Though economic growth and human development index were found to be positively related to emission, results imply that economic growth in Nigeria is not pursued in a sustainable manner that accounts for the future generation. The paper recommends that economic growth that is driven by investment in renewable energy, developing human capacity to adapt to climate change and coordinating public expenditure to economic and community services to develop rural communities and vulnerable sectors like agriculture, would be useful for addressing climate change in Nigeria and ensuring sustainable development. A lesson Nigeria can learn from climate change mitigation and adaptation measures in South Africa is to identify and prioritize short term and medium term adaptation interventions to be addressed in sector plans such as water, agriculture and forestry, health, biodiversity and human settlements.
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Moss, Vuyisani. "Creating a Development Bank to Finance Affordable Housing in South Africa is a Timely Catalyst to Address Demand and Supply Challenges." International Journal of Systems and Society 6, no. 1 (January 2019): 52–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/ijss.2019010104.
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The twin problems of affordability and accessibility that hamper the progress of housing in our country need to be addressed on a sustainable basis and the state needs to take on the role as a facilitator to create the enabling environment to encourage greater private sector participation. As a consequence, it is quite opportune to establish the Human Settlements Development Bank (HSDB). The mortgage finance affordability challenge is also attributable to key essential drivers, namely; house price index, disposable income, and the mortgage interest rates.
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Pienaar, H., Y. Xu, E. Braune, J. Cao, S. Dzikiti, and N. Z. Jovanovic. "Implementation of groundwater protection measures, particularly resource-directed measures in South Africa: a review paper." Water Policy 23, no. 4 (June 9, 2021): 819–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wp.2021.016.
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Abstract This review paper on groundwater protection measures in South Africa focuses on the actual implementation of groundwater protection measures, in particular, the resource-directed measures (RDM) as described in Chapter 3 of the National Water Act (NWA). Significant catchment-wide implementation of RDM has taken place in a phased manner throughout various catchments since 2012. By 2015, approximately R380 million had been expended on the catchment-wide implementation of the water resource protection measures over a period of 15 years. Considerable effort went into refining the RDM methodology, taking into account the groundwater component of the overall resource. In this paper, we contend that RDM, in its present form, will not make a significant contribution to groundwater resource protection and security in the country. This is a major concern because the Groundwater Strategy of the Department of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation (DHSWS) had declared the protection of groundwater as a national priority. This paper also examines institutional and governance arrangements (or lack thereof) as well as providing recommendations to support the effective implementation of groundwater protection provisions as prescribed by South Africa's water legislation.
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Alabi, Bimpe, and Julius Fapohunda. "Effects of Increase in the Cost of Building Materials on the Delivery of Affordable Housing in South Africa." Sustainability 13, no. 4 (February 7, 2021): 1772. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su13041772.
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Adequate provision of affordable human settlements is a huge challenge in South Africa since its independence. This paper investigates the effects of the cost increase of building materials on affordable housing delivery in South Africa. With potential solutions for cost minimisation of building materials, with the aim of achieving affordable housing delivery in South Africa are provided. This study uses a sequential mixed methods approach, wherein surveys were conducted among the construction professionals (project managers, site managers architects, site engineers, quantity surveyors, contractors, building materials suppliers, and government workers) in the construction industry within Cape Town, South Africa, who were considered as the research participants. The qualitative data obtained from the survey exercise were analysed using content analysis, while the quantitative data were analysed using a descriptive statistical technique on SPSS. The findings attained show fluctuation in construction cost and a rise in maintenance cost (caused by poor workmanship) as significant effects in the cost increase of building materials for affordable housing delivery. Adequate application of the recommendations given in this study will minimise the effects of high cost of building materials and enhance affordable housing delivery. Appropriate handling of the findings given in this study will reduce the effects of the high cost of building materials and augment timely delivery of affordable housing and stakeholders’ satisfaction.
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Kleynhans, W., B. P. Salmon, K. J. Wessels, and J. C. Olivier. "Rapid detection of new and expanding human settlements in the Limpopo province of South Africa using a spatio-temporal change detection method." International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 40 (August 2015): 74–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2015.04.009.
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Khan, Sultan, and Fazel Khan. "Provision of Sustainable and Liveable Low Income Human Settlements in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa – An Analysis of Policy Contradictions and Challenges." Journal of Human Ecology 40, no. 1 (October 2012): 17–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09709274.2012.11906520.
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Kleynhans, Waldo, Brian P. Salmon, Jan Corne Olivier, Frans van den Bergh, Konrad J. Wessels, Trienko L. Grobler, and Karen C. Steenkamp. "Land Cover Change Detection Using Autocorrelation Analysis on MODIS Time-Series Data: Detection of New Human Settlements in the Gauteng Province of South Africa." IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing 5, no. 3 (June 2012): 777–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/jstars.2012.2187177.
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MATSIKA, RUWADZANO, BAREND F. N. ERASMUS, and WAYNE C. TWINE. "A tale of two villages: assessing the dynamics of fuelwood supply in communal landscapes in South Africa." Environmental Conservation 40, no. 1 (September 21, 2012): 71–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0376892912000264.
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SUMMARYFuelwood is the dominant source of energy used by most rural households in southern Africa to meet daily domestic energy requirements. Due to limited financial resources, most rural households are unable to make the transition to electricity thus they remain dependant on the woodlands surrounding their settlements as a source of cheap energy. Unsustainable fuelwood harvesting due to increasing demand as a result of growing human populations may result in environmental degradation particularly in the high-density, communal savannah woodlands of South Africa. Evaluating the sustainability of current fuelwood harvesting patterns requires an understanding of the environmental impacts of past logging practices to establish patterns of woodland degradation. This study evaluates impacts of fuelwood harvesting from 1992–2009 on the woodland structure and species composition surrounding two rural villages located within the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Reserve (Mpumalanga Province, South Africa). Both villages (Welverdiend and Athol) were of similar spatial extent and exhibited similar socioeconomic characteristics. The total wood stock in the communal woodlands of both villages declined overall (with greater losses seen in Welverdiend) and, in Welverdiend, there were also changes in the woodland structure and species diversity of the species commonly harvested for fuelwood over this period. The woodlands in Welverdiend have become degraded and no longer produce fuelwood of preferred species and stem size in sufficient quantity or quality. The absence of similar negative impacts in Athol suggests more sustainable harvesting regimes exist there because of the lower human population and lower fuelwood extraction pressure. The Welverdiend community has annexed neighbouring unoccupied private land in a social response to fuelwood scarcity. Athol residents behaved similarly during drought periods. The potential for future conflict with neighbouring conservation areas within the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere is high if current land uses and fuelwood extraction patterns are maintained.
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Kahn, Fazel, Sultan Kahn, and Jayanathan Govender. "The rhetoric of participation: A study of the planning and development of low-income human settlements in the province of KwaZulu-Natal." Africanus: Journal of Development Studies 43, no. 1 (November 14, 2018): 126–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.25159/0304-615x/5086.
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Participation in South Africa is encouraged and institutionalized in a variety of processes at different levels of government. The right of citizens and their representatives to exchange views and influence decision making at the local governance sphere such as the right to be included in decision making on the local budget, planning and development processes, and service delivery matters, is embodied in a wide range of national policies. However in reality, participation praxis appears to be theoretical, unclear, superficial and at times a tool to exercise political hegemony at the local level. This paper examines the level of people’s participation in the planning and development of low-income human settlements in three research localities in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. It highlights, contrary to policy mandates to create real opportunities for participation by ordinary citizens, what one may term ‘rhetoric’ that best serves the hegemony of political actors.
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Musakwa, W., E. N. Makoni, M. Kangethe, and L. Segooa. "Developing a decision support system to identify strategically located land for land reform in South Africa." ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences XL-2 (November 11, 2014): 197–203. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/isprsarchives-xl-2-197-2014.
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Land reform is identified as a key tool in fostering development in South Africa. With two decades after the advent of democracy in South Africa, the land question remains a critical issue for policy makers. A number of frameworks have been put in place by the government to identify land which is strategically located for land reform. However, many of these frameworks are not well aligned and have hampered the government’s land reform initiative in promoting inclusive development. Strategically located land is herein defined as land parcels that are well positioned for the promotion of agriculture, human settlements, rural and tourism development. Accordingly, there is a need to develop a decision tool which facilitates the identification of strategically located land for development. This study proposes the use of geographic information systems (GIS), earth observation (EO) data and multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) to develop a spatial decision support system (SDSS) to identify strategically located land for land reform. The SDDS was therefore designed using GIS, EO data and MCDM to create an index for identification of strategically located land. Expert-led workshops were carried out to ascertain criteria for identifying strategically located land and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was utilised used to weight the criteria. The study demonstrates that GIS and EO are invaluable tools in facilitating evidence-based decisions for land reform. However, there is need for capacity building on GIS and EO in government departments responsible for land reform and development planning. The study suggests that there is an urgent need to develop sector specific criteria for the identification of strategically located land for inclusive development.
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Zhao, Chengcheng, Jinghu Pan, and Lianglin Zhang. "Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Global Population Exposure Risk of PM2.5 from 2000–2016." Sustainability 13, no. 13 (July 2, 2021): 7427. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su13137427.
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A high level of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has become one of the greatest threats to human health. Based on multi-source remote sensing data, the pollutant population exposure model, accompanied by the Theil–Sen Median and Mann–Kendall methods, was used to analyze the spatio-temporal patterns of global population exposure risk of PM2.5 from 2000 to 2016. The population distribution patterns of high-risk exposure areas have been accurately identified; the variation trend and stability of global population exposure risk of PM2.5 have also been analyzed. According to the results, the average concentration of PM2.5 is correlated with the total population. The average concentration of PM2.5 for countries from high to low are Asia (14.7 μg/m3), Africa (8.1 μg/m3), Europe (8.03 μg/m3), South America (5.69 μg/m3), North America (4.41 μg/m3), and Oceania (1.27 μg/m3). In addition, the global average population exposure risk of PM2.5 is decreasing annually. Specifically, China, India, Southeast Asia, and other regions have higher exposure risks. Less developed mountainous regions, cold regions, deserts and tropical rainforest regions have lower exposure risks. Moreover, Oceania, North America, South America and other regions have relatively stable exposure, whereas areas with relatively unstable exposure risk of PM2.5 are mainly concentrated in Asia, India, and eastern China, followed by Southeast Asia, Europe, and Africa. Furthermore, Asia has the largest population of all the continents, followed by Africa and Europe. Countries with increased populations are mainly distributed in Africa, whereas the countries with a declining population are mainly distributed in Europe. Based on this, it is important to identify the relationship between PM2.5 concentration and population exposure risk to improve human settlements and environmental risk assessment.
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Dufresnes, Christophe, and Bérénice Alard. "An odyssey out of Africa: an integrative review of past and present invasions by the Mediterranean tree frog (Hyla meridionalis)." Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 131, no. 2 (August 31, 2020): 274–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blaa114.
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Abstract An illustration of the human footprint on biodiversity are the faunal movements that have accompanied commercial and cultural exchanges between civilizations throughout history. In this article, we provide an integrative review of biogeographical and archaeological knowledge to understand these processes for the Mediterranean tree frog (Hyla meridionalis), an African species that has reached several regions of south-western Europe and associated islands. By re-analysing molecular (multilocus mitochondrial and genome-wide markers) and bioclimatic (ecological niche modelling) data, we give a comprehensive picture of the genetic diversity, structure and environmental suitability of H. meridionalis across its natural and exotic ranges, which in turn offer specific clues to the putative routes of colonization and associated events. Long-term monitoring efforts suggest northwards shifts of local range margins, potentially due to global warming, and we further demonstrate that this species is the most frequent amphibian to travel via the food supply chain in Western Europe. High dispersal ability, ecological tolerance and proximity to human settlements have made H. meridionalis a recurrent witness to the complexity and diversity of the civilizations that ruled the Western Mediterranean.
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Mudau, Naledzani, Dennis Mwaniki, Lesiba Tsoeleng, Morwapula Mashalane, Donatien Beguy, and Robert Ndugwa. "Assessment of SDG Indicator 11.3.1 and Urban Growth Trends of Major and Small Cities in South Africa." Sustainability 12, no. 17 (August 29, 2020): 7063. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su12177063.
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Geospatial technologies play an important role in understanding and monitoring of land cover and land use change which is critical in achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 and related goals. In this study, we assessed SDG Indicator 11.3.1, Ratio of Land Consumption Rate to Population Growth Rate (LCRPGR) and other urban growth trends of four cities in South Africa using Landsat 5 TM and SPOT 2&5 satellite images and census data collected in 1996, 2001 and 2011. The 2011 built-up areas were mapped using South Africa’s SPOT 5 Global Human Settlements Layer (GHSL) system whereas the 1996 and 2001 built-up areas were extracted from Landsat 5 and SPOT 2 satellite imagery using a kNN object-based image analysis technique that uses textural and radiometric features. We used the built-up area layer to calculate the land consumption per capita and total urban change for each city, both of which have been identified as being important explanatory indicators for the ratio of LCRPGR. The assessment shows that the two major cities, Johannesburg and Tshwane, recorded a decline in the ratio of LCRPGR between the periods 1996–2001 and 2001–2011. In contrast, the LCRPGR ratios for secondary cities, Polokwane and Rustenburg increased during the same periods. The results further show that Tshwane recorded an increase in land consumption per capita between 1996 and 2001 followed by a decrease between 2001 and 2011. Over the same time, Johannesburg experienced a gradual decrease in land consumption per capita. On the other hand, Polokwane and Rustenburg recorded a unique growth trend, in which the overall increase in LCRPGR was accompanied by a decrease in land consumption per capita. In terms of land consumption, Tshwane experienced the highest urban growth rate between 1996 and 2001, whereas Johannesburg and Polokwane experienced the highest urban growth rates between 2001 and 2011. The information derived in this study shows the significance of Indicator 11.3.1 in understanding the urbanization trends in cities of different sizes in South Africa and creates a baseline for nationwide assessment of SDG 11.3.1.
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Spaliviero, M., M. De Dapper, and S. Maló. "Flood analysis of the Limpopo River basin through past evolution reconstruction and a geomorphological approach." Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 14, no. 8 (August 7, 2014): 2027–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/nhess-14-2027-2014.
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Abstract. This research reconstructs the past evolution of the Limpopo River, a transboundary system located in south-eastern Africa, and describes its geomorphological settings through a literature review and field work activities, with the aim of analysing flood hazard in the basin. Major changes have occurred since the late Jurassic–early Cretaceous period due to successive tectonic events. The paper demonstrates that the apparently abandoned drainage conformation of the palaeo-Limpopo in the upper and middle stretches of the river today constitutes preferential flood-prone areas in the case of major rainfall events. An important palaeo-delta is identified in the lower Limpopo, which imposes a particular drainage pattern onto the floodplain in Mozambique and influences the flood dynamics at present. The adopted method is helpful in determining flood hazard in a data-scarce area showing complex fluvial dynamics, and allows for the identification of unsuitable locations for human settlements.
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Spaliviero, M., M. De Dapper, and S. Maló. "Flood risk analysis of the Limpopo River basin through past evolution reconstruction and geomorphological approach." Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences Discussions 2, no. 2 (February 10, 2014): 1367–404. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/nhessd-2-1367-2014.
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Abstract. This research reconstructs the past evolution of the Limpopo River, a transboundary system located in south-eastern Africa, and describes its geomorphological settings through literature review and field work activities, with aim to analyse the risk of floods in the basin. Major changes have occurred since the late Jurassic – early Cretaceous period due to successive tectonic events. The paper demonstrates that the apparently abandoned drainage conformation of the palaeo-Limpopo in the upper and middle stretches of the river constitutes today preferential flood-prone areas in case of major rainfall events. An important palaeo-delta is identified in the lower Limpopo, which imposes a particular drainage pattern to the floodplain in Mozambique and influences the floods dynamics at present. The adopted method is helpful in determining flood risk in a data-scarce area showing complex fluvial dynamics, and allows identifying unsuitable locations for human settlements.
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Gopalen, Priya, and Barry Pinsky. "African Housing Organisations Respond to The Hiv and Aids Crisis." Open House International 33, no. 4 (December 1, 2008): 8–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ohi-04-2008-b0002.
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HIV and AIDS is an urgent housing and human settlements issue, especially among women and children living in poverty and suffering from poor housing conditions in urban slums in the South. The link between poverty and HIV prevalence is well established, and the fact that inadequate shelter increases the vulnerability of the urban poor to HIV and AIDS is increasingly recognised. Since 2003, Rooftops Canada and their partners in Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and more recently Uganda, have been working on strategies and developing programmes to respond to the AIDS crisis in these countries. Related programmes link shelter to poverty reduction through sustainable economic and social development, environmental protection, respect for human rights, democratisation and gender equality. This paper compiles the experiences of the partner housing organisations and resource groups in Sub-Saharan Africa responding to HIV and AIDS among their constituent stakeholders. The community-based responses focus on promoting social sustainability, enhancing operational capacity and improving financial sustainability. Community-based responses relate to issues of stigma and discrimination, reducing the impact of housing rights violations and responding to the specific vulnerability of children, women and youth. Social sustainability deals with the impact of HIV and AIDS on the social viability of communities. Operational capacity analyses housing groups' responses to the organ-isational impact of HIV and AIDS - including loss of staff, leadership and institutional memory, decreased productivity and capacity - and the experience of including HIV and AIDS within the core organisational mandate. Financial sustainability explores the challenges of reconciling related financial and social goals.
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Jagals, P. "Stormwater runoff from typical developed and developing South African urban developments: definitely not for swimming." Water Science and Technology 35, no. 11-12 (June 1, 1997): 133–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wst.1997.0723.
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Public water in South Africa is protected from pollution from urban areas and industries through various forms of wastewater treatment and enforced by legislation and standards. However, hardly any standard or guideline exists for an acceptable quality for urban run-off such as stormwater. The microbiological quality of urban run-off from various large urban developments in the Free State Province, South Africa, has been investigated to establish the extent of faecal pollution. Sanitation of a low socio-economic urban residential development was generally limited, comprising mainly pit and bucket latrines. Sanitation of the other developments was typical of the larger more developed South African urban situation. It comprised well developed residential structures with full water-borne sewerage, fully serviced central business districts, developing residential areas with both waterborne sewerage and additional areas of informal settlement with limited facilities. Faecal coliforms (FC) and enterococci (FE) were used as generalised indicator organisms of faecal pollution together with sorbitol-fermenting bifidobacteria (SFB) and Streptococcus bovis (SB). Somatic (SC) and male specific coliphages (MSC) were used as indicators of organic and sewage pollution of the receiving water in the target areas. Samples were collected from perennial flow during the dry season and from stormwater run-off after thundershowers. Stormwater run-off from the large settlement with limited facilities as well as from the residential development with additional informal settlement reached FC counts of <6 logs/100mL, equivalent to many sewage effluents. Stormwater run-off from well developed urban structures reached FC of <4 logs/100mL, which exceeded safety margins in guidelines for recreational water quality. The results show that run-off from developing urban settlements, as well as developed urban structures, constitute a major source of pollution for a river catchment which is downstream used as a source of water for human consumption and recreation. The level of pollution dictates that stabilisation of urban surface run-off should be regarded as an equal priority to the enforced stabilisation of other wastewaters generated by human activities.
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Arinze Anthony Onwuegbuna, Akunne Ijeoma Apakama, Chuka Michael Okosa, Emeka Akujuobi Chianakwalam, Miriam-Benigna Chika Amobi, Chisom God’swill Chigbo, Ejike Ekene Igboegwu, and George Uchenna Eleje. "Seroprevalence of HIV infection among cataract surgery patients in south-east Nigeria: A retrospective cross-sectional study." Magna Scientia Advanced Biology and Pharmacy 3, no. 2 (September 30, 2021): 001–8. http://dx.doi.org/10.30574/msabp.2021.3.2.0039.
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Background: Human Immunodeficiency Virus remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the availability of highly active antiretroviral therapy, many people with this disease still present with its ocular complications. Cataracts remain the commonest reason for blindness in Nigeria and globally. The prevalence of HIV infection among cataract patients in south east Nigeria has remained unknown. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus among cataract patients in south east Nigeria. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study. The case files of all who had cataract surgery between September 1st, 2020 to March 31st, 2021 at City of Refuge Specialist Eye Clinic Onitsha, Nigeria was obtained from the Medical Record Department of the hospital to extract relevant information and demographic data. The outcome measures included the prevalence of HIV, as well as the gender and the age of affected cataract patients. Data was analyzed using SPSS 26.0 IBM Corporation. Fisher’s exact test was performed for categorical data, and Student’s t-test was applied to continuous variables depending on their distribution. A p value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: In this study, 423 participants who underwent cataract surgery were included for analysis of which 16 were HIV positive. The overall seroprevalence of HIV among the study population was 3.78% with HIV prevalence showing the female to male ratio of 1:1. Up to 70.81% of the patients were at least 60 years of age. Although there was a statistically significant difference between the prevalence of HIV and seasonal presentation (p=0.015), there was no statistically significant relationship between the participants age and gender (p=0.195), prevalence of HIV and the participants’ age categories (p=0.149) or participants’ settlements (p=0.219). Conclusion: The prevalence of HIV among cataract patients in this study was 3.78%. This study confirms that HIV infections are an important public problem among cataract patients in Nigeria. Our findings draw attention to the significant burden HIV has on cataract surgery in Nigeria. We recommend advocacy for the national policymakers to initiate HIV tests in routine ophthalmology services.
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Janse van Rensburg, Gerhard H., Ute Dagmar Feucht, Jennifer Makin, Nanya le Clus, and Theunis Avenant. "Healthcare without borders: A cross-sectional study of immigrant and nonimmigrant children admitted to a large public sector hospital in the Gauteng Province of South Africa." PLOS Medicine 18, no. 3 (March 23, 2021): e1003565. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003565.
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Background Human migration is a worldwide phenomenon that receives considerable attention from the media and healthcare authorities alike. A significant proportion of children seen at public sector health facilities in South Africa (SA) are immigrants, and gaps have previously been noted in their healthcare provision. The objective of the study was to describe the characteristics and differences between the immigrant and SA children admitted to Kalafong Provincial Tertiary Hospital (KPTH), a large public sector hospital in the urban Gauteng Province of SA. Methods and findings A cross-sectional study was conducted over a 4-month period during 2016 to 2017. Information was obtained through a structured questionnaire and health record review. The enrolled study participants included 508 children divided into 2 groups, namely 271 general paediatric patients and 237 neonates. Twenty-five percent of children in the neonatal group and 22.5% in the general paediatric group were immigrants. The parents/caregivers of the immigrant group had a lower educational level (p < 0.0001 neonatal and paediatric), lower income (neonatal p < 0.001; paediatric p = 0.024), difficulty communicating in English (p < 0.001 neonatal and paediatric), and were more likely residing in informal settlements (neonatal p = 0.001; paediatric p = 0.007) compared to the SA group. In the neonatal group, there was no difference in the number of antenatal care (ANC) visits, type of delivery, gestational age, and birth weight. In the general paediatric group, there was no difference in immunisation and vitamin A supplementation coverage, but when comparing growth, the immigrant group had more malnutrition compared to the SA group (p = 0.029 for wasting). There was no difference in the prevalence of maternal human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, with equally good prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) coverage. There was also no difference in reported difficulties by immigrants in terms of access to healthcare (neonatal p = 0.379; paediatric p = 0.246), although a large proportion (10%) of the neonates of immigrant mothers were born outside a medical facility. Conclusions Although there were health-related differences between immigrant and SA children accessing in-hospital care, these were fewer than expected. Differences were found in parental educational level and socioeconomic factors, but these did not significantly affect ANC attendance, delivery outcomes, immunisation coverage, HIV prevalence, or PMTCT coverage. The immigrant population should be viewed as a high-risk group, with potential problems including suboptimal child growth. Health workers should advocate for all children in the community they are serving and promote tolerance, respect, and equal healthcare access.
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Nel, Lyndre. "Riparian conservation management needs habitat quality mapping." Columella : Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences 7, no. 2 (2020): 15–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.18380/szie.colum.2020.7.2.15.
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Riparian habitat quality has a significant influence on the water quality of rivers, primary resources for urban and agricultural use. River water quality deteriorates where normal ecological functioning is disrupted by harmful impacts from nearby land-use types. Important rivers are typically managed and protected by government-led conservation programs. These programs often lack a key tool for efficient conservation management, habitat quality mapping. The Berg River, an important water source in South Africa, was used as a case-study to assess how habitat quality mapping could broaden the current scope of river conservation programs. The river faces threats from nearby urban settlements, industrial areas, mining, encroachment, and agricultural practices. The aim of this study was to develop habitat quality and habitat degradation maps for a section of the Berg River to assess the value that mapping holds for conservation managers and spatial planners. InVEST modelling software and ArcGIS was used to produce these habitat quality maps based on land-use/land-cover and threat impact data. The resulting maps showed several specific locations of heavily threatened and degraded riparian habitat that had not specifically been included in current government conservation management or spatial planning. Habitat quality mapping is an important tool that conservation managers and spatial planners can use to successfully address habitat degradation and protection while facing resource limitations, such as lack of funding. Oversight of degraded riparian habitats will lead to further decreases in river water quality, adversely affecting human welfare and local economies.
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Naha, Dipanjan, Suraj Kumar Dash, Abhisek Chettri, Akashdeep Roy, and Sambandam Sathyakumar. "Elephants in the neighborhood: patterns of crop-raiding by Asian elephants within a fragmented landscape of Eastern India." PeerJ 8 (July 2, 2020): e9399. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.9399.
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Loss of forest cover, rise in human populations and fragmentation of habitats leads to decline in biodiversity and extinction of large mammals globally. Elephants, being the largest of terrestrial mammals, symbolize global conservation programs and co-occur with humans within multiple-use landscapes of Asia and Africa. Within such shared landscapes, poaching, habitat loss and extent of human–elephant conflicts (HEC) affect survival and conservation of elephants. HEC are severe in South Asia with increasing attacks on humans, crop depredation and property damage. Such incidents reduce societal tolerance towards elephants and increase the risk of retaliation by local communities. We analyzed a 2-year dataset on crop depredation by Asian elephants (N = 380) events in North Bengal (eastern India). We also explored the effect of landscape, anthropogenic factors (area of forest, agriculture, distance to protected area, area of human settlements, riverine patches and human density) on the spatial occurrence of such incidents.Crop depredation showed a distinct nocturnal pattern (22.00–06:00) and majority of the incidents were recorded in the monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. Results of our spatial analysis suggest that crop depredation increased with an increase in the area of forest patches, agriculture, presence of riverine patches and human density. Probability of crop depredation further increased with decreasing distance from protected areas. Villages within 1.5 km of a forest patch were most affected. Crop raiding incidents suggest a deviation from the “high-risk high-gain male biased” foraging behavior and involved proportionately more mixed groups (57%) than lone bulls (43%). Demographic data suggest that mixed groups comprised an average of 23 individuals with adult and sub adult females, bulls and calves. Crop depredation and fatal elephant attacks on humans were spatially clustered with eastern, central and western parts of North Bengal identified as hotspots of HEC. Our results will help to prioritize mitigation measures such as prohibition of alcohol production within villages, improving condition of riverine patches, changing crop composition, fencing agriculture fields, implement early warning systems around protected areas and training local people on how to prevent conflicts.
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Blaschke, Paul M., Noel A. Trustrum, and Douglas L. Hicks. "Impacts of mass movement erosion on land productivity: a review." Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment 24, no. 1 (March 2000): 21–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/030913330002400102.
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Wherever people gain their livelihood in mountains and steeplands, the productive capacity of the soils they use is likely to be affected by mass movement erosion. The impacts of mass movement erosion on land productivity are significant but under-rated in the scientific literature. Impacts on cropping are here reported from 15 countries in south and southeast Asia, east Africa, the Caribbean and Melanesia, but accounts are generalized or anecdotal, and do not quantify crop loss or damage attributable to mass movement separately from that due to surface or fluvial erosion. Impacts on pastoral grazing have been studied in New Zealand, where production losses of up to 80% at field scale, and up to 20% at farm scale, have been measured. Studies in the Pacific Northwest coastal forests of North America show plantation forest wood volume declines by 35-50% on eroded sites. Mass movement impacts on production from tropical forests or agroforestry appear to be as yet undocumented. The reasons for lack of documentation are, first, that most soil erosion-productivity research has been done on gently sloping cropland, which is subject to surface rather than mass movement erosion. Secondly, geomorphological research in steeplands has dealt with mass movement as a hazard to human life, settlements and infrastructure -with limited identification of its contribution to sediment loads in rivers, and disregarding its impact on land productivity. We suggest there are many other countries where significant impacts are likely to occur, and that erosion-productivity studies should pay more attention to this type of erosion. Studies should not be restricted to cropland, but also extend to grazing land, plantation forestry, agro-forestry and traditional uses of natural forest as mass movement appears to affect all these forms of land-based production, particularly in densely populated steeplands whether tropical or temperate. Topics needing study are the documentation and costing of productivity losses, ways to reduce mass movement impacts on productivity, and ways to enhance recovery of soil on eroded areas (e.g., revegetation with fertility-building shrubs and legumes).
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Black, I., M. Byron, J. DeFilippis, D. Green, C. Hamnett, K. Hoggart, L. Lees, et al. "Reviews: Understanding Cities Series in Association with the Open University, City worlds, Unsettling cities: Movement/Settlement, Unruly Cities? Order/Disorder, the California Cauldron: Immigration and the Fortunes of Local Communities, the Global Restructuring of the Steel Industry: Innovations, Institutions, and Industrial Change, the Kosovo Conflict: Consequences for the Environment and Human Settlements, Urban Management and Economic Integration in South Africa, Winners and Losers: Home Ownership in Modern Britain, Cambridge Studies in Historical Geography 26. Deciphering Global Epidemics: Analytical Approaches to the Disease Records of World Cities, 1888–1912, the New Industrial Geography: Regions, Regulation and Institutions." Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 32, no. 3 (March 2000): 559–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1068/a3203rvw.
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Saif, Adrienne, John Frean, Jenny Rossouw, and Anastasia N. Trataris. "Leptospirosis in South Africa." Onderstepoort J Vet Res 79, no. 2 (June 26, 2012). http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ojvr.v79i2.478.
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Leptospirosis is a common zoonosis worldwide. It has a ubiquitous distribution and causes a wide spectrum of disease. Leptospirosis therefore has a broad reservoir host range, and many infected species of animals excrete leptospires in their urine, which leads to contamination of soil and water. Typical descriptions of the disease include a biphasic (anicteric form) and fulminant disease in the icterohaemorrhagic form. Only a few local case reports of human leptospirosis have been published, the most recent one being in 1974. A rodent-related zoonosis study (RatZooMan) was conducted from 2003 until 2006 in three provinces (Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape). Of the people sampled in Cato Crest (Durban, KwaZulu-Natal Province), 43/217 (19.8%) were seropositive for leptospirosis. Of the clinical samples sent to the Special Bacterial Pathogens Reference Unit from all over the country for testing in 2009, 16/176 (9%) were IgM positive; in 2010 and January 2011 to May 2011, 14/215 (6.5%) and 12/96 (12.5%), respectively, were IgM positive.The apparent incidence of leptospirosis in the South African population is moderately high based on the detected positives in suspected cases; it is thought that the circulating infection rate may be even higher when looking at the RatZooMan results. This may be due to underreporting and undiagnosed cases. Communities in informal settlements in urban areas are especially at risk as infected rodent populations are a continuous source of transmission.
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"A framework for the management of human settlements: Nigeria and South Africa as cases." Town and Regional Planning 78 (2021). http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2415-0495/trp78i1.1.
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Sobantu, Mziwandile, Nqobile Zulu, and Ntandoyenkosi Maphosa. "Housing as a Basic Human Right: A Reflection on South Africa." Southern African Journal of Social Work and Social Development 31, no. 1 (January 3, 2019). http://dx.doi.org/10.25159/2415-5829/4177.
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This paper reflects on human rights in the post-apartheid South Africa housing context from a social development lens. The Constitution guarantees access to adequate housing as a basic human right, a prerequisite for the optimum development of individuals, families and communities. Without the other related socio-economic rights, the provision of access to housing is limited in its service delivery. We argue that housing rights are inseparable from the broader human rights discourse and social development endeavours underway in the country. While government has made much progress through the Reconstruction and Development Programme, the reality of informal settlements and backyard shacks continues to undermine the human rights prospects of the urban poor. Forced evictions undermine some poor citizens’ human rights leading courts to play an active role in enforcing housing and human rights through establishing a jurisprudence that invariably advances a social development agenda. The authors argue that the post-1994 government needs to galvanise the citizenship of the urban poor through development-oriented housing delivery.
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Seremani, Tapiwa, Carine Farias, and Stewart Clegg. "New Order and Old Institutions: South Africa and the institutional work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission." Organization Studies, April 16, 2021, 017084062110062. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/01708406211006244.
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The paper contributes to literatures on settlements and institutional maintenance work. It does so by unpacking post-settlement legitimation efforts required to maintain contentious institutions between previously conflicting actors. Settlements often necessitate the maintenance of institutions from the past whose legitimacy is dubious for the new regime. We study the role played by South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission in re-legitimating and maintaining the institution of the armed forces in the transition from apartheid to democracy. Maintaining this legitimacy required collaboration between the incoming government as well as the apartheid era armed forces. We term these unexpected collaborative efforts ‘reluctant accommodation work’. Our findings show that the lines of allegiance may be more fluid than currently depicted in the literature. Actors that previously conflicted need to find an interest in collaborating in their efforts to shape central institutions. Second, we show that for settlements to shape the field, they need to agree on the terms of collaboration, what we term ‘passage points’, as well as engage in public ceremonies to broadly legitimate the settlement and the institution it seeks to preserve.
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Nealer, Eric J. "Geohydrological aspects of importance in the public management of basic water supply services in Merafong City Local Municipality (Carletonville area), South Africa." Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa 16, no. 1 (March 31, 2020). http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/td.v16i1.671.
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Carletonville is a gold-mining town in western Gauteng province, South Africa, and is located in the Merafong City Local Municipality’s geographical area of responsibility. It is one of the richest gold-producing areas in the world but unfortunately the current state of the town’s infrastructure is in shambles and the environment is in a pitiful state because of human activities that have caused massive physical changes. Geohydrological aspects such as complex geology and the compartmentalisation of the groundwater into seven areas separated by syenite dykes, of which five have been dewatered to facilitate the gold-mining, have made it the research area of choice. Unfortunately, this led to the formation of hundreds of new sinkholes between the towns of Westonaria and Carletonville and eventually the evacuation of the old town of Bank, abandoning the area and declaring it unsuitable for human settlements. To try and identify possible reasons for this unfortunate state of the human-induced environmental change all along the Wonderfontein Spruit draining the area, the author using a comprehensive literature review, study of geological maps and databases as well as through data collection and semi-structured interviews with selected role-players and stakeholders identified basic essential geographical, geohydrological, organisational and municipal management aspects of significance for consideration. These steps were all a part of an attempt to improve the nature and extent of basic water-, sanitation-, human settlements- and environmental management in the Westonaria, Carletonville and Khutsong areas.
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Amisi, Matodzi M., Lochner Marais, and Jan S. Cloete. "The appropriateness of a realist review for evaluating the South African Housing Subsidy Programme." South African Journal of Science 114, no. 11/12 (November 27, 2018). http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2018/4472.
Full textAbstract:
Conducting meta-reviews of government programmes has become common practice. In South Africa, the national Department of Human Settlements and the national Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation recently commissioned a team to review the extent to which the Housing Subsidy Programme had provided assets to municipalities and the poor and whether these assets had helped poor households escape from poverty. A realist approach was employed to conduct the review. We argue that, given the complex nature of housing programmes, the realist review methodology was an appropriate approach to follow in answering the review questions. We explored how the realist review method allowed us to work with the uneven and contested nature of the housing literature and how the review nonetheless enabled elucidation of the factors that had contributed to the expected outcomes. Because this case was the first time that this method was used in a government-commissioned evaluation of housing, there were some practical challenges involved in its use. Some of the challenges were related to the nature of the questions that were asked. At the time of the review, the Department of Human Settlements was in the process of reviewing the 1996 White Paper and, to inform this process, the Housing Subsidy Programme review included a copious number of questions set by the Department of Human Settlements and Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, which made the review rather large and, in some cases, complicated the analysis. In some cases, because the Departments wanted clear-cut answers, the commissioners perceived the theoretical strength of the method, such as offering explanatory instead of conclusive judgement, as a weakness. The paper reveals some limitations of the realist review method for evaluating the multifaceted outcomes of a complex programme, particularly the practical difficulty of dealing with large quantities of data. We do however consider this method to have potential for further reviews. Significance: Housing research in South Africa is uneven which makes any review process difficult. The review was unable to offer judgement on the effect that the Housing Subsidy Programme has had on the asset base of the poor. The review was useful for making clear which factors will help the Programme to achieve the intended outcomes and also for pointing out on what government should focus to build assets for the urban poor.
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Haarhoff, Johannes, Petri Juuti, and Harri Mäki. "A short comparative history of wells and toilets in South Africa and Finland." Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa 2, no. 1 (April 11, 2006). http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/td.v2i1.310.
Full textAbstract:
This paper describes the technological development of wells and toilets and the cultural practices related to them in two countries, South Africa and Finland, from the Middle Ages to modern times. Wells and toilets have always been linked to the well-being of humans and they still are the most common technical systems in the service of mankind. They are simple to build, but if they are constructed improperly or stop functioning properly, they may endanger the health of both humans and the environment. The solutions used for getting clean water or for disposal of excrement have always been a matter of life and death for human settlements. Located on opposite sides of the world, the climate and natural resources of South Africa and Finland are very different. However, surprisingly similar solutions, for example wind turbines to pump water, have been used in rural areas. Furthermore, urbanization and industrialization occurred in both countries at approximately the same time in the 19th century, which caused increasing environmental problems in Finnish and South African urban areas. The transition to modern water supply and waste disposal systems was a very demanding process for municipal administrations in both countries.
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Skowno, Andrew L., Debbie Jewitt, and Jasper A. Slingsby. "Rates and patterns of habitat loss across AUTHORS: South Africa’s vegetation biomes." South African Journal of Science 117, no. 1/2 (January 29, 2021). http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2021/8182.
Full textAbstract:
The loss of natural habitat resulting from human activities is the principal driver of biodiversity loss in terrestrial ecosystems globally. Metrics of habitat loss are monitored at national and global scales using various remote sensing based land-cover change products. The metrics go on to inform reporting processes, biodiversity assessments, land-use decision-making and strategic planning in the environmental and conservation sector. We present key metrics of habitat loss across South Africa at national and biome levels for the first time. We discuss the spatial patterns and trends, and the implications and limitations of the metrics. Approximately 22% of the natural habitat of South Africa has been lost since the arrival of European settlers. The extent and the rate of habitat loss are not uniform across South Africa. The relatively mesic Grassland, Fynbos and Indian Ocean Coastal Belt biomes have lost the most habitat, while the arid Nama-Karoo, Succulent Karoo and Desert have lost the least. Rates of loss increased across all biomes in recent years (2014–2018), indicating that the historical drivers of change (i.e. expansion of croplands, human settlements, plantation forestry and mining) are intensifying overall. We should caution that the losses we report are conservative, because the land-cover change products do not capture degradation within natural ecosystems. Preventing widespread biodiversity losses and securing the benefits we derive from biodiversity requires slowing and preventing further habitat degradation and loss by using existing land-use planning and regulatory tools to their full potential.
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Shoko, Moreblessings, and Julian L. Smit. "Deriving cues from human cognition for the modelling of shack boundaries in aerial imagery." South African Journal of Science Volume 112, Number 11/12 (November 16, 2016). http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2016/20160065.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract Organic studies inspire cues for modelling logic in image processing and become a basis for the development of novel remote-sensing algorithms. Examples of applications of such paradigms include the growing application of techniques such as object-oriented analysis and neural networks in image analysis for which the logic was drawn from studying various components of organic systems in the human body. Here we document a key investigation based on a set of cognitive tests conducted using aerial imagery captured over Cape Town (South Africa). These tests were conducted to later draw parallels with a feature extraction algorithm for shack settlements. We found that the visual variables of ‘pattern’ and ‘shape’ display the most significant cognitive guide for shack boundary extraction. Although the focus here was on digital imagery, learning points can be selected for application in other scientific fields as well.