Evaluating people-environment trade-offs through low-tech intensification of livestock management in communal grazing systems in South Africa.

在南非，公共牧场（如草地、稀树草原和灌木林）系统主要通过其支持小规模畜牧生产的能力以及通过提供木材、薪材和茅草等自然资源，为小农户提供了重要的生计来源。这些牧场还提供其他重要的生态系统服务，如水和生物多样性栖息地，并通过碳固存促进气候复原力。然而，由于牧草质量本来就低，而且由于不受管制的放牧、外来入侵植物的蔓延和本地木本植物的入侵，牧场退化，这些地区的生产力受到损害。所有这些因素都限制了牲畜的饲料供应，降低了动物的产量和生存率。这损害了社区畜牧农民的生计保障，对他们来说，牲畜发挥着多重作用，包括提供肉、奶、饲料和粪肥。综合行动计划还影响到整个南非蓄水池的供水和径流，清除这些蓄水池已成为南非政府的一项政策优先事项，这项建议建立在东开普省现有研究的基础上，与Matatiele的六个当地社区合作，探索替代牧场管理战略，为当地人民带来生计利益，并改善生态系统效益。具体而言，我们将测试社区牲畜的密集放牧和畜栏的作用，同时取消IAP，以增加草地的初级生产力，土壤碳和肥力以及水的可用性，并提高牲畜生产力。作为其中的一部分，我们提出了新的使用去除的IAP作为土壤改良剂和作为牲畜的补充饲料。为了将这些不同的生产结果联系起来，我们将开发一个牲畜和牧场生产的综合模型。我们将利用这一模型的结果，探索当地人民和他们的环境之间的潜在权衡，以及不同利益相关者群体之间（例如，保护主义者和当地农民之间以及不同农民群体之间），在明确定义的“情景”的背景下使用公共牧场，这将是共同开发与当地利益相关者。重要的是，这些情景将使当地社区中更边缘化的成员，如妇女，有发言权，她们许多人没有牲畜，更依赖于自然资源的收获。权衡结果将与当地利益攸关方分享，并用于支持关于如何最好地利用替代牧场管理技术以实现他们所确定的不同土地使用情景的决定，该提案的独特之处在于，它首次尝试使用动植物生产综合模型来探索南非社区放牧系统中不同生产情景之间的权衡。如果成功的话，这种方法有可能通过该提案所依据的现有“放牧促进健康”倡议，推广到整个东开普省和南非其他社区放牧区的更多社区。

In South Africa, communal rangelands (e.g. grassland, savanna and shrubland) systems provide a critical source of livelihood for smallholder farmers, primarily through their ability to support smallscale livestock production and through the provision of natural resources such as timber, fuelwood and thatching grass. These rangelands also provide other vital ecosystem services such as water and a habitat for biodiversity and contribute to climate resilience through carbon sequestration. However, their productivity is compromised both by their inherently low forage quality and rangeland degradation due to unregulated grazing, the spread of invasive alien plants (IAPs) and the encroachment of indigenous woody plants. All of these factors limit forage availability for livestock, reducing animal production and survival. This compromises the livelihood security of communal livestock farmers for whom livestock perform multiple roles, including the provision of meat, milk, draught and manure. The IAPs also affect the water supply and run-off to storage reservoirs throughout South Africa and their clearance has become a policy priority for the South African government.This proposal builds on existing research in Eastern Cape Province, working with six local communities in Matatiele to explore alternative rangeland management strategies that yield livelihood benefits for local people as well as improved ecosystem benefits. Specifically, we will test the role of intensive grazing and corralling of community livestock, in conjunction with the removal of IAPs to increase primary production of grassland, soil carbon and fertility and water availability, as well as improve livestock productivity. As part of this we propose the novel use of the removed IAPs as a soil amendment and as a supplemental feed for livestock. In order to link these different production outcomes we will develop an integrated model of livestock and rangeland production. We will use the outcomes of this model to explore the potential trade-offs between local people and their environment and between different groups of stakeholders (e.g. between conservationists and local farmers and between different groups of farmers) in the context of clearly defined 'scenarios' for the use of communal rangelands, which will be co-developed with local stakeholders. Importantly, these scenarios will give voice to the more marginalised members of local communities, such as women, who many not have livestock and have greater dependency on the harvesting of natural resources. The trade-off outcomes will be shared with local stakeholders and used to support decisions about how best to make use of the alternative rangeland management techniques to achieve the different land use scenarios they have identified.The proposal is unique in that it is the first attempt to use an integrated model of animal and plant production to explore trade-offs between different production scenarios in a communal grazing system in South Africa. If successful the approach has potential for extrapolation to many more communities throughout Eastern Cape and other communal grazing areas of South Africa through an existing 'Herding for Health' initiative that the proposal builds on.