3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Enhancing linkages in oil and gas in Qatar(2018) Al-Showaikh, JenanQatar’s economy is mainly dependent on oil and gas, making it vulnerable to global economic shifts and in need of diversification. Qatar’s state has always depended on Western consultancies, which largely advance a neoliberal agenda and so do not consider the long-term needs of Qatar’s economy. While a small body of academic literature has criticized Qatar’s economic strategy, this research provides an alternative strategy for diversification, recommending building linkages directed towards industrialisation. The study takes into account the needs of Qatar’s economy, focusing on diversification carried out in a stable way that creates employment, as well as other factors. The study finds that Qatar’s local content policies lack transparency, clarity, and monitoring institutions, as well as penalties and incentives to enforce the rules. Thus, there has been limited progress in forming the backward linkages knowledge linkages that would enable Qatar’s economic diversification.Item Perspectives of the impact of urbanisation on urban agriculture landuse in Johannesburg, South Africa.(2018) Annobea, Ernestina M.N.Urban expansion and development have caused potential agriculture land to decrease at an alarming rate. Studies conducted around the world exposes the dangers of losing urban agricultural lands to infrastructural development. The conversion of arable lands to infrastructural development causes serious ramifications for long-term agricultural sustainability in urban areas like the City of Johannesburg such as urban food security, especially for the low economic income group. It is in view of this that this study was undertaken to understand the drivers of the City of Johannesburg's urban growth and its impact on urban agriculture land use. The study builds on a previous research by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) in the Gauteng province which revealed that in addition to high urbanisation rates in the City of Johannesburg (CoJ), it also has high agricultural potential land. To this extent, about 28.7% of the land was conducive for optimum agricultural land use at that time of the study, 2002. However, given the accelerated urbanisation trends in CoJ, several pieces of land are losing their natural functions, including land parcel suitable for food production. Given the multidimensional nature of the research aim and objectives, this study employed a mixed-method research design. To effectively achieve the set aim and objectives of the study, primary data was collected using structured questionnaires, interviews, and Landsat Satellite images. The aim of the study is positioned within a literature frame of reference and several thematic considerations that reflects on the positive and negative effects of urbanisation and urban growth in the world, South Africa, and the City of Johannesburg in particular.Item An assessment of the role of social capital in collaborative environmental governance in tribal communities: the study of Gumbi and Zondi communities in KwaZulu Natal Province, South Africa(2017) Musavengane, RegisPolitical transformations in most developing nations have been accompanied by vast land claims by indigenous communities who were forcibly detached from their traditional land during colonisation and apartheid-like dispensations. In the context of sub-Saharan African countries (including South Africa), the need for land reform has been aggravated by the great scarcity of farmland. However, most of the reclaimed land is in areas pursuing conservation activities. Now, caught between owning the land and pursuing conservation as a land use option to improve livelihood; local communities have tended to form partnerships and collaborations with external stakeholders in managing communally owned natural resources. Collaborative management is perceived as a sustainable route in governing common pool natural resources in re-claimed areas. It is in this regard, that this research aims at establishing the role to which social capital can be instrumental in promoting sustainable governance in co-managed community game reserves in Kwa-Zulu Natal. This study follows a case study approach, with Zondi and Gumbi communities in Umvoti and uPhongolo Districts of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa respectively being used to obtain empirical evidence. Two basic criteria were taken into consideration in selecting appropriate case study areas to attain the aim of the study. Firstly, whether the area had successfully claimed the land and secondly, if there were collaborative efforts from different stakeholders in managing available common resources. To ensure equal representation, research participants were drawn from households, community leaders, conservation organisations and policy makers from the government. This study’s methodological positionality is interpretive in nature, and its operational framework base is qualitative research. It therefore uses a number of qualitative techniques in an attempt to establish the role of social capital in governing Somkhanda (in Gumbi) and Ngome (in Zondi) Community Game Reserves. For instance, systemic-resilience thinking and socio-ecological learning approaches were used to analyse the participatory relationship and effects in managing community natural resources in Gumbi and Zondi communities. It has been revealed in this study that the key to successful collaborative environmental management projects revolves around issues of participation, transparency, reciprocity and effective communication. These elements are important ingredients in building strong social capital. Community social cohesion builds trust between internal and external actors, especially in communities that were once subjected to various forms of segregation and corrupt systems of governance. The presence of trust in managing common pool resources ensures effective stakeholder participation as well as involvement in decision making processes. Furthermore, the evidence from this study suggests that the frequent exclusion of rural populations from participation in processes with a direct influence on their lives, undermines efforts to pursue Community-Based Ecotourism. More profoundly, the study found that, as an analytical tool, social capital seems to provide a dynamic and holistic explanatory approach to the pursuance of Community-Based Ecotourism in land-claimed communities, compared with the dominant evaluative techniques in the tourism field. Another important practical implication is that social capital can be used to promote the analysis of communities as heterogeneous and evolving, as opposed to the assumptions of their homogeneity and static state. There is a strong possibility that social capital can also address power-relations, social exclusion and inequality, through consideration of both structural and cognitive indicators. The findings from this study make several contributions to the body of knowledge. Firstly, they provide a better understanding of social capital variables influencing community participation in conservation activities. This is of use when designing or developing future Collaborative Community-Based Natural Resources Management (CCBNRM) projects. Secondly, from a broader perspective, the study advises policy makers not to ignore related community policies which might impact community participation in CCBNRMs. This is essential in considering the direction of future conservation and rural development policy. Thirdly, they provide a framework for empowering local people and their communities to enhance participation in CCBNRM. In view of this, a binding conclusion can be made that social capital can be a vehicle through which the accumulation of different forms of capital can be achieved and contribute towards sustainable environmental management.Item Political contestation and ownership models in Debswana and Sonangol(2015-08-25) Taodzera, Shingirai LExtractive natural resources have always been associated with negative outcomes in sub- Saharan countries. However, it is essential to investigate the extent to which domestic political conditions influence ownership structures, which may or may not subsequently result in adverse outcomes. Through a comparative analysis between the cases of Angola and Botswana, this study finds that, political contestation influences ownership models as hypothesized to an extent. In Angola, the post-independence civil war pitting the ruling MPLA against UNITA resulted in Sonangol being managed as a wholly owned state enterprise, albeit serving the interests of the MPLA elite instead of broad-based developmental interests. In Botswana, however, Debswana was managed as a public-private entity located within a democratic political system, and this ownership structure was more a result of rational policy planning than political contestation. Nevertheless, the cases’ history of colonial rule and political institutions established upon the attainment of political independence are substantially influential factors as well. Non-settler colonialism and non-militarized political transitions to independence facilitated the growth of “organic” political and economic institutions and public-private ownership structures in Botswana, while settler colonialism and pre-independence militarization influenced the growth of centralized post-colonial state structures internal strife in Angola. The timing of resource extraction was also important, with pre-independence oil extraction influencing militarized rivalry in Angola, while postindependence extraction of diamonds in Botswana was a causal factor in the development of strong state institutions. External factors, particularly the Cold War influenced militarised outcomes in Angola, while the nature of the global diamond market had a contributory factor to the establishment of the public-private ownership model in Botswana.