Kostauli, Mzwabantu Richard2024-10-252024-10-252024Kostauli, Mzwabantu Richard. (2024). Towards the co-management of natural resources in protected areas in South Africa: a study of the Silaka nature reserve, in Eastern Cape province [PhD thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WireDSpace.https://hdl.handle.net/10539/41960Thesis Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of a degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography and Environmental Sciences at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2024The pressure in the management of South Africa’s natural resources in protected areas has led to the development of land policy and the process has undergone important changes since the dawn of democratic rule in 1994. This process started when land claimants were expected to interact with the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform to submit land claims based on land dispossession since 1913. The Silaka Nature Reserve as a research site is one of the protected areas on the Wild Coast Region of the Eastern Cape Province that has seen the land restitution process completed. Considering the land being claimed, the study aimed to investigate the management effectiveness as a protected area while promoting sustainable community development. A combination of different ethnographic methods was applied to collect data for this study. The study largely followed a qualitative research approach for data collection. The research questions were aligned with the community involved in the land restitution processes, applicable legislative frameworks, co-management activities, roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders and the alternative strategies suitable to promote sustainable use of natural resources, and community development to reduce conservation conflicts. This study applied a purposeful and snowball sampling strategy to acquire primary data to select research participants from the relevant government institutions, traditional leadership, local community structures and specific individuals who gave specific views or opinions on specific issues relevant to the study. Interpretivism research philosophy has then been used to demonstrate the application of qualitative research approaches for improving complex and controversial issues and to highlight some land reform and natural resource co-management challenges. Interpretivism was used to demonstrate the present understanding of complex and controversial issues. The findings revealed several gaps and deficiencies in the land restitution processes including the implementation of co-management activities pursued. The uncertainties with the neighbouring communities are a result of the limited involvement of the key stakeholders during the land restitution process. The findings also pointed to partial implementation of co- management activities. Simultaneously, the participants also viewed the protected area as an important community asset from which benefits can be derived. The significance of this study was aimed at influencing South Africa’s policies on land restitution and co-management of natural resources in protected areas. The limitations of the study were that it only focused on land restitution processes and co-management of natural resources at Silaka Nature Reserve. It is recommended that the natural resource management plans need to be reviewed to create reasonable access to natural resources by local communities, and the inclusive co-management agreement must be developed and implemented. It is also recommended that the reserve should venture into a Community Public Private Partnership with a private investor for commercial activities to reinforce capital to diversify mechanisms for income generation and job creation for local people. For future research studies, it is recommended that further investigation on socio-economic impacts of protected areas on adjacent local communities be pursueden© 2024 University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.Development of land policySouth Africa’s natural resourcesSilaka Nature ReserveProtected areasSDG-15: Life on landThesisUniversity of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg