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- Ekblom, Anneli, 1969-, et al.
(author)
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Conservation through Biocultural Heritage-Examples from Sub-Saharan Africa
- 2019
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In: Land. - : MDPI. - 2073-445X. ; 8:1
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper, we review the potential of biocultural heritage in biodiversity protection and agricultural innovation in sub-Saharan Africa. We begin by defining the concept of biocultural heritage into four interlinked elements that are revealed through integrated landscape analysis. This concerns the transdisciplinary methods whereby biocultural heritage must be explored, and here we emphasise that reconstructing landscape histories and documenting local heritage values needs to be an integral part of the process. Ecosystem memories relate to the structuring of landscape heterogeneity through such activities as agroforestry and fire management. The positive linkages between living practices, biodiversity and soil nutrients examined here are demonstrative of the concept of ecosystem memories. Landscape memories refer to built or enhanced landscapes linked to specific land-use systems and property rights. Place memories signify practices of protection or use related to a specific place. Customary protection of burial sites and/or abandoned settlements, for example, is a common occurrence across Africa with beneficial outcomes for biodiversity and forest protection. Finally, we discuss stewardship and change. Building on local traditions, inclusivity and equity are essential to promoting the continuation and innovation of practices crucial for local sustainability and biodiversity protection, and also offer new avenues for collaboration in landscape management and conservation.
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| 3. |
- Ekblom, Anneli, 1969-, et al.
(author)
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Water flow, ecological dynamics, and management in the lower Limpopo Valley : a long‐term vie
- 2017
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In: WIREs Water. - : Wiley. - 2049-1948. ; 4:5
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this contribution, we review long-term (millennial-decadal scale) river-flow changes, climate interactions, and interlinkage with vegetation dynamics, as well as society and policy, focusing on the lower Limpopo Valley (from the South African border through Mozambique). Drawing on paleoecological data, we address the valley's potential for defining critical ecological thresholds and managing an adaptive ecological landscape, by focusing on the dynamic relationship between different drivers (fire, hydrology, and grass/tree relationships). We briefly review the long-term interactions between water flow, climate variability, and society using archeological records and written sources. Lastly, we analyze the social and political context of water management, focusing on the last 100 years and transboundary water management. We also discuss planning and mitigation in relation to climate change and rainfall extremes that are projected to increase. It is stressed that forward-thinking policies must heed long-term climate variability, hydrology and biological and social impact and to plan and mitigate for environmental events. The discussion also brings to the fore the importance of an adaptable and equitable strategy in cross-border water sharing.
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| 4. |
- Elinor, Breman, et al.
(author)
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Phytolith-based environmental reconstruction from an altitudinal gradient in Mpumalanga, South Africa, 10,600 BP-present
- 2019
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In: Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0034-6667 .- 1879-0615. ; 263, s. 104-116
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Studying vegetation change across biome boundaries provides insight into vegetation resilience. In this study, shifts in grassland composition are reconstructed from sediments in three wetland sites across altitudinal gradient from 2128 to 897 m.a.s.l., representing a gradient from the grassland biome to the grassland/savanna boundary in the Mpumalanga region, north-eastern South Africa. Phytolith records from Verloren Valei (dated from 10,600 BP), Graskop (dated from 6500 BP) and Versailles (dated from 4500 BP) are used to reconstruct shifts in grassland composition and vegetation change. Phytolith morphotypes are used to construct environmental indices that are correlated with pollen main ecological groups, charcoal and delta 13C and C/N ratio. The results are compared to available regional paleoclimate data. Both Verloren Valei and Graskop have been dominated by grassland, but Versailles show a stronger influence of bushveld/savanna pollen. Phytolith data suggest that grassland composition was stable at Versailles and Graskop, but grassland at Verloren Valei has changed significantly over time. The early Holocene was dominated by a Pooideae/Chloridoideae C3 and C4 grassland, probably a remnant of the earlier Pleistocene cool-dry conditions. After 8500 BP grassland composition changed gradually to a Chloridoideae and Panicoidea dominated C4 grassland BP, and finally a moist Cyperaceae and Panicoidea dominated C3/C4 grassland after 4000 BP. This shift possibly occurs as a delayed response to the warmer and wetter conditions of the mid Holocene optimum at this high altitude site. The results suggest that the grassland/savanna boundary has remained stable over time, indicating considerable resilience of grasslands to climate change. This resilience may be related to the turnover of species within the grassland biome, as indicated by shifts between 8500 and 4000 BP at Verloren Valei.
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| 5. |
- Marchant, Rob, et al.
(author)
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Drivers and trajectories of land cover change in East Africa : Human and environmental interactions from 6000 years ago to present
- 2018
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In: Earth-Science Reviews. - : Elsevier. - 0012-8252 .- 1872-6828. ; 178, s. 322-378
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- East African landscapes today are the result of the cumulative effects of climate and land-use change over millennial timescales. In this review, we compile archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data from East Africa to document land-cover change, and environmental, subsistence and land-use transitions, over the past 6000 years. Throughout East Africa there have been a series of relatively rapid and high-magnitude environmental shifts characterised by changing hydrological budgets during the mid- to late Holocene. For example, pronounced environmental shifts that manifested as a marked change in the rainfall amount or seasonality and subsequent hydrological budget throughout East Africa occurred around 4000, 800 and 300 radiocarbon years before present (yr BP). The past 6000 years have also seen numerous shifts in human interactions with East African ecologies. From the mid-Holocene, land use has both diversified and increased exponentially, this has been associated with the arrival of new subsistence systems, crops, migrants and technologies, all giving rise to a sequence of significant phases of land-cover change. The first large-scale human influences began to occur around 4000 yr BP, associated with the introduction of domesticated livestock and the expansion of pastoral communities. The first widespread and intensive forest clearances were associated with the arrival of iron-using early farming communities around 2500 yr BP, particularly in productive and easily-cleared mid-altitudinal areas. Extensive and pervasive land-cover change has been associated with population growth, immigration and movement of people. The expansion of trading routes between the interior and the coast, starting around 1300 years ago and intensifying in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries CE, was one such process. These caravan routes possibly acted as conduits for spreading New World crops such as maize (Zea mays), tobacco (Nicotiana spp.) and tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum), although the processes and timings of their introductions remains poorly documented. The introduction of southeast Asian domesticates, especially banana (Musa spp.), rice (Oryza spp.), taro (Colocasia esculenta), and chicken (Gallus gallus), via transoceanic biological transfers around and across the Indian Ocean, from at least around 1300 yr BP, and potentially significantly earlier, also had profound social and ecological consequences across parts of the region. Through an interdisciplinary synthesis of information and metadatasets, we explore the different drivers and directions of changes in land-cover, and the associated environmental histories and interactions with various cultures, technologies, and subsistence strategies through time and across space in East Africa. This review suggests topics for targeted future research that focus on areas and/or time periods where our understanding of the interactions between people, the environment and land-cover change are most contentious and/or poorly resolved. The review also offers a perspective on how knowledge of regional land-use change can be used to inform and provide perspectives on contemporary issues such as climate and ecosystem change models, conservation strategies, and the achievement of nature-based solutions for development purposes.
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