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This article explores how living and working in South Africa has shaped my career as a global environmental historian. It focuses on the concept of network analysis to highlight how theoretical and empirical research is informed by life experiences and by our engagement with the profession of history. The article concludes by thinking about how the study of our own lives can lead us to have more introspection as scholars and teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need to effectively govern and manage communal rangeland resources has become more important over the past two decades, given the extent of biodiversity loss caused by a myriad of drivers interacting at different scales.Using in‐depth interviews, participant observations and historical information from organisational records, we analysed the application of governance objectives between 1947 and 2017 and their corresponding rangeland condition outcome in Machubeni (South Africa) communal lands.The results show that while the application of governance objectives varied through time, there has been a steady degradation of local rangeland resources since apartheid, due to internal and external drivers of change. This reveals a disconnection between management and resource conditions, suggesting that a return to effective governance alone will not necessarily result in improved rangeland condition in Machubeni, but that more radical steps such as prolonged periods of resting, reseeding and building individual and group agency, are needed. These findings can help practitioners working in post‐colonial territories to design effective rangeland management models. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper provides a history of attempts to understand and manage fire in the grasslands and savannas of eastern and southern Africa from c. 1900 to 2010. Given the brevity of the paper and the author's expertise, there is a focus on science and management in South Africa, though wider networks of research and expertise across the region are discussed. There is a focus on a few key figures like Charles Swynnerton, John Phillips and Winston Trollope, with references provided for other important historical figures like John William Bews. The emphasis is on scientific research and expert-led thinking on fire and fire management in vegetation, with brief discussion of African approaches and the extent to which they have been ignored or have influenced scientific thinking. Fire in relation to invasive species is not covered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historians of colonial conquest have explored the emergence of various manifestations of racialised discourse about Africans during the numerous colonial wars in Southern Africa. To a slightly lesser extent they have also examined the impact of colonial conquest on the environment. The interconnectedness of the two has been less fully examined. One of the consequences of colonial expansion in what is now South Africa's Eastern Cape province was the emergence of a distinctive military discourse on Africans in general and the Xhosa in particular. Another was the destruction of large mammals previously endemic to the area. Hunting was part of the dominant masculine military ethos and the colonial record is replete with numerous examples of the close connection between colonial wars and hunting. The same record also contains accounts blaming indigenous people for the decline in wild animals – often simultaneously detailing the mass slaughter of animals by the narrators. This article argues that military attitudes to fauna and to indigenous people were interconnected and fed into a racialised discourse that had an impact beyond the military. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores relationships between water and well‐being in the Leliefontein Pastoral Area, Namaqualand, South Africa. Despite its geographical focus, it nonetheless articulates with broader regional and national debates around water in the Anthropocene. As a positive response to calls for water justice in South Africa, the paper argues for the need for water justice that is attuned to the particularities of South Africa's complex social‐ecologies. In order to make this case, the paper explores a regional literature rich in works in the disciplines of environmental history, anthropology and ecology that demonstrates deep entanglements between water, dispossession of land, and oppressive power in the Leliefontein Pastoral Area, and Namaqualand more generally. Because of the histories and ways of life it describes, the literature underscores the need to consider wellbeing as it relates to water in varying forms—as that which flows through pipes and taps, but also that which cycles through the air, falls on the ground, is taken up by plants, and eaten by stock animals. A consideration of Leliefontein's water history also surfaces the historically delimited nature of water that is primarily known as a natural resource, measured in liters and assessed in terms of its microbial and chemical contents. Other kinds of waters exist and persist in the area and are also vital to how many people experience and think about their own wellbeing. This becomes especially significant in the face of expected effects of climate change in the region. This article is categorized under:Human Water > Human Water [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Illegal hunting with dogs in rural South Africa converges around issues of conservation, resource use, and livelihood. Hunting with dogs has a long cultural history, tethered to tradition and subsistence. Today, it is tightly regulated but practiced outside the law. Academic literature and mainstream media alike paint a multidimensional picture of the phenomenon. Some sources portray disenfranchised people practicing a culturally significant livelihood strategy; others emphasize illegal hunting's destructive nature, severed from traditional context. The drivers of illegal hunting in rural South Africa sit at the nexus of multiple gaps of scholarly insight, linked to a history of widespread stratification of land use, prohibition of traditional hunting, and systematic control of African possession of dogs. There is a need for ethnographic work rooted in environmental history to grapple with the complex connections underlying this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of selective anthropogenic accumulation of plant and faunal remains in the sedimentary record at Border Cave, palaeoclimatological records at the site can only be broadly interpreted and cannot be reconstructed with any precision. To aid environmental reconstructions spanning the sedimentary record, we review published climate change proxy records from both marine and terrestrial archives within 500 km in the surrounding the summer rainfall region of the site to derive the history of environmental change. These published records, which show supporting evidence between the marine and terrestrial sequences, of which the former is more continuous, suggest that frequent environmental changes on a millennial scale involved fluctuations in temperature, seasonality, and moisture conditions to which the human occupants of the cave must have had to adapt continuously, e.g., cooler, windy climates, and more open vegetation during Marine Isotope Stage 2. Pollen previously extracted from the Border Cave deposits showed limited potential for climate reconstruction, but further research and comprehensive sampling of the sedimentary succession may potentially provide additional information on local environments to complement the existing palaeobotanical data. • Past environment proxies in the region of Border Cave show coherent changes over 240 ka. • Marine sediment records compensate lack of terrestrial palaeoenvironmental evidence. • Potential for palynological records to be derived by future research at Border Cave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions How has the vegetation of the major biomes (Grassland, Nama-karoo, Albany Thicket, Azonal) of southeastern South Africa changed over the course of the 20th century? How do changes in climate and land-use drivers relate to long-term changes in vegetation? What are the implications of these findings for land degradation hypotheses and future climate change projections for the region? Location The biogeographically complex semi-arid, Karoo Midlands region of the southeastern part of South Africa. Methods We re-photographed 65 historical landscape photographs, the majority of which dated from 1950 to 1970, to measure long-term changes in the cover of grasses, dwarf shrubs, tall shrubs and alien plants. The cover of each growth form as well as total vegetation cover was estimated from matched photograph pairs with the aid of detailed cover estimates recorded in the field. The change in cover was relativized between sites by dividing the difference in cover between the two time steps by the number of years between photographs, expressed as the percentage change in cover per decade. Significant changes in mean annual rainfall and the standardized precipitation index (SPI) from 27 climate stations were assessed using a Mann-Kendall test for trend. This non-parametric test was also used to assess the significance of long-term trends in the number of cattle, sheep and goats in each of the biomes over the period 1911-1996. Results Grass cover and total vegetation cover had increased by between 1.0% to 4.5% per decade and 2.0% to 4.5% per decade, respectively, in all biomes investigated. In contrast, the cover of dwarf shrubs had decreased significantly by between 0.25% and 3.0% per decade, although not significantly so in the Nama-karoo biome. The change in tall shrub cover varied between different biomes but had generally increased in the study area. Alien plants were absent in the historical photographs and had increased significantly but only in Azonal habitats, where increases of 1.5% per decade were recorded. For the majority of climate stations no significant trend in mean annual rainfall and SPI values was recorded, while stocking rate had declined significantly in all biomes by between 36% and 48% from 1911 to 1996. Conclusions The findings support the hypothesis that vegetation cover and condition has improved in the semi-arid regions of South Africa. These findings are discussed in light of future projections for the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Deep, linear gullies are a common feature of the present landscape of the Karoo of South Africa, where they were known locally in the early twentieth century as ‘sluits’. Recent research has shown that many of these features are now stable and are no longer significant sediment sources, although they are efficient connectors in the landscape. Because most of the gully networks predate the first aerial photographs, little is known in the scientific literature about the timing of their formation. One secondary source, however, throws interesting light on the origin of these features, and the early response by landowners to their rehabilitation. The Agricultural Journal of the Cape of Good Hope at the turn of the Twentieth Century carried a number of articles by farmers and agricultural officers concerning the “evil of sluits”. The authors gave accounts of widespread incision of valley bottoms by deep, wide gullies. Many of these gullies had been in existence for some thirty years but apparently had formed within living memory. A number of attempts to prevent further erosion had been put in place at the time of writing. This paper presents a review of land degradation, specifically gully erosion, and rehabilitation recommendations as given by authors writing in this journal. It reflects on the findings in the context of assessing land degradation processes through the local knowledge portrayed in the journal. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Finding ways to conserve limited water supplies while promoting economic development has been, and will continue to be, one of South Africa's most enduring environmental challenges. South Africa's forestry sector has sat – often controversially – at the crossroads of policy debates regarding both water conservation and economic development. This historical analysis examines how conflicts surrounding exotic afforestation led to the establishment of the Jonkershoek Forestry Research Station in 1935. It demonstrates how research findings from Jonkershoek formed the basis of a comprehensive national catchment management strategy that tried to harmonise the afforestation of exotic forests, the preservation of indigenous vegetation and the rights of downstream water users. This framework dominated water conservation policy discussions and outcomes from the late 1960s to the late 1980s. This programme fell into decline when catchment management was handed over to provinces in the late 1980s and a raft of new post-apartheid legislation and plans – the centrepiece being theNational Water Actin 1998 – redirected research funding and forestry policies established between 1935 and 1994. In conclusion, we suggest that South Africa's water policies, as they related to exotic forests, should be reviewed in light of broader historical, scientific and economic findings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Royal Natal National Park (RNNP) has been overlooked in the history of nature conservation and the origins of national parks in South Africa. It is the purpose of this article to unearth the history of this area as the country's first, formal, national park and to introduce it into mainstream national park literature and into the broader sweep of the region's environmental history. The material discussed here raises questions about why certain natural features, such as wildlife, attained national importance and generated tourism interest, while others – such as mountains and outdoor recreational facilities – did not develop or retain a similarly high profile in South Africa. In addition, by focussing on the Drakensberg protected area in KwaZulu-Natal, a fresh biography of a South African national park is presented which, it is hoped, will enrich the overall South African historiography around landscape, the natural environment and nature conservation values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the dynamics and legacy of the divisive South African debate over the hydrological and ecological impact of exotic timber plantation that erupted before, during and after the Fourth Empire Forestry Conference, held throughout the country in 1935. It examines the geographies, environments and networks that caused forestry critics, spearheaded by the ecologist John EV. Phillips, to challenge South Africa's afforestation programme at the Conference. Phillips' spirited criticisms of forestry helped to establish an interdisciplinary research programme studying the impacts of exotic trees from forestry, ecological and hydrological perspectives in the Jonkershoek Valley, outside of Stellenbosch, that ran from 1935 to 1995. The findings of this pioneering and globally significant interdisciplinary research programme shaped South African environmental policies related to forest hydrology, biodiversity management, invasive species control and fire dynamics until the late 1980s and early 1990s. This research is still utilised, albeit in fragmented forms, in present-day national water, forestry and environmental legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the discipline of environmental history in South Africa. The author notes work on topics including invasive plant and animal species, rediscovery of ecological consciousness among Africans by historians, and interdisciplinary collaboration with scientists. The role of social history and anti-racist historiography in environmental history is addressed, which is it said that environmental aspects of region histories of the Indian Ocean region are still being developed by historians.

This paper examines how the riparian vegetation of perennial and ephemeral rivers systems in the semi-arid, winter rainfall region of South Africa has changed over time. Using an environmental history approach we assess the extent of change in plant cover at 32 sites using repeat photographs that cover a time span of 36-113 years. The results indicate that in the majority of sites there has been a significant increase in cover of riparian vegetation in both the channel beds and adjacent floodplain environments. The most important species to have increased in cover across the region is Acacia karroo. We interpret the findings in the context of historical changes in climate and land use practices. Damage to riparian vegetation caused by mega-herbivores probably ceased sometime during the early 19th century as did scouring events related to large floods that occurred at regular intervals from the 15th to early 20th centuries. Extensive cutting of riparian vegetation for charcoal and firewood has also declined over the last 150 years. Changes in the grazing history as well as increased abstraction and dam building along perennial rivers in the region also account for some of the changes observed in riparian vegetation during the second half of the 20th century. Predictions of climate change related to global warming anticipate increased drought events with the subsequent loss of species and habitats in the study area. The evidence presented here suggests that an awareness of the region's historical ecology should be considered more carefully in the modelling and formulation of future climate change predictions as well as in the understanding of climate change impacts over time frames of decades and centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the history of rabies in South Africa since the early twentieth century. It argues that rabies is a zoonotic disease that traverses rural and urban spaces, that transfers itself between wild and domestic animals and remains a potential threat to human life in the region. Scientists discovered an indigenous form of rabies, found primarily in the yellow mongoose, after the first biomedically confirmed human fatalities in 1928. Since the 1950s canine rabies, presumed to have moved southwards from across the Zambezi River, has become endemic also. South Africa is home to a comparatively large number of rabies strains and animal carriers, making it a particularly interesting case study. Environmental changes during the colonial and apartheid periods have helped to explain the increase in rabies cases since the mid-twentieth century. Moreover, developments in the biological and ecological sciences have provided insights into why the rabies virus has become endemic in certain wildlife species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review analyses the retypification of Acacia Mill. by the International Botanical Congress in 2005, from an African type to an Australian one. It explores the cultural, historical and trans-national context of what proved much more than a routine scientific decision. It contributes to a growing critique of historian Alfred Crosby's thesis Ecological Imperialism, and provides a historical review of the ecological literature leading to the discipline of invasion biology in South Africa, Australia and elsewhere, particularly the work of Charles Elton. The aim of the article is to narrow the gap between the historically ecological and the ecologically historical literature through a closely worked case study that reveals the role of national identity in even the most arcane and international science. The history of the 'wattle wars' (or the 'battle for Acacia') in Australia, South Africa and the rest of the world reveals a need for a new literacy in both culture and nature and increasingly sophisticated conversations between C.P. Snow's 'Two Cultures'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article traces the changing role of environmental determinism in the invention of 'South African' history after 1910 through a close reading of the social biography and scholarship of Eric Anderson Walker, professor of history at the South African College (now the University of Cape Town), 1911-36. The dominant liberal historiography still acknowledges Walker as one of the founders of the national academic discipline in English, but otherwise ignores his scholarship which is now deemed irredeemably Eurocentric, empiricist and conservative. By relocating and re-reading Walker in the context of the first quarter century of the new settler nation state confected by Britain out of the wreckage of the South African War, the supposed disciplinary dead-end of his scholarship becomes the route into an examination of historical knowledge as both construct of and aide memoir to the new imaginary of white South African nationhood. It also provides a salutary warning to the modern practitioners of environmental history of the non-innocence of their field and the need to reckon with its determinist past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper introduces the Special Issue on Sustainable Land Use in Namaqualand which arose out of a conference held in the region in May 2005. It outlines the main themes and issues covered by 19 papers within an increasingly interdisciplinary debate on land use in this semi-arid region. The first theme describes the unique environmental, historical and social context for understanding current land-use practices in the region. The point is made that it is difficult to discuss the issue of land use outside of these contexts which are themselves strongly influenced by national and international events. The second theme addresses land use and its long-term impact on the biota, production systems and restoration potential of the region. A dual land tenure system of private and communal ownership, which is rooted in South Africa''s colonial and apartheid past, has profoundly influenced the way in which the land is used as well as the way in which benefits have been derived from agricultural production by different sectors of the population. The dynamic and complex nature of these practices and how strongly influenced they are by local circumstances is an important element in the contributions. The third main theme investigates the progress of South Africa''s post-apartheid land reform programme in the region. The slow pace of reform as well as the difficulty of finding a solution which benefits the most marginalised groups within Namaqualand society is highlighted. A final paper synthesises the debate and emphasises the rapid pace of change brought about by several important biophysical and socioeconomic events of the last century. An understanding of the pathways of change as well as their uncertainties forms an important part of this final synthesis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this journal introduction, the editor provides information on articles within the journal on such topics as Russian soils, forestry in South Africa, and Chinese Wetlands conservation, and reflects on her editorship at the journal.

An introduction is presented in which the president of the organization European Society for Environmental History (ESEH) discusses an article by environmental historian Sandra Swart regarding South African environmental historians.

The African National Soil Conservation Association emerged to give black South Africans a vehicle to promote soil conservation when other institutions served whites only. The association failed. Pragmatically it had to work in league with the South African government even as apartheid policies became increasingly severe. It lacked credibility with some because it relied on the Native Affairs Department for expertise and resources. Government restrictions on black access to land was the main impediment to improving environmental awareness among blacks; without the right of landownership, stewardship of the land languished. The association also encountered a backlash against the "betterment" planning policy of the government, which imposed unpopular environmental laws on grazing. The association disbanded following a government order to reorganize on ethnic rather than on national lines.