Social processes promoting the adaptive capacity of rangeland managers to achieve resilience in the Karoo, South Africa

Area of Science:

• Rangeland Ecology and Management
• Social-Ecological Systems
• Adaptive Management

Background:

• Resilience in land management requires practical frameworks to translate abstract concepts into action.
• Holistic Management™ is a decision-making framework designed for adaptive land management in arid and semi-arid rangelands.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate if Holistic Management™ enhances adaptive capacity in land managers compared to conventional approaches.
• To assess the role of social capital and learning networks in adaptive land management.

Main Methods:

• Development of an Adaptive Capacity Index to quantify alignment with key adaptive traits.
• Face-to-face interviews with 40 land managers (20 Holistic Management™, 20 non-Holistic Management™) in the Karoo rangeland, South Africa.
• Social network analysis to explore social capital among land managers.

Main Results:

• Holistic Management™ land managers exhibited significantly higher adaptive capacity.
• Land managers using Holistic Management™ showed greater participation in study groups.
• Social network analysis indicated potential for collective decision-making through learning networks.

Conclusions:

• Holistic Management™ serves as a practical framework for promoting adaptive capacity in semi-arid to arid rangelands.
• Study groups associated with Holistic Management™ foster social learning, innovation, and collective action, crucial for adaptive management.
• The framework effectively connects individual land managers to collective decision-making processes.