Abstract

Africa has indigenous natural resource management practices that have been existing many years ago among many diverse ethnic groups. Exploration of such practices can substantially contribute to the nature conservation and welfare improvement in predominately rural areas like the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. On account of this postulation, this paper reviews selected case studies on indigenous natural resource management practices in Africa. However, the focus is on the survey of farmers’ practices, knowledge and perception of forest, soil and water conservation (SWC) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Soil erosion is one of the major challenges threatening smallholder agriculture in South Africa. The study shows that there are local forest management practices that can be promoted to wider scale of application in the study areas. However, the local people have limited exposure to SWC measures. Very few farmers have knowledge on local and modern stone bund terracing for the purpose of SWC. Due to lack of awareness, many farmers do not practice SWC measures. These findings have important implications for policy development to achieve sustainable rural development in the study areas.

Key words: Natural resources management, forest, soil and water conservation, smallholder, farmers, Eastern Cape, South Africa.