Two papers in Ecology & Society from our SCIFR project

Huge congratulations to Catherine and Louise for publishing key results from their PhD research in Ecology and Society!

Catherine’s article presents and draws on diverse knowledge systems to enhance local climate understanding in the southern Cape, an important (and rare) example of a multiple-evidence-based approach. By overlaying terrestrial and marine perspectives, she examines complex system change at the local scale of the southern Cape and Agulhas Bank in South Africa through placing different knowledge bases on climate variability alongside each other. Her research adds insights into how social components of complex systems interact with environmental change and contributes to confirming environmental regime shifts in the research area; identifying knowledge disconnects for ecosystem services linked to terrestrial water availability; and highlights scale disconnects in fisher observations in near- and off-shore change.

Louise’s article presents lessons learnt from the small-scale scenario planning process she initiated with marginalised fishers from the southern Cape. Informed by transformative scenario planning, and together with the fishers, she developed four stories of the future of Melkhoutfontein within the context of an overarching theoretical approach to support the implementation of an ecosystem approach to fisheries management (EAF). These stories incorporate scenarios on key driving forces identified by participants, complemented by key driving forces identified through a related process using problem structuring tools. The stories contrast situations with (no) access to fishing rights and (un-)favorable economics. They are backdropped by two potential future ecosystem types (warm temperate versus subtropical) and knowledge acquired from strategic planning at the national scale.