Ecosystem services and ecological degradation of communal wetlands in a South African biodiversity hotspot.

ABSTRACT: Wetlands provide important ecosystem services to rural communities. However, wetlands are often on communal land, so they may become degraded when individual users act to maximize their personal benefit from ecosystem services without bearing the full environmental costs of their actions. Although it is possible to manage communal resources sustainably, this depends on the dynamics of the socio-ecological system. In this study, we used a structured questionnaire to examine whether demographic characteristics of a rural community and the propensity for partaking in damage-causing activities affected the benefits obtained from the wetlands. Responses from 50 households in the rural Hlabathi administrative area within the Maputo-Albany-Pondoland Biodiversity Hotspot, South Africa, indicated t

SUBMITTER: Owethu Pantshwa A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6599807 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature