Causes and perspectives of land-cover change through expanding cultivation in Kavango

Abstract

With this interdisciplinary case-study we deliver an integrated analysis concerning the problem of expansive cultivation impacting on biodiversity in the dry Woodland Savanna of the Kavango Region of Namibia. We quantify and visualise the impact of cultivation on dry-forest species associations, deliver a description of existing vegetation and soil properties and their suitability for cultivation and possibilities for improvement. Likewise we look at the characteristics of human landuse, at the socio-cultural rules and norms that guide their utilisation of biodiversity as much as the cultural and economic incentives that guide individual landuse strategies. We further analyse the potential and limitations for institutional adaptations, including low-capital input and locally adapted agricultural intensification. By drawing such a broad picture from interdisciplinarity we assess the success of necessary policy recommendations and alternative options for managing the communal land of the Kavango Region.