FOR 1501:  Resilience, Collapse and Reorganisation in Social-Ecological Systems of East- and South Africa's Savannahs

• Subject Area: Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine ; Biology ; Humanities ; Geosciences
• Term: from 2010 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 165405448

The Research Unit will investigate resilience, collapse and reorganisation in complex coupled social-ecological systems (SES) in Africa. Contemporary research shows that Africa is not only the continent most comprehensively affected by global climatic change and environmental transformations, but that societies, economies and environments are also massively impacted by forces of globalisation. The recent global economic crisis has shown to what extend African economies are vulnerable to global economic shocks. Notwithstanding the fact that Africa pessimism and even catastrophism that percolate not only the popular media but also contemporary sciences have deep historical roots, we surmise that the present social and ecological challenges are path-breaking and lead to profound transformations of African SES.
The savannahs of South and East Africa seem particularly suited to study these processes. On the one hand, savannahs are inherently unstable systems due to major climatic fluctuations. On the other hand, pertinent processes of land use change (e.g. land reform in South Africa, voluntary sedentarisation in East Africa) and globalisation (e.g. establishment of horticultural industries, savannah orientated conservation efforts and tourism) currently affect these savannah systems profoundly.
We selected four project regions: the wider Lake Naivasha catchment and the Lake Baringo catchment with adjoining dryland savannahs in Kenya and the savannahs of the Free State (Thaba Nchu) and the Northern Cape/North-western provinces (Kuruman) in South Africa. These social-ecological systems will be intensely worked on by interdisciplinary teams. The project sites are characterised by a history of social-ecological ruptures, some linked to the variability of eco-system dynamics of savannahs, others to the political ecology of specific systems.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• International Connection: Kenya, South Africa, United Kingdom

Projects

• Central Administration and Coordination (Applicant Bollig, Michael )
• Central Administration and Coordination (Applicant Becker, Mathias )
• Functions and Uses of Wetlands in Changing Savannah Environments (Applicant Becker, Mathias )
• Global Economic Influences and Local Labor Relations in the Reorganization of an Agro-Industrial Center (Applicants Bollig, Michael ;  Müller-Mahn, Detlef )
• How to Develop a Rural Civilisation: Agricultural Education in Twentieth Century South Africa (Applicant Tischler, Julia )
• In Search of Order: Institutional Change, Violent Regulation and Environmental Knowledge under Conditions of Rapid Social Ecological Change (Applicant Bollig, Michael )
• Making the Modern World: Science, Education and Social-Ecological Engineering in Rural Southern Africa (Applicant Finzsch, Norbert )
• Mediality and Local Creativity in the Negotiation of Social-Ecological Resilience, Collapse and Reorganisation (Applicant Schulz, Ph.D., Dorothea E. )
• Resilience of SES from a Resource-Economics Perspective (Applicant Heckelei, Thomas )
• Translocal Relations and the Reoganization of Socio-Ecological Systems in Kenya and South Africa (Applicants Greiner, Clemens ;  Müller-Mahn, Detlef ;  Sakdapolrak, Patrick )
• Violent Regulation and Social-Ecological Transformation of Wetland Ecosystems in East Africa (Applicants Bollig, Michael ;  Sakdapolrak, Patrick )
• Vulnerability and Resilience of Rangeland Vegetation as Affected by Livestock Management, Soils and Climate (Applicant Ewert, Frank )
• Vulnerability and Resilience of Soils under Different Rangeland Use (Applicants Amelung, Wulf ;  Löffler, Jörg )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Mathias Becker