Table 1 Summary of narratives
Aspects of narratives | Narrative 1: conservation and restoration | Narrative 2: development for future prosperity | Narrative 3: exclusion and encroachment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Support or oppose project | Support project | Support project | Oppose project | |
Main proponents | Forestry and conservation department staff; project staff; community members trained as forest guards | Project staff; members of the Participatory Forestry Management Committee (PFMC) and beneficiaries of micro-enterprise projects; traditional authorities; and other community members | Group of older men who have high status in community as cattle owners; chief and advisors; and other community members | |
Definition of the problem through narrative | Threat to forest biodiversity from illegal resource extraction and alien invasive species | Poverty, lack of infrastructure and need for development initiatives | Land for cultivation and pasture, as well as land for building houses is limited | |
Main arguments | Project provides opportunity for restoration of biodiversity and ecological function through reintroducing indigenous antelope and buffalo, and employing local people to remove alien invasive plants. Fencing the reserve area, and employing local forestry guards will protect forest from exploitation, as will education about sustainable resource harvesting | Project offers potential for community income and development through forest guard employment, micro-enterprise activities, ecotourism and spinoff income generation opportunities, as well as the breeding of co-owned buffalo | Project would perpetuate historical exclusion of local people from sacred forest and fertile land. Opponents are not willing to give up land that could be used for cultivation and livestock grazing, in the face of encroachment of forest into this land. Buffaloes imported to the forest would endanger the community | |
Place meanings employed | Foresta | Unique biodiversity refuge Wilderness: “the last piece of unspoilt Africa” Vulnerable ecosystem Protected by law | Aesthetically appealing and scenic beauty Development asset Tourist place Community’s well-being | Xhosa cultural belonging Appropriated land (taken by forestry authority in 1950s) Source of woody vegetation encroaching outward (into community land) |
Community landb | Degraded land Ecological corridor Habitat for game species | Bush-encroached land Neglected fertile land Equity for community in nature reserve benefits | Communal grazing land Limited land resource Belonging and ownership (ancestral home and burial sites) Suited for agricultural and ‘traditional’ lifestyle | |
Plantation | Neglected and no longer of commercial value | Source of revenue | White man’s forest i.e. appropriated land | |