In Africa, rural development and biodiversity conservation, are both important, but sometimes
potentially conflicting priorities. Most rural areas adjacent to wildlife protected areas in Southern
Africa have high biodiversity potential, but are characterised by high poverty, unemployment,
and limited economic activity. The problems in these rural areas are further compounded by
problems of crop destruction, and livestock depredation by wildlife. Transfrontier conservation
areas (TFCAs), recently introduced in Southern Africa, have potential to address both
biodiversity and poverty alleviation through promotion of multiple land uses such as wildlife
ranching, tourism, livestock and crop production. It is however, not clear how these land uses
can be combined, and what the associated socio-economic costs and benefits of alternative land
use options in these areas are. This study proposed a spatial land use model for evaluating
alternative land uses and development pathways in these rural areas

Dissertations (call number in progress)

Petronella Chaminuka was born in 1974 in Harare Zimbabwe.Employed by the university of Limpopo as a lecturer