Nola Redelinghuys

Role Conflict Among Women Employees: Fact or Fiction?

This article represents the findings of a study undertaken at a commercial banking group to determine the nature and extent of role conflict experienced by women personnel. The rationale behind the study was that women, because they have to fulfil multiple roles in society, are at risk of experiencing conflict among their different roles. Role conflict among women can have a negative effect on their functioning as employees and should therefore be addressed by the employer, in this case the commercial banking sector. Various factors that might Influence the nature and extent of role conflict among working women were identified. These factors were operationalised in a self-administered questionnaire. Identified factors included marital relationship, the life cycle of the family and the presence of traditional values. A further goal of the study was to determine the extent to which the particular banking group was implementing women-friendly practices and to what extent this influenced female personnels ex...

Unconventional oil and gas extraction in South Africa: water linkages within the population–environment–development nexus and its policy implications

ABSTRACT The development of unconventional oil and gas resources, controversial in many countries, is currently being pursued by the South African government. This activity can have large impacts on the socio-economic and biophysical environments, especially water resources. In South Africa, little consideration has been given to water-related impacts from the perspective of the interrelated people–ecosystem linkages that are necessary for sustainable social and economic development. This article explores specific water-related linkages between facets of the natural and social environments pertaining to unconventional oil and gas extraction, with the objective of achieving more effective water resources management and water policy development.

Protected areas as vehicles in population development: lessons from rural South Africa

Protected areas in developing countries are increasingly expected to move beyond biodiversity protection so as also to contribute to poverty reduction and the economic development of their surrounding communities. The purpose of this article is to report on the key findings that emerged from the assessment of a poverty alleviation programme at the Golden Gate Highlands National Park in South Africa and the lessons learned from that particular programme. Designed around outcomes analysis as an analytical framework for programme evaluation, a mixed-method approach of semi-structured interviews and focus-group sessions was used to collect data from amongst programme beneficiaries, the park management and members of the park’s advisory board. The findings indicate that although programmes of this kind can indeed impact positively on poverty levels, their direct impacts do however remain limited to a relatively small proportion of households in neighbouring communities. The article concludes that by conceptualising poverty as a multidimensional state of well-being, this allows for the exploration of a much broader range of potential social, cultural and economic benefits available from protected areas.

A review of biophysical and socio-economic effects of unconventional oil and gas extraction - implications for South Africa

The impacts associated with unconventional oil and gas (UOG) extraction will be cumulative in nature and will most likely occur on a regional scale, highlighting the importance of using strategic decision-making and management tools. Managing possible impacts responsibly is extremely important in a water scarce country such as South Africa, versus countries where more water may be available for UOG extraction activities. This review article explains the possible biophysical and socio-economic impacts associated with UOG extraction within the South African context and how these complex impacts interlink. Relevant policy and governance frameworks to manage these impacts are also highlighted.

Assessing the existing knowledge base and opinions of decision makers on the regulation and monitoring of unconventional gas mining in South Africa

A policy vacuum exists in relation to the exploration and mining of unconventional gas in South Africa, with a recent survey showing that 86% of the respondents did not know what hydraulic fracturing entails. We conducted a study to determine the opinion of decision makers involved in formulating policy and regulating mining activities related to shale gas mining in South Africa, as this was not covered in the aforementioned survey. Our results demonstrate that the regulation of shale gas mining in South Africa is viewed as extremely important and identifies possible regulatory and monitoring tools to assist in governing this activity.

People, Parks and Poverty: Integrated Conservation and Development Initiatives in the Free State Province of South Africa

Conservation policy and practices over the past few decades have strongly emphasised the linkages between rural poverty and environmental degradation and, more specifically, the importance of reconciling the socio-economic needs and expectations of local communities with the objectives of biodiversity conservation and protected-areas management. Several international agencies and organisations, including the World Bank, World Wide Fund for Nature, The World Conservation Union, USAID and United Nations agencies, have come out in support of the idea that biodiversity-conservation programmes should take into account the socio-economic needs of the local population. Protected areas are thus increasingly expected to cross the boundaries of conventional biodiversity protection and take their place on the national development agenda by contributing to poverty reduction among rural communities adjacent to parks and reserves. In fact, over the past two decades or more, there has been growing recognition in conservation circles that national parks and other protected areas cannot be managed successfully without consideration for the subsistence and economic requirements of their neighbouring communities (Hulme & Murphree, 2001; Kothari et al., 1998; Naughton-Treves, 2005; World Parks Congress, 2003). With world leaders and development agencies increasingly coming out in support of poverty-alleviation initiatives, and the Millennium Development Goals – particularly the first of the eight goals – that aim to curb poverty significantly by 2015, it is important to understand and assess the role that protected areas may potentially play in this endeavour. This chapter explores one example of how a national park in the Free State Province of South Africa has reached out to its neighbouring communities in an attempt to channel conservation benefits to the local people and thereby to address some of the developmental needs of the population in the surrounding areas. More specifically, the chapter distils some of the key findings and lessons derived from a poverty-alleviation project at the Golden Gate Highlands National Park – a project that operates under the banner of the People and Parks Programme of South African National Parks (SANParks) and attempts to involve neighbouring communities in the conservation of biodiversity in a mutually beneficial fashion. The People and Parks Programme embodies the new policy framework of conservation authorities in South Africa – a policy that represents a significant change in philosophy from the conventional protectionist and fortress approach to conservation. In

Vulnerability mapping as a tool to manage the environmental impacts of oil and gas extraction

Various biophysical and socio-economic impacts may be associated with unconventional oil and gas (UOG) extraction. A vulnerability map may assist governments during environmental assessments, spatial planning and the regulation of UOG extraction, as well as decision-making around UOG extraction in fragile areas. A regional interactive vulnerability map was developed for UOG extraction in South Africa. This map covers groundwater, surface water, vegetation, socio-economics and seismicity as mapping themes, based on impacts that may emanate from UOG extraction. The mapping themes were developed using a normative approach, where expert input during the identification and classification of vulnerability indicators may increase the acceptability of the resultant map. This article describes the development of the interactive vulnerability map for South Africa, where UOG extraction is not yet allowed and where regulations are still being developed to manage this activity. The importance and policy implications of using vulnerability maps for managing UOG extraction impacts in countries where UOG extraction is planned are highlighted in this article.

Protected Areas and Ecosystem Services — Integrating Grassland Conservation with Human Well-Being in South Africa

In recent years development agencies and conservation organizations such as the World Conservation Union, World Bank, Birdlife International, the United Nations, the World Wide Fund for Nature and Fauna as well as Flora International, have served to reinforce a number of conservation practices and policies in which the link between natural conservation and improving the lives of rural communities has been piquantly accentuated. The central emphasis that has emerged from these accents is that protected areas – and national parks in particular-cannot be viewed as isolated from the economic and social context within which they are located. Worldwide – and particularly in the developing world – protected areas are progressively expected to navigate past the conventional primary focus on biodiversity protection to also, through the process of conserving biodiversity, contribute to improving the well-being of those communities adjacent to conservation areas through the delivery of social and economic benefits [1]. To be more precise, it has become essential that the goals of protected-areas management and biodiversity conservation become acquiescent with the socio-economic expectations and needs of local communities [2,3,4]. The very survival of such areas and the people surrounding it depends on a mutually beneficial interaction. In fact, protected areas have a powerful potential to markedly influence human well-being through the generation of social, environmental and economic initiatives that may benefit both protected areas as well as the local communities [5].