Projekt

Sustainability of social-ecological systems (SES) enhances individual wellbeing and social welfare that depend on natural resources, such as fisheries resources. Fishing livelihoods in SES are framed by access to local resources. The sustainability of an SES is shaped by governance and management through institutions arranged and interlinked at multiple levels. These institutions define individual and collective behaviour, set the framework for local action, structure the arena in which decisions are taken and shape ethics and world views on human-nature relationship (Berkes et al. 2003). The research project developed here relates to a specific SES: the Benguela upwelling system and will more specifically have a focus on South African small-scale fisheries. Here, an analysis will carry out to describe access to and benefits of fisheries resources within small scale fishing communities. By understanding access, closer inspection of the activities or strategies employed to derive benefits from natural resources will be investigated. The strategies or mechanisms of access (Rribot & Peluso 2003) investigated will be complemented by conducting an analysis of institutions at multiple levels (as relevant from local to global) that enables or hampers these mechanisms, sustainable use of resources and subsequent livelihood security. Applying a broad institutional analysis, this research will assume that policies and institutions develop in response to dynamics in the social and biophysical settings in which they operate (Young 2010). Balance of interests between different actors mediated through institutions is crucial for understanding the outcomes of resource management policies and multilevel governance.

• Prof. Dr. Eva Schlecht

  Universität Göttingen
  Fakultät für Agrarwissenschaften
  Department für Nutztierwissenschaften
  Abteilung Tierhaltung in den Tropen und Subtropen
  Göttingen
  

• Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Schareika

  Universität Göttingen
  Sozialwissenschaftliche Fakultät
  Institut für Ethnologie
  Göttingen
  

• Dr. Samantha Williams

  University of Cape Town
  Environmental and Geographical Sciences
  Environmental Evaluation Unit
  Cape Town
  Südafrika