Perspectives of wild medicine harvesters from Cape Town, South Africa
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Date
2017
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Academy of Science of South Africa and AOSIS
Abstract
Cape Town is a fast-growing cityscape in the Cape Floristic Region in South Africa with 24 formally
protected conservation areas including the World Heritage Table Mountain National Park. These sites
have been protected and managed as critical sites for local biodiversity, representing potentially one-third
of all Cape Floristic Region flora species and 18% of South Africa’s plant diversity. Cape Town is also
inhabited by a rapidly growing culturally and economically diverse citizenry with distinct and potentially
conflicting perspectives on access to, and management of, local natural resources. In a qualitative study
of 58 locally resident traditional healers of distinct cultural groups, we examined motivations underlying
the generally illicit activity of harvesting of wild resources from Cape Town protected areas. Resource
harvester motivations primarily link to local economic survival, health care and cultural links to particular
resources and practices, ‘access for all’ outlooks, and wholesale profit-seeking perspectives. We
describe these motivations, contrast them with the current formal, legal and institutional perspectives for
biodiversity protection in the city, and propose managerial interventions that may improve sustainability
of ongoing harvest activities.
Description
Keywords
Conservation, Wild harvest, Sustainability, Conflict, Medicinal plants
Citation
Petersen, L. et al. (2017). Perspectives of wild medicine harvesters from Cape Town, South Africa. South African Journal of Science, 113(9/10): Art. #2016-0260