Research Projects

The aim of this thesis is to improve understanding of social-ecological stewardship, or simply ‘stewardship’, initiatives to better support these initiatives and their potential contribution to transformation to more just and sustainable futures. This dissertation falls under the Seeds of Good Anthropoecenes (SOGA) initiative and will focus specifically on stewardship-focused seeds. Stewardship-related initiatives and scenarios have not been a specific focus in the SOGA to date, and this project aims to add social-ecological stewardship seeds and perspectives to the seeds discourse.

Chapin’s (2015) criteria for what effective stewardship aims to do was used as a starting point to guide the identification and selection of stewardship seeds. Seeds were thus selected if they aimed to promote ecosystem resilience and human wellbeing, through actions that actively care for natural environments, with the explicit intention to support the surrounding community, or social group, or address a problem faced by the surrounding community.

The following section outlines the titles and basic descriptions of the four academic articles that will be produced:

1. Global exploration of stewardship seeds:
• What are the key features of social-ecological stewardship seeds across the world?
This will be done through an analysis of stewardship-related seeds in SOGA database.

2. Stewardship seeds in southern Africa:
• What are the key strategies seeds employ and the obstacles they face during different phases of their development?
• What key opportunities exist for amplifying the impact for the seeds?
This will be done through an analysis of stewardship-related seeds in Southern Africa from SOGA database, as well as through a collection of additional seeds, and in-depth interviews with all selected seeds.

3. In-depth analysis of interactions amongst stewardship seeds in Cape Town:
• How do and could different seeds collaborate with other seeds and their wider environment to achieve their objectives?
• What are the underlying values that inspire stewardship actions, and how do these influence collaborations with other seeds?
The seeds from paper two are based in Cape Town will make up the data for this section. There is also potential to collect additional seeds and carry out in-depth interviews with multiple actors associated with seeds.

4. Future stewardship-based scenarios for Cape Town:
• What commonalities and differences are there among different stewardship futures?
• What key actions can support the development of positive stewardship-based futures?
The seeds from paper three will make up the data for this section. The data will be obtained through a participatory visioning workshop.