Perceptions of Acacia dealbata invasion and clearing in Upper Tsitsana villages in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa

ABSTRACT

Tree holdings provide important socio-economic and environmental benefits, but invasive alien trees can constrain these benefits. However, some invasive alien plants provide both costs and benefits, making management complex due to varied stakeholder perceptions. Using household surveys, the study explored local people’s perceptions of Acacia dealbata invasion and clearing in six villages located in upper Tsitsana communal areas, Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The results suggest that most respondents are aware of A. dealbata invasion but not its invasion status. The respondents valued A. dealbata for its service provision including firewood, construction poles and shade but also cited negative impacts such as loss of grazing land and water. The respondents were aware of the Working for Water clearing programme and reported employment, income, and are awareness of restored grazing land and increased water availability as key clearing benefits. Although some respondents cleared A. dealbata in their homesteads, a small percentage were opposed to clearing due to the perceived loss of benefits. Overall, the study shows conflicting perceptions on the impacts of A. dealbata invasion and clearing, highlighting the value of considering the social dimensions of invasive alien plant species management to avoid conflict generation.

KEYWORDS:

• Plant invasion
• alien clearing
• knowledge
• perceptions
• management

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the National Research Foundation (NRF: research grant UID number 137789) for funding to conduct fieldwork. Thanks to Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology in South Africa for additional funds to cover fieldwork. Also, thanks to the Department of Environmental Science at Rhodes University for providing transport for fieldwork. We also thank Miss Ntombentsha Mekana and Mr Norman Yondela who assisted with data collection. We are grateful to the upper Tsitsana community for participating in the project. Lastly, we thank the upper Tsitsana leader for gatekeeper permission to conduct this study in the area.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the National Research Foundation [NRF: research grant UID number 137789].