Michelle Cocks

Rhodes University | RU · Department of Anthropology

Since the International Convention on Biodiversity in 1992 conservation biologists, ecologists and conservationists have devoted consider-able attention to the conservation of biodiversity. With this has come the realization that solutions to biological problems often lie in the mechanisms of social, cultural, and economic systems. This shift has e...

South Africa boasts some of the richest diversity of fauna and flora in the world; it also claims to be a world in one country given its cultural diversity. In a time of climate change, rapid population growth and urbanisation, the country’s natural resources as well as its cultural diversity are under threat. We report a multi-dimensional survey c...

Different types of public urban green spaces (PUGS) contain various natural (such as trees, pools, flowerbeds) and artificial elements (such as benches, play equipment, fountains) which contribute to the enjoyment and experience of users. However, which elements users most require, appreciate or notice has rarely been examined as the basis of their...

Urbanisation is a global multidimensional process that is intricately interlinked with ideological processes of modernisation, industrialisation and rationalisation. Cities have become viewed as agents of development and change, promoting capitalistic ideals of forward thinking and innovation. The Global North and Western ideals are deemed the fron...

Non-technical summary We argue that the ways in which we as humans derive well-being from nature – for example by harvesting firewood, selling fish or enjoying natural beauty – feed back into how we behave towards the environment. This feedback is mediated by institutions (rules, regulations) and by individual capacities to act. Understanding these...

Non-technical summary We argue that the ways in which we as humans derive well-being from nature – for example by harvesting firewood, selling fish or enjoying natural beauty – feed back into how we behave towards the environment. This feedback is mediated by institutions (rules, regulations) and by individual capacities to act. Understanding these...

Non-technical summary Nature and culture are intricately linked and the rapid loss of both biological and cultural diversity around the globe has led to increasing concerns about its effects on sustainability. Important efforts to understand biocultural relations and bolster sustainable practices have been made by scientists, local communities, civ...

Non-technical summary Nature and culture are intricately linked and the rapid loss of both biological and cultural diversity around the globe has led to increasing concerns about its effects on sustainability. Important efforts to understand biocultural relations and bolster sustainable practices have been made by scientists, local communities, civ...

South Africa continues to experience high rates of rural–urban migration. Despite long-term residence in urban areas, many migrants do not consider the city to be home. This article presents a multi-sited study of Xhosa-speaking migrants who journey between Centane in the former Transkei homeland and Cape Town. The study aimed to explore the relati...

The concept of cultural landscapes relates to the multifaceted links between people, place and identity. From a professional perspective, the concept refers to a category of designated conservation areas with specific biocultural heritage values. From a local perspective, it may refer to a landscape that is associated with the provision of a cultur...

The concept of biocultural diversity, originally used to describe indigenous people and their ways of using and managing natural resources, has more recently been applied within the urban context to understand the variability of interactions between humans and nature. Significant progress has been made internationally in acknowledging the need to p...

Research has shown that children are the greatest users of natural areas and that childhood experiences strongly shape adults' environmental values. This project was designed to ascertain children's environmental uses and perceptions in two rural villages in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, utilising children's use of the environment for play and th...

Biocultural diversity has been conceptualised as the sum of the world’s differences regarding biological diversity at all levels and cultural diversity in all its manifestations, and their interactions. The concept is often framed in the context of conservation as a retention versus loss model by emphasizing the religious and spiritual values of th...

“Caves in the Forest; People were living there” I am trying to find out why so many archaeological sites have very similar small plant communities in close proximity to the site. This is true throughout the southern Cape and even for sites in the Great Karoo, South Western and Eastern Cape. Some sites are surrounded by forest, others sit on the ed...

South Africa is currently the world’s third most biodiverse country, with one of the highest concentrations of threatened biodiversity in the world. Emerging research reveals the increasing pressure on this biodiversity with many wild resources continuing to be utilised for livelihood purposes even within urban environments. The Rio conventions, pa...

South Africa is widely recognised as a highly diverse country with regard to its people, culture, landscapes, biological resources and ecology. The importance of policies on protecting cultural diversity and how they relate to the environment is only just emerging at an international level, but in South African we find there is a complete lack of i...

In South Africa conservation is still largely framed in terms of Western scientific values, with a focus on material benefits to local communities, whilst little is known about the intangible values local people attach to nature and biodiversity. We explored the cultural, spiritual and emotional relationships with nature expressed by Xhosa people,...

There is an increasing awareness that monetary value does not fully represent the complete value and significance of NTFPs. Consequently, there is growing interest in the cultural dimensions of biodiversity and the role that it plays in human well-being. This chapter presents two case studies, one on traditional brooms in South Africa, and the othe...

By documenting the vegetation at both previously inhabited and uninhabited caves and shelters in the southern Cape, it is hoped that an assessment of whether the plant communities growing at these sites might indicate that they were used and collected by early humans for food or household purposes, thus accounting for the marked similarity at most...

Over the past decade, scholars from various fields have increasingly emphasized the detrimental effects of global socioeconomic processes on biodiversity. The industrial revolution, the demographic explosion of Homo sapiens, and the rise of the global exchange economy are all implicated as major factors that influence the loss of species diversity....

Depuis le Sommet de Rio en 1992, les biologistes, les écologistes ainsi que les différents acteurs en biologie de la conservation ont largement tourné leur attention vers la conservation de la biodiversité. En même temps, on s'est rendu compte que les solutions aux problèmes d'ordre biologique se trouvent souvent dans les mécanismes internes aux sy...

Biodiversity is recognised as an integral part of people's daily livelihoods. This study therefore aims to understand the use of NTFPs at an intricate level by determining what role these resources fulfil in six rural villages and 1011 households' livelihoods. It examines how the use of NTFPs are influenced by intra-household variables, such as wea...

The cultural meanings of harvested plants have for the most part been ignored in academic research on non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in southern Africa. Historically scientists have tended to ignore the complex relationships between nature and culture. Given the country’s unique political and economic past and the current search for sustainable...

Trees within the homestead area provide many functions to rural households. However, within the semi-arid regions of southern Africa, there has been only limited examination of the correlates between the socio-economic attributes of rural households and the density, species richness and types of trees they keep. This paper reports on a multivariate...

The Thicket Biome is the second smallest biome in South Africa, and is renowned for its high biodiversity. Yet, less than 5% of the biome is in formal conservation areas. Much of the currently intact thicket outside protected areas is threatened by land transformation to commercial agriculture or heavy use by rural communities. There is limited und...

During the past decade the relationship between biodiversity and human diversity has received increased attention, resulting in the identification of what the Declaration of Belém calls an ‘inextricable link’ between biological and cultural diversity. Although the term biocultural diversity, introduced to denote this link, is being used increasingl...

There is a growing wealth of data capturing the direct-use values of the environment and recognition of forests and wild resources as representing “the poor manȁ9s overcoat”. This focus has however resulted in an emphasis on the utilitarian values of wild resources for rural livelihoods and has for the most part overlooked their cultural values. In...

An 'inextricable link' between biological and cultural diversity has been identified and the term bio-cultural diversity has been introduced as a concept denoting the link. Studies on bio-cultural diversity are largely focused on remote and isolated communities with the modes and relations of indigenous production systems being typically subsistenc...

Trees provide a wide range of goods and services to rural households which, when incorporated into their livelihood strategies, help reduce their vulnerability to adversity. Governments and policy makers often ignore the contribution made by trees and consequently resources are focussed on cash crops and livestock. Villagers in the Eastern Cape and...

In southern Africa over the last twenty years, much attention has been given to the importance of NTFPs for rural livelihoods through their household consumption and sale. They have been classified as having either subsistence consumption or commercial values. These values are mostly related to their utilitarian functions, but recent studies show t...

Increased attention has been given recently to the role of NTFP's in maintaining rural livelihoods and to the spiritual roles of forests and trees for local communities. Few studies have investigated the utilitarian and cultural roles of forests and trees in an integrated manner. Most studies have been focused on indigenous communities with little...

A study of the trade in medicinal plants in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa undertook to document the species traded, to determine the quantities harvested annually, and to assess the economic value of the trade. All the participants involved at the different levels of the trade were included in the survey, that is, informal street hawker...

An estimated 27 million South Africans use indigenous medicines (Mander, 1997, Medicinal plant marketing and strategies for sustaining the plant supply in the Bushbuckridge area and Mpumalanga Province. Institute for Natural Resources, University of Natal. Pietermaritzburg, South Africa). Although herbal remedies are freely available in amayeza sto...

South Africa, has had a long-standing interest in resource use and management. She recently completed a medicinal plant survey in the Eastern Cape to identify the demand for various species in the medicinal plant trade. Her recent work also includes a land tenure reform project to assist former farm workers acquire land for resettlement and farming...

Resource-poor farmers in rural and peri-urban areas have limited access to veterinary care in terms of support services (from state and private veterinarian and animal health technicians), information about the prevention and treatment of livestock diseases, and preventative and therapeutic veterinary medicines. This results in reduced productivity...

Self-medication is documented as an integral part of health care therapy in developing countries such as Ethiopia, Cameroon, Uganda and Mexico. In South Africa the types of illnesses and health problems that are referred to both traditional healers and biomedical practices have been well documented. However, very little literature exists on self-di...

A List of 33 medicinal plants of exotic or indigenous origin, listed as problem plants or declared weeds, is presented. The cultural uses of these plants should be taken into account when weed legislation in South Africa is considered. Of these species, six have no previous medicinal uses recorded in the literature surveyed and 21 species have addi...

1 990 Xhosa names for 1 065 taxa that have been identified in the Selmar Schonland Herbarium and have had names confirmed by more than one source, are listed alphabetically as a further addition to the knowledge of vernacular names of plants for Eastern Cape. Ecological terms are given at the end of the list.

There is a well documented and growing demand for wild resources in urban areas in South Africa demonstrating that not only rural but also urban people value biodiversity. Still little is known, however, on the precise nature of such urban values regarding biodiversity use. This paper reports on the use and significance of wild plants for urban hou...

A report prepared as part of the South Africa Country Study for the international collaborative research project steered by IIED: Instruments for sustainable private sector forestry Partners in the South Africa Country study: CSIR-Environmentek International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) In association with: Department for Water...

A report prepared as part of the South Africa Country Study for the international collaborative research project steered by IIED: Instruments for sustainable private sector forestry Partners in the South Africa Country study: CSIR-Environmentek International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) In association with: Department for Water...