South Africa Kimberly, 19- 25 July 2010: the Grasslands Society hosted their 45th congress on Sustainable and Adaptive Practices in Range and Pasture Systems, with an Emphasis on Arid Regions. Efd-EPRU Research fellow Johane Dikgang presented his current work on arid regions.
The Grassland society congress was mostly attended by ecologists, botanists, plant and animal scientists. EPRU was represented by Johane Dikgang, one of the only two participants with an economics background. Johane presented a paper on the effect of the Land Restitution Programme on Poverty Reduction among the Khomani San in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park Project. Johane spoke in a parallel session that focused on community based natural resource management. His presentation gave useful information on some critical driving factors behind unsustainable land uses in arid areas such as the Kgalagadi dessert.
The society’s members appreciate a presentation that made them more aware of the role that economics can play in the grassland field. Multi-disciplinary collaborations between EPRU researchers and Grassland Society members were discussed after Johane's presentation.