National parks play an important role in maintaining natural ecosystems which are important sources of income and livelihood sustenance. Most national parks in Southern Africa are managed by their states. Before 2007, Gonarezhou National Park was managed by the Zimbabwe Parks Management and Wildlife Authority, which faced challenges in maintaining its biodiversity, community relations and infrastructure. However, in 2017 the Frankfurt Zoological Society and the Zimbabwe Parks Management and Wildlife Authority formed an innovative partnership under the Gonarezhou Conservation Trust (GCT). This study examines the relationship between GCT management, Gonarezhou National Park stakeholders and communities as well as the impact of the relationship on biodiversity and ecosystems. The study also highlights challenges faced and lessons learned in managing Gonarezhou as a protected area. To obtain the information, key informant interviews, Landsat satellite imagery, secondary data from previous studies and government sources were utilized. The results indicate that the concerted efforts of the Gonarezhou Conservation Trust to manage the park are starting to bear fruit in improving biodiversity conservation, ecosystem management and engaging communities. However, challenges such as governance obstacles, problematic stakeholder management, maintaining trust in community relations, ensuring sustainability, managing the adverse impacts of climate change and human-wildlife conflicts must still be navigated to ensure the park’s sustainable management. Notwithstanding challenges, we argue that a partnership arrangement such as the Gonarezhou Conservation Trust is a desirable model that can be applied in national parks in Zimbabwe and Africa for better biodiversity management and tourism.

Understanding humanity’s relationship with nature is crucial for the well-being and sustainable development of mankind in the face of global environmental change. Communities depend on landscapes for survival and landscapes determine if sustainable development is to be achieved. The links between landscapes, ecosystem services, livelihoods, and climate change are often complex, misunderstood, and barely studied in rural areas of Africa, where communities live side-by-side with conservation areas. Our study surveyed the perception of the nexus of landscape change, climate change, ecosystem services, and livelihoods in Gonarezhou, a national park in southeastern Zimbabwe. We also used Landsat satellite imagery to map the landscape change over 20 years to validate and to correlate with the survey data. The survey results indicated that people relied on rainfed agriculture as a means of livelihood, but droughts as a result of climate change force communities to engage in other means of livelihoods such as small-scale poaching of small game such as impala and harvesting of natural resources such as edible shrubs. Crops and livestock as provisional ecosystem services have been negatively affected by climate change and landscape change. Landsat data confirmed that there was a negative transformation of the landscape as a result of agriculture, growth in settlements, and large herbivores. However, there was also a positive landscape transformation resulting from the conservation efforts by the Gonarezhou Conservation Trust (GCT). Cultural services about education and awareness of the environment and provisional services such as wild fruits are booming. Challenges such as soil erosion, human–wildlife conflict, and minimal community benefits from conservation efforts hindered sustainable development in the study area. While changes in landscape, climate, livelihoods, and ecosystem services happened at a local scale, the underlying drivers such as politics and the economy were also identified as drivers of landscape change.

Landscape-change studies have attracted increasing interest because of their importance to land management and the sustainable livelihoods of rural communities. However, empirical studies on landscape change and its drivers are often poorly understood, particularly, in small rural communities in developing countries such as South Africa. The present study surveyed local community livelihoods and perceptions of landscape change in the Nzhelele and Levuvhu river catchments in Limpopo Province, South Africa. These areas have experienced land reform and are also characterized by environmental degradation, poverty, inequality and environmental justice concerns among other issues. Land-cover maps derived from Landsat satellite imagery were used for purposes of correlating and validating the survey data findings and results. The survey results showed that education levels, working status and marital status have statistically significant effects on community livelihoods (indicated by levels of income, p < 0.05). Maize, fruits and vegetables are the main cultivated crop varieties in the study area, and these crops are mainly used for subsistence to meet household self-consumption requirements. Moreover, local community members and stakeholders argue that the landscape has changed over the past 20 years mainly as a result of urban expansion, deforestation, agricultural diversification and forestry intensification. These landscape changes were largely confirmed by the land-cover change maps derived from satellite imagery. Soil erosion as a result of landscape changes was identified as a major threat and hazard in the study area. Political, natural, economic and cultural factors have been identified as the major underlying drivers for the observed landscape changes. These results have implications for understanding landscape change, coupled with human–nature relationships as well as informing government policy with respect to advancing land management and further promotion of the sustainable livelihoods of rural communities. Overall, the study proposes a multiple stakeholders’ approach and ecosystem-based approach to promote the sustainable management of landscapes in rural areas.

The assessment of ecosystem services (ESs) is important for Africa’s sustainability and progress. Healthy ecosystems benefit humans in various forms; however, continuous anthropogenic activities have led to rapid alterations in their compositions, structures and functions worldwide. Due to the lack of understanding on the role of ES assessment in southern Africa, many ES assessment practices and methodologies have been widely debated Thus, a bibliometric analysis of ESs in southern Africa was conducted for the period of 1996–2021, to present the key features of ES assessment practices and methodologies and reveal evolutionary trends in this field. The results showed that in southern Africa, not many ES assessment studies have been published; however, South Africa was the most productive country in terms of author collaboration and publication output. Other leading countries in this field include the UK, USA, Germany and Australia. The most productive institutions in southern Africa are located in South Africa, and are the University of Cape Town, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Rhodes University, the University of KwaZulu Natal, and the University of Stellenbosch. The five funding institutions that are most active in supporting ES assessment in southern Africa are European. The main publishers of the research are either American or European and include the highly influential publishers Elsevier, Wiley, MDPI, Springer Nature and Resilience Alliance. VOS Viewer was employed as a visual analysis tool and CiteSpace as a graphic analysis tool to conduct the bibliometric analysis. A key conclusion is that most authors use qualitative methods to assess people’s livelihoods and wellbeing as they relate to provisional and cultural services, while remotely sensed imagery is used as a key tool to assess the spatial extent of provisional and regulating services. Research recommendations include promoting a transdisciplinary approach in ES assessment in southern Africa.

Nature plays a crucial role in providing ecosystem services (ESs) essential for human wellbeing and biodiversity conservation in rural areas. However, existing paradigms often lack an integrative approach towards rural livelihoods and wellbeing, highlighting the need for a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between human wellbeing (HWB) and ESs. The area around the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA) offers such ESs to indigenous people who rely heavily on these natural resources. Thus, this study aimed to quantify indigenous people's perceptions of cultural and provisioning ESs and their link to human wellbeing in villages adjacent to the GLTFCA. Key informant interviews were initially conducted to identify ESs as perceived by the participants. Subsequently, face-to-face surveys were carried out in 9 wards across South Africa and Zimbabwe, involving 350 participants. Respondents were asked about the availability of ESs, their levels of degradation, drivers of change, and the impact on their wellbeing. Responses were captured using Likert scales, and multiple regression models analysed the relationships between socio-demographic characteristics and ESs. Results indicated that indigenous people perceived both cultural and provisioning ESs to be available but degrading, with provisioning services degrading more rapidly. Climate change, legislation/policies, and poverty were identified as key drivers of this change. Socio-demographic factors such as gender, nativeness, and employment level influenced perceptions of both ESs. Overall, participants reported that both ESs contribute to their human wellbeing and livelihoods through life satisfaction, happiness, living standards, safety, security, and good health. Finally, this study's findings uniquely offer a baseline for these ESs accounting, demonstrating their direct and indirect benefits to indigenous communities' livelihoods and well-being.

Land use change can result in variations in ecosystem services (ESS) and their relationships. Studying the temporal dynamics of ESS and their relationships can support scenario analyses that provide the theoretical basis for policy decisions and regional ecosystem management in any context. Understanding the spatiotemporal changes in land use and land cover change helps understand ESS management. In this study, the InVEST model was applied to assess carbon sequestration from 1999 to 2018 and to construct two simulated scenarios that represented different land use strategies. The results showed a spatial increase in the cropland class from the stipulated years with a corresponding increase in carbon within the area. It is assumed that the relationship between these two phenomena can affect agricultural policies as a large portion of South Africa depends on it for livelihood betterment. The Spearman’s Correlation Coefficient was used to assess the relationship between the two ESS. The result showed a highly significant correlation that means a change in policy from a governmental level is required. This paper subtly aims to provide data towards the South African context and more scenarios and research is needed to fully deduce effective land use management policies and decisions.