Presentation short abstract

This presentation uses analyses of from research in South Africa to demonstrate how community-led approaches to Nature-based Solutions (NbS) grapple with attempts to restore degraded communal landscapes and enhance ecological resilience through collective action.

Presentation long abstract

This presentation uses analyses of from research in South Africa to demonstrate how community-led approaches to Nature-based Solutions (NbS) grapple with attempts to restore degraded communal landscapes and enhance ecological resilience through collective action. The NbS model we examine incorporates carbon payments as an incentive for sustainable practices that include rotational grazing and preventing veld fires, thereby represents a modern, market-linked approach to communal rangeland management. This model motivates collective action and provides tangible benefits that reconfigure local governance arrangements. Partnership with external actors places emphasis on working closely with local communities to train and empower them with rangeland management skills and integrating traditional ecological knowledge with modern scientific approaches to achieve sustainable land use. We examine the efficacy of care, reciprocity and sharing in fostering pathways to improved rangelands, livestock health and human wellbeing.