Agriculture vs. conservation: how Grootvadersbosch Conservancy finds the common ground

ABSTRACT Destructive agricultural practices are some of the leading causes of environmental degradation. The adoption of voluntary landscape scale conservation initiatives, such as the South African conservancy model, offers a possible solution. This article uses the Grootvadersbosch Conservancy as an example of how the gap between agricultural productivity and landscape conservation can be bridged. The objectives were to: investigate the conservancy’s historical context; discover the stakeholders’ motivations for joining the conservancy; identify the successes of the conservancy’s projects; and determine the effects of these on the landscape. Three methods were used: a literature study; semi-structured interviews with seven of the conservancy’s management staff who were identified using the snowball sampling technique; and a questionnaire survey distributed to the 21 members of the conservancy, of which 16 replied. The results showed the study area has a long history of environmental exploitation, which led to the establishment of the conservancy. The main reason why conservancy members joined was because of their conservation values. Their four successful landscape scale projects delivered several environmental, social and economic outcomes that positively affected the landscape. It is therefore recommended that farmers create conservancies using a similar model to reconcile the environmental demands of agriculture with the need to improve affected environmental assets and natural resources.