Capturing lessons from land-users to aid the development of ecological restoration guidelines for lowland Namaqualand Original Research Article

The purpose of the study was to capture the restoration knowledge of land-users in lowland Namaqualand, South Africa to aid the development of restoration guidelines for this region. We interviewed different land-users during site visits to understand what are considered the main impediments to restoration, which restoration methods they have used and how successful these have been. A qualitative interview methodology was used which allows the experience of each interviewee to be captured. From the transcripts we noted the number of times a theme was mentioned and by how many interviewees. The main themes to emerge were that protection from strong winds and lack of rainfall were considered the most important impediments to successful restoration. Shade-cloth wind-nets were the most effective method for reducing wind speed and stabilizing mobile sand on mined areas. Transplanting of leaf-succulent species from undisturbed to rehabilitated areas was considered a successful restoration method for re-introduction of indigenous vegetation whilst there was expressed for methods to successfully re-introduce non-succulent perennial species. The cumulative restoration knowledge of land-users provides practical insights for restoring degraded land in lowland Namaqualand as well as highlighting key areas that require further scientific research.