The scoping mission for this course has so far been both rewarding and successful. From enduring the hot delayed wet season in North Queensland to meeting new Aussies with the classic funny distorted accent as well as engaging with kind and helpful Aboriginal groups along the way – all this has made the 3000km travelled so far very worth it. Exploring remote corners of North Queensland to set up a new course is quite a challenging yet rewarding educational adventure.

We started out at the Daintree Forest at Cape Tribulation – the place where the rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef. These two World Heritage Sites are stunning and full of biodiversity: a dazzling array of flying foxes; frogs; birds; sharks; corals and fish abound. The mission continued to the Tablelands, just a few hours inland, a unique area surrounded with old volcanic craters, lakes, platypus and sneaky leeches. From there we travelled a couple of days overland to Boodjamulla National Park, where Lea Ezzy (senior park ranger and former volunteer with EarthCollective in the early days of PRESENCE in South Africa) warmly welcomed us and showed us around this awesome place – one of the few places on earth where you can still feel the MAGIC in the air and in the land. Now we (Ale and Ele) are headed to the Cape York Peninsula to meet some more Aboriginal groups and Traditional Owners of the land. We can’t help but feeling that this Wildlands Studies course is going to be a special journey for the 16 students already enrolled and awaiting to come this April.

Text: Alejandra Vargas (Ed: Matthew Zylstra)

In the coming months, eyes4earth.org will publish photos of meaningful nature experiences which have been encountered during the past three years of carrying out this research. Most images and stories will be personal, some will be from others who have shared the experiences at one time or another.

Naturally, the meaning is made in the mind. The photos themselves cannot recount that full story or convey the personal meaning. So where appropriate some explanatory text will be added to provide the context – that should not be judged as a desperate attempt to justify why the experience was important.

You may ask: “If you have experienced these moments yourself, does this not bias your research with layers of personal subjectivity which may seek to reconfirm personal beliefs or seek certain outcomes?”  Yes… and no. I am using a phenomenological analysis which acknowledges upfront that all our experience is embedded in – and clouded with – subjectivity.  The approach therefore is to transparently “suspend” or “bracket” out those prior experiences or beliefs before commencing a study. One also then critically reflects on how they may influence analyses and conclusions. In any case, for most research questions, this research does not primarily seek causal explanations; rather it will attempt to dip down and describe the lived experience of these profound encounters, to explore the depth of meaning, the inter-subjectivity and the emerging essence as it appears for individual to individual.

These weekly images serve as precursor for that.

People are then free to draw their own causal inferences. But no doubt, I’m sure I’ll have a few words to say about it all along the way… :)

Text: Matthew Zylstra

To continue with this momentum, Living Lands organized a workshop on the 17th of November 2011. This workshop, which took place on the Zandvlakte farm, invited the land users,  experts from the PRESENCE network, the Department of Agriculture, ECPTA, and Living Lands to vision and plot a sustainable course for the future of the western Baviaanskloof.

In addition to the workshop achieving this goal, it was also somewhat of a closure of four years’ worth of research conducted in the western Baviaanskloof by the various partners of the PRESENCE network.  It was also signaled the official closure of the Water for Food and Ecosystems programme (funded by the Government of The Netherlands) which supported PRESENCE in the Baviaanskloof and which concluded in 2011. For Jordy Stokhof de Jong (a student of landscape architecture at Wageningen University), this workshop was the end of his year-long thesis research and dedicated internship in the Baviaanskloof. So the event marked a number of “endings.”

But the day also opened up exciting new “beginnings.”  Prior to the workshop, the land users had met independently, involving themselves in various discussions were well prepared for the decisions which lay ahead. The discussions were continued during the workshop and the time had come to make decisions – not all of which were easy. Firstly, the land users needed to agree on forming an organization; they subsequently chose to adopt the constitution of the Angulas Plain land users.

The land users also made a decision between various scenarios proposed by Jordy’s landscape scenario development. The land users favoured a scenario in which a large part of the western Baviaanskloof will be transformed into a private nature reserve. This scenario will be a combination of agricultural farming, wildlife farming, and thicket restoration. The agricultural fields and the farmsteads will be fenced in and the rest of the land will be the domain of free-roaming wild animals. Quite an exciting scenario for some! The land users signed this scenario off as a positive way forward, with a desire to explore possibilities further, and with a willingness to take the process forward on their own.

After the workshop, the land users agreed to continue exploring the possibilities of the feasibility of a private nature reserve. Many people involved hope that the scenario can be a reality one day soon and that next year, even without the same level of direct involvement from PRESENCE partners, that the land users of the Baviaanskloof will continue to feel inspired and empowered to work towards living landscapes.

More information: livinglands@earthcollective.net

My personal reflection:

Some months ago, I began a wonderful journey in the Kouga River Catchment. With the PRESENCE Learning Village as a base, I travelled there for a few months to listen to the farmers and other stakeholders in order to understand the area and its particularities. During this quite limited amount of time, I had a lifetime experience which brought to my attention many new insights. Each day was coloured by different farmers’ perceptions and attitudes, and each of them had a unique story to tell which helped me to create a better representation of this area.

This journey I shared with another student from the PRESENCE Learning Village, Clara. We worked together and crossed paths many times on the roads of the Kouga Catchment. This area is particularly diverse by farming practices, people, and nature; each day of my journey I discovered something new. For instance, one of my days began at a remote landowner and artist’s place in the Kouga Wilderness; later, my day was continued at a recycling project for school children in Krakeel; and finally, my day was completed at a meeting with a game reserve farmer next to Haarlem. ‘Living on the road’ is one of the best expressions for my time here: being on the road from one farm to another, being on the road from the PRESENCE Learning Village to the Kouga Catchment and back. This movement and feeling of getting somewhere was inspiring for me to go on further and further to other amazing places where I had not been before.

The farmers and other stakeholders that I met in the Kouga Catchment showed such an abundance of friendliness and willingness to communicate. Meetings were lively with jokes, and it was so easy to feel a great atmosphere and interest in initiatives. Each meeting built on to the next with confidence and the possibility of working towards living landscape*.

My journey went by very quickly towards its end, but the memories are residing. On the one hand, the number of places I visited, the knowledge shared, and the contacts made will remain for my own. But on the other, the continuation of this process will be for the following students to take on their own…and continue to share. Now it is time for somebody else to discover the hidden beauties of the Kouga River Catchment.

Text: Egle Draugelyte, MSc Student Wageningen University.

Following on from the previous news post about presentations given at the ICCB,  it is now possible to download a pdf version of the oral presentation I delivered at the conference.  The talk outlined the rationale for investigating meaningful nature experiences, preliminary results from the online and street-based questionnaires,  common themes emerging from stories, and potential implications for how we conceptualization education for sustainability.   I have added a couple of additional slides as well as one or two amendments from that which was presented at the ICCB.  Trust you find this to be of interest and use.  Feedback welcome.

In other news, the write up results continued with an aim to have thesis completed by July 2012 (pending supervisor and examiner approval).  There are some novel ideas in the pipeline for more socially engaging dissemination of results; but this is unlikely to be released until end 2012/early 2013.   Just make sure you tell the Mayans to wait until I am done.

Download ICCB Presentation (PDF – 6.8MB)

Text: Matthew Zylstra

We are offering an opportunity for MSc Students to participate in an international conservation & media project ‘What if we change’.

Are you looking for a topic and partner to collaborate with for your final research and thesis?
We have a voluntary position available for a:

Video Reporter / Participatory Video Facilitator in the Baviaanskloof, Eastern Cape,
South Africa

For more information, please view the full position description:
What if we change: Reporter – South Africa (PDF)
What if we change: Projects and Partners (PDF)

To apply, email: jennifer@earthcollective.net

Click here to see other opportunities within the EarthCollective Network…

The article, A Global Partnership for Ecosystem Services, showcases the work that has been done in the Baviaanskloof Mega Reserve by PRESENCE and how through effective and beneficial partnerships, such as those created through the Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP) network of which PRESENCE is a member, positive results in the area of ecosystem services can be achieved.

Read the full article online here.

With a group comprised of 9 females and 3 males, there was hardly a dull moment. Despite the intensive academic nature of the course, the students made sure to keeps things loose and fun; whether it was the creatively dressed Halloween party, the consistent playlist of a handful of pop songs that never seemed to get tiresome, or the antics that went down in the kitchen nightly while preparing dinner. Six weeks together full-time is a long time to be in such close quarters with anyone, let alone a group, but the students easy-going nature and desire to explore themselves and their surroundings dwarfed any issues that arose. As the students departed the country and left for home it is assured that their pictures and stories will be recounted many times over. Most important though will be the connections they have made with each other along the way.

The field trip and workshop were held to get a better understanding of the area. In the next two years we would like to listen to the needs of the catchment to find solutions and benefits for everybody with a stake on the land.

Read online:  Seasonal Supplement - Issue 15, 4th Quarter