Rural landscapes in South Africa are under increasing pressure from unsustainable grazing practices, land degradation, invasive alien plant encroachment, declining water resources, and limited livelihood opportunities. These challenges reduce agricultural productivity, erode biodiversity, and weaken community resilience.
The strategic purpose of the Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA) is to strengthen community-led conservation outcomes through rangeland restoration in and around areas of conservation importance, most of which are embedded within and surrounded by rural farming communities. With a strong focus on bird conservation and the protection of critical habitats for threatened and endemic species, the SLA improves communal grazing governance, strengthen ecological and avifaunal health monitoring, and support livelihood diversification. This approach ensures long-term sustainability for both people and biodiversity while creating an enabling environment for effective conservation through meaningful local-level engagement and stewardship.
Currently, the communal land around Ntsikeni Nature Reserve in southern KwaZulu-Natal and Daggakraal in southern Mpumalanga are the focal points for this work.
We know that communities are the cornerstone to the success of long-term conservation initiatives. The project actively involves these local communities through farmer associations, provision of training, environmental awareness programmes, and participatory decision-making. A key tool in this work is the Community-Based Natural Resource Management model called “Herding for Health“.
This collaborative approach strengthens local capacity and sound stewardship of natural resources. By combining the merits of both indigenous and scientific conservation approaches, we can promote sustainable resource use and the reduction of threats to biodiversity.
We enable partnerships across sectors – from local institutions such as Farmers’ Associations to local government and businesses – to promote socio-economic growth and the development of land-use practises that support a wider range of economic opportunities.
Herding for Health (H4H) is a community-driven livestock management program that integrates sustainable grazing, biodiversity conservation, and disease control to support rural livelihoods.
The Herding for Health model integrates conservation with community livelihoods. It improves livestock productivity and animal health, restores degraded rangelands through coordinated grazing, reduced overgrazing, erosion control, and veld recovery, and strengthens local institutions. This approach enhances grass cover, soil health, biodiversity, and long-term livestock carrying capacity.
Community Involvement
Local livestock owners, traditional leaders, Farmer Associations, youth, and community members play a central role in the Ntsikeni Sustainable Livelihoods Project. Farmer Associations form the foundation of the H4H model — they coordinate grazing management, share knowledge, strengthen governance, improve market access, and enable participation in carbon finance opportunities.
Through training, workshops, grazing committees, and regular meetings, communities contribute to decision-making, gain employment and skills development, and take ownership of sustainable land management.
Ntsikeni Nature Reserve protects one of South Africa’s most important high-altitude grassland and wetland ecosystems. It supports threatened species such as the critically endangered White-winged Flufftail and provides vital ecosystem services, including water security for downstream communities.
The Herding for Health model enables the development of healthy, well-managed grasslands which store significant carbon. By restoring rangelands, the project generates verified carbon credits that create sustainable revenue while supporting biodiversity and climate resilience.
Key Benefits:
Vision
The project shows that conservation succeeds when communities benefit from healthy ecosystems. It builds resilient landscapes and thriving communities by linking rangeland restoration, sustainable livelihoods, and biodiversity protection.
Much like around Ntsikeni, the grasslands of the greater Wakkerstroom area are home to unique plants, wildlife, and ecosystem services that support local communities, and these landscapes are facing growing pressure, threatening the health of ecosystems upon which both birds and people depend.
What we have done
In Daggakraal, we have run community awareness programmes to strengthen understanding of grassland conservation, sustainable land management, and the protection of threatened bird species and their habitats. These initiatives have created platforms for dialogue between communities, conservation practitioners, and stakeholders on the connection between biodiversity and rural livelihoods.
We continue to link communities with government departments, conservation organisations, and development partners to identify opportunities that improve livelihoods while supporting environmental stewardship. This includes engaging traditional leaders, livestock owners, youth, and community representatives to drive community-led conservation.
We have also established youth environmental clubs, delivered workshops, supported educator development, and provided outdoor learning experiences to encourage participants to become active custodians of their environment.
Our goal is to foster a culture of conservation in which people appreciate their natural heritage and take ownership of protecting it for future generations.
