The nature of the land: the Dukuduku forest and the Mfolozi flats, KwaZulu-Natal

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Periodical article

Title:	The nature of the land: the Dukuduku forest and the Mfolozi flats, KwaZulu-Natal
Authors:	Nustad, Knut G. Sundnes, Frode
Year:	2013
Periodical:	Journal of Modern African Studies (ISSN 0022-278X)
Volume:	51
Issue:	3
Pages:	487-506
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	land conflicts land use forests expropriation
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/43302893
Abstract:	Green-grabbing has recently been suggested as a label for describing processes of dispossessions undertaken in the name of conservation in sub-Saharan Africa. For the case examined here, the Dukuduku forest and the Mfolozi flats in northern KwaZulu-Natal, the authors argue that the label obscures more than it helps illuminate the complex processes leading up to the present-day struggle over land rights. The land in question has been subjected to a number of different land uses in the past: hunting, conservation, commercial agriculture and small-scale agriculture. The authors show how contestation over desirable future land use options lies at the heart of the problems raised by an ongoing land claim to the Dukuduku forest, which borders the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa's first World Heritage site.The actual land claim, they argue, is part of a wider struggle to define the nature of the land.