Exploring transformative processes at the intersections of land, water and livelihoods: a case study from the Tsitsa Project, South Africa

The Tsitsa River catchment is a complex social-ecological system (cSES) in a rural area of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa and the site of the Tsitsa Project (TP); a multi-stakeholder, transdisciplinary landscape restoration project aiming to improve sustainable livelihoods and ecological infrastructure. We investigated transformation mechanisms in a framing of multidimensional linkages, including the recognition of differentiated scales and levels. Linkages were analysed through the development of two vignettes: 1) a citizen technician employed to monitor sediment loads in rivers to inform landscape restoration activities (local scale); and 2) a senior government official responsible for (regional scale) operational and on-the-ground restoration initiatives. Vignette data were generated during a workshop, from TP researcher reflexivity, and interviews with the TP Catchment Coordinator and vignette subjects. Data were analysed and presented: i) as a heuristic diagram, ii) through a narrative, and iii) as a matrix table. Each analysis incorporated a different conceptualisation of scale in relation to four social processes related to transformative change: learning, agency, power and structure. Transformation is demonstrated and leverage points and areas of intractability for promoting and constraining future transformation towards social-ecological sustainability, were identified respectively. Further, we suggest that an understanding of transformative processes was enriched and nuanced by combining a triad of complementary analytical exercises. These allowed a focus on unique stories and contexts, but also the identification of generalisable patterns and mechanisms.