Across Southern Africa, communally governed rangelands and grasslands support wildlife, vast informal economies and millions of people.

There has been international interest in rangelands as spaces for landscape restoration and ecosystems management associated with nature-based solutions (NbS).

But these dynamic landscapes are often misunderstood. They have been historically neglected in national agricultural policies, and are often misrepresented in debates around land degradation, ecological change, climate change adaptation and sustainable development.

Much of the evidence about NbS comes from very different settings in the Global North, with assumptions that are a mismatch to the histories and changing social, ecological and political contexts of Southern African rangelands.

The REPAiR project seeks to better understand whether and how context-sensitive, equitable, and community-led approaches to NbS can support adaptability and resilience in Southern Africa’s communal rangelands and extensive livestock systems.

REPAiR brings together multiple forms of knowledge and transdisciplinary collaboration, including case studies focused on sites in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, South Africa.

The project team will carry out an intensive study in four sites in South Africa, in the Drakensberg Sub-Escarpment. Researchers will use methods from natural and social sciences, including ecological surveys and participatory approaches with local people. The project will also analyse how relevant policies are shaped, the effects of these policies and how they could change.

Alongside the work in South Africa, the project will exchange knowledge with collaborators in other countries in Southern Africa and beyond.

The REPAiR project is supported by UK Research and Innovation Building a Green Future strategic theme, Building a Secure and Resilient World strategic theme, Natural Environment Research Council, and the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office [NE/Z503459/1].