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This book describes the geography, natural history, and people of Eden, a district municipality in South Africa. It documents and explains how the integrity of Eden's nature has been compromised since the rise in the 1860s of the Industrial Age in South Africa. Furthermore, it provides a blueprint for conserving Eden for nature and for its people, through the encouragement of ecologically sustainable land management.
Foreword
Preface
Chapter 1: #Discovering Eden
Chapter 2: #The peopling of Eden
Chapter 3: #Into the thick of it
Chapter 4: #Thicket at work
Chapter 5: #The evolution of Eden
Chapter 6: #The human footprint
Chapter 7: #Back to the Garden
Glossary
Further reading
Index
Richard Cowling is a professor in the Botany Department at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in the Eastern Cape. He has published extensively on the ecology and conservation of the fynbos, succulent karoo and subtropical thicket biomes in scientific and popular literature, and is widely acclaimed for his contribution to the theory and application of conservation science. The National Research Foundation has rated him as a world leader in the subject, and he has been awarded a Pew Fellowship (USA); a Distinguished Service Award by the Society for Conservation Biology (USA); a Gold Award for Innovating Conservation by Cape Action for People and the Environment; and a Flora Conservation Award by the Botanical Society of South Africa. He is also an Elected Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. Richard and his wife, Shirley Pierce, live at Cape St Francis on the Kouga coast.
Shirley M. Pierce PhD is a Science Communication consultant based in Cape St Francis. A plant ecologist, she has extensive experience in editing scientific and popular texts. She co-authored "Namaqualand: A succulent desert", co-edited "Vegetation of Southern Africa" and "Mainstreaming Biodiversity in South Africa" (World Bank, 2002), and was editor of "Veld & Flora" in the late 1990s. Recent work covered the cultural and natural heritage of the Baviaanskloof, and currently she directs communication for a project on thicket restoration. Shirley has a particular interest in enhancing public awareness of the value of natural systems, in particular among decision makers.
