Demographic variation in an urban community assessed for traditional ecological knowledge

There appears to be a global decline in TEK worldwide due to complex factors such as migration to urban areas.
The loss of TEK could affect lives and health in communities not only in rural areas, but in urban areas as well.
The lack of studies in the field of TEK in urban areas is evident in South Africa and other countries.
This study was the first attempt at investigating the perceived lack of knowledge in an urban environment in South Africa.
Data were collected by making use of a structured questionnaire from 2724 participants amongst three different cultural groups (Tsonga, Zulu and Pedi) in Tembisa (a highly urbanised area). Demographic information included age of participant, participant age when migrated to Tembisa as well as the time the participants have resided in Tembisa.
Reasons why the participants moved to Tembisa were also recorded.
There was a clear differentiation amongst the three cultural groups in terms of participant age, migration age and both of these factors influenced the amount of plant knowledge that was still available in Tembisa.

XXX International Horticultural Congress IHC2018: VII Conference on Landscape and Urban Horticulture, IV Conference on Turfgrass Management and Science for Sports Fields and II Symposium on Mechanization, Precision Horticulture, and Robotics

K. Prinsloo, R. Kleynhans, R. Jansen, L. Morey, F. Calitz

demographics, culture, traditional ecological knowledge

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1279.3