Taryn M. Kong

My dissertation research resonates my conviction; it is entitled: “Bridging the Science-to-Solutions Gap to Restore Degraded South African Drylands.” It is a participatory research on an innovative protocol to assess impacts of practices aimed at mitigating desertification or restoring degraded arid and semi-arid savannas of the Kalahari in the Mier, Molopo, Kagisano and Taung municipalities, South Africa. The assessment protocol itself is a participatory research project called “Prevention and Restoration Actions to Combat Desertification. An Integrated Assessment.” (PRACTICE), of which my adviser Barron Orr sits on the scientific advisory board.

 

PRACTICE involves a collaboration of 12 institutes from five continents. One of these institutes is North-West University (Potchefstroom, South Africa), with which I am affiliated to conduct my research. For the last seven months, I have been living in Potchefsroom and traveling thousands of kilometers to the two study sites to conduct semi-structured interviews with local participants to identify two multi-stakeholders platforms and to obtain their baseline assessments. I have also tested a methodology called photovoice, which is a participatory research technique that combines subject-generated photography and narratives with critical reflective discussion. Through my field work, I have collected a rich repertoire of data that reveal unique nuances in the way the individual ranchers practice restoration, as well as the indicators that they use to measure the effects of these practices. I have also learned a great deal about the challenges of conducting participatory research in a developing country.

 

I had the opportunity to present my initial results to the other PRACTICE partners in the second plenary meeting in Sardinia, Italy, and more comprehensive analysis at the 4th Society of Ecological Restoration (SER) World Conference in Merida, Mexico. Both presentations stimulated a lot of discussions from the audience. I am currently busy with analyzing the data that I have collected from the participatory research done in South Africa to complete my dissertation.

 

In addition, I am working with Dr. Gregg Garfin from the Institute of the Environment to work with City of Tucson and Cascadia Consulting on a climate change mitigation and adaptation assessment project. I have been involved with researching and synthesizing potential environmental impacts due to climate change. I am also continuing my involvement with the PRACTICE project by helping to implement the participatory assessment protocol in the San Simon watershed, which was the poster-child of soil erosion during the Dust Bowl period.