The impacts of climate change on natural ecosystems have been widely studied. However, few studies have investigated the phenomenon of shifting ecosystems, which affects rural communities and ecosystem managers. This is a major concern for communities that depend on ecosystems for their daily survival. This study assessed the spatial extent to which the Mopane woodland has been shifting over the years in Vhembe district municipality in Limpopo province, South Africa. This was done by combining a Google Earth Engine (GEE)-based land-use/land-cover analysis with focus group discussions and a perception survey in five (5) villages in the study area. The qualitative data were analysed and interpreted using NVivo and ATLAS.ti software. The land use and land cover maps show that the spatial coverage of the Mopane woodland has changed between 1991 and 2021, characterised by expansion in new areas and decline in others. The participatory maps outlined a uniform perception of spatial changes in the Mopane woodland, where it is shrinking from every direction. The perception surveys revealed that the Mopane woodland ecosystem is undergoing both peripheral or edge-driven and internal degradation processes. The latter spatial pattern was explained as the result of the widening gap between trees. This study shows that the Mopane woodland is not simply declining, but spatially reconfiguring.
Mufungizi et al. (Wed,) studied this question.