The Environmental Risks of Quenching the Demand for Rooibos
The South African redbush plant (Afrikaans: rooibos) is the primary ingredient in Rooibos tea production (Joubert & Schulz, 2006; Hawkins et al., 2011), a reddish-brown, caffeine-free herbal tea. In this article, redbush refers to the plant Aspalathus linearis, from which Rooibos tea is produced.
The redbush plant has significant economic value, with Rooibos exports, as of 2019, worth South African rand 936 million (Barends-Jones, 2020). (Roughly USD 50.6 million in 2024.) Although the redbush plant is considered environmentally friendly (Wynberg, 2017), its farming and cultivation are becoming difficult due to the effects of climate change (Archer et al., 2008). Since South Africa’s Western Cape is the only habitat for the plant (Morton, 1983; Erlwanger & Ibrahim, 2017), the Rooibos tea industry’s multi stakeholders must collectively adapt to sustainable methods to continue the local and global supply.
Global warming and climate change, the long-term and unprecedented shift of the earth’s surface temperature and weather patterns, respectively (Hansen et al., 2006; Ring et al., 2012; Wang et al., 2023; Goebbert et al., 2012; Hashim & Hashim, 2016), are “accelerating” (Roggema, 2009, p.2), “dramatic” (Donohoe, 2007, p.44) and “far-reaching” (Scott et al., 2019, p.49) affecting socio-political, cultural, and economic determinants. Consequently, it will expose society’s ability to adapt and vulnerability to growing change (Ford & Ford, 2011, p.3).*
This article addresses how the redbush farmers of South Africa’s Western Cape are adapting to the change in weather patterns that are beginning to disrupt the cultivation, farming, and consumption of a plant “deeply rooted in the history of the region” (Malgas & Oettle, 2007). In the southernmost region of the African continent, where 70% of the population depends on agriculture (Midgley & Methner, 2016; Bekun & Akadiri, 2019), current redbush farming methods, ownership, and land management in South Africa are adapting to a future of extreme and unpredictable global weather changes (Archer et al., 2008).
The main concepts in this article are consumption and risk, showing their importance and relevance to the local Rooibos tea production and the product’s global demand.
Risk and Consumption
The socioeconomic risks from climate change are transboundary (Volz et al., 2021, p.3; Terton et al., 2023) and interconnected locally and globally by shared natural resources, food and energy supplies, biodiversities, and livelihoods (Benzie et al., 2013; Davis et al., 2016; Werrell & Femia, 2016; Berninger et al., 2022).*
The term risk society emerged in the 1990s through the works of the German sociologist Ulrich Beck and his British counterpart Anthony Giddens, mainly in response to growing environmental and technological concerns.*
In his influential analysis, Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity, Beck presented his ideas of risk society as “a systematic way of dealing with hazards and insecurities induced and introduced by modernization itself” (Beck, 1992, p.21). Modernisation, in this sense, being the interaction and relationship with the new technologies transforming societies (Cohen, 1997), has created new risks very different from the old. Similarly, Giddens believes the risk society to be forward-looking, which “lives in the future rather than the past” (Giddens & Pierson, 1998, p.94).*
More extreme weather events are forecast to become the norm due to climate change (Diffenbaugh et al., 2017; Ebi et al., 2021; Clarke et al., 2022), with temperature shifts, prolonged droughts, floods, and increased precipitation expected to impact global agricultural yields and the land suitable for crops (Selvaraju et al., 2011; Devot et al., 2023). Fertile agricultural land in South Africa is already limited due to poor rainfall - a region of Africa described as “land rich but water poor” (Vlek et al. 2020, quoted in Rötter et al., 2024, p. 573) - with the majority of the country’s land used only for livestock grazing and farming, the latter being “the largest agricultural sector in the country” (du Preez et al., 2019, p.116). Climate change is projected to increase competition over land use, agriculture, and natural resources across Southern Africa (Swain et al., 2011; Kapuka & Hlásny, 2021), vulnerabilities already exacerbated by poor governance (Khoza et al., 2022) and insufficient public spending on rural infrastructure (Africa Monitor, 2012; United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2012).
Consumption behaviours are linked to food security (FReSH & WBCSD, 2018; Celik et al., 2023), a crucial global challenge that the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) defines as “[a] situation that exists when all people, at all times have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food” (Food and Agriculture Organisation, 2002, quoted in Schmidhuber & Tubiello, 2007, p.19703). Four key dimensions of this definition—availability, stability, access, and utilisation (Horn et al., 2021)—can be used to analyse the socioeconomic and cultural importance of the redbush plant for the populace of the Western Cape.
The five principal tea producers—China, India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, and Indonesia—account for 80% of global exports (Majumber et al., 2010; Gupta, 2018). The global popularity of Rooibos has risen since the beginning of the 21st century (Rampedi & Olivier, 2008), with exports of up to more than 6,000 tonnes per annum to the biggest markets of Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States (Joubert & De Beer, 2011; Liu et al., 2022). Today, Rooibos accounts for roughly 10% of the international herbal tea market (Biénabe & Marie-Vivien, 2017; Wynberg, 2017).
Competition in the tea market is tough with fluctuating prices and production costs (Shiferaw, 2023; Bermúdez et al., 2024). As of 2019, 67,000 hectares of South African land are calculated to be for Rooibos production (Barends-Jones, 2020). The ability of the Western Cape’s agricultural system to meet the growing global market for Rooibos may strengthen the South African tea industry’s economic viability, but this creates additional challenges for farmers to ensure consistent product quality (Waarts & Kuit, 2008; Liu et al., 2022), holistic management (Wynberg, 2017), and sustainable methods of cultivation and harvest (Leclerq, 2008).
Redbush
The South African redbush, Aspalathus linearis, belongs to the flowering plant family of the Fabaceae. The linearis part of the name refers to the shape of the needle-like leaves.
Redbush had been made into tea by the inhabitants of the Western Cape (Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 2014) long before it was noted, in 1772, by the celebrated Swedish botanist Carl Peter Thunberg (1743–1828) that “the country people made tea” using the plant (Thunberg, 1986, quoted in Gorelick, 2017). Due to its cultural significance and generational popularity, Rooibos is today considered South Africa’s national beverage (Wilson, 2005; Ives, 2014a).
The two redbush types, wild and cultivated, grow in only one region: South Africa’s Western Cape (Morton, 1983; Erlwanger & Ibrahim, 2017). Specifically, the plant is located in a 20,000-km² of desert, the Suid Bokkeveld, and the adjacent mountainous Cederberg, north of Cape Town (Hansen, 2006; Leclerqc et al., 2009). The redbush has adapted to the harsh conditions of freezing winters and scorching summers (MacAlister et al., 2020; Lötter et al., 2022), and despite being subjected to severe drought, it can survive on its tap root (Smith et al., 2018). There are, however, notable differences between the two plant types (Lötter & le Maitre, 2014; Brooks et al., 2021).
Wild redbush has been harvested for domestic use for generations (Ives, 2014a), but is commercially considered inferior in quality to its cultivated counterpart (Malgas & Oettle, 2007). However, the wild plant can survive fires during the dry summer months (Wilkinson et al., 2024) by its natural survival mechanism of re-sprouting from its roots (Van der Bank et al., 1999, quoted in Hawkins et al., 2011). Cultivated plants have been grown using seeds from the wild redbush (Malgas & Oettle, 2007) and cannot survive fire.
Furthermore, the wild variety grows more slowly (Patrickson et al., 2008), but its ability to store water reserves in deep underground roots means it can survive rising temperatures (Oettle, 2012, quoted in Ives, 2014). The resilience of wild redbush became especially evident during the three-year severe drought between 2003 and 2006, in the Suid Bokkeveld (United Nations Development Programme, 2015), when the plant survived far better than its cultivated counterpart (Koelle & Oettle, 2009).
The cultivated form of redbush is sought worldwide, yet with significant changes in the Western Cape’s weather pattern, some small-scale farmers have adopted sustainable farming methods to harvest wild redbush for consumption (Le Roux et al., 2017). The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) believes that this sustainable method can be maintained by the farmer’s ability “to recognise what is happening climatically, and in the bigger contexts adapt his or her practices in a way which makes them more resilient” (IIED, 2010).
Farming
Growing consumer taste for herbal teas, like South African Rooibos, reflects societal trends for natural, healthier beverages (Nurmilah & Utama, 2022). However, with entire harvests in South Africa’s Western Cape at risk due to prolonged periods of drought (Oluwatayo & Braide, 2022), witnessed between 2003 and 2006 (United Nations Development Programme, 2015), there is a concern about how long the redbush farmers manage the scarce water supply in a drought-prone region (Adom & Simatele, 2022; Calverley & Walther, 2022) to fulfil the increased consumer demand and maintain healthy soil conditions (Dzikiti et al., 2022).
Rooibos has been drunk by generations of South Africans, in a country where 4,500 to 5,000 tonnes are consumed annually (Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 2014, quoted in Elisha & Viljoen, 2021). The tea’s purported health benefits (Rampedi & Olivier, 2008) will likely sustain national and global demand (Biénabe et al., 2009). This will continue to drive land and employment expansion around the product (Waarts & Kuit, 2008) in one of the country’s poorest regions (Nel et al., 2007). The effects of climate change (Matthews, 2022) and the increased local competition (Nel et al., 2007) are risking the sustainability of the redbush.
Agriculture in South Africa is a labour-intensive industry (World Wildlife Fund (WWF), 2010; Visser & Ferrier, 2015), with Rooibos production providing much-needed employment to roughly 5,000 workers (Amusan, 2014, p.42; Schroeder et al., 2020). Mechanisation is limited by the mountainous landscape (Leclerqc et al., 2009, p.4), so harvesting is done by hand, making the Rooibos tea industry one of South Africa’s biggest employers (Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 2014).
Climate change will especially severely affect agriculture in Southern Africa, with the region experiencing more severe weather events such as droughts, heatwaves, and floods (Schmidhuber & Tubiello, 2007, p.19703; Swain et al., 2011). These new extremes have already become apparent in the Suid Bokkeveld, where, due to rising temperatures and poor rainfall, there is a history of delaying redbush planting due to unsuitable soil conditions and water shortages (Archer et al., 2008). Less rain will make farming cultivated redbush more expensive or a disaster.
The redbush relies on winter rainfall for survival (Archer et al., 2019). The region, with its Mediterranean climate (Manzano et al., 2023), is susceptible to climate change, which will intensify the existing harsh conditions. For the farmers of the Heiveld Cooperative, a Suid Bokkeveld-based business whose members sustainably cultivate wild redbush, prolonged droughts have already resulted in yield losses between 40 and 100% (Malgas & Oettle, 2007; United Nations Development Programme, 2015). Erratic rainfall in the Cape, where winter rains vary between as little as 180 mm and 500 mm for the year (Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 2014; Lötter et al., 2022), is also increasing the pressure to keep crops alive in one of the country’s driest regions.
Response
In response to the future risks of environmental change, there is small-scale farming of wild redbush, which, if carefully managed, can survive with less rainfall (Ives, 2014a; Lötter et al., 2022) for up to 50 years (Malgas & Oettle, 2007); cultivated crops can only last up to 15 years (Gorelik, 2017).
Regional droughts have increased the demand for the long-neglected but resistant wild redbush Rooibos, exposing “unsustainable” harvest management (Wynberg, 2017). Local knowledge of wild redbush management and sourcing is critical to maintaining its future sustainability (Hawkins et al., 2011; Wilkinson et al., 2024).
The most noticeable grass-roots development in the Rooibos tea industry, in response to economic and climatic pressures, has been the formation of the Heiveld Cooperative. To support the small-scale sustainable farming of wild redbush, the Environmental Monitoring Group (EMG), a South African Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) based in Cape Town, created the Heiveld Cooperative in 2001 with 14 members (Avaclim, 2020). Despite the Rooibos tea market being dominated by large-scale commercial farmers (Biénabe et al., 2009), the cooperative’s organically farmed wild brand was met with success (United Nations Development Programme, 2015).
In 2024, the Heiveld Cooperative has 74 members in the Suid Bokkeveld, implementing sustainable farming methods (Brooks et al., 2021) and using local knowledge to manage the land (Lötter et al., 2022). Soil protection measures include minimal machine harvesting. It also empowers local women through employment opportunities (Daya & Authar, 2012). For its environmental efforts, the cooperative became the first Rooibos tea producer in the world to be certified by Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO) in 2003, a sustainability movement that has empowered the South African Rooibos workers and reinvigorated a significant industry (Rampedi & Olivier, 2008; Raynolds & Ngcwangu, 2010).
Conclusion
Rooibos tea is at a critical phase in its production history, brought about by the unpredictability of climate change and the ability to supply a global demand for herbal tea. In the context of the risk theories of Gidden and Beck, the future of the redbush plant is creating insecurities for the local farmers. The risk could be the destruction of an interlinked culture and economy.
As a commodified resource, the fear of a poor redbush harvest raises prices, creating divisions between the large-scale farmer and their smaller, poorer counterpart.
The extremes of climate change magnify the problems faced by this impoverished region, where agriculture is the main source of employment. Harnessing local knowledge, sustainable farming methods, and a holistic approach to land management are critical to protecting this globally valuable and unique resource and for the survival of communities and families in the Cederberg and on the Suid Bokkeveld.
*Previously published in Waugh, E. (2024, April 7). Local Impacts of Global Climate Change. Arcadia. Retrieved from https://www.byarcadia.org/post/local-impacts-of-global-climate-change
Bibliographical references
Adom, R. K., & Simatele, M. D. (2020). Systemic and structural challenges to sustainable water management in South Africa. Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management, 22(1/2), 1-32. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27139937
Africa Monitor. (2012). Rural Infrastructure in Africa: Unlocking the African Moment (Paper series No.1). Retrieved from http://www.africanmonitor.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/African-Monitor-DSM-2012.pdf
Amusan, L. (2014). The plights of African resources patenting through the lenses of the World Trade Organisation: an assessment of South Africa's rooibos tea's labyrith journey. African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 11(5), 41-7.
Archer, E., Landman, W., Malherbe, J., Tadross, M., Pretorius, S. (2019). South Africa’s winter rainfall region drought: A region in transition? Climate Risk Management, 25, 100188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2019.100188
Archer, E.R.M., Oettlé, N.M., Louw, R., & Tadross, M.A. (2008). ‘Farming on the edge’ in arid western South Africa: Climate change and agriculture in marginal environments. Geography, 93(2). 98-107.
Avaclim. (2020). The Heiveld Cooperative. Retrieved from https://avaclim.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Avaclim_Factsheet_Heiveld-Cooperative-VF.pdf
Bank, M. van der, Bank, F.H. van der, & Wyk, B.-E. van. (1999). Evolution of sprouting versus seeding in Aspalathus linearis. Plant Systematics and Evolution, 219(1/2), 27-38. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23643726
Barends-Jones, V. (2020). Rooibos Tea: The story of the Overberg. Elsenburg, South Africa: Western Cape Department of Agriculture, Division for Macro & Resource Economics, Western Cape Government. Retrieved from https://www.elsenburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2020-Rooibos-Tea-in-the-Overberg.pdf
Beck, U. (1992). Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. London: Sage Publications.
Bekun, F.V. & Akadiri, S.S. (2019). Poverty and agriculture in Southern Africa revisited: A panel causality perspective. Sage Open, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019828853
Benzie, M., Wallgren, O., & Davis, M. (2013). Adaptation without borders?: How understanding indirect impacts could change countries’ approach to climate risks. Stockholm Environment Institute. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep00378
Bermúdez, S., Voora, V., Larrea, C., & Luna, E. (2024). Global Market Report: Tea Prices and Sustainability. Winnipeg, Canada: The International Institute for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2024-01/2024-global-market-report-tea.pdf
Berninger, K., Lager, F., Botnen Holm, T., Tynkkynen, O., Klein, R. J. T., Aall, C., Dristig, A., Määttä, H. and Perrels, A. (2022). Nordic Perspectives on Transboundary Climate Risk: Current Knowledge and Pathways for Action. Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen. https://doi.org/10.6027/temanord2022-531
Biénabe, E., Bramley, C., & Kirsten, J. (2009). An Economic Analysis of the Evolution in Intellectual Property Strategies in the South African Agricultural Sector: The Rooibos Industry. In World Intellectual Property Organization (Ed.) The Economics of Intellectual Property in South Africa (pp. 56-83). Retrieved from https://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/ip-development/en/docs/wo_1013_e.pdf
Biénabe, E. & Marie-Vivien, D. (2017). Institutionalizing geographical indications in southern countries: Lessons learned from basmati and rooibos. World Development, 98, 58-67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.04.004
Brooks, J., Makunga, N.P., Hull, K.L., Brink-Hull, M., Malgas, R., & Roodt-Wilding, R. (2021). Resprouters versus reseeders: Are wild rooibos ecotypes genetically distinct? Frontiers in Genetics, 12, 761988.
Caverley, C.M. & Walther, S.C. (2022). Drought, water management, and social equity: Analyzing Cape Town, South Africa's water crisis. Front. Water, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2022.910149
Celik, Ö.M., Ozyildirim, C., & Karacil Ermumcu, M.S. (2023). Evaluation of food insecurity and its association with food consumption and some variables among college students. Journal of Health, Population & Nutrition, 42. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41043-023-00436-9
Clarke, B., Otto, F., Stuart-Smith, R., & Harrington, L. (2022). Extreme weather impacts of climate change: An attribution perspective. Environmental Research: Climate, 1(1), 012001. https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5295/ac6e7d
Cohen, M.J. (1997). Risk society and ecological modernisation: Alternative visions for post-industrial nations. Futures, 29(2), 105-119. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-3287(96)00071-7
Davis, M., Benzie, M., & Barrott, J. (2016). Transnational climate change impacts: An entry point to enhanced global cooperation on adaptation? Stockholm Environment Institute. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep02803
Daya, S. & Authar, R. (2012). Self, others and objects in an ‘alternative economy’: Personal narratives from the Heiveld Rooibos Cooperative. Geoforum, 43(5), 885-893. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2012.03.017
Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. (2014). A Profile of the South African Rooibos Tea Market Value Chain. South Africa: South African Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Devot, A., Royer, L., Arvis B., Deryng, D., Caron Giauffret, E., Giraud, L., Ayral, V., & Rouillard, J. (2023). Research for AGRI Committee - The Impact of Extreme Climate Events on Agriculture Production in the EU. Brussels: European Parliament, Policy Department for Structural and Cohesion Policies. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3yDzsLB
Diffenbaugh, N., Singh, D., Mankin, J., Horton, D., & Swain, D. (2017). Global Warming’s Influence on Extreme Weather Events. Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep37182
Donohoe, M. (2007). Global warming: A public health crisis demanding immediate action. World Affairs: The Journal of International Issues, 11(2), 44-58. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48531779
Dzikiti, S., Lotter, D., Mpandeli, S., Nhamo, L. (2022). Assessing the energy and water balance dynamics of rain-fed rooibos tea crops (Aspalathus linearis) under changing Mediterranean climatic conditions. Agricultural Water Management, 274, 107944.
Ebi, K.L., Vanos, J., Baldwin, J.W., Bell, J.E., Hondula, D.M., Errett, N.A., Hayes, K., Reid, C.E., Shaha, S., Spector, J., & Berry, P. (2021). Extreme weather and climate change: Population health and health system implications. Annual Review of Public Health, 49, 293-315. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-012420-105026
Elisha, I.L. & Viljoen, A. (2021). Trends in rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis) research (1994–2018): A scientometric assessment. South African Journal of Botany, 137, 159-170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2020.10.004
Erlwanger, K.H. & Ibrahim, K.G. (2017). Aspalathin a unique phytochemical from the South African rooibos plant (Aspalathus linearis): A mini Review. Journal of African Association of Physiological Sciences, 5(1), 1-6.
Food and Agriculture Organization. (2002). The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2001. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization.
Ford, J.D. & Ford-Berrang, L. (2011). Introduction. In Ford, J.D. & Ford-Berrang, L. (Eds.) Climate Change Adaptation in Developed Nations: From Theory to Practice (pp.3-21). Retrieved from https://books.google.se/books?hl=en&lr=&id=yE5Bzn4LKnIC&oi=fnd&pg=PR3&dq=Climate+Change+Adaptation+in+Developed+Nations:+From+Theory+to+Practice.&ots=wKj7wo574A&sig=Po-Gptrryqv9_75E-waQIMNTGyg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Climate%20Change%20Adaptation%20in%20Developed%20Nations%3A%20From%20Theory%20to%20Practice.&f=false
FReSH & WBCSD. (2018). Consumption Behavior and Trends: Understanding the Shift Required Towards Healthy, Sustainable and Enjoyable Diets. Retrieved from https://docs.wbcsd.org/2018/07/FReSH_Consumption_Report.pdf
Giddens, A. & Pierson, C. (1998). Conversations With Anthony Giddens: Making Sense of Modernity. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
Goebbert, K., Jenkins-Smith, H. C., Klockow, K., Nowlin, M. C., & Silva, C. L. (2012). Weather, climate, and worldviews: The sources and consequences of public perceptions of changes in local weather patterns. Weather, Climate, and Society, 4(2), 132-144. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24907468
Gorelick, B. (2017). Rooibos: An Ethnographic Perspective. Rooibos Council. Retrieved from https://sarooibos.co.za/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/20180723-SARC-format-TK-Paper-SU-1.pdf
Gupta, L. (2018). Indian tea scenario. Global Scientific Journals, 6(6), 63-105.
Hashim, J. H., & Hashim, Z. (2016). Climate change, extreme weather events, and human health implications in the Asia Pacific region. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 28(2), 8S-14S. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26686238
Hansen, J., Sato, M., Ruedy, R., Lo, K., Lea, D. W., & Medina-Elizade, M. (2006). Global temperature change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103(39), 14288–14293. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30050366
Hawkins, H. J., Malgas, R., & Biénabe, E. (2011). Ecotypes of wild rooibos (Aspalathus linearis (Burm. F) Dahlg., Fabaceae) are ecologically distinct. South African Journal of Botany, 77(2), 360–370.
Horn, B., Ferreira, C., & Kalantari, Z. (2022). Links between food trade, climate change and food security in developed countries: A case study of Sweden. Ambio, 51, 943-954. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-021-01623-w
IIED. (2010, June 22). Adapting to the Wild Side: Climate Friendly Rooibos. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z43Q_kgEU6E
Ives, S. (2014). Uprooting “indigeneity” in South Africa’s Western Cape: The plant that moves. American Anthropologist, 116(2), 310-323. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24028981
Ives, S. (2014a). Farming the South African “bush”: Ecologies of belonging and exclusion in rooibos tea. American Ethnologist, 41(4), 698-713. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24027476
Joubert, E. & De Beer, D. (2011). Rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) beyond the farm gate: From herbal tea to potential phytopharmaceutical. South African Journal of Botany, 77, 869-886.
Joubert, E. & Schulz, H. (2006). Production and quality aspects of rooibos tea and related products. A review. Journal of Applied Botany and Food Quality, 80, 138-144.
Kapuka, A. & Hlásny, T. (2021). Climate change impacts on ecosystems and adaptation options in nine countries in southern Africa: What do we know? Ecosphere, 12(12). https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3860
Khoza, S., van Nieker, D., & Nemakonde, L.D. (2022). A decade of inaction in the SADC region? - disaster risk data gaps and inconsistencies on the Sendai Framework Monitor. Progress in Disaster Science, 16, 100250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pdisas.2022.100250
Koelle, B. & Oettle, N.M. (2009). Adapting with Enthusiasm: Climate Change Adaptation in the Context of Participatory Action Research (IDRC:10625/44411). Indigo development and change Environmental Monitoring Group (EMG). Retrieved from https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08b16ed915d3cfd000b14/60055-Koelle-Oettle-Adapting-with-enthusiasm.pdf
Le Roux, J.J., Keet, J.-H., & Ellis, A.G. (2017). Cultivation may not dramatically alter rhizobial community diversity or structure associated with rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis Burm.f.) in South Africa. South African Journal of Botany, vol.110, 87-96.
Leclerq, M. (2008). The Traditional Knowledge and Practices Regarding the Endemic Herbal Tea “Rooibos” in South Africa: Effects of the Recent Social Dynamic on the Production Process. Paper presented at the Annual ASnA Conference, Bellville, South Africa. Retrieved from https://agritrop.cirad.fr/549637/1/document_549637.pdf
Leclercq, M., Bienabe, E., & Caron, P. (2009). The Case of the South African Rooibos: Biodiversity Conservation as a Collective Consensus. Paper presented at Localiser les produits une voie durable au service de la diversité naturelle et culturelles des Suds?, Paris, France. Retrieved from: http://www.mnhn.fr/colloque/localiserlesproduits/20_Paper_LECLERCQ_M.pdf
Liu, A., Ka Makhaya, S.C., & Osewe, M. (2022). Factors influencing rooibos tea certification and quality control for smallholder farmers in South Africa. Foods, 11(21), 3495. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11213495
Lötter, D. & le Maitre, D. (2014). Modelling the distribution of Aspalathus linearis (Rooibos tea): implications of climate change for livelihoods dependent on both cultivation and harvesting from the wild. Ecology and Evolution, 4(8), 1209-1221. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.985
Lötter, D., Dzikiti, S., Mkhanzi, W., & Haasbroek, S. (2022, May). Water-use and yield of rooibos tea (Aspalathus linearis) in the winter rainfall areas of South Africa (WRC Report No. TT 878/22) Water Research Commission. Retrieved from https://www.wrc.org.za/wp-content/uploads/mdocs/TT%20878%20final%20web.pdf
MacAlister, D., Muasya, A.M., Crespo, O., Ogola, J.B.O., Maseko, S.T., Valentine, A.J., Ottosen, C.-O., Rosenqvist, E., & Chimphango, S.B.M. (2020). Effect of temperature on plant growth and stress tolerant traits in rooibos in the Western Cape, South Africa. Scientia Horticulturae, 263, 109137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2019.109137
Manzano, S., Quick, L.J., Chase, B.M., Hoffman, M.T., & Gillson, L. (2023). Long-term vegetation response to rainfall seasonality and fire in the heathlands and shrublands of the Cape Floristic Region (SW South Africa). Global and Planetary Change, 220, 104014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2022.104014
Majumder, B.A.; Bera, B.; Rajan, A. (2010). Tea statistics: Global scenario. International Journal of Tea Science, 8(1), 121-124.
Malgas, R. & Oettle, N. (2007). The Sustainable Harvest of Wild Rooibos. Nieuwoudtville: Environmental Monitoring Group. Retrieved from https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a7859a10abd0477ecb31301/t/5b45ff640e2e72b2215dee11/1531314050172/malgas++oettle_sustainable+harvesting+of+wild+rooibos_2007.pdf
Matthews, S. (2022). Projected climate change threatening production of SA’s unique tea. The Water Wheel, 21(5), 17-21.
Midgley, S. & Methner, N. (2016). Climate adaptation readiness for agriculture: drought lessons from the Western Cape, South Africa. South African Institute of International Affairs. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep28332
Morton, J. F. (1983). Rooibos tea, Aspalathus linearis, a caffeineless, low-tannin beverage. Economic Botany, 37(2), 164-173. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4254477
Nel, E., Binns, T., & Bek, D. (2007). ‘Alternative foods’ and community-based development: Rooibos tea production in South Africa's West Coast Mountains. Applied Geography, 27(2), 112-129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2006.11.001
Nurmilah, S. & Utama, G.L. (2022). A review on current trend of next generation of teas. Food Research, 6(5), 412-424. https://doi.org/10.26656/fr.2017.6(5).486
Oettle, N. (2012). Adaptation with a human face: Lessons learned from an ongoing adaptation and learning process. Nieuwoudtville: Environmental Monitoring Group.
Oluwatayo, I.B. & Braide, T.M. (2022). Socioeconomic determinants of households’ vulnerability to drought in Western Cape, South Africa. Sustainability, 14(13), 7582. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14137582
Patrickson, S., Malgas, R. & Oettle, N. (2008). Rooibos tea: Environmental threat or conservation opportunity? Veld & Flora, 94, 8-11.
Preez, C.C. du, Kotzé, E., & van Huyssteen, C.W. (2019). Soils, Agriculture and Food. In Knight, J. & Rogerson, C.M. (Eds.) The Geography of South Africa Contemporary Changes and New Directions (pp.111-121). Springer.
Rampedi, I. & Olivier, J. (2008). The development path of rooibos tea - a review of patterns and lessons learnt for the commercialisation of other indigenous teas in South Africa. International Journal of African Renaissance Studies - Multi- Inter- and Transdisciplinarity, 3(2), 5-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/18186870902840309
Raynolds, L.T. & Ngcwangu, S.U. (2010). Fair trade rooibos tea: Connecting South African producers and American consumer markets. Geoforum, 41(1), 74-83.
Ring, M.J, Lindner, D., Cross, E.F., & Schlesinger, M.E. (2012). Causes of the Global Warming Observed since the 19th Century. Atmospheric and Climate Sciences, 2(4), 401-415. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/acs.2012.24035
Roggema, R. (2009). Adaptation to Climate Change: A Spatial Challenge. Retrieved from https://www.google.se/books/edition/Adaptation_to_Climate_Change_A_Spatial_C/CB3P4Alh-vwC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Adaptation+to+Climate+Change:+A+Spatial+Challenge+roggema+google+books&printsec=frontcover
Schmidhuber, J & Tubiello, F.N. (2007). Global food security under climate change. PNAS, 104(50), 19703-19708. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0701976104
Scott, D., Hall, C., & Gössling, S. (2019). Global tourism vulnerability to climate change. Annals of Tourism Research, 77, 49-61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2019.05.007
Schroeder, D., Chennells, R., Louw, C., Snyders, L., & Hodges, T. (2020). The Rooibos benefit sharing agreement-breaking new ground with respect, honesty, fairness, and care. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 29(2), 285-301. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963180119001075
Selvaraju, R., Gommes, R., & Bernardi, M. (2011). Climate science in support of sustainable agriculture and food security. Climate Research, 47(1/2), 95–110. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24872344
Shiferaw, Y.A. (2023). An analysis of East African tea crop prices using the MCMC approach to estimate volatility and forecast the in-sample value-at-risk. Scientific Africa, 19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sciaf.2022.e01442
Smith, J.F.N., Botha, A. & Hardie, A.G. (2018). Role of soil quality in declining rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) tea yields in the Clanwilliam area, South Africa. Soil Research, 56, 252-263.
Swain, A., Swain, R.B., Themnér, A., & Krampe, F. (2011). Climate Change and the Risk of
Violent Conflicts in Southern Africa. Pretoria: Global Crisis Solutions.
Terton, A., Qi, J., & Tadgell, A. (2023). Transboundary Climate Risks and the National Adaptation Planning Process. International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep53417
Thunberg, C.P., [1986]. Travels at the Cape of Good Hope, 1772-1775: based on the English edition, London 1793–1795, edited by Emeritus Prof. Vernon Siegfried Forbes, translation from the Swedish revised by J. & I. Rudner, Cape Town: Van Riebeck Society, xlviii–366.
United Nations Development Programme. (2015). Heiveld Co-operative Limited, South Africa. New York, NY.: Equator Initiative Case Study Series.
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. (2012). Climate Change and the Rural Economy in Southern Africa: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities (ECASA/TPUB/CLIMATE2012/2). Retrieved from https://www.uncclearn.org/wp-content/uploads/library/uneca100.pdf
Visser, M. & Ferrer, S. (2015). Farm Workers’ Living and Working Conditions in South Africa: key trends, emergent issues, and underlying and structural problems. Pretoria: The Pretoria Office of The International Labour Organization. Retrieved from https://webapps.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---africa/documents/publication/wcms_385959.pdf
Vlek, P.L.G., Tamene, L., & Bogardi J. (2020). Land Rich but Water Poor: The Prospects of Agricultural Intensification in Southern Africa. In Sikora, A.S., Terry E.R., Vlek, P.L.G., & Chitjja, J. (Eds.) Transforming Agriculture in Southern Africa: Constraints, Technologies, Policies and Processes (pp. 36–44). Routledge.
Volz, U., Campiglio, E., Espagne, E., Mercure, J.-F., Oman, W., Pollitt, H., Semieniuk, G., & Svartzman, R. (2021). Transboundary Climate-related Risks: Analysing the Impacts of a Decarbonisation of the Global Economy on International Trade, Finance, and Money. Paper presented at the 9th IMF Statistical Forum.
Waarts, Y. & Kuit, M. (2008). Intensification and Sustainability in South African Rooibos: Exploring the Conditions for Market Led Sustainable Development in a Biodiversity Hot Spot. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/40610552_Intensification_and_Sustainability_in_South_African_Rooibos_exploring_the_conditions_for_market-led_sustainable_development_in_a_biodiversity_hot_spot
Wang, L., Wang, L., Yang, L., & Wang, J. (2023). A century-long analysis of global warming and earth temperature using a random walk with drift approach. Decision Analytics Journal, 7, 100237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dajour.2023.100237
Werrell, C. E., & Femia, F. (2016). Climate change, the erosion of state sovereignty, and world order. The Brown Journal of World Affairs, 22(2), 221-235. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26534704
Wilkinson, C., Brooks, J., Stander, M.A., Malgas, R., Roodt-Wilding, R., & Makunga, N.P. (2024). Metabolomic profiling of wild rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) ecotypes and their antioxidant-derived phytopharmaceutical potential. Metabolomics, 20(45). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-024-02103-4
Wilson, N.L.W. (2005). Cape natural tea products and the U.S. Market: Rooibos rebels ready to raid. Review of Agricultural Economics, 27(1), 139-148. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3700784
World Wildlife Fund (WWF). (2010). Agriculture: Facts and Trends South Africa. Retrieved from http://awsassets.wwf.org.za/downloads/facts_brochure_mockup_04_b.pdf
Wynberg, R. (2017). Making sense of access and benefit sharing in the rooibos industry: Towards a holistic, just and sustainable framing. South African Journal of Botany, 110, 39-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2016.09.015
Comments