The impacts of people and livestock on topographically diverse open wood- and shrub-lands in arid north-west Namibia

1. It is generally considered that the open woodlands of north-west Namibia are experiencing widespread degradation due to over-use of resources by lo cal herders. 2. Data are presented regarding community floristics, diversity, density, c over and population structure for woody vegetation. These are analysed in r elation to abiotic factors of topography and substrate, and to settlement i mpacts represented indirectly by distance from settlement and directly by m easures of branch cutting and browsing. 3. None of the vegetation indices upheld predicted patterns of degradation except on a small scale, confined to within settlements. Moreover, in nearl y all cases, local settlement effects were within the range of variability observed at larger scales. 4. It is concluded that continuing perceptions and fears of degradation in this area relate more to ideology than evidence. In particular, it is argue d that factors conferring resilience and persistence on both the environmen t and the regional herding economy are obscured by: (1) disregard for the i mplications of spatial and temporal scale in interpretations of ecological data; (2) a conceptual adherence to equilibrium dynamics that stresses dens ity-dependent impacts of people and livestock over and above the role of ab iotic factors in constraining and driving primary productivity; and (3) rem nants of a colonial ideology, which tends to view 'traditional communal far ming' practices as environmentally degrading.