Ancois de Villiers has completed the first joint PhD between Stellenbosch University and Leiden University, a complex but rewarding collaboration bridging partnerships between South Africa and the Netherlands, as well as across disciplines. The project, which integrated conservation ecology and environmental anthropology, involved a cross-institutional supervision team including Prof Karen Esler (Stellenbosch University), Prof Marja Spierenburg (Leiden University), and Dr Jessica Cockburn (Rhodes University).

Furthermore, involved partnerships with Living Lands, a South African non-profit focused on landscape restoration, and Commonland, a Dutch-based organization supporting global restoration initiatives. The research was supported by an NRF-Nuffic Doctoral Scholarship, as well as the Green Matter Fellowship and Harry Crossley Foundation.

Ancois’s research focused on reframing landscape restoration from a short-term, technical intervention to a long-term process emphasizing relationships—how people relate to themselves, each other, and the landscape. The study applied plural valuation frameworks and a relational approach to support social-ecological restoration, emphasizing that ecosystems cannot be “fixed” in a few years. Instead, effective restoration requires long-term engagement with local communities and understanding the interconnections between people and the environment. However, few guidelines exist on how to implement and maintain these processes.

The research was inspired by the real-world experiences of organisations implementing projects for landscape sustainability, who address complex, “wicked” problems, and foster collaboration across communities which often have conflicting needs and values. The study was based in the Baviaanskloof and Langkloof landscapes in South Africa — regions rich in biodiversity but facing environmental and socio-economic challenges. Findings confirmed that slow, embedded, and reflexive processes promote learning and social resilience, and the value people associate with the processes are diverse and go beyond simple material gains. However, the processes are cognitively, socially, and emotionally demanding for those involved. These challenges, compounded by prevailing funding structures that prioritize short-term outcomes, revealed the underlying complexities of sustaining such projects in real- world contexts.

The project contributes to understanding the complexities of long-term restoration, emphasizing the need for structural changes in project design and funding. Moving forward, Ancois and her research partners are further unpacking the impact of international and national biodiversity policies on South African landscapes. The success of this research was made possible through the invaluable support and dedication of the partner institutions, the multidisciplinary project team, and the contributions of the Baviaanskloof and Langkloof communities.