Towards sustainable and equitable management of water resources: Understanding the interlinkages between water, ecosystems and society through spatial mapping of ecosystem services and livelihood benefits.
Background The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the scientific evidence on climate change. The IPCC regularly produces reports that assess the state of knowledge and science. The IPCC has three Working Groups (WG): WG I on the physical science basis; WG II on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and WG III on mitigation of climate change. Currently, the IPCC is in its 6th Assessment Cycle (AR6), and the 6th Assessment Reports (AR6) of the three WG’s will be published in 2021, and the Synthesis Report across the three WG’s in 2022. [...]
15 – 19 JULY 2019, Stellenbosch, South Africa The Southern African Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (SAPECS) invites Masters’ and PhD students doing research at the interface of ecosystems and society to attend an introductory course on social-ecological systems, to be hosted by the Centre for Complex Systems in Transition (CST) at Stellenbosch University. The field of social-ecological systems aims to support responses to the challenges of global environmental and societal change, particularly in terms of supporting improved environmental stewardship and addressing pressing challenges of poverty and inequality. Students and researchers who are studying these issues [...]
Applications are invited for a Post-doctoral researcher to undertake research on the drivers of woody encroachment and the impacts on ecological functioning and ecosystem services, through combining broad-scale remotely sensed products, environmental GIS, field, and citizen science bird atlas datasets. The successful applicant will be registered at the University of the Witwatersrand and assume research within the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Science (APES) in collaboration with researchers from the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and University of Stellenbosch (and others). The successful applicant will work closely with Drs Nicola Stevens, Jolene Fisher and Chevonne [...]
Science and management co-learning to navigate social-ecological issues 17-19 September 2019 Pine Lake Marina, Sedgefield, South Africa Background: The Garden Route Interface Meeting (GRIM) is an annual event taking place in the Garden Route and providing a forum for researchers and practitioners interested in better understanding and managing (or navigating) social-ecological systems (SES) and their complex interactions and feedbacks. Three types of interfaces are of particular interest: human-nature (social-ecological systems), theory-practice (scientists and managers), and social-natural (sciences). Previous meetings: The 2017 and 2018 meetings each attracted >70 delegates and key discussion themes during these meetings included the establishment of [...]
Climate Resilient African Landscapes (CRAL) The University of Cape Town invites black South Africans interested in working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow (PDRF) with a focus in climate change and resilience to apply for the ARUA-CD Postdoctoral Research Fellowship position. The value of the fellowship is ZAR 250,000-300,000 depending on experience and is tenable for 12 months with the possibility of extension for further years subject to satisfactory progress. We aim to attract exceptional scholars who are academically capable and are committed to serving South Africa and the continent in the environmental and development field. Application Deadline: 15 March [...]
From January 2019, PECS will be jointly hosted by the Centre for Complex Systems in Transition (CST) at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, and the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University in Sweden (SRC). PECS is a Future Earth core project which aims to integrate research on the stewardship of social-ecological systems, the services they generate, and the relationships among biodiversity, ecosystems, human wellbeing, livelihoods, inequality and poverty. The CST has a longstanding and close collaboration with the SRC, and is an obvious choice as an additional regional node to broaden the networks and reach of PECS. The [...]
We are bombarded with negative visions of the future, which may inhibit our ability to move towards a positive future for the Earth and humanity. In this project we aim to solicit, explore, and develop a suite of alternative, plausible visions of “Good Anthropocenes” – positive visions of futures that are socially and ecologically desirable, just, and sustainable, specifically from a southern African perspective.
A key concern facing large protected areas and buffer zones in southern Africa is that they are locked in a vicious cycle of rural poverty and environmental degradation. Weak knowledge about the practicalities of micro-governance, devolution and economic policy, weak stakeholder learning systems and a major shortage of professionals with economic, governance and stakeholder skills are central to these challenges.
This project focuses on the risk of transgressing critical thresholds or tipping points in social‐ecological systems that could trigger catastrophic regime shifts– large, abrupt and potentially irreversible changes – with respect to critical ecosystem services such as crop production, fisheries, and climate regulation. Such shifts can have major implications for human economies, health and well‐being, especially for poorer, marginalized groups in society.
