News2019-04-02T10:26:53+02:00

NEWS

SAPECS winter school

Last month, the Centre for Complex Systems in Transition (CST) and Southern African Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (SAPECS) hosted an introductory course on social-ecological systems for Masters and PhD students doing research at the interface of ecosystems and society. Twenty eight students from around Africa gathered to start their learning journey away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life at the Sustainability Institute, an international living and learning centre which provides learning experiences in ecology, community and spirit, in Stellenbosch, South Africa. The goal of the SAPECS [...]

August 1st, 2019|

How to Live Better and Stop Destroying the Planet

A recent United Nations-backed report highlighted the scale of destruction humans are inflicting on the natural world. To reverse these trends, humanity must transform its economic models and food system, treat the world’s oceans far better, and think carefully about the best ways to tackle climate change. STOCKHOLM – Earlier this month, a bleak global assessment of the shocking state of life on Earth made headlines worldwide. According to the report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), about 12% of all known animal and plant species are now threatened [...]

June 13th, 2019|

SAPECS now represented on major national scientific initiative

Alta de Vos, SAPECS Working Group Member and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Environmental Science at Rhodes University, has been appointed to represent SAPECS on the Expanded Freshwater and Terrestrial Environmental Observation Network (EFTEON) Advisory Panel. The EFTEON is a research infrastructure that is being developed under the South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap program of the Department of Science and Technology. EFTEON is conceived as a modular, highly-networked research infrastructure to support studies on coupled ecological social systems in South Africa. EFTEON will focus on setting up a network of [...]

May 15th, 2019|

SAPECS winter school in social-ecological systems

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 [...]

April 8th, 2019|

Call for abstracts: 3rd Garden Route Interface Meeting (GRIM)

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 [...]

March 13th, 2019|

RELATED NEWS

NRF Grant-holder Masters bursary to work in the Tsitsa River catchment

I am looking for an MSc student who in interested in the interface between natural resource science and social science in land and water resource management. The bursary is for R90 000 per year for two years, starting as soon as possible. You will be working in a vibrant Water Governance Development research team that is part of the large DEA-NRM-funded Tsitsa Project (https://sites.google.com/view/tsitsa-project/home). The Governance Development research aims to support the emergence of participatory land and water governance in the Tsitsa River catchment. Your project would address the research [...]

July 8th, 2019|

Post-doc position available with the SARChI Chair research group on “Interdisciplinary Science in Land and Natural Resource Use for Sustainable Livelihoods”

The SARChI Chair in Interdisciplinary Science in Land and Natural Resource Use for Sustainable Livelihoods in the department of Environmental Science at Rhodes University focuses on generating interdisciplinary understandings of natural biological resources and their roles in rural and urban livelihoods for poverty alleviation and human wellbeing. This includes the ecological, economic and social dimensions of land and biological resource use in both rural and urban systems. The activities of the Chair are currently led by Professor Charlie Shackleton. The Dept of Environmental Science is one of the smallest at Rhodes University, [...]

July 8th, 2019|

Conservation South Africa: Health and Conservation Coordinator

Conservation South Africa vacancy in Matatiele, Eastern Cape Conservation South Africa, as a local affiliate of Conservation International, is committed to helping societies adopt a more sustainable approach to development—one that considers and values nature at every turn and improves human well-being through the conservation of healthy ecosystems and the goods and services they provide.  Conservation South Africa seeks to influence policy, develop markets, engage the private sector, and support communities to develop and implement conservation- based economic growth models and long-term human well-being. This position will work closely with [...]

June 18th, 2019|

Position available: Conservation Science Officer – EWT

The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) is seeking to employ a Conservation Science Officer. The purpose of the position is to assist with the development of a Species Distribution Modelling (SDM) database to improve objectivity, accuracy and efficiency in Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs). Through an online web application, this SDM database will allow for a robust measure of biodiversity and increase ability to flag sensitive species for early stage EIAs anywhere in the country. This will ensure that no sensitive species are overlooked in any EIA scoping phase assessment and will [...]

June 13th, 2019|

Climate Change Ecology Postdoc Opportunity

The University of Cape Town is seeking two Postdoctoral Research Fellows to join a highly interdisciplinary team working on climate change risks to biodiversity and ecosystem services. Job advert for further details and to apply: http://www.acdi.uct.ac.za/postdoctoral-research-fellowship-climate-change-risks-biodiversity-and-ecosystems Positions are for two years. Project research is flexible within three broad objectives: Forecasting the spatial and temporal dynamics of biodiversity disruption from climate change at the species and/or community level; Using existing trait, phylogenetic and species range databases to map relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem services across Africa and predict how these might change due [...]

May 31st, 2019|
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