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Hot off the press! Below, you will find a downloadable file of our Green Campus flyer.

Sustainability Research Unit at NMMU’s George Campus

"Sometimes, without warning, the future knocks on our door with a precious and painful vision of what might be" (Al Gore)

Background

Climate change models predict more frequent and more intense droughts, fires and floods, sea level rise and unpredictable weather patterns over the next 50 years. These factors, coupled with poor planning and ecosystem degradation, are threatening the well-being of millions of people and associated infrastructure across the African continent. According to the Southern African Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, inappropriate land and water use and poorly planned development, especially along the coastal zone, is causing widespread degradation and loss of the capacity of ecosystems to regulate the impacts of floods, droughts and fire on human well-being. This is placing strain on South Africa’s natural production systems. The management capacity to deal with these changes is extremely low.

These issues have been highlighted during the Eden District Municipality’s Climate Change Summit in February 2009, where ample proof was provided of the vulnerability of tourism, freshwater, fisheries, and urban systems to the impacts of climate change. It has become clear that the severity of the impacts are unpredictable, and that they vary from one locality to the next and from one year to the next. There is growing consensus that a better understanding of hazards, vulnerabilities and good practices related to climate change could save municipalities, the private sector and government billions of Rands in the short term.

The Eden District Municipal area is particularly vulnerable to ecological disasters, and therefore an excellent ‘laboratory’ for the development of good practices through scientific research, and for the piloting of training courses to develop the capacity of managers to cope with and adapt to climate change.

It is necessary to address four key issues in relation to sustainability:

1. Develop useful information systems and models, based on good science, to enable decision makers to understand the long term consequences of land and water use plans, policies and strategies;

2. Provide scientific information, in a format that is easy for everyone to understand, about the causes, impacts, consequences and good ecosystem management practices related to climate change;

3. Develop and implement practical strategies that can prevent ecological disasters in urban development, tourism, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and biodiversity conservation, to promote the sustainable long term use of land and water and sustainable food production;

4. Offer training courses to raise the awareness of decision makers at all levels of the impacts of climate change, what can be done about it, and which practices should be avoided.

Vision

To contribute to sustainability and resilience in the Garden Route and beyond through research, awareness raising, and capacity development, in partnerships with decision makers.

Mission and Guiding Principles

The Sustainability Research Unit develops the capacity for the sustainable management of ecological, social and economic systems through user-inspired research, training and policy contributions.

The Unit will bring together decision makers and researchers from various institutions such as Universities, South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), SANParks, Eden District Municipality, local municipalities and the private sector to address challenges collaboratively, thereby adding value to existing expertise and financial resources. Its work is based on five principles:

1. It takes a long term approach, inspired by the principles and practices of resilience management;
2. The users (decision makers and resource users) must inspire the work;
3. Resources (funds and expertise) must be pooled;
4. Approaches must be inter-disciplinary, with a strong “evidence-seeking” focus because of the complex nature of the challenges being addressed and the high levels of uncertainty and prevalence of guesswork;
5. Its impact must build the capacity of government, municipal and civil society decision makers through data collection, awareness creation, learning, training and implementation.

Governance

It is proposed that the Unit should be based at and coordinated by Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University’s George Campus at Saasveld, where infrastructure and facilities have been made available. It will be self- and externally funded, and will report to relevant NMMU institutional structures, and an advisory board of leading scientists and decision makers. Initially, until core funds had been raised, the initiative will be jointly lead by Prof Christo Fabricius (Campus Principal of NMMU in George), Prof Richard Cowling and Dr Mandy Lombard of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.

Geographic focus

The Unit will have a national and international footprint. It will begin by focusing on ecological disaster challenges within the Eden District Municipality and the Garden Route in particular. This area is an ideal ‘laboratory’ to pilot approaches and find solutions, because it is predicted to become a global hotbed for the impacts of climate change on society.

Role players

The key role players in the establishment of the Entity for Prevention of Ecological Disasters are:

• Research entities: NMMU; University of Stellenbosch; University of Cape Town; SANParks; Western Cape Dept of Agriculture; Agricultural Research Council; CSIR; SANBI; DEAT; Dept of Marine and Coastal Management. International research units: Stockholm Resilience Centre; Resilience Alliance; Dept of Systems Ecology at Stockholm University; Sustainable Ecosystems at CSIRO (Australia); Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability; Aga Khan Development Network in Central Asia; IUCN World Conservation Union (Switzerland); Spatial Ecology Lab (University of Queensland).
• Local government: Eden District Municipality; local municipalities
• Provincial government: the Provinces of the Western and Eastern Cape, Departments of Agriculture; Nature Conservation Boards; Economic Development and Tourism; Local Government and Housing; Culture; Public Works
• National government: Departments of Agriculture; Environmental Affairs and Tourism; Housing; Land Affairs; Science and Technology; South African National Parks; Water Affairs and Forestry.
• Private sector: Parastatals in conservation and forestry; Corporates in forestry and tourism; urban developers and planners; catchment management agencies; agricultural conglomerates; petroleum companies e.g. PetroSA
• NGOs: WESSA, Bot Soc, etc.

Time frame

The Unit was registered in June 2009. Initial funds should be raised by January 2010 and a Manager or Director will be appointed by mid 2010. Collaborative projects and activities can start immediately. In the interim, project management and coordination will be done by NMMU academics and the Campus Principal, Prof Christo Fabricius.

Contact Information
Prof Christo Fabricius
	Position: Campus Principal Phone: 27 44 801 5001 E-mail: christo.fabricius Location: George Campus

Files you can download:
	833kb	Green Campus flyer