Read some background and insights from the young panelists, joining the OGRC Tipping Points webinar on 22 June, about how their perspective as a youth informs their priorities for environmental and conservation matters in Africa. They also unpack what makes them want to get up in the morning, and want to change things for the better.
People – nature relationships
Tumi Mphahlele has, found a way to turn one of the “100 of the World’s Worst Invasive Alien Species” (water hyacinth) from a destructive pest into one with an ecological and economic purpose.
Science, even when it comes up with answers to important problems, is often viewed by the public as Quixotic, a whimsical business of tilting at windmills, says Professor Andre Ganswindt, the director of the Mammal Research Institute “MRI” at the University of Pretoria. “As scientists,” he says, “we say ‘here is the problem’. People say, ‘we hear you’, but nothing happens. Do they not understand, or do they not want to?”
South Africa is famous for wildlife conservation and is recognized as a global leader in the management of wildlife resources, considered number three in the world in terms of biodiversity conservation. This has been achieved through the hard work of active management and careful intervention.
Yves Vanderhaeghen interviews a team of UKZN researchers studying how biodiversity can curtail both extreme flooding and the potential perils of heat stress in cities.
In a first for the African continent, researchers at the University of Cape Town are using a cutting-edge technique to fast-track the diagnosis of disease, ensuring patients receive the correct treatment sooner.
Yves Vanderhaeghen reports on a social enterprise aiming to farm and harvest Honeybush tea and regenerate the Langkloof catchment area at the same time.
Yves Vanderhaeghen speaks to Dr Riaan Rifkin about the pioneering gene-sequencing by a team of South African researchers which sheds light on a pathogen which infected a child 2000 years ago.
African researchers are marshalling their arguments for COP27 to assert that what Africa can do to tackle climate change must be informed by its specific conditions for which solutions tailored for Europe, Asia or America will not work.
Africa is the most vulnerable continent in the face of climate change, according to the team leader of the African Group of Negotiators Expert Support (AGNES), Dr George Wamukoya. He stresses the importance of formulating a strong position for Africa to present at COP27, taking place in Egypt in November.