A study reported by the BBC earlier this year found that of the 100 most cited climate research papers over the past five years, fewer than 1% of the authors were based in Africa, and of the total 1 300 scientists involved, 90% were affiliated with academic institutions from North America, Europe or Australia.
Tipping points, landscape ecology and climate change
It’s high time we embrace innovative tech solutions that Africa’s youth are developing to promote conservation.
If there is a dictum which sums up Mavuso Msimang, it’s “Do the right thing!”
Jennifer Ward Oppenheimer Research Grant which funds impactful research to provide solutions to some of Africa’s most pressing problems.
Elephants have killed about 60 people and injured 50 in Zimbabwe this year alone, and the need to find ways of reducing or eliminating human-animal conflict is intensifying.
Africans will be armed with facts and figures, ready to resist further “cut-and-paste” climate solutions from other global regions being imposed on the continent at the upcoming COP27 talks.
Grassland restoration has often been trampled underfoot in the rush to score carbon credits by planting trees, and undermined by the assumption that degraded grasslands are easily fixed because they are thought of as relatively young habitats.
Keeping bees, marketing local delicacies, and starting village B&Bs are just some of the ways African communities are unlocking the potential of the continent’s wildlife economy. But while pursuing these and other wildlife-centred ventures they must guard against politicians meddling in their affairs.
There is a worrying lack of consensus among different rangeland practitioners about what constitutes an optimally grazed system versus an overgrazed system.
There is a need to unlock fresh opportunities in Africa; to develop wildlife economies that conserve wildlife, ensure community well-being, and sustain ecological processes well into the future.