News: Project funded by Department of

Environmental Affairs: Natural Resource

Management

Lead by Professor Fabricius, SRU was awarded a 3 year contract for the Natural

Resources Management Programmes Operational Support & Planning Project by

Department of Environmental Affairs. The aim of the project is the conceptual

development and implementation of an integrated strategy for alien plant

management in the Garden Route, using a collaborative adaptive stewardship

framework. The project includes funding for postgraduate research, directly

contributing to NMMU’s Vision 2020 Engagement Strategy.

Sustainability Research Unit

Highlights of 2014

Community Engagement

In total the Unit facilitated 34 engagements for

community members in the Garden Route. These

engagements include members of government,

NGOs and private sector. Ties between the SRU and

the Garden Route Initiative (GRI), Southern Cape

Landowners Initiative (SCLI), CapeNature,

SANParks, Eden District Municipality, George

Municipality, Knysna Municipality, WESSA, Future

Works, the Botanical Society and various ratepayers

associations were maintained and strengthened

during 2014 with continued engagements and active

participation in research studies.

SRU is shown around by the Rastafarian Community at the Khayalethu Nature

Projects and funding

Awards and Achievements

Andrew Jackson – Best Student Input Prize at the Second Annual Conference of the Land Rehabilitation Society of South Africa (LaRSSA).

Dr Dirk Roux (SRU) becomes Adjunct Professor at The Faculty of Science, NMMU

Maretha Alant - Best presentation at Fynbos Forum

Kate Southey - runner-up, best student presentation at Fynbos Forum

Christo Fabricius - SANParks Koedoe Award

http://www.nmmu.ac.za/sru

Excellent progress with collaborative

projects:

- Wilderness Rivers: 2013 – 2015 – R 280 000 per annum

iii(Touw River pictured left)

- Collaborative adaptive management for alien plant

iiimanagement: 2015-2017 - R 2.8 million over 3 years

-Belmont Forum: 2013 – 2016 - R 1.57 million over 4 years

- NRF Community Engagement: 2015-2017 – R 1.43 million

iiiover 3 years

- SA Programme for Ecosystems & Society (SAPECS)

- Resilience Alliance

We are grateful to our funders:

CSIR

Department of Environmental Affairs

Department Science and Technology

National Research Foundation

SANParks

Water Research Commission

Papers published:

Barendse, J. & Best, P. B. 2014. Shore-based observations of seasonality, movements, and group behavior of southern right whales in a nonnursery area on the South African west coast. Marine Mammal Science. doi:10.1111/mms.12116.

Carvalho, I., Loo, J., Collins, T., Barendse, J. Pomilla, C., Leslie, M. S. Ngouessono, S. Best, P. B. & Rosenbaum, H. C. 2014. Does temporal and spatial segregation explain the complex population

structure of humpback whales on the coast of West Africa? Marine Biology: 1-15.

Elwen, S.H., Tonachella, N., Barendse, J. Collins, T., Best, P.B, Rosenbaum, H.C., Leeney, R.H. & Gridley, T.2014. Humpback whales off Namibia: occurrence, seasonality, and a regional comparison of photographic catalogs and scarring. Journal of Mammalogy. 95: 1064-1076.

Fabricius, C., & Cundill, G. 2014. Learning in adaptive management: insights from published practice. Ecology and Society 19(1): 29. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-06263-190129.

Roux, D.J., Breen, C.M. & Carruthers, J. 2014. Reflections on the history of aquatic science in South Africa with particular reference to the period after 1994. Water SA 40: 255-262. http:// dx.doi.org/10.4314/wsa.v40i2.7

Von Maltitz, G., Gasparatos, A. & Fabricius, C. 2014. The Rise, Fall and Potential Resilience Benefits of Jatropha in Southern Africa. Sustainability 6:3615-3643. doi:10.3390/su6063615

Aneri Roos:

Influence of stakeholder

identities on benefit

sharing related to use of

the Wilderness and

Swartvlei lake systems

Kate Southey:

Approaches in the

prioritization of protected

areas: A case study in

the Western Cape of

South Africa

Abigail Crisp:

Development role

players’ knowledge of

ecological

infrastructure in Eden

District, South Africa

Ma

ste

rs T

hes

es

Co

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d

Three separate capacity development workshops/ courses were

attended by SRU members and a total of 39 academic engagements

were facilitated by SRU staff for post-grad student capacity

development.

This includes a SAPECS (Southern African Program on Ecosystem

Change and Society) Winter School for Postgraduates (pictured right).

Academic Outputs

Academic Capacity Development

Conferences presented at:

Resilience 2014 Conference, Montpellier, France

World Parks Congress 2014

Keynote address- Fynbos Forum 2014

SAWMA conference 2014

2nd Annual Land Rehabilitation Society of Southern Africa (LaRSSA)

Southern African Wildlife Management Association (SAWMA)

SRU members published 9 peer reviewed papers, 3 research reports and made 16 conference presentations at national and international symposia, including:

News: Stockholm University’s Professor Carl Folke visits

SRU

During October 2014 the Sustainability Research Unit at NMMU’s George Campus

had the pleasure of hosting world renowned sustainability scientist, Prof Carl Folke,

Founder and Science Director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm

University and the Director of the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He can be seen pictured to the left, with Prof

Dirk Roux, enjoying one of the Garden Route’s magical forests at Hoekwil near

Wilderness.