If there is a dictum which sums up Mavuso Msimang, it’s “Do the right thing!”
Tipping points, landscape ecology and climate change
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.
Carbon credits trade in carbon emissions or savings and have been proposed as a way of balancing profit with combating climate change. This sounds like a win-win situation. But is it a one-size-fits all solution to global warming? The third in our Tipping Points webinar series tackled the question: “Green gold or green gremlin: Can carbon credits really work for Africa?” Speakers Professor Sally Archibald, Barney Kgope and Dorothy Naitore gave their perspectives on the matter.
Tipping Points returned this March for our second webinar in the series. The speakers, Dr Andy Cunliffe and Mthokozisi Moyo tackled the question, “How does landscape-scale research contribute to climate conversations?”