Applied Centre for Climate & Earth System Studies
Profile 2009
1. Introduction
Sub-Saharan Africa, with its
surrounding oceans, is endowed with a distinctive array of natural features and
earth system processes that make it a unique natural laboratory for the study
of Earth's climate, its past, present and future. Southern
Africa has also had unique successes in dealing with its
tumultuous colonial and apartheid past, and continues to seek innovative means
of dealing with its pressing social and political challenges. These are achievements that have earned the
region international recognition and re-integration into the world community. Now
that the era of globalization has taken root in the world's economy, and that
the challenges of global warming and climate change are conspiring with the
multitude of previously recognized environmental problems, southern Africa is
well positioned to play a leading role internationally in demonstrating how to
approach these global challenges on a sound and appropriate social and
scientific basis.
Global change, which encompasses global warming and the associated
global climate changes, are widely viewed as menacing threats, but they also
present splendid opportunities for drawing together the range of disciplines
needed to address many of the challenges faced in the developing world in an
integrated way. The dismantling of barriers that existed in the past, has
facilitated the opportunity for broad-based collaboration between institutions,
agencies and disciplines; collaboration that can place southern Africa in a
globally recognised position, and that can attract, train and deploy a new
generation of professionals. By this means, a combined and large scale effort
can provide the opportunity for education, and sustainable development and
contribute to the alleviation of poverty, which remains the highest priority in
Africa.
The Applied Centre for Climate and Earth System Studies (ACCESS) sits at
the nexus of these challenges and opportunities (Figure 1), and this document
scopes out the context, the goals and the activities planned over the next five
years under the auspices of ACCESS, that has been mandated as a new Centre of
Excellence (CoE) in the South African Department of Science and Technology (DST).
Discussions around the establishment of ACCESS preceded the announcement
of the DST Innovation Plan[1]and thus ACCESS
was originally envisaged as an independent initiative among related research
groups, agencies and institutions. Initial discussions, led by Professor George
Philander, (Professor of Geophysics at PrincetonUniversity and South African Research Chair
Initiative [SARCHI] professorship at the University
of Cape Town) were held between
several parties in South
Africa. A meeting held in July 2006 chaired
by the Director General (DG) of the DST, established a process which led to
several workshops, culminating in the decision to establish ACCESS as a formal
CoE in the framework of the DST Global Change Grand Challenge (GCGC). Thus, the
planning of the GCGC and its Science Plan[2], pertains to the role that
ACCESS will play in this initiative. While the scope and reach of ACCESS
depends on the evolving implementation strategy of the GCGC and its associate
governance model, this document attempts to define its envisaged role, its
structure and function and its intended outcomes in the next five years.
An interim Steering Committee has been formed comprising representatives
of the range of research groups, institutions, agencies, science councils and
government departments that have regarded themselves as stakeholders in the
programme. A Steering Committee decision was made in August 2008 that the
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), would host the programme
and that a contract would be entered into between the CSIR and the National
Research Foundation (NRF) which would govern both the operation of ACCESS as
well as determine the expected deliverables, outputs and outcomes. The duties
of CSIR, as hosts, are defined by the terms of the Agreement and the CSIR will
enter into subsidiary agreements with participating institutions, agencies and
other groups as appropriate.
Humans, in a very short time, have become geological agents capable of
interfering with the processes that make ours, a habitable planet. Global warming, and the associated climate
changes, is now a pressing environmental security issue rooted in the energy
consumption that maintains our traditional economic development and wealth creation. The debate on responding to environmental
challenges (in the developing world context) is highly politicized and
therefore demands that a sound and objective scientific basis for decision
making is provided. The major social
challenges facing southern Africa are rooted in its modern history, with the
result that despite recent political successes and the establishment of robust
and institutionalised democracy in the region, the vast majority of citizens
across southern Africa continue to endure abject
poverty. This raises a series of ethical
considerations about the response to global warming / climate change and
natural resource exploitation and therefore the appropriate development of
global, regional and local policy. It is particularly complex in the developing world such as in the southern
African region (which is replete with fossil fuel resources) given the need to
balance the sometimes competing demands of development, economic growth (and
the associated urgent requirement of increased power generation), poverty alleviation, sustainable utilization
of non-renewable and renewable resources, maintaining environmental security,
conserving our special natural heritage, the responsibility of global
citizenship and maintaining our proud scientific legacy along with the
demonstrated ability provide leadership in global negotiations.
Of scientists we expect accurate estimates of the risks that global
warming and other environmental challenges present. Of social scientists and
economists we expect recommendations concerning our appropriate response. These pressing circumstances provide the ideal
opportunity for an effort that should not only be directed at the requisite
science and technology, and policy development and implementation, but also to
implement a programme of technical training and education which will eventually
contribute to the recognition of the southern African region, its experts and
citizens, as key players on the global stage.
Scientifically, the reduction of the uncertainties in the available information
concerning future climate projections in the short and longer term global
warming time frames, is a high priority. Studies based in southern Africa can contribute significantly to this goal because
the region has enormous climatic, geological, oceanographic and biological diversity,
which provides an ideal test case for earth systems scientists. Southern Africa is in effect a huge peninsula that juts
into three remarkably different oceans which strongly influence the regional
and global climatic conditions.
Furthermore, the evolution of modern humans is rooted in southern Africa. This alone confers on us a special responsibility
as custodians of the seat of modern humankind and it thus appropriate that a
unique and globally recognised earth system initiative should take root in this
region. Thus, the earth system context provides an ideal opportunity to
investigate both natural southern African earth system dynamics, the
interaction with human systems and to engage its youth and citizens in
appreciating its uniqueness.
It is in this context, that the South African Government (through the
DST) has developed a series of S&T based programmes to deal with "Grand
Challenges" for development and innovation in the country and the region. Of
these, the GCGC is a key strategy which recognises that global change
(incorporating human mediated climate change, its impacts and associated
mitigation and adaptation strategies) is a fundamental driver of social and
environmental change and its concomitant challenges. The ever increasing demand for resources,
transformation of landscapes and ecosystems, waste and emissions impacts and
many other consequences of development, and their feedbacks to earth systems,
means that these have to be considered as an integrated whole, as opposed to
what were traditionally treated as separate earth system (natural sciences) and
human systems (social sciences) domains. Environmental security, which
incorporates the need to address local, regional and global environmental
challenges demands that an appropriate balance be found between the demands of
development (in a socially responsive way) and the maintenance of a sustainable
and supportive natural environment.
In all, southern Africa is endowed with
an envious platform on which to base an integrated innovation and training
programme that can go a long way to address the Science and Technology
(S&T) and development needs of our society.
The Applied
Centre for Climate and Earth System Studies is a "development through science"
programme which seeks to inspire optimism with the promise of a better
future. The main outcome that ACCESS seeks is to provide educational
opportunities, since education is the key to upliftment and innovation. To that
end ACCESS intends to be a centre of excellence that warrants international
recognition, and that draws the African youth to studies of our planet and its
management, and indeed, produces the decision makers of the future.
The programme, that has
been conceived with the goal of providing a novel platform on which global and
regional environmental challenges can be investigated and whose outputs are integrated
into a useful products for our decision makers. It seeks to integrate a
hitherto disparate set of earth and human system science disciplines (and a
relatively fragmented research effort), and to broaden the S&T horizon into
a whole greater than the sum of its parts. As a key element of the DST's GCGC,
ACCESS seeks to ensure that the coupled nature of the region's unique
terrestrial, oceanic and atmospheric earth system components is recognised as
an asset that should form the basis of a proud programme that produces a new
class of expertise, a series of societally relevant and applicable outputs and
a world-class research programme that contributes to improved regional and
global knowledge. ACCESS will co-operate with the other components of the GCGC,
which in turn, add further depth and integration. In particular, the
interaction with the mooted CoE on Global Change and Sustainability and the
Risk & Vulnerability Atlas project will be critical so that the two efforts
develop in concert and can be mutually inclusive of their respective goals and
outcomes.
A range of S&T agencies, academic research and teaching intuitions
and service provision agencies of government have joined forces in developing a
programme of activities that will achieve these goals. Contributions from the
natural science fields of geology, hydrology, oceanography, atmospheric sciences,
biogeochemistry and biology will be integrated with contributions from the geographical
and social science fields that deal with the impact of earth systems on society
and the impact of society on earth systems. The programme will be structured
into three basic areas, Education and Training, Operational Outcomes and
Research. ACCESS seeks to add value to existing efforts and to utilize these
for the creation of novel approaches and novel outcomes. Thus, the range of
partners in the programme will contribute the respective specialist element in
the context of the overall earth system approach.
1.3.1 Education and training: This is regarded as the
highest priority of ACCESS and aims to set in place an internationally
recognized and vital educational programme which attracts a significant cohort
of African and international students, and which will have an impact at all
levels of education - from primary school through to post-doctoral programmes
to in-service training for professionals. At the core of the programme will be
an inter-institutional Masters Degree programme in Earth System Science. In
addition outreach activities at school level and at professional level are
envisaged. These will include school programmes, technical meetings and
workshops and leadership encounters with decision makers and scientists.
1.3.2 Operational
Outcomes:
Several agencies that provide services are already in existence (such as the
South African Weather Service (SAWS)), and while these work well and are
effective, there is tremendous value in inter-agency and trans-disciplinary
collaboration in order to improve outputs (e.g. reduce uncertainty) and to
develop novel products where there are gaps. A range of tractable indices that
measure the pulse of the earth system (including society) corpus is envisaged.
These fall into three main groups: (a) routine forecasts of oceanic conditions
in the coastal zone, (b) improved seasonal and long-term weather forecasts, (c)
and projections of future climate changes.
1.3.3 Research: The research programme of
ACCESS seeks to assemble an integrated understanding of southern African earth
systems (including human systems). It is designed to approach the coupled
ocean-atmosphere-terrestrial system in the context of the entire regional
segment of the earths surface, regarding the Southern Ocean, the Agulhas and
Benguela Currents, the tropical regions of influence and the intrusion of the
southern African land mass as a whole. In addressing the question of what has driven (in paleo-climate terms) and
drives the climate cycle, what influences its variability and trajectory, it
seeks to both better understand the
influence of global scale processes on the regional system and the feedbacks
that the region imposes on the global earth systems. An additional research
component, which aims to investigate the role of society in these earth systems
will be implemented and will address both the environmental security
implications of the work, as well as seeking the best means of achieving uptake
and interaction of the outcomes.
Thus, as a whole, these three elements will address the variability,
dynamics and trends of the coupled system (from physicals to biology) will
become a focus that seeks to attract the best minds in the country and the
world to join in this effort.
The
success of ACCESS will ultimately be attributable to the contribution made by
the participating institutions, agencies and councils (IACs) as ACCESS
structures, and activities will comprise those of existing IACs, in addition to
those specifically initiated and directed by ACCESS structures and resources.
ACCESS will thus serve as an integrating platform (or umbrella) that can add
value to IACs by providing a critical mass and cross-disciplinary scope,
facilitate novelty and innovation and co-operation among the respective
participating IACs.
This section of the document gives a brief
scope of the range of IACs that have indicated their intension to participate
in ACCESS structures and activities, but ultimately the degree of integration
that will be achieved by ACCESS will depend on a number of items including the
legal constitution and mandate of participating IACs. A formal mechanism of engaging IACs will be
employed. It is also envisaged that the participating IACs will comprise South
African IACs, as well as regional, continental and international IACs as the
programme becomes established and grows.
The
current version of this section thus represents a starting point for the
programme, and it intended that the participation will grow rapidly and
broadly.
The
CSIR (www.csir.co.za) is a South African
parastatal research council comprising a range of research divisions and specialised
units. The CSIR is the administrative host institution of ACCESS and several of
the divisions have a key role in the ACCESS programme. The CSIR is funded
partially by direct parliamentary grant (30%) and partially by cost-recovery
contract research conducted for all spheres of government and the private
sector.
2.2.1
Among
these are the Meraka Institute which houses the Center for High Performance
Computing (CHPC).
2.2.2
The
satellite Application Center (SAC) is a specialised facility providing a range
of satellite data and information.
2.2.3
The
division of Natural Resources and Environment comprises a number of structured research
foci including its Ecosystem and Coast & Oceans Competence Areas. These
house research groups working in terrestrial, coastal and oceanic global change
research on a range of scales from local to global. NRE is also implementing a
strategic initiative in Climate Change and
Atmospheric Modelling which will work closely with ACCESS.
The
DWEA has recently been created from a re-arrangement of government ministries
in South Africa
(April 2009). The erstwhile Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF),
Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) have been respectively
split and reconstituted into a new dispensation. The fate of their agencies
(below) has not yet been announced at the time of writing. They are treated
here without allocation to any one of the new departments.
M&CM
is a Deputy Directorate which is mandated to implement coastal management and
marine living resource management and the research that pertains to both of
these two functions. M&CM is also the agency which nominally regulates and
implements the Living Marine Resources Act (fisheries and marine ecosystems)
and the Integrated Coastal Management Act (integrated coastal management) and
is responsible for associated monitoring, compliance and surveillance. The
agency also has a responsibility for maintaining and operating the polar and
Antarctic research stations belonging to South Africa. Research conducted by
M&CM is in the marine domain by definition, and is both operational as well
as fundamental research focussed on the structure, function and dynamics of
coastal and oceanic ecosystems (physical and biological). M&CM also owns a
fleet of vessels that are deployed in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the region
and also services the Antarctic island division. M&CM staff is public
service employees and research and operations are funded largely by the Living
Marine Resources Fund (obtained from fish quota levies and penalties).
SAWS
(http://dev2.weathersa.co.za/) is a semi-independent agency that is
legislatively constituted to provide two distinct services, namely public good
services (e.g. forecasting) which are funded by government, and commercial
services, where the user-pays principle applies. SAWS is an authoritative voice
for weather and climate forecasting in southern and South Africa,
and as a member of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), it complies
with international meteorological standards. As an Aviation Meteorological
Authority, SAWS is designated by the state to provide weather services to the
aviation industry and to fulfil the international obligations of the government
under the Convention of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
The organisation also provides maritime weather forecasting services for the
vast oceans around southern Africa extending towards Antarctica.
In addition to the operational capacity of SAWS, it also conducts a range of
research activities pertaining to the development of novel operational forecasting
techniques for short, medium, and long term weather and climate.
SANBI
(www.sanbi.org.za) was established on
2004 through the signing into force of the National Environmental Management:
Biodiversity Act which expanded the mandate of SANBI's forerunner, the National
Botanical Institute to include responsibilities relating to the full diversity
of South Africa's fauna and flora, and built on the internationally respected
programmes in conservation, research, education and visitor services developed
over the past century by the National Botanical Institute. SANBI's mission is
stated as: "To promote the sustainable use, conservation, appreciation and
enjoyment of the exceptionally rich biodiversity of South Africa, for the benefit of
all people". SANBI operates a number of national parks and gardens, curates
biological collections and executes a wide range of educational, conservation,
science and research programmes. One of these is the Climate Change and BioAdaptation programme whose
Director, Dr Guy Midgley, is also a member of the UNFCCC and is a IPCC Lead
Author.
ACCESS
has emanated from the DST (http://www.dst.gov.za/)
and as indicated in the sections above, is embedded in the DST 10-year plan for
Science and Technology (http://www.dst.gov.za/publications-policies/strategies-reports/strategies-reports)
which comprises the Grand Challenges
(including the Global Change and the Space Science and Technology Grand
Challenges). The DST research agency, the NRF (www.nrf.ac.za), is a key
role—player in ACCESS, both in terms of the management of the CoE (in its own
right) and via its own programmes:
SAEON
is a research facility established by the NRF of South Africa (http://www.saeon.ac.za/) as is a key
component of the GCGC of the Department of Science and Technology. SAEON
has established and maintains nodes
(environmental observatories, field stations or sites) linked by an
information management network to serve as research and education platforms for
long-term studies of ecosystems that will provide for incremental advances in
our understanding of ecosystems and our ability to detect, predict and react to
environmental change. The core research programme will strive to distinguish
between anthropogenic and natural change as well as to unravel the relations
between social change and ecosystem change. ACCESS is currently co-operating
with two of these nodes, the Elwandle Node (Coastal-inshore node based in
Grahamstown (SAIB)) and the Egagasini Node (Marine Offshore Systems based at
M&CM) and expects that this will grow to incorporate more of the SAEON
nodes in the future.
At
the time of drafting this document the South African National Antarctic
Programme (SANAP) which has hitherto been a programme of the now restructured
DEAT, is set to transform into an autonomous agency under the auspices of the
NRF. The exact mandate and function of this entity are yet to be promulgated,
but its role as a national facility and platform in support of ACCESS
activities is expected to be a key aspect thereof. 2.5 University
of Cape Town
(UCT)
UCT houses several SARCHI
professorships and several academic departments and research units / groups
that have a key stake in ACCESS. These include (but are not limited to) the
Departments of Oceanography, Environment and Geographic Sciences (ENGEO),
Geology, Zoology and Criminology. Three of these are:
2.5.1
Ma-re Institute:
The
Mare Institute (www.ma-re.uct.ac.za) is directed by Professor John Field, housed in the Department of
Oceanography (http://www.sea.uct.ac.za/links.php), unit is a portal to a range
of marine related research on at UCT and is also responsible for implementing
the Applied Marine Science Masters programme where the ACCESS Education
programme has its roots. The Department of Oceanography also currently houses
the Marine Remote Sensing Unit and hosts the SARCHI Chair of Professor George
Philander.
CSAG
(http://www.csag.uct.ac.za/) is a unit at the ENGEO department which hosts the
SARCHI Chair of Professor Bruce Hewitson, an IPPC Lead Author. CSAG is a dynamic group of multi-disciplinary
scientists with research projects linked to all aspects of the climate system,
from the Physics and modelling of Climate Systems through to impact and
adaptation of climate change.
The
African Security and Justice Programme (http://www.asjp.co.za/)
Directed by Professor Clifford Chearing (SARCHI Chair) is the core focus of the
Centre of Criminology. It runs an African focused and globally engaged
theoretically oriented teaching and research programme. One of the
sub-programme of the unit is focussed in Environmental Security research explores
emerging institutions of polycentric governance for mitigation of and
adaptation to climate change. Supporting and Sustaining New Economies is a
programme funded by the Embassy of Finland. The programme considers ways in
which the knowledge and capacities of poor constituencies can be mobilized in
responding to climate change. 2.6 University of Pretoria
The University of Pretoria hosts a number of departments
and units that have a stake in the ACCESS programme and other ACCESS
Stakeholders. Among these are:
2.6.1
The Department of Geography, Geoinformatics &
Meteorology (GGM):
The
Department of GGM (http://www.up.ac.za/ggm)
whose Head of Department, Professor Hannes Rautenbach is a leading climate
system and modelling expert with a long term research programme focussed on
short, medium and long term climate and meteorological weather forecasting.
2.6.2
Centre
for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa
(CEEPA):
CEEPA
is located within the Department of Agricultural economics, Extension and Rural
Development at the University
of Pretoria (http://www.ceepa.co.za/. The mission of
CEEPA is to enhance the capacity of African researchers to conduct
environmental economics and policy inquiry of relevance to African problems and
increase the awareness of environmental and economic managers and policy makers
of the role of environmental economics in sustainable development and is headed
by its Director Professor Rashid Hassan. 2.7 University
of KwaZulu Natal:
The
University of KwaZulu Natal Pretoria
hosts a number of departments and units that have a role in ACCESS, but in
particular the School
of Bioresources Engineering
and Environmental Hydrology (http://www.beeh.unp.ac.za/index.html)
is recognized nationally and internationally for its successful and dynamic
research programmes. It hosts the Emeritus Professor Roland Schulze who is an
expert on Hydrology and Climate Change impacts, and is also an IPPC lead
author.
The School of Geography, Archaeology
and Environmental Studies has an excellent reputation both locally and
internationally as one of the leaders in African scholarship on issues such
as sustainability, climate change, urban social and environmental justice,
tourism and development. We are also one of the leading experts
in rock art studies, the Stone Age, paleoarchaeology, ancient livestock
herding and ceramics. We offer undergraduate programmes in the disciplines of
Geography and Archaeology and postgraduate degrees in Physical Geography, Human
Geography, Environmental Studies, Tourism, Archaeology, Rock Art and
Palaeoarchaeology. Professor Coleen Vogel has developed a key research
focus on vulnerability to global environmental change (incorporating climate
variability and disaster risk reduction), adaptation and mitigation (compromising
the institutional arrangements that may be required for effective adaptation,
mitigation and disaster risk reduction) and the implications for coupling such
research more directly to planning and practice (including development and
disaster risk reduction). 2.9 StellenboschUniversity
The
Department of Geology, Geography and Environmental Studies as several
programmes and staff members which focus of Earth Systems research. In particular, P Prof Alakendra N
Roychoudhury is collaborating on Southern Ocean biogeochemistry and has
interests in other marine and terrestrial biogeochemical areas. It is
anticipated that other researchers, departments and entities will participate
in ACCESS activities on both the educational and research aspects. 2.10 RhodesUniversity
The Department of Zoology and Entomology at Rhodes University
http://www.ru.ac.za/zoologyandentomology/) houses two Staff members Professor
Christoher McQuaid (SARCHI Chair) and Dr William Froneman who have a research
programme focussed on the Southern Ocean and have an interest in several ACCESS
activities
The
Benguela Current Commission is a statutory inter-governmental organization whose
broad objectives of BCC are to facilitate the protection and conservation of
the BCLME while restoring and maintaining ecological integrity and ensuring
optimal and sustainable use of the resources through the implementation of
ecosystem-based management. The Commission engages with all sectors of marine
interests and services in the EEZs of the three countries. It has a mandate
from the three countries to promote integrated development, sustainable
management and protection of the environment using an ecosystem approach to
ocean governance. The BCC engages with the ACCESS consortium on a number of
activities.
The
SADC MDC (http://www.sadc.int/dmc/index.htm)
hosts he season weather forecasting system entitled Southern African Regional Outlook
Forum (SARCOF) and has engaged with ACCESS on participation in some of the
operational activities proposed.
[1]DST
Innovation Plan: http://www.dst.gov.za/publications-policies/strategies-reports(The Ten-Year Plan for
Science and Technology.pdf)
[2]http://globalchange.grandchallengeonline.org/documents/drafts-for-comment.
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