 |
 |
“The Atlas will be a continuously growing, continuously updated electronic data repository on global change in South Africa.” –
Dr Rebecca Maserumule, SARVA project manager
|
 |
“The Atlas will provide a data platform from where South Africa’s world-class research can be freely accessed and used to inform policy and adaptation measures.” -
Dr Emma Archer, CSIR Principal Global Change Scientist
|
 |
|
The Atlas will include maps, images and narratives such as case studies, a glossary of terms and a document library.
|
|
As global change research reveals rising evidence of climatic and associated changes, it is becoming increasingly clear that these changes are likely to impact many sectors of South African society.
South Africa's Department of Science and Technology (DST) was quick to rise to the challenge. In its Ten Year Innovation Plan the DST identified global-change science with a focus on climate change as one of its five "grand challenges".
Fuelled by government-led and government-funded initiatives, South African scientists have gained recognition for their significant contribution to international global change research.
"South Africa has a long-standing research interest in global change," says CSIR Principal Global Change Scientist, Dr Emma Archer, "and South African research is globally acknowledged for its contribution to the climate debate."
What is needed now, according to Archer, is to translate global change science into concrete strategies and policies. Decision-makers in relevant sectors need information associated with the impact and risk of global environmental change.
This implies that risk and vulnerability need to be defined and examined in the context of global change. Raw global change data need to be analysed and reworked into practical information sets to assist policy-making in South Africa. Scientists and decision-makers at all levels of government need to start collaborating to address this critical issue that threatens our very existence on this planet.
The DST has identified a risk and vulnerability Atlas as one of the best and most practical ways to bridge the science/policy divide. Funded by the DST, a fully fledged project was launched at the beginning of 2009 to lay the foundations for the new South African Risk and Vulnerability Atlas (SARVA).
The Atlas is aimed at equipping decision-makers with information on the impact and risk associated with global change in the region. It will provide easily understood global change sensitivity and vulnerability information at regional, national, provincial and municipal levels. It will also help support national initiatives such as the National Disaster Management Framework.
"A hardcopy prototype of the Atlas will be launched in January 2010," says SARVA project manager Dr Rebecca Maserumule, "but the Atlas will be much more than that - it will be a continuously growing, continuously updated electronic data repository on global change in South Africa."
The Atlas will enable SA researchers from various disciplines to continuously update the content with new research. It will capture data related to aspects such as groundwater, surface water, forests, biodiversity, human health, crops, demographics, economics and social dimensions.
The project is managed by the CSIR, with key content and technological inputs from South African institutions and research groups.
"The Atlas will provide a platform from where South Africa's world-class research can inform world-class policy and adaptation measures," Archer explains.
|
