 |
 |
|
"The Atlas will play a crucial role in enhancing global change science and technology, improving predictions, informing decision making and putting in place strengthened networks to monitor global change." - Imraan Patel, Chief Director - Science and Technology for Economic Impact, DST
|
|
In his keynote address at SARVA's first Users' Workshop in June, Imraan Patel, Chief Director - Science and Technology for Economic Impact, told delegates about the Ten Year Innovation Plan that the Department of Science and Technology (DST) adopted in 2008 to propel the country towards a knowledge economy.
The Ten-Year Plan is underpinned by five grand challenges, one of which is Science and Technology for Global Change with an emphasis on climate change. The South African Risk and Vulnerability Atlas (SARVA) has its origin in this Global Change grand challenge.
Patel said that the DST was in the process of finalising one of the main pillars of the Global Change grand challenge - the Ten Year Global Change Research Plan. A summarised version of the Research Plan has just been completed following a long and inclusive consultative process with the South African science community, and with extensive inputs from other sectors of society - government, organised business, and non-governmental and community development organisations.
"The Research Plan will not only define key research issues," Patel said, "but will also identify interdisciplinary research questions. One of the objectives is to attract new scientists into the system to ensure a multi-faceted approach to global change issues."
For the implementation of the Research Plan an integrated and comprehensive Architecture has been developed clarifying ambitions, mandates, roles and responsibilities of key role players, and their inter-relationships.
An interesting feature of the Architecture is the explicit identification of focused interventions that would assist in building stronger links between science and policy. Two specific initiatives are being proposed in this regard, and the South African Risk and Vulnerability Atlas is one of the two.
Patel briefly informed delegates of the second key science-policy initiative that the DST is conceptualising together with both the science and policy communities. This is the Bureau for Global Change Science. "The bureau will draw together the best of South Africa's global change research and will act as a high-level knowledge broker between researchers and policy-makers," Patel said.
In addition to specific science-policy initiatives, a strong focus over the next decade will be on building the Global Change knowledge generation system in South Africa. Important initiatives in this regard are the centres of excellence - African Centre for Climate and Earth Systems Science (ACCESS) and Global Change for Sustainability, African Earth Observation Network programme - as well as associated networks such as the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) and the South African National Space Agency.
Patel explained that the Atlas was not a research programme per se, but an assessment and information channeling programme targeted mainly at users at the local level with relevant and appropriate information that they can use to design better policies and to assist in decision-making on how to adapt and respond to environmental pressures including the impact of climate change.
He emphasized that the DST did not regard SARVA as a short-term project, but intended to support its development over the ten-year period of the Global Change grand challenge. However, from the outset its impact will be closely monitored to evaluate how decision-making is being informed by the information contained in the Atlas.
A key gap is the availability of information in under-served areas, many of which are located in rural areas. As such the DST is investigating the feasibility of establishing Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Centres in rural universities to bridge this gap.
The Atlas will also have a human capital development component by training current and potential users in the supporting technology and application of this technology. To this end the data in the Atlas will be supported by narratives explaining how the information can be used in decision making.
"The Atlas will be geared towards making the very best science and most appropriate tools available to policy-makers," Patel said, and explained that he was referring to policy-makers in the broadest sense, from decision-makers such as landowners and farmers to high-level policy-makers in Parliament and other corridors of power.
Patel called for an Atlas Users Forum to be established and to have regular meetings to keep the vital dialogue going between the different stakeholders so that the Atlas can effectively support the needs of users. Pointing out that there were numerous opportunities in our country for innovation in the global change arena, he challenged workshop participants to "push the limits of innovation" in global change.
Worldwide, the prediction of global change impacts was still clouded by a myriad possibilities. "With the data fed into the Atlas by researchers from all the relevant disciplines, we want to get to the upper limit of these probabilities; we want to define thresholds," he explained.
In conclusion Patel predicted that the Atlas would be key in global change mitigation and adaptation strategies. "The Atlas will play a crucial role in enhancing global change science and technology, improving predictions, informing decision-making and putting in place strengthened networks to monitor global change," he said.
|
