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19 December 2018 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Leonie Bolleurs
Water management reseachers
Marinda Avenant, Dirk Jungman and Niels Schütze are working on a project proposal for a decision support system that will assist local authorities with sustainable water resources management. Both Dirk and Niels are from the Technical University Dresden in Germany.

Climate change has a strong effect on the water cycle and is likely to lead to a multitude of hazardous weather events such as droughts, heavy rainfall and floods in Southern Africa.

The Technical University of Dresden, in Germany, in collaboration with the Centre for Environmental Management at the University of the Free State (UFS), earlier this year received seed funding to develop a project proposal for a study on the risks of climate change.

At a recent workshop, universities (including the Central University of Technology, University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of Pretoria, Cape Peninsula University of Technology and the Namibia University of Science and Technology), Weather SA and the Global Water Partnership of Southern Africa) as well as companies from the public and private sectors and universities in Germany (Technical University Dresden, United Nations University Flores, Büro für Angewandte Hydrologie, and WISUTEC Chemnitz), collaborated to discuss the project proposal.

The proposal to obtain funding for the study will be submitted in May 2019.

 

Managing water resources

Once funding is obtained, the combined team will study a series of sites in the upper (Qwaqwa), middle (Free State Goldfields) and lower Vaal catchment areas. The aim of this three-year project is to prepare climatic, hydrological and ecological models as a basis for the development of a decision support system (DSS). This simple-to-use DSS is intended to assist local authorities with sustainable water resources management, as well as to address the risks associated with future climate change in their regions.

The study is titled: Threats of droughts and floods: investigating resilience to the multiple risks of climate change in Southern Africa and the study area was chosen for its suitability in terms of non-perenniality of rivers, residual impacts of mining, climate change, urbanisation, the poor quality of water, major modification of natural ecosystems, as well as poverty and joblessness.

According to Marinda Avenant, lecturer in the Centre for Environmental Management, increasing hazards can result in additional ecological, social and economic impacts and risks such as asset damage, yield reduction and decrease of livelihoods for the region. “We intend to produce a tool to support decision-making and risk-management by means of easily understandable guidelines to consider threats of droughts and floods under climate-change conditions of mining-contaminated, non-perennial river systems,” said Avenant.

 

Reliable forecasts

 

A web-based data platform to provide reliable forecasts of disaster risk and effective warnings of multiple hazardous weather events will also be developed to support resilient management strategies and to trigger risk reduction behaviour.

News Archive

Students get practical training in banking
2009-05-13

 
At the official announcement of the ABSA Internship Programme were, from the left: Ms Venete Klein, Executive Director: ABSA Retail Banking, Prof. Helena van Zyl, Director of the School of Management at the UFS, and Ms Christa de Bruin, Programme Leader: Internships at ABSA; back: Tebogo Mekgwe and Chantelle de Coning. Both are Honours students in Financial Economics and Investment Management at the UFS.
Photo: Stephen Collett

The Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS) has launched a unique programme that will give provide postgraduate B.Com. students with the opportunity to work at the ABSA Regional Office in Bloemfontein for three weeks and obtain practical experience on what banking entails.

“It is the first time in the history of our faculty that we are getting involved with a programme of this nature where theory and practice will meet,” said Prof. Helena van Zyl, Director of the School of Management at the UFS at the official announcement of the ABSA Internship Programme this week.

The ABSA Internship Programme was born out of the faculty’s long-standing relationship with ABSA. The programme, the brain child of Mr Deon Loots, former Regional Manager of ABSA in the Free State, offers the ten hand-picked students the opportunity to equip and empower themselves better for their future. They will be working at the ABSA Regional Office from 22 June to 10 July 2009 and will be exposed to as many focus areas of the bank as possible in order to give them a good overview of what banking entails.

“A degree, even an honours degree, is not enough. When graduates knock on an employer’s door he/she already assumes that the student will have a certain set of knowledge. We must once again look at ways to enhance our students’ practical and softer skills in order for them to compete in the labour market,” said Prof. Van Zyl.

“With this programme we want to equip and empower our students and develop their talents. In the end the student must be able to answer the question, “What makes me better than the 27 000 other students on our campus and on campuses elsewhere?” Prof. Van Zyl said.

Ms Venete Klein, Executive Director: ABSA Retail Banking and Visiting Professor at the University’s School of Management stated that it was always good to meet and engage with young talent, the leaders of tomorrow. “The students are entering the world of work at a crucial and difficult stage; a time when financial services worldwide are transformed. They have proven themselves academically. Now they have the opportunity to complement theory with work experience. With this programme they can develop into competent and compassionate professionals. I am proud that ABSA is part of this programme,” she said.

Media Release:
Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za 
13 May 2009
 

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