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Water quality the focus of international Summer School

01 April 2019 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Sonia Small

Water is a basic resource upon which communities rely for their health, well-being, and economic development and growth. Many countries struggle with the negative consequences of poor surface-water quality, which may threaten their food security and livelihoods.

The Centre for Environmental Management at the University of the Free State recently co-presented the German-Southern African Summer School 2019 with the Dresden University, Germany, on its Bloemfontein Campus.

Discussions at the Summer School – attended by 66 delegates from Germany and Southern Africa – mainly focused on aquatic biomonitoring and included perspectives from Germany and Southern Africa.

Questions such as ‘How to improve water quality?’ and ‘What about the impact of the catchment area, land use, and agriculture on water quality?’ were discussed.

According to Marinda Avenant, Lecturer in the Centre for Environmental Management, a two-pronged approach is often used: first, ecosystem-based biomonitoring, and second, specialised water quality and toxicity-assessment methods applied at specific sites in order to identify problems.

Presenters from academia, government authorities, and the private sector shared theoretical concepts and practical experiences of establishing aquatic biomonitoring networks in Germany, South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini (Swaziland), and Zambia.

The Summer School focused on an integrated approach, including catchment processes, hydrology, geomorphology, and land use, as well as chemical and biological monitoring.

Delegates also undertook a field trip to Mokala National Park for a practical demonstration of water-quality monitoring as part of the programme.

The Volkswagen Foundation (Germany) funded the Summer School.

News Archive

Contemporary Modes of Othering at UFS this May

2015-05-18

The Centre for Africa Studies at the UFS is hosting an interdisciplinary project on the Bloemfontein Campus from 20-22 May 2015.

The project, entitled Contemporary Modes of Othering: Its Perpetuation and Resistance, will look at different perspectives, representations, and art forms of otherness, how it is perceived, and how it is resisted.

The programme, which will run over three days, is as follows:

Wednesday 20 May at 19:00

Official Opening of Exhibition: ‘Representations of Otherness and Resistance’
Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery, Sasol Library
Opening: Prof Lucius Botes
Speaker: Ms Annali Dempsey, Curator UJ Art Gallery
Exhibition will run from 21 May to 19 June 2015

Thursday 21 May

10:00-11:00
Critical Dialogue: ‘Representations of Otherness and Resistance’
Johannes Stegmann Art Gallery (Facilitator: Prof. Gobodo-Madikizela)

11:30-13:00
Roundtable: ‘Music, Resistance, and the Residue of Race’
Odeion School of Music, Odeion Room 6

14:00-15:00
Seminar: ‘Reading the Past across Generations through the Image of the Hector Pieterson Iconic Photograph: Shaping of a New Consciousness’
Prof Gobodo-Madikizela, FGG 201

16:00-17:00
Seminar: Living Motswako, Centre for Africa Studies
President Steyn Annex Building, Committee Room (ground floor)

18:00-20:00
Africa Day Memorial Lecture ‘Youth Protests and Political Change in Africa’
Prof Alcinda Honwana, CR Swart Auditorium

Friday 22 May

10:00-11:00
Seminar: ‘Collectively Born (Un)free’, Prof. Steyn Kotze, FGG 201

11:00-11:30
Tea/Coffee Break, Scaena Foyer

11:30-12:30
Visual Presentation: ‘Linguistic Tokenism and Branding through Art in SA Advertising’
Prof Van Niekerk & Dr Conradie, Scaena Foyer

12:30-13:30
Performance: ‘Playland’
Scaena Teatre (Facilitator: Mr Willem Ellis)

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