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07 September 2020 | Story Nitha Ramnath | Photo istock
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The Middle East and Africa are facing the highest impact on water and food security, with the potential to aggravate the existing conflict in both regions. Soaring temperatures are expected to exceed global norms, and an arid future and environmental catastrophe is looming.  Israel and South Africa are both arid countries challenged by water scarcity in the face of growing demand. Both countries are in some way water insecure and most of the water in both countries is transboundary.  There is a compelling need for leadership to provide strategic thinking on how to mitigate the impact of climate change on scarce water resources. 

Join our webinar, where a panel of international speakers will discuss the myriad challenges brought on by water scarcity and consider strategic initiatives to leverage expertise in order to improve resilience to water vulnerability.

Welcome:

Prof Heidi Hudson, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Free State

Panellists:

Dr Theo de Jager, The Southern African Agri Initiative (SAAI)

Prof Kevin Winter, University of Cape Town

Mr Oded Diste, CEO Tal-Ya Agriculture Solutions

Monther Hind, Palestinian Wastewater Engineers Group, Palestine


Moderator:

Dr Clive Lipchin, Arava Institute for Environmental Studies

Closing remarks:  Prof Hussein Solomon, AHD, Department of Political Studies and Governance, University of the Free State

Date: 10 September 2020
Time: 17:00 (SAT) 

Registration: To register for the webinar, please go to https://forms.gle/PknmhZLsvjPh91N28

The webinar can be accessed at https://zoom.us/j/94893202166

 


News Archive

An out-of-this-world experience
2015-12-14

Film premiere hosts Professor Matie Hoffman, manager of the Naval Hill Planetarium and the planetarium’s operations manager, Tina Mangope.

The Naval Hill Planetarium in Bloemfontein premiered two new short astronomy films on 4 December 2015, with marvellous cosmic visuals explaining how the earth and all the planetary formations in our galaxy and the universe were created.

The two films, aptly titled ‘Cosmic Collisions’ and ‘Journey to the Stars’, were both made to enhance people’s knowledge about the universe and the vast dynamics within it. They were donated to the Bloemfontein-based planetarium by the American Museum of Natural History in collaboration with several other US space science intuitions, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

“These two fantastic state-of-the-art films are scientifically accurate and very expansive,” said Professor Matie Hoffman of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of the Free State. Hoffman is also the planetarium’s manager.

Nestled in the bushy landscape of historic Naval Hill - also home to the iconic statue of Nelson Mandela and the Franklin Game Reserve - the Naval Hill Planetarium was opened in 2013. It is the first digital planetarium in Sub-Saharan Africa, and is situated at the old Lamont-Hussey Observatory Building, which was closed in 1972.



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