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25 May 2020 | Story Dr Ralph Clark | Photo Charl Devenish
Afromontane research area in the Eastern Free State.

Africa could be called ‘the continent of mountain archipelagos’ for the unusual fact that most of Africa's mountains are isolated ‘islands’ rather than linear, continuous mountain systems such as those in Asia (e.g. the Himalayas), Europe (e.g. the Alps), and the Americas (e.g. Rockies and Andes). Even in Southern Africa, where we have the linear Great Escarpment (5 000 km long), this system is so old that it has been breached in innumerable places by erosion into a series of independent mountain blocks.

The result of this mountain disconnection is that Africa's mountains display biodiversity patterns more akin to islands than to mountains: rich, exciting, and unique, and full of very localised and interesting species. Likewise, mountain communities have established and evolved unique cultural ways of life and traditions in their particular mountains – isolated from other groups on other mountains. But in some mountains, internecine warfare and tribal conflict caused mountains to become boundaries rather than welcoming places. This was certainly the case during the Mfecane in Southern Africa, ultimately leading to the birth of Lesotho as the ‘Mountain Kingdom’. Colonialism took this to a new level, and – for most of Africa – mountains became international borders between empires, splitting ethnic groups into several nationalities and marginalising large segments of the population in these new countries. This same geopolitical situation continues today, with major implications for the sustainable management of mountain ecosystem services, natural capital, and socio-cultural sustainability in multinational contexts.

The Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) – a continental leader in African mountain research – seeks to explore these socio-ecological complexities in terms of sustainable development, providing research that can help to secure a positive future for the people, biodiversity, and goods and services provided by Africa's mountains. As part of its mission, the ARU is leading the way in encouraging a multidisciplinary community of practice that will drive a science-policy-action interface for Southern African mountains in decades to come. As virtually all of Africa's water comes from its mountains, this is a critical service to a region increasingly at risk from drought and the socio-political implications of rivers and taps running dry. 

Although the Qwaqwa Campus is the home of the ARU, the ARU is welcoming affiliations from across the UFS and beyond. Should you wish to become affiliated to the ARU, please contact the Director, Dr Ralph Clark at ClarkVR@ufs.ac.za. Visit the new ARU's website 

News Archive

Kovsie students selected for prestigious study travel programme
2013-05-15

 

Golden Key International Honour Society members, Michael van Niekerk, Siobhan Canavan, Mpoi Makhetha and Cebolenkosi Sokhela, will travel to the USA and China, meeting the best in their career fields.
Photo: Hannes Pieterse
15 May 2013


They are amongst the top 15 percent of academic achievers at the university, and have been afforded the opportunity to travel abroad and meet with leading people in their fields of study.

Kovsie students Michael van Niekerk, Siobhan Canavan, Mpoi Makhetha and Cebolenkosi Sokhela, all members of the Golden Key International Honour Society, will travel to the USA and China. This trip is part of the International Scholar Laureate Program (ISLP) to learn how their career fields are practiced in another part of the world. The students are part of a select group of outstanding university students from across the world who will be given access to people, places and global perspectives in fields such as business, engineering, medicine, nursing, diplomacy and international relations.

Michael, a fourth-year MBChB student and SRC member of our Bloemfontein Campus, and Cebolenkosi, a third-year BSc Microbiology student will visit Washington, Philadelphia and New York in the USA. As part of the medicine delegation of the programme, they will visit clinics and hospitals to see how their study fields are practiced. Michael’s trip includes a visit to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he will meet representatives of the National Institute of Health, the largest source of funding for medical research in the world. He will also visit Harvard University in Massachusetts.

Mpoi, a third-year BSc Human Molecular Biology student, also forms part of the medicine delegation but will travel to China. "We will be exploring the ancient ways of healing versus the modern medical practices, exploring the medical systems of the country and meeting doctors and professors, visiting the rural areas, and of course, touring the best parts of China,” she said.

Siobhan, a third-year Media Studies and Journalism student, is part of the diplomacy and international relations delegation who will visit Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai in China. "To me it's such an honour to be part of this programme,” she said. “It will give me the platform to not only represent who I am, but also my university and the values that the university has instilled in me. It allows me to be a part of something great that will benefit me in the end."

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