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ARU researcher Ntebohiseng Sekhele guest edits journal on montane rangelands

06 April 2021 | Story Thabo Kessah | Photo Thabo Kessah

Ntebohiseng Sekhele_web read more — Ntebohiseng Sekhele is the Associate Guest Editor of the recent Special Issue of the African Journal of Range & Forage Science.

The Director of the Afromontane Research Unit (ARU), Dr Ralph Clark, and researcher, Ntebohiseng Sekhele, recently became part of a guest editorial team for the African Journal of Range & Forage Science. The Special Issue titled, ‘Montane rangelands in a changing world’, was published on 3 March 2021.

“I feel privileged to have been part of the team that assembled this special issue. The experience was daunting at first, as I had never been part of an editorial team before. However, with the support of the guest editors and the journal’s administrator, I was able to overcome the imposter-syndrome feeling and allowed myself to learn and enjoy the ride. My ‘aha’ moments were the critical comments from the reviewers on each paper. It was amazing to witness how this feedback would enhance the quality of an article,” said Ntebohiseng Sekhele, Geography lecturer on the Qwaqwa Campus.

Journal focus

This issue focused on the applied management of montane rangelands for production in Southern Africa and the broader world. Submissions could include original research, reviews, and meta-analyses. This has culminated in contributions that centred on the impact of policy on pastoral practices by montane communities, fire management regimes, cumulative effects of poor governance on rangeland degradation, and sustainable grazing systems – including in ecological infrastructure such as montane wetlands and communal rangeland.

“The process took almost a year, as the first call for abstracts was made in December 2019 and final revisions of accepted papers were concluded in November 2020. There were 32 submissions with only 12 articles and one book review of Prof Rodney Moffett’s book, A Scientific Bibliography of the Drakensberg, Maloti and Adjacent Lowlands. Of the 12 contributions, nine focus on the Maloti-Drakensberg, with papers on Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Free State,” she revealed.

Submitted papers

“All papers advocate for the sustainable management of sensitive montane systems, which ties well with my own research that makes a contribution to the limited scholarship of natural resource-related conflicts between montane communities and their adjacent protected areas, as well as climate change impacts on natural resources,” said Sekhele, a PhD candidate through the ARU’s US-SA University Staff Development Programme (USDP). The special issue allowed for a closer link between the US and SA USDP through the involvement of Dr Kryan Kunkel – Ntebohiseng’s US co-supervisor – as one of the guest editors.

News Archive

UFS venture cleans up acid mine drainage

2015-07-06

The system that puts oxygen back into the water.

Photo: Supplied

South Africa is one of the most important mining countries in the world, beginning in the 1870s. Although the mining industry has been responsible for significant development and employment, it pollutes the environment and waters sources. Through the joint effort of a well-known mining company, the University of the Free State, and the Technology Innovation Agency (UFS/TIA) SAENSE Group, a new treatment for Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) has been developed.

The system treats the major contaminants found in acid mining wastewater effectively.

The UFS remediation systems use a reservoir tank into which the AMD is pumped. The water then flows passively (without using energy) to the Barium Carbonate Dispersed Alkaline Substrate (BDAS) system. The metals and anions in the AMD react chemically with the barium carbonate and precipitate (form solids). The solids stay in the tank while the clean water is released.

The efficacy and applicability of the research was demonstrated on site in Belfast, Mpumalanga where the team constructed a pilot plant in July 2014. This patented technology has treated 1 814 400 litres of Acid Mine Drainage to date with an outflow water quality that satisfies the South African National Standards (SANS) 241:2006 & 2011 regulations for drinking water.

Rohan Posthumus from the (UFS/TIA) SAENSE Group said: “At this stage, we do not recommend that the water should be used as drinking water, but certainly it can lower water usage in mines while finding application in dust suppression of washing processes. The team would like to complete a full characterisation of the final released water. There are currently no toxic by-products formed, and even very basic filtration can make the outflow drinking water.”

Prof Esta van Heerden’s research group from the Department of Microbial, Biochemical, and Food Biotechnology has been working on AMD research for some time, but the development of the BDAS system was started in 2013 by post-doctoral student, Dr Julio Castillo, and his junior researcher, Rohan Posthumus.

The data from the BDAS system have led to two publications in peer-reviewed journals as well as a registered patent.

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