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11 March 2022 | Story NONSINDISO QWABE | Photo Supplied
Dr Ralph Clarke
Dr Ralph Clark, Director of the Afromontane Research Unit.

The African Mountain Research Foundation (AMRF), in association with the Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) of the University of the Free State (UFS), and the Global Mountain Safeguard Research Programme (GLOMOS), is hosting the first-ever Southern African Mountain Conference (SAMC2022). The theme of the conference is Southern African Mountains – their value and vulnerabilities.

The conference will bring relevant people together into one space for networking and information sharing, leading to more robust regional and international collaborations and comparative mountain studies with an increase in research activities, student capacity, researcher capacity and academic outputs that feed into policy and action. 

The conference will take place from 14 to 17 March 2022 in the majestic Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa and Lesotho. 

According to the SAMC2022 website, this is a truly Southern African regional mountain conference, targeting the African region south of the Congo rainforest (DRC) and Lake Rukwa (Tanzania), but including Madagascar, the Comoros and the Mascarenes (i.e., Angola, the Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo [southern mountains], Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, La Réunion, South Africa, southern Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe).

Dr Ralph Clark, ARU Director, said the conference would be a high-level international event with UNESCO patronage and very valuable sponsors.

“The programme will have six parallel tracks (one being dedicated to postgraduate students), with about 200 papers being delivered. In addition, we have some very high-profile special sessions, such as an MRI special session on long-term monitoring activities and associated data availability for climate change-related applications across Africa’s mountains, as well as a UNESCO special session on regional collaboration. We also have Prof Julian Bayliss, described as the man who discovered an unseen world, as the guest speaker at the closing event.”

The conference will bring together relevant people in one space for networking and information sharing, leading to more robust regional and international collaborations and comparative mountain studies, with an increase in research activities, student capacity, researcher capacity, and academic outputs that feed into policy and action.

The GLOMOS team, one of the long-term partners of the ARU, spent the week of 8 to 11 March 2022 on the Qwaqwa Campus to strengthen collaboration and pave the way for new research opportunities in Phuthaditjhaba and the Maloti-Drakensberg.
GLOMOS represents an interface between the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and Eurac Research. Postdoctoral fellow, Dr Stefano Terzi, said: “It’s very interesting for us to look at the Maloti-Drakensberg area because of its diversity. We are in the process of really exciting collaborations.”
Their projects include an understanding of the root causes of land degradation and improving decision-making processes for current water management within the context of water scarcity in the Maloti-Drakensberg.
• For more information on the speakers and the programme, click here 


News Archive

Mandela Day to be celebrated by giving back to vulnerable communities
2015-07-16

Photo: Anita Venter

The office of Community Engagement at the University of the Free State will celebrate Mandela Day in a joint partnership project with the Faculty of Medicine’s Community Service Learning Committee, supporting the launch of Lesedi Multi-purpose Community Development Village.

The Mandela Day event will be hosted by Anita Venter and Sebabatso Mofama, co-founders of the Start Living Green Change Agents. On-going community projects will assist vulnerable communities in the Free State such as youth, women and children, the disabled, and the elderly. In promoting ‘green’ living, the project promotes the use of recycled old tyres, bottles, straw bricks, and adobe bricks as building materials.

The project is supported by the University of the Free State, Clean and Green Free State Campaign, and Redisa, the Government of Flanders, Belgium. Co-sponsors are KovsieFM and St Peter’s Methodist Church.

Donations are welcome for building and hardware equipment. For more information on how to participate, contact: Dikgapane Makhetha on +27(0)76 020 9423 or Anita Venter +27(0)51 401 3731

Date: 18 July 2015
Place: 129 Vlei Avenue, Roodewal Smallholdings, Airport/Maselspoort Road
Time: 09:00 - 16:00

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