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12 March 2024 Photo Supplied
ARU2024 Conference
SAMC2025 (scheduled 17 to 20 March 2025 at Champagne Sports Resort) will build on the highly successful First Southern African Mountain Conference (SAMC2022) held in March 2022.

On 5 March 2024, the first announcement went out for the Second Southern African Mountain Conference (SAMC2025). SAMC2025 will take place next year from 17 to 20 March at Champagne Sports Resort. The theme for the upcoming conference is: Southern African Mountains – Overcoming Boundaries and Barriers. 

This event will once again bring together academics, researchers, early career professionals, practitioners, policy makers, postgraduate students, and government officials to engage and exchange experiences, research findings, problem solving, and to foster partnerships regarding the transboundary and transdisciplinary sustainability of Southern African mountains. 

The SAMC series is conceptualised by the Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) at the University of the Free State (UFS), the African Mountain Research Foundation (AMRF), and Global Mountain Safeguard Research (GLOMOS) – a joint initiative between EURAC Research and the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security) and implemented by the Peaks Foundation.

Prof Ralph Clark, Director of the ARU, says “SAM2022 was a wonderful event that greatly encouraged regional collegiality around Southern African mountains. We hope that SAMC2025 will be even more impactful in growing our regional community of practice for a stronger transboundary agenda, and for attaining real solutions to the problems facing mountain ecosystems and mountain peoples.”

With Southern African mountains comprising those situated south of the Congo Rainforest and Lake Rukwa – including the mountainous islands of the western Indian Ocean – SAMC2025 is encouraging participation from Angola, the Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Réunion, South Africa, southern Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. 

According to the organisers, the SAMC series is purposefully multi- and trans-disciplinary, with a strong impetus to link science, policy, and practitioner realms, and thus all approaches are encouraged. A first of its kind in the region will be a Royal Mountain Indaba, bringing together customary law, mountains, and the Sustainable Development Goals, given that vast tracks of mountain-scape in Southern Africa are directly under traditional governance.  

SAMC2025 will build on the highly successful first Southern African Mountain Conference (SAMC2022) held in March 2022. This, the first of its kind in Southern Africa, attracted 259 participants from 21 countries, with 168 papers delivered and four sponsored special sessions. SAMC2025 will include plenary sessions, parallel oral paper presentation sessions, poster sessions, panel discussions, and sessions for special interest groups – with separate review tracks for abstract submissions from the science, policy, and practitioner sectors that accommodate those sectors to their best advantage. 

The following useful resources are available and can be downloaded:

1. Invitation SAMC2025.

2. Announcements and Call for Abstracts – document includes access to

  • call for abstracts with link to online submission system;
  • call for proposals for workshops and/or panel discussions; 
  • publication of selected conference papers; 
  • registration information; 
  • student and early career academics summit; 
  • important dates; 
  • venue details; 
  • information for international travellers; and 
  • information for directing enquiries. 

3. Guidelines for the submission of abstracts – document includes access to

  • presentation categories and types;
  • review of abstracts;
  • style guide for abstracts submitted for oral or poster presentations;
  • conditions; and
  • other considerations with regard to formatting, style, and technical details.
  • review of proposals;
  • style guide for proposals for workshops and/or panel discussions; and
  • conditions. 

News Archive

Live a drug free life
2009-05-18

 
Rev. Ruben Sokana

Our university strives to be a robust university in all aspects, including the well-being of its staff and students. Recently Selloane Phoofolo, Social Worker on our Qwaqwa Campus hosted a drug awareness campaign to raise awareness on the dangers of drug abuse and the importance of a healthy life style. Also included on the programme was discussion on how to equip students with the skills and support necessary to make informed decisions about their health, personal lives and social development and encourage and enable those persons who are dependent on drugs to avail of treatment with the aim of reducing dependency and improving overall health and social well being.

Speaking at this occasion were Rev. Ruben Sokana from the Anti- Drug and Alcohol Abuse Forum (Adaaf), Captain Buti John Ramoshebi and Inspector Gysbert Du Plessis from the South African Police Service, Phuthaditjhaba (Dog Unit).

Rev. Ruben addressed the students about the dangers of drug abuse. He indicated that drug abuse is a major contributor to crime, poverty, reduced productivity, unemployment, dysfunctional family life, political instability, the escalation of chronic diseases such as Aids and Tuberculosis (TB), injury and premature death.

Captain Buti John and Inspector Gysbert had a discussion about the different types of drugs and the effects thereof. Amongst others they discussed sedatives, stimulants, and LCD.

For those staff members and students who were still not sure about the dangers of drug abuse, Thabo Moloi, a recovered drug addict shared his story of the struggle with a drug addiction. He strongly advised students and staff members to live a drug-free life.

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