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19 March 2019 | Story Dr Cinde Greyling
Dr Mutana and Prof Mukwada
Many people enjoy spending time in the mountainous Drakensberg region. Prof Geofrey Mukwada’s involvement with the UFS Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) sparked an interest in sustainable tourism in the area. Pictured here are Dr Sarudzai Mutana with Prof Mukwada.

Not only is the Qwaqwa Campus situated in a beautiful region – its researchers also contribute to keeping the area pristine. Recent research by Prof Geofrey Mukwada and his PhD student, Dr Sarudzai Mutana, focused on indicators monitoring sustainable tourism development in the Drakensberg region.

Dr Mukwada is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography on the University of the Free State (UFS) Qwaqwa Campus. 

Our majestic mountains are fragile

Many people enjoy spending time in the mountainous Drakensberg region – either as adventure seekers exploring the many trails, or just relaxing and reconnecting with nature. Prof Mukwada’s involvement with the UFS Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) sparked an interest in sustainable tourism in the area. “Mountains are fragile but attractive environments which continue to attract tourists,” he said. “Tourism is one of the major business sectors in the Drakensberg region, with promising growth opportunities and proving to be an anchor of green economy in the future – if practiced correctly.” Unfortunately, the issue of monitoring sustainable tourism has not been widely researched in African mountains. 

According to international standards

“We specifically looked at the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC), which is an international best-practice framework to help destinations monitor and ensure that tourism is developed in a responsible manner,” Prof Mukwada explained. “South Africa’s Manual for Responsible Tourism was designed according to some of the recommendations of the GSTC. But we found that, while the tourism and hospitality operators in the Drakensberg region appreciates the need to monitor and ensure sustainable tourism in the area, there is limited use of indicators as a tool for monitoring.” 

Forward together

There are competing demands between land-use and development practices and alternatives in the region – unless the focus shifts to sustainable practices, the short-term gains could be followed by dire consequences. “We suggest an integrated monitoring of tourism development, with a pro-poor focus that involves more local community leaders. Going forward, we would like to see the industry adopt the indicators proposed in our study.”

News Archive

Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Scholars Programme provides platform for next generation scholars
2015-12-08

Dr Rudo Ngara

“The PSP provides a platform for growth, where scholars get to interact with seniors and peers, giving much needed guidance as to where you are and what the next level of your work should be.” This is how Dr Rudo Ngara —a scholar of the Vice-Chancellor’s Prestige Scholars Programme (PSP)—describes the initiative.

For young scholars, such as Dr Ngara, it can be difficult to generate sustainable funding externally for their research. These researchers are not yet established in networks and collaborations independent of their doctoral supervisors, which makes procuring funding even more challenging. This is where the PSP makes an invaluable contribution.

Through the support of PSP, Dr Ngara was recently awarded a substantial NRF (National Research Fund) grant. Dr Ngara is currently a lecturer in the University of the Free State (UFS) Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences on the Qwaqwa Campus. Her research is especially topical as it investigates how crops—particularly cereals—respond and adapt to a range of abiotic stress factors. These factors include drought, high salinity, and extremely high temperatures. Dr Ngara seeks to develop resilient crops that are better suited to produce under harsh environmental conditions. This research endeavour would have been far more complicated if not for the PSP.

Although the programme is not a funding agency, it does have an excellent record of support towards generating funding from outside sources such as Fulbright, the Commonwealth and, of course, the South African NRF.

 

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