Each year staff and post-graduate students of CSAG, together with the University of Fort Hare and Walter Sisulu University travel to the Dwesa Cwebe Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape to undertake combined field exercises on local meteorology, hydrology, and the interface of society with the environment.
Objective:The WCLL is an ongoing exercise to promote multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary and integrative research that advances our knowledge of natural and human systems under conditions of environmental and social change, demonstrates the linkages and interactions between these systems, provides educational and outreach opportunities that improve the livelihood opportunities of local populations, and promotes human capacity building in the sciences in South Africa. The east coast region is ideal for this in that is has strong spatial gradients of economy, land use, culture, climate, and characterized by notable vulnerability.
The fieldwork is embedded in a larger program focused on two objectives. First, observations to extend our knowledge base that is growing through the multi-year visits and so enhance our understanding of the complex interplay between society and the environment, with special attention to points of vulnerability, impacts, and the dynamics of the interfaces. Secondly, to build capacity among the students in integrative multi-disciplinary field work, and through this build collaborative strengths between the two regional HBU’s and UCT.
See the latest report from the 2013 Student Postgraduates