| The work of the Chair will
directly address the following prioritised outcomes in order of contribution: - Protection and enhancement of
environmental assets and natural resources
- Vibrant, equitable, sustainable
rural communities and food security for all
- Sustainable human settlements and
improved quality of households
The Chair fits into the land use
planning, land management and sustainable development strategic thrust which is
a key area for drawing the Life Sciences disciplines together in a new way that
will unlock a stepchange in research and human capital development capacity. The Chair also forms a hub for
interaction across private and public research institutions. Synergy between
government, councils, industry and UKZN will be enhanced through improving productivity
as well as making the research knowledge base applicable to conservation and
economic development. Envisaged outcomes of the work of the Chair include: - An understanding of the factors
influencing resilience of natural systems, particularly the savanna, grassland,
forest, thicket mosaic of eastern and
northern South Africa. This will be in the context of different land-use
options, including natural systems, agricultural systems, and urbanising systems,
all of which occur adjacent to each other, creating an integrated matrix. The focus
will be on the savanna and grassland habitats; on sugarcane and forestry, and
large-scale commercial agriculture in eastern South Africa; and for the urban
context, especially in the eThekwini Municipal Region
- An understanding of threats to resilience
of systems and to the ecosystem services they offer, and how to monitor and assess these on an ongoing basis
- A local/regional model of conservation
planning in the context of hyper-biodiversity and biome mosaics at the local
scale
- An environmental management plan
for eThekwini Municipality that incorporates ecosystem services and natural
system resilience into a sustainable development plan incorporating
trajectories of global (climate) change
- A decision-making system for sustainable
economic development within eThekwini Municipality, which is transferable and scalable to other systems,
and incorporates the value of, and risks to, natural systems
- A planning framework for commercial
agricultural development (sugarcane and forestry, including potential bioenergy
production), consumptive and non-consumptive use of natural systems, and small-scale
community farming using a matrix approach
- Development of human capital and
institutional capacity across a range of education, research and advisory
bodies, which are mandated with responsibilities incorporated within the domain
of this work. This includes development of staff, and training of a large
number of postgraduate students through the programm
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