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SAEON and SANBI sign hosting agreement for new SAEON Fynbos Node
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Towards the end of March, Prof Mzamo Mangaliso, President and CEO of
the National Research Foundation (NRF), the parent body of SAEON, and
Mr Sunjit Singh, Acting CEO of the South African National Biodiversity
Institute (SANBI) signed an agreement for SANBI to host a new SAEON
Node in the Cape Floral Kingdom (CFK) at the Kirstenbosch National
Botanical Garden in Cape Town. This new node will be known as the SAEON
Fynbos Node. SAEON consulted the widely representative Fynbos Forum on
the designation of a host for the Node.
SAEON is in the process of establishing "nodes" in each of the major biomes of South Africa which are aimed at establishing long-term (30 year plus) monitoring of environmental indicators. As monitoring activities aimed at detecting and interpreting long-term environmental change in South Africa will be concentrated at the nodes, it is extremely important that the nodes are carefully selected so that they will adequately serve this purpose.
A considerable body of knowledge exists within the CFK and much of this is reliant on historical and ongoing long-term observation programmes already stretching over many decades. "The initiative by SAEON to provide a home for all relevant CFK data is widely hailed by the observation science community as important and timely," said Johan Pauw, Head of SAEON, "as much data is in danger of being lost due to individuals leaving the system, or not having been digitised or not being supported by adequate metadata."
Consultative process
On 20 August 2004 a workshop was held at Kirstenbosch to discuss the establishment of a SAEON Node in the Fynbos Biome of South Africa. During this meeting a preliminary vision was drafted along with discussions around the criteria for site selection and the kinds of data that needed to be collected.
A study was later commissioned and conducted by an environmental consultant whose brief was to consult with members of the scientific community in the western/ southern Cape in order to identify key themes for long-term studies as well as potential study sites. This study provided a description of key monitoring themes, as well as a list of 13 potential sites, stating the pros and cons attached to each site.
A Steering Committee was appointed to assist SAEON in the selection of the site(s) for such a node. In order to solicit information to inform this selection process, the Committee coordinated a consultative process with relevant experts, individuals and forums to produce a balanced proposal for the sites that has the support of the observation science community at large.
The ensuing consultative process included several briefings and report backs between the parties involved. In addition, several experts were approached with regard to some of the critical issues under consideration. A questionnaire was sent out to a sample of 192 environmental scientists and managers involved with a wide range of aspects of environment management within the CFK.
At its meeting in mid-April 2005, the SAEON Fynbos Node Steering Committee made its selection based on a number of preliminary studies it had commissioned for this purpose. The Committee subsequently proposed to the SAEON National Committee that the overall administration of the Fynbos Node should be hosted by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) working at the Kirstenbosch Research Centre.
Issues that were investigated included the availability of office space, laboratory and storage facilities, a library and sufficient parking; the IT network, technical support, internet access and server room, and the rental fee structure for office space.
The Committee further proposed that the SAEON Fynbos Node take on the following format:
- three core sites (Jonkershoek, Table Mountain National Park, including its surrounding lowlands, and Kogelberg); and
- two secondary sites (the Cedarberg Corridor and the Greater Gouritz/de Hoop Corridor).
Methods
"Each of the SAEON nodes, including the Fynbos Node, can comprise a number of sites," says Prof Albert van Jaarsveld, Chairman of the SAEON Advisory Board.
"As with the other nodes, specific partnerships and collaborative agreements will be established for the Fynbos Node. Participating in a SAEON Node will provide any partner institution, such as SANBI as the host organisation of the Fynbos Node, with full access to the entire SAEON system, including its education outreach framework and information-sharing facilities."
The following information was solicited from the management authority responsible for the major protected area(s) within each proposed site:
- Its geographical location (e.g. name, size, boundaries, altitudinal range, range of ecosystem types present, proclaimed status of any protected areas within the area, range of land-use types in the area)
- Facilities (e.g. accommodation, research laboratories, roads, weather stations, gauging weirs, long-term monitoring plots)
- Management authority (i.e. who is in charge of what sections of the proposed site, possibly any qualifications of this custodianship, such as how long has it been a proclaimed nature reserve, what implications the proclaimed status of the land will have for manipulative experimentation on the site/portions of the site, how secure is it [legislatively and practically in terms of potential for vandalism/ theft etc], how well staffed the local management is, whether there is a local research team/ research back-up for the site, etc)
- History of research/ monitoring on the site (i.e. what type of scientific baseline is available for the site on which SAEON could build, both in terms of the extent of current understanding of its ecological functioning and in terms of historical datasets, including size of such datasets)
- Existing monitoring programmes (i.e. what is there in the way of ongoing data collection exercises on the site which SAEON could take advantage of and build upon, what longevity is currently proposed/anticipated for such programmes. The environmental aspects that SAEON is most interested in at these sites are land cover and transformations, land use, weather, fire, invasive aliens, water - surface and ground, quantity & quality, air pollution, species populations and presence/ absence (including marine and estuarine, not only freshwater and terrestrial, where the site includes these habitats), changes in community composition, vegetation structure, carbon, and nutrients)
A brief synopsis was compiled of the characteristics of each site that would be of relevance to the SAEON National Committee in evaluating the merits of a particular site as a component of the proposed SAEON Fynbos Node.
In addition, all the people who had responded to a questionnaire survey that had been conducted among 192 potentially interested parties in the scientific and management community were approached again and asked if they wished to make any observation on this proposal from the SAEON Fynbos Node Steering Committee. The responses received were then used to improve or qualify the above site descriptions.
The issue of complimentarily between sites was also considered. This becomes particularly important if multiple sites are to be selected as in this case.
Recommendations
The task team recommended that the Node Manager of the SAEON Fynbos Node explore the potential of integrating activities with other programmes, including:
- C.A.P.E. (Cape Action for People and the Environment) - The
C.A.P.E. programme has the two secondary sites (the Cedarberg Corridor,
and the Greater Gouritz/De Hoop Corridor) as two of its three
"megareserve" focal areas. Incorporated in the latter is the Agulhas
Biodiversity Initiative (ABI) area - the first fine-scale
implementation pilot project for the C.A.P.E. programme.
The C.A.P.E. programme is in the process of developing a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework for measuring programme performance. This will include indicator sets for all aspects of the programme and will entail the collation of baseline information and ongoing tracking of outputs and impacts. Indicator selection will take cognisance of indicator sets that have been, or are being developed for other relevant national or provincial programmes and reporting initiatives to achieve the most efficient common set of linked indicators.
The precise indicators and methods of data collection have not yet been elucidated, but will be made clear over the next few months. Of the environmental aspects identified for the SAEON process to date, these will include land cover and transformations, land use, fire and invasive aliens. Participants in the C.A.P.E. programme have indicated that they would be very keen to collaborate closely with the SAEON team in the determination of indicators and M&E processes for these. - Cape Floristic Kingdom World Heritage Site (WHS) - It is important that the SAEON Fynbos node should be associated with sites that have high international standing in terms of their conservation status. It needs to be kept in mind that the areas identified as SAEON sites all contain elements of the CFK Protected Areas WHS. It is envisaged that the CFK Protected Area WHS will, in the not too distant future, be extended to include adjacent marine reserves, thus strengthening the long-term security of the nodes."
- Western Cape's State of the Environment (SoE) Reporting initiative - SAEON Fynbos Node could be the perfect platform to monitor at least some of issues identified in the Western Cape SoE since SAEON will be the official South African observation system for long-term environmental change.
- Educational programme of the University of Stellenbosch - It is one of the intentions of SAEON that its nodes should not only be used for environmental monitoring but also for research, training and environmental education. Stellenbosch University has a farm the Greater Gouritz/ De Hoop Corridor which is a coastal site about a kilometre east of the Breede River mouth.
- University of Cape Town's Institute for Plant Conservation (IPC).
- Little Karoo Study group - involving scientists from the CSIR, NMMU, SANBI and UCT (with a possible international connection with scientists at Cambridge and UC Berkely).
- SAEON Marine-Offshore Node - In the selection process an approach was used in Phase 1 that preferentially weighted sites that had the potential to cover all ecosystem types (i.e. terrestrial, freshwater, estuarine and marine). This was intentional as it became abundantly clear during the C.A.P.E. planning process in 2003-2004 that many environmental changes were linked across these major ecosystem types' boundaries, i.e. one cannot fully understand environmental changes in a particular ecosystem unless one knows what is happening in the adjacent ecosystem (e.g. marine ecosystems are influenced by estuaries, which in turn are influenced by freshwater ecosystems, which once again are influenced by what is happening in their terrestrial surroundings).
It is important to note that the five designated fynbos node sites all include (or could include by simple extension into the adjacent marine areas) all four major ecosystem types (except Jonkershoek that has only terrestrial and freshwater habitat types). Many have marine protected areas adjacent to their shoreline and include a range of different estuary types.
Node Manager
The position of Manager: SAEON Fynbos Node will be advertised in due course.
Current state of development of the SAEON Nodes
1) SAEON Ndlovu Node (savanna biome): Managed and hosted by SANParks at Phalaborwa. Current staff: Node manager, Data/GIS manager and Education outreach officer. Agreement signed and official launch function held in September 2004.
2) SAEON Elwandle Node (coastal-inshore biome): Managed and hosted by SAIAB in Grahamstown. Current staff: Node manager, PA and office manager, researcher, data scientist and technician.
3) SAEON Node for Marine-Offshore Systems: Managed by SAEON National Office and hosted by Marine and Coastal Management (DEAT) in Cape Town. Agreement signed in July 2006. Manager's position has been offered to the preferred candidate.
4) SAEON Fynbos Node: Managed and hosted by SANBI in Cape Town. Current situation as described in article.
5) SAEON Node for Grasslands, Forests and Wetlands: To be hosted in Pietermaritzburg. The preferred host has been identified and location details are being negotiated before the agreement can be drafted.
6) SAEON Node for Arid Lands: Four potential node hosts have been identified and the selection will take place in the second quarter of this year.
A number of site selection criteria were identified at the SAEON Fynbos Node workshop held at Kirstenbosch in August 2004. These eight criteria (and two subcriteria) formed the basis of the analysis aimed at identifying the optimal site or sites for the SAEON Fynbos Node:
- Be representative of Fynbos ecosystems
- Be representative of Fynbos climatic systems
- Be suitable to answer key questions (drivers of change, impacts of change, human dimensions of ecosystems)
- Should incorporate regional gradients (e.g. altitude, lowlands and uplands)
- Include a range of land use types (transformed, natural, urban)
- Have security of tenure (ownership by a statutory body or public areas would be ideal)
- Have an existing focus and/or history of research
- Have an institutional host willing to administer the site, to share data and to allow access to collaborators
- Have existing infrastructure / potential for infrastructure
- Have links with C.A.P.E. activity areas and other SAEON themes and nodes
- Be suitable for manipulative experiments
- Site accessibility
During the consultation process with a panel of experts, two additional criteria were identified:
- Representivity of fynbos climatic systems
- Accessibility of the site (to universities in particular)
