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Counting days to SAEON Summit
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In less than two months the environmental science fraternity will converge on the lush lawns of the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens for a two-day Summit.
The Summit aims to bring together experts to share their experiences with designing and running long-term observation and monitoring research projects.
Excitement is building up as registrations for the Summit and abstracts for platform presentations and poster presentations are piling up into our inbox.
This year marks the follow up to the first Summit and promises to surpass the achievements of the first Summit through open debate, more abstract discussions and a selection of interesting and respected speakers in the environmental sciences.
The type of research that will be discussed at the Summit is different from the conventional and more popular ecological studies and is still at developmental stages in this country, hence the need to share experiences with a view towards developing a common understanding of how best to carry long-term ecological research forward in South Africa.
The first announcement of the Summit went out in June and SAEON is currently preparing the second and last announcement due at the beginning of September. Among the groups of stakeholders who have been invited to the Summit are environmental societies, university departments and students, the media and a variety of people with a vested interest in the environment.
The Summit would, however, not attempt to address specific issues in the strictest sense of the word, but it would be about methodologies and protocols for collecting, processing, analysing, interpreting and archiving long-term data sets.
Trends and fluctuations in the natural phenomena
Though the Summit will not necessarily focus on issues of human development and stability, long-term observation and monitoring research aims to develop understanding of the trends and fluctuations in the natural phenomena on which humanity depends for resources and life-supporting systems and processes.
The data collected help humanity develop techniques or strategies for adapting to, and mitigating against adverse changes in environmental phenomena and therefore prevent adverse eventualities.
Environmental sciences cover a broad horizon, and each segment has its own issues. But for long-term ecological research, the main issue is the accelerated changes in environmental phenomena caused by human activities, known in environmental terms as anthropogenic environmental change.
So for now, it is all systems go, as the process of finalising the venue, arranging logistics for our guests and collecting and selecting outstanding abstracts is in full swing.
But most importantly, it is time to take a deep breath as the SAEON Summit plane is just about to take off.
See you at the Summit!
