News

The Plant Conservation Unit is pleased to announce the publication of an exciting new paper by several international authors and Lindsey Gillson in the journal Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. The article is titled, "Interconnected place-based social–ecological research can inform global sustainability” and was published online in December 2017. The abstract is provided but the full paper may be downloaded here.

On 22-23 November 2017, four members of the Plant Conservation Unit participated in a mini conference at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study, Stellenbosch University. The aim of the conference was to connect postgraduate students from three different fields of interest namely social sciences, anthropology and natural sciences. The mini conference provided a good opportunity for inter-disciplinary conversations and potential future collaborations, which may hopefully produce research that both conserves the biodiversity of an area while promoting sustainable livelihoods for the people living in those areas. Read the full article to learn more.

The Plant Conservation Unit is pleased to announce the publication of an exciting new paper by James MacPherson, Lindsey Gillson and Timm Hoffman in The Holocene. The article is titled, "Climatic buffering and anthropogenic degradation of a Mediterranean-type shrubland refugium at its semi-arid boundary, South Africa” and was published online in October 2017. The abstract is provided but the full paper may be downloaded here.

Sophia Klaase (1982-2017), also known as Vytjie, was a local photographer from the village of Paulshoek in Namaqualand and was well known to the Plant Conservation Unit. Under the leadership and guidance of Rick Rohde and Timm Hoffman, she produced a body of work of over 1,500 photographs which documented village life in Paulshoek over nearly two decades. Many of her photographs are currently being exhibited at Otterbein University in the USA. Read the full article to learn more.