Change is in the air: ecological trends and their drivers in South Africa

South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), the NRF and the Department of Science and Technology recently launched Change is in the air: ecological trends and their drivers in South Africa. "This brief report focuses on the contribution that this more recent work has made to understanding environmental changes better, and points to ways that could support a uniquely South African set of adaptation responses."

"The contents of this booklet extend and expand upon previous work – see The Heat is On (2001 and 2008) from species to whole ecosystems – and highlight the remarkable changes that are already occurring over large parts of South Africa, particularly in the last two to three decades. Since the 1990s, South African scientists, with international collaborators, have been studying the potential impacts of climate, atmospheric CO2 and land-use change on South Africa’s natural areas, spurred by early projections of very dire potential impacts. The results have been illuminating and, sometimes, unexpected."