The 10th annual Oppenheimer Research Conference was hosted on 1 October at the Randjesfontein Cricket Ground in Midrand. The theme for this year’s conference was ‘Advancing Conservation Consciousness’ and was focused on getting citizens involved in the protection of our society and preserving nature.
Speakers, academics, students and those passionate about the topic of protecting planet earth were at the event.
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Minister of Environment and Fisheries, Barbara Creecy delivered a keynote speech emphasising that conservation consciousness cannot be the exclusive domain of a select and privileged few. It must be a key component of our environmental literacy. “Our department and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) are exploring the concept of a Citizen’s Environmental Awareness Index based on the results of an annual independent national public environmental awareness survey,” she added.
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“The development of the index would be a first for South Africa – a country where no previous specific national surveys on the level of environmental awareness among citizens have been conducted. This includes on water, waste services and climate change awareness.” Creecy said everyone needs to understand these processes of loss of biodiversity and climate change, so people know what they can do individually and collectively to remedy the situation. “Developing an understanding of ‘conservation consciousness’ among ordinary South Africans is essential if the government is to measure how effective any of its consciousness-raising efforts have been, or will be. “What we do know already suggests that we have our work cut out for us.
The 2018 Afrobarometer survey that tried to establish whether South Africans are prepared to confront climate change found, among others, that 54 per cent of South Africans had never heard of climate change. “While the survey found that particularly rural residents and citizens without a formal education were likely to be unaware of the phenomenon, 37 per cent of people with post-secondary education had also not heard of climate change. This meant that millions of South Africans who are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change are the least informed.”
Creecy added that an additional finding was that although 53 per cent of South Africans who had heard of climate change said it was making life worse. Only about half believed it needed to be stopped and about 20 per cent thought they could do a lot to make an impact while 15 per cent of people said they could do a little to help fight it. “We want all our citizens to understand that climate change, loss of biodiversity and environmental degradation are happening now and that these phenomena are highly undesirable; that we as human beings are primarily responsible but most importantly, we can do something and we can do it now.”
Stories can translate complexities
Maxwell Gomera, of the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for United Nations (UN) Environment, delivered an address about storytelling, and how it can be used to make such important information sound appealing to people in order to steer change. Gomera added that people should reduce emissions, and that the knowledge of the alarming loss should trigger waves of moral outrage and appropriate action but many don’t understand the potential consequences. He instead wants to steer people who feel overwhelmed, and those who might even be detached from the masses of data that they are inundated with and end up being paralysed and indifferent, to act.
“There is a vast difference in the magnitude between the problem of global warming and the limit of what we can do as individuals. Sometimes it does not matter how much recycling I do as an individual it might not solve the problem, but as a collective, it would make a big dent in climate change.” Gomera concluded, “To achieve that we must translate complex ideas with stories that resonate with people. The quantitative analysis must be supplemented with human interest stories.”
Scientist praised for work
A conservation scientist has won a three-year grant worth $150 000 (about R2.2 million) thanks to her research on biodiversity. Hayley Clements’ research focus is on the Biodiversity Intactness Index for Africa, conducted with a continent-wide collaboration of biodiversity professionals. The project will then explore where and how biodiversity loss impacts human well-being, promoting understanding of where investing in nature can deliver net benefits for society. After being awarded the grant, Clements said she was thrilled to receive the award that honours the legacy of Jennifer Ward Oppenheimer. “I’m committed to harnessing this opportunity to undertake research that effects positive change towards sustainable development in Africa.”
Dr Duncan Macfadyen, who was one of the judges, said that after putting out the request for applications, broad, far and wide throughout Africa they got 164 candidates who were then cut to 12 great candidates and thereafter shortlisted to the three best candidates who debated for the Jenifer Ward Oppenheimer (JWO) Grant, and that’s how Clements was chosen. Addressing the reason why Clements’s project was the best, he added, “With urbanisation and the ever-changing world we are living in, Africa is the fastest-growing economy in the world. Obviously it is starting at a very low base in some areas but with an increase in GDP (gross domestic product) we are finding that there is going to be a larger impact on biodiversity and we do not know at this stage where the hotspots of biodiversity are throughout Africa.
“So this project ticked many boxes for us, it had an African reach, it’s connected with numerous organisations from practically every country in Africa and is going to pull together like it has never done before. All that valuable data highlight areas where we need focused research going forward. So the judges felt that it was a very, very high-profile and worthwhile project.
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Jonathan Oppenheimer also spoke a bit about how the conference came about. He explained that the conference started as a partnership with De Beers when the family was still involved, given that De Beers, across its different mining communities and they as a family across different pieces of land they had, conducted various research programmes. “What we heard during the conference is that the environment we live in is under threat, in the way we live, what we do and how we interact and consume that environment. “And what we need to do as human beings is for us to find a way to live in that environment, continue to prosper and do better, continue to create the jobs that are able to create social stability… and actually not consume the environment at a rate which means we will not have an environment to live in.”
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