Divisions:
SAEON
SAEON consists of six operational units and a coordinating unit or national office. The operating units are geographically dispersed environmental observatories (field stations and research sites) covering diverse landscapes, coastal areas, and off-shore marine environments in South Africa. The observatories are officially known as nodes. These nodes run and facilitate long-term research and monitoring programmes, and environmental science education programmes. They are linked by an information management system, and their activities are coordinated by the national office in Pretoria.
The overall research programme aims to distinguish between anthropogenic and natural change, and the relations between social change and ecosystem change. SAEON draws on research competencies in hydrology, water quality, eco-physiology, soil sciences, conservation biology, botany, zoology, marine sciences, limnology, climatology and meteorology, fresh water ecology, human ecology, environmental information systems, palaeo-ecology, biogeography, pollution and environmental modelling. Research facilities available at the nodes include field-based apparatus for assessing and monitoring flora, fauna, soil and the atmosphere. There are also laboratories for conducting bio-physical and chemical tests on environmental phenomena. Other facilities include hardware and software for data processing, generating data products for stakeholders, and data archiving. SAEON provides a shared spatial data portal in collaboration with the CSIR.
Activities: 2009-2010
In support of three of the NRF’s five strategic goals, SAEON plans the following activities:
Goal: Promote internationally competitive research
- Review core science plan;
- Facilitate reliable environmental research that informs decision-making for improved quality of life by acquiring, processing, archiving, supplying and using long-term environmental data; and
- Increase the number of cooperation agreements with South African universities and the Science Councils that have internationally recognised research performance credentials.
Goal: Grow a representative science and technology workforce
- Provide access to available data to researchers from Science Councils, postdoctoral fellows, academics and students locally and internationally;
- Support the Graduate Students’ Network;
- Participate in the DST internship programme; and
- Run an educator support programme and related outreach activities.
Goal: Provide cutting-edge research, technology and innovation platforms
- Coordinate and support nodes, research sites, equipment, infrastructure and information management systems;
- Archive and make accessible long-term environmental data for extrapolation and large-scale interpretation;
- Participate in the International Long- Term Ecological Research (ILTER), the Environmental Long-Term Observatories
Goal: Provide cutting-edge research, technology and innovation platforms
- Coordinate and support nodes, research sites, equipment, infrastructure and information management systems;
- Archive and make accessible long-term environmental data for extrapolation and large-scale interpretation;
- Participate in the International Long- Term Ecological Research (ILTER), the Environmental Long-Term Observatories of Southern Africa (ELTOSA), ASCLME, ACEP and SANAP programmmes and organisations;
- Facilitate networking through the stakeholder relations portfolio; and
- Provide financial support to data centres, including the South African Data Centre for Oceanography (SADCO) and the African Ocean Biogeographic Information System (AFROBIS).
Goal: Contribute to a vibrant national innovation system
- Grow capacity by attracting postdoctoral fellows;
- Contribute to the development and implementation of the Global Change Science Plan for South Africa;
- Participate in national science communication programmes; and
- Publish material on environmental change in South Africa for decision- and policymakers.
Challenges: 2009-2012
SAEON faces the following challenges in the next four years:
- Establish cohesion between fragmented environmental research activities;
- Promote Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) as opposed to small-scale, short-term studies;
- Improve cost-effectiveness by expanding the scope of research programmes over space (eco-regions and covering terrestrial, atmospheric and oceanic systems) and time (longer periods) and improving quality of data;
- Establish innovative information management systems through IT platforms; and
- Contribute to the South African Earth Observation Strategy (SAEOS).