Strategic Science Missions (SSM)

Strategic Science Missions (SSM) develops, Implements and manages the Global Change Research Plan (GCRP) programme portfolio as well as the African Origins Programme (AOP) and the Human Social Dynamics for Development Programme (HSD). Global Change Grand Challenge (GCGC) is one of five Grand Challenges identified by the Department of Science Technology and Innovation (DSTI) in its original Ten-Year Innovation Plan (2008–2018) and constitutes the central part of SSM’s portfolio.

The GCGC supports knowledge generation and technological innovation to enable South Africa, Africa and the World to respond to global environmental change in an informed and innovative way that facilitates and promotes societal impact through empowerment and the ownership of outcomes by society. Global change refers to all aspects of change (climate change, sustainability, environment, renewable energy, biodiversity etc.) that impact the natural environments and/or society’s ability to live on the planet.

The GCGC has three main aspects:

Enhancement of scientific understanding of global change;

Development of innovations and technologies to respond to global change; and

Understanding the social context within which solutions will have to be implemented.

The DSTI, in collaboration with the NRF, developed a detailed Ten-Year (2008-2018) GCRP to enhance the scientific understanding of global change. The current iteration of the GCRP has been further refined and aligned to the new DSTI Science, Technology and Innovation White Paper, and the new Decadal Plan (2023-2033) and includes existing and new areas of focus in accordance with the priorities identified in the Decadal Plan.

The GCRP comprises 18 research themes within the following four knowledge areas:

Understanding a Changing Planet

Reducing the Human Footprint

Adapting the Way We Live

Innovation for Sustainability

As part of the continuous realignment of the GCRP, palaeoscience and geoscience programmes have also been integrated.

The GCRP follows a three-pronged approach aimed at:

Studying and understanding the changes;

Understanding the implications of these changes for decision making; and

Stimulating innovation in responding to the challenges posed by global change.

Programmes / Instruments

1. Centres for Global Change (CGC)

A need was identified for active knowledge and information brokering at a local level to better link scientific output with the on-the-ground needs of communities. The DSTI believes that establishing strategic service points, particularly in rural areas, under the stewardship of university experts to provide risk and vulnerability assessment services to local communities and other users of such information, has the potential to make significant contributions to these communities. As part of its community support and engagement responsibilities, historically disadvantaged rural-based universities that have also been targeted for the DSTI Community University Partnership Programme have been identified and will collect and broker data, information and knowledge. This will provide a unique opportunity for these institutions to enhance their capacities and capabilities in the important area of climate and environmental changes as well as assist local communities and others in responding to these changes. The DSTI, through the NRF, envisages at least five CGCs, one in each of the five rural-based universities.

2. Earth Systems Science Research Programme (ESSR)

Global change is universally recognised as a complex challenge to the well-being of societies and the environment. The development and spread of technology seeking to advance socio-economic development now affects the fundamental functioning of our planet. The consequences and implications are, however, hard to predict. The observed impacts on the global climate and the biosphere are wide-ranging and have adverse effects on socio-economic well-being. Environmental change, driven by both natural and socio-economic drivers of change, also undermines the resilience of the natural world, and reduces its capacity to support human quality of life. These impacts are often felt by the poorest in society, with emerging, developing and least developed economies most vulnerable. Global change is, therefore, a significant risk to the developing world. However, the majority of the science being done to understand it is done in the developed world, and in the Northern Hemisphere. As a result, several global change-related questions of critical importance to emerging and developing economies in the Southern Hemisphere are not adequately addressed. ESS provides an appropriate framework within which scientific work can be done to provide urgently needed data on the biophysical aspects of global change as well as an effective and exciting platform to encourage the youth to train for careers in science and technology. South Africa also has a particular set of strategic advantages as a geographical base for an Earth System Science Research Programme (ESSRP). These include:

Geographical position at the southern tip of the African continent with globally important ocean interactions and strong tropical-extratropical regional interactions that drive rainfall and temperature patterns over the country (See Figure 1).

Strong climatic gradients that underpin its ecology and agricultural economy.

Extraordinary marine and terrestrial biodiversity.

Diverse vegetation structure and faunal composition that is representative of Africa as a whole and a unique ecology of systems before mass extinctions and the rise of the Anthropocene.

An emerging economy in transitions of various kinds.

South Africa is also subject to the early impacts of global climate change that appear to interact with natural long-term climate variability that has been an historical feature impinging upon this region. Equally important is that South Africa boasts world-class research and academic institutions that have made significant contributions to the advancement of our understanding of the Earth system. Taken together, these features offer almost unparalleled opportunities for contributing to knowledge advances in ESS that are beneficial both nationally and internationally.

3. Foundation Biodiversity Information Programme (Concept Notes, Small Grant, Large Grants)

Foundational Biodiversity Information Programme (FBIP) is considered to be fundamental to all biodiversity-related disciplines and forms the basis of a value chain which ultimately delivers economic development through the bioeconomy, and ensures that ecological infrastructure that provides essential services is sustained. However, the biodiversity information required for this foundation or base is scattered and, in many cases, inaccessible to users of the data. In addition, critical gaps exist in exiting knowledge and so strategic research is required. In 2013, the then Department of Science & Technology integrated its previously supported programmes (the South African Biosystematics Initiative (SABI); the South African Biodiversity Information Facility (SABIF); and those national projects that had requested funding in the discipline by establishing the Foundational Biodiversity Information Programme (FBIP).

The FBIP is a long-term programme that enables the generation and dissemination of foundational biodiversity knowledge, and ensures that the knowledge and data generated will contribute to improved decision-making, service delivery, and the creation of new economic opportunities. The FBIP is positioned as the basis for decision-making to promote human well-being, and as a catalyst for the bio-economy to promote sustainable development. The main themes of the programme align with those of two of the DSI Grand Challenges, i.e. Global Change and the Bio-Economy. The primary focus of the programme is to generate knowledge relevant to essential biodiversity variables (EBVs) which include species occurrence, species identity, population abundance, and phylogenetic/DNA information. These datasets are critical for ecosystem mapping, monitoring and reporting on the state of biodiversity, for sustainable use of biodiversity, and for understanding and mitigation of the impacts of global change on biodiversity. The programme includes the funding of large, collaborative projects which align with knowledge needs, or which involve participants along the entire value chain from knowledge generation to application for decision-making. A number of smaller grants are also available for researchers to address strategic gaps in information not aligned with any of the larger funded projects. The funded projects generate species occurrence data, DNA barcode and phylogenetic data, descriptive information on species, and will ensure that the knowledge is coordinated, managed and disseminated through a comprehensive web-based system. Monitoring of the uptake and impact of the knowledge generated will allow the development of best practices to ensure that research outputs have an impact on global change understanding and decision-making related to biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods. These projects also include postgraduate students and emerging researchers, and the up-skilling of researchers and practitioners who use the data.

4. Global Change Grand Challenge (Belmont Forum)

The Centre for Global Change (CGC) is a flagship initiative that plays a crucial role in sustainable global change. It supports researchers across various disciplines, including natural and social scientists who conduct research and community engagement projects.

5. Global Change Social Science Research Programme (GCSSRP)

Humanity faces escalating and unprecedented challenges associated with rapid global change. Global warming, climate change, unsustainable patterns of production, consumption and distribution and the over-exploitation of natural resources threaten humanity’s survival.

In South Africa, the consequences of persistent inequality and unsustainable models of development are visible. These challenges call for fundamental transformations in the ways in which society interacts with their natural environment, so as to achieve a sustainable and socially just future for all South Africans.

The GCCSSRP (V2), seeks to address societal transformations and sustainability challenges facing South Africa. In doing so, it responds to the South African National Development Plan (NPC, 2012), the African Union 2063 Agenda (AU, 2014), and the UN 2030 Agenda (UN, 2014) which all underscore the urgency for an approach of sustainability with, in, and for societal transformations (SWIFT). These development plans, together with the recent DSTI White Paper on Science and Technology Innovation, all emphasise the need for actions that will enable society to cope better with global challenges in order to move towards a more liveable, just and ecologically sustainable future. Since no one perspective or approach can work on its own and both academic and non-academic actors need to co-produce transformative change, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches are required. The SWIFT approach aims to catalyse transformative research led by the social sciences and humanities, while also working across disciplines and knowledge domains, to enable social innovation and progress towards social-ecological justice, transformed political ecologies, and well-being for society and their natural environment.

6. Human and Social Dynamics Development (HSDD)

The Human and Social Dynamics funding instrument is theme-driven and supports new and existing research initiatives in the four thematic areas:

Science, technology and society

The dynamics of human and social behaviour

Social cohesion and identity

Societal change and the evolution of modern society

These thematic areas provide the basis for a structured research agenda to improve the understanding of social conditions and issues.