Gaathier Mahed, Nelson Mandela University The world’s freshwater supplies are at risk. This is a threat to all life on the planet. It’s therefore no surprise that water purification has turned into a multibillion dollar global business. The World Bank … Read More
World Environment Day is the biggest, most celebrated day for positive environmental action and it is held each year on June 5 to focus the world’s attention on a pressing environmental issue. This year’s focus on biodiversity highlights the important … Read More
The Gaudy Commodore has two seasonal forms so distinct they look like members of separate species. By Jeremy Dobson The Gaudy Commodore (Precis octavia) is widespread in the Afrotropical region; the local subspecies, the Eastern Gaudy Commodore (Precis octavia sesamus) … Read More
Colin Beale, University of York Catastrophic fires in the Amazon rainforest made global headlines, but since then NASA has noted that right now there are actually many more fires in parts of Africa than in Brazil. This has led some … Read More
Hannes Marais, the Wetland Scientist in Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency’s Aquatic Unit reports back on last year’s Indaba held in Limpopo. The National Wetlands Indaba (NWI) is an annual event that has been held since 1996. It started when … Read More
Mpumalanga is the only province in the country, and one of the few in the world, to celebrate its grasslands. Mpumalanga is to a large extent a grassland and wetland province and our grasslands and wetlands are two of our … Read More
We shouldn’t assume everybody knows what “biodiversity” and “wetlands” actually are, writes Glen Ramke, Endangered Wildlife Trust–Africa Crane Conservation Programme. Recently two minor surprises which were wake-up calls. Both comments came from people I had expected to know these things. … Read More
Colloquially known in English as Ice Plants, two genera from this family exist on Verloren Valei. By Gerrit van Ede Ice Plants—or vygies, as most South Africans and, apparently, many New Zealanders, would call them—form part of the scientific family … Read More
By Colin Beale, Senior Lecturer in Ecology, University of York Reprinted from The Conversation (28 August 2019) under a Creative Commons licence. Winter burning is seen as a necessity at Verloren Valei. Catastrophic fires in the Amazon rainforest made global … Read More
