ALUMNI & DEVELOPMENT

Giving to UCT

African Climate and Development Initiative

The abundance and wealth of Southern Africa's natural resources hold exceptional opportunities: the obligation to inspire with visions of a brighter future, coupled with responsible earth stewardship. The picturesque landscape of UCT itself, poised at the foot of Table Mountain, is a constant reminder of the university's role in being a guardian of our natural world. The African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI) is a response to this call and seeks to engage with climate variability and global change from an African perspective. It aims to draw on, and coordinate the University's current resources, partnerships and intellectual capital across a wide range of disciplines. In doing so, it shares the perspective of three lenses: cutting-edge research, teaching at postgraduate level, and public awareness.

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Chair in Energy and Climate Change Policy

Climate change is the single greatest threat facing our planet and the future of humanity may well depend on the urgency and intensity of our response. The combination of environmental, economic and social challenges urgently poses the question: what mitigation actions can South Africa undertake to address climate change? In South Africa, the human, intellectual and institutional capacity for stepping up climate change policy remains severely limited, particularly in the area of energy and climate change mitigation. The aim of establishing a Chair in Energy and Climate Policy is to build on the human capacity required to continue excellent technical analysis and to extend teaching in this area to grow a critical mass of dedicated researchers. The Chair will significantly enhance the capacity for independent research in support of international negotiations and climate action at the local, national and African scale. Open inter-disciplinary and collaborative spaces for priority research will provide a focus for energy and climate policy, by notably reducing its emissions from energy use and supply. The Chair and team will develop analytical tools required to meet the challenge of climate change mitigation appropriate to a Southern and African context, and strengthen UCT's international leadership position in research and policy.

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Marine Research Institute

The value of marine life and its associated ecosystems has become a key global concern, in the light of volatile climatic conditions. Understanding this immense source of life and energy is therefore essential in our global movement towards sustainable livelihoods. UCT's Marine Research Institute (Ma-Re) is an interdisciplinary research centre championing a wide range of marine research across various departments in the university. Our position at the southernmost tip of Africa also ensures the best exposure to diverse marine ecosystems: the Indian, South Atlantic and Southern Oceans, with cool and warm currents juxtaposed. As one of UCT's first signature themes, the Marine Research Institute builds on the existing skills and resources in various marine-relevant disciplines, integrating and developing these further so as to establish the university as a hub of excellence and the premier education facility for multi-disciplinary marine research, teaching and training in Africa and the southern hemisphere.

Ma-Re's main focus is on global change, with particular attention to climate change and variability. The key research themes include atmosphere and climate, oceanography, sociology, anthropology, coastal management, ecosystem approach to fisheries, marine biodiversity, marine conservation, marine biogeochemistry, historical studies, marine biotechnology, marine geosciences, resource economics, and marine engineering. The Institute further focuses on capacity building and skills development, with a strong emphasis on postgraduate students, many of whom are supported by bursaries raised by the Institute. Ma-Re fosters interdisciplinary marine research projects, and works to form links with other bodies in the region and abroad.

Ma-Re invites you to make an investment in our oceans and the ecosystems they contain, by making a contribution towards our fundraising target of R1million per year.

Image courtesy of Claudio Velasquez Rojas.

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