Visit the exotic birthplaces of transdisciplinarity
- Burt, Jane C, Cockburn, Jessica J, Fox, Helen E, Copteros, Athina
- Authors: Burt, Jane C , Cockburn, Jessica J , Fox, Helen E , Copteros, Athina
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68442 , vital:29256 , https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.1511.7048
- Description: Publisher version , Preface: Why a new approach to science? The world we live in is very different to the world of one hundred years ago. The world has never been so populated by humans and never before have the spe-cies ‘human’ influenced and manipulated the natural world in the way in which we do now. Academics are calling it the age of the Anthropocene. In the age of the Anthropocene we face different challenges to what hu- mans faced centuries ago. As we find ourselves in this new age we have had to not only question ‘what we know’ but also ‘how we know’ and whether the ‘how we know’ is the right kind of ‘how’ for the problems that we face today. This has led to a questioning of the way in which we generate knowledge and the way in which this knowledge is used. This critique is not aimed at all knowledge generation it is mostly a frustration that has arisen out of the physical and biological sciences with the realisation that doing good science is just not enough to bring about meaningful change in the world. Trans-disciplinary scientists and practitioners have begun this journey in search of a new kind of science - A science in service of society! This tourist trip will re- trace the few first steps of these emerging ideas so that we can understand where these new ideas have come from and how they may influence our own research. , This document was developed for a postgraduate course on Transdisciplinary research held at Rhodes University. It explores three key theoretical approaches to transdisciplinarity in relation to the question 'Why TD?'.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
- Authors: Burt, Jane C , Cockburn, Jessica J , Fox, Helen E , Copteros, Athina
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68442 , vital:29256 , https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.1511.7048
- Description: Publisher version , Preface: Why a new approach to science? The world we live in is very different to the world of one hundred years ago. The world has never been so populated by humans and never before have the spe-cies ‘human’ influenced and manipulated the natural world in the way in which we do now. Academics are calling it the age of the Anthropocene. In the age of the Anthropocene we face different challenges to what hu- mans faced centuries ago. As we find ourselves in this new age we have had to not only question ‘what we know’ but also ‘how we know’ and whether the ‘how we know’ is the right kind of ‘how’ for the problems that we face today. This has led to a questioning of the way in which we generate knowledge and the way in which this knowledge is used. This critique is not aimed at all knowledge generation it is mostly a frustration that has arisen out of the physical and biological sciences with the realisation that doing good science is just not enough to bring about meaningful change in the world. Trans-disciplinary scientists and practitioners have begun this journey in search of a new kind of science - A science in service of society! This tourist trip will re- trace the few first steps of these emerging ideas so that we can understand where these new ideas have come from and how they may influence our own research. , This document was developed for a postgraduate course on Transdisciplinary research held at Rhodes University. It explores three key theoretical approaches to transdisciplinarity in relation to the question 'Why TD?'.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2016
Integrating environmental flow requirements into a stakeholder driven catchment management process
- Rowntree, Kate M, Birkholz, Sharon A, Burt, Jane C, Fox, Helen E
- Authors: Rowntree, Kate M , Birkholz, Sharon A , Burt, Jane C , Fox, Helen E
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6670 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006804
- Description: South Africa's National Water Act (NWA no 36 of 1998) recognizes the need for environmental protection through the ecological Reserve, defined in the Act as the quantity and quality of water required to protect aquatic ecosystems in order to secure ecologically sustainable development through the constrained use of the relevant water resource. Further more the NWA stipulates that the allocation of licenses to new water users, or the granting of increased water use to established water users, can only take place once the the Reserve for the river has been determined and approved by the Minister. This means that water users' needs (beyond those required for basic human needs) take second place behind the environment. Whether or not the inclusion of the ecological Reserve in South Africa's water legislation leads to sustainable use of South Africa's water resources depends on its successful implementation. This in turn depends on the will of both the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF), the implementing agent, and the end water users who need to be convinced of the priority given to environmental needs. In this paper we look at the process of implementing the ecological Reserve in the Kat Valley in the Eastern Cape of South Africa as part of a stakeholder driven process of developing a water allocation plan for the catchment that prioritized participation by water users. The extent to which DWAF and the water users expedited or thwarted the process is examined in the light of national and international calls for local-level participation in water resource management processes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Rowntree, Kate M , Birkholz, Sharon A , Burt, Jane C , Fox, Helen E
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6670 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006804
- Description: South Africa's National Water Act (NWA no 36 of 1998) recognizes the need for environmental protection through the ecological Reserve, defined in the Act as the quantity and quality of water required to protect aquatic ecosystems in order to secure ecologically sustainable development through the constrained use of the relevant water resource. Further more the NWA stipulates that the allocation of licenses to new water users, or the granting of increased water use to established water users, can only take place once the the Reserve for the river has been determined and approved by the Minister. This means that water users' needs (beyond those required for basic human needs) take second place behind the environment. Whether or not the inclusion of the ecological Reserve in South Africa's water legislation leads to sustainable use of South Africa's water resources depends on its successful implementation. This in turn depends on the will of both the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF), the implementing agent, and the end water users who need to be convinced of the priority given to environmental needs. In this paper we look at the process of implementing the ecological Reserve in the Kat Valley in the Eastern Cape of South Africa as part of a stakeholder driven process of developing a water allocation plan for the catchment that prioritized participation by water users. The extent to which DWAF and the water users expedited or thwarted the process is examined in the light of national and international calls for local-level participation in water resource management processes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
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