Common Ground: Communities, Conservation and the UBC Field School Experience in South Africa

Emerging from a century of brutal apartheid administration, and a longer history of settler colonial control, South Africa is a fascinating case study of a country struggling to invent new models of equitable conservation management. This Teaching & Learning Seminar focuses on the new UBC field school in South Africa that is an exciting addition to the Faculty of Forestry’s program of engagement in Africa. Four students who were in the inaugural cohort to go to South Africa in May 2023 offered their perspectives on the month-long program. They spoke about their direct engagement with indigenous managers of protected areas, their work with black women anti-poaching units, and resource use in the remote HaMakuya region where they stayed for a while in rural homesteads. They also discuss the extraordinary field research opportunities offered by the program. These include gathering terrestrial and remote sensing data for a long-term NASA project directed by UBC field school leaders David Bunn and Melissa McHale.
Presented on February 6, 2024
#ubc #UBCforestry #UBC #teachingandlearning