Exploring risk related to future climates through role-playing games: the African catchment game
- Rowntree, Kate M, Fraenkel, Linda A, Fox, Roddy C
- Authors: Rowntree, Kate M , Fraenkel, Linda A , Fox, Roddy C
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6671 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006807
- Description: Risk is the result of two interacting components: hazard and vulnerability. Climatic hazards are related to extrinsic factors such as drought or severe storms. Vul- nerability is the result of intrinsic factors that often arise from the socio-political- economic context. The interplay of risk and vulnerability is difficult to predict. Although computer models have been widely used to forecast climate related risk, albeit with con- siderable uncertainty, they can never capture sufficiently the vulnerability of human sys- tems to these hazards. Role-playing games can be used more realistically to simulate pos- sible outcomes of different climate change scenarios, and allow players to reflect on their significance. The authors have developed the African Catchment Game to simulate a wa- ter scarce African country. Risk can be modelled mechanistically by changing the nature of the annual rainfall input. Vulnerability can in part be modelled by changing the start- ing parameters (such as access to land and resources) and, secondly, through the unpredictable response of players to game dynamics. Players’ reflections demonstrate that through the game they become more aware of the concept of risk and the complex response of individuals and societies that determine their vulnerability to climatic hazards. This paper reflects on the potential for developing the game further as a tool for participatory learning around climate change, based on the authors’ experience of playing the game with participants from South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Rowntree, Kate M , Fraenkel, Linda A , Fox, Roddy C
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6671 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006807
- Description: Risk is the result of two interacting components: hazard and vulnerability. Climatic hazards are related to extrinsic factors such as drought or severe storms. Vul- nerability is the result of intrinsic factors that often arise from the socio-political- economic context. The interplay of risk and vulnerability is difficult to predict. Although computer models have been widely used to forecast climate related risk, albeit with con- siderable uncertainty, they can never capture sufficiently the vulnerability of human sys- tems to these hazards. Role-playing games can be used more realistically to simulate pos- sible outcomes of different climate change scenarios, and allow players to reflect on their significance. The authors have developed the African Catchment Game to simulate a wa- ter scarce African country. Risk can be modelled mechanistically by changing the nature of the annual rainfall input. Vulnerability can in part be modelled by changing the start- ing parameters (such as access to land and resources) and, secondly, through the unpredictable response of players to game dynamics. Players’ reflections demonstrate that through the game they become more aware of the concept of risk and the complex response of individuals and societies that determine their vulnerability to climatic hazards. This paper reflects on the potential for developing the game further as a tool for participatory learning around climate change, based on the authors’ experience of playing the game with participants from South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
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
Coming to terms with the "Border War" in post-apartheid South Africa
- Authors: Baines, Gary F
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6157 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007077
- Description: If you are a white, male South African between the ages of about 35 and 60 it is very likely that you donned the nutria brown uniform of the South African Defence Force (SADF). Between 1967 and 1994 approximately 300 000 young white males were conscripted by the SADF. As far as most of these conscripts were concerned, there was no option other than heeding the call-up and performing national service or diensplig. Failure to do so meant harsh penalties. The alternatives were to object on conscientious (actually religious) grounds and face a six year jail sentence, or flee the country. And the obligation did not end with national service as conscripts were assigned to citizen force or commando units that were liable for periodical call-ups for camps that might have included deployment in the “operational areas” from 1974 or tours of duty in the black townships from 1984. Those - like myself - belonging to this national service generation were part-time soldiers for much of their adult lives. Most served willingly, some with patriotic fervour. Others did so reluctantly and with little enthusiasm.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Baines, Gary F
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6157 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007077
- Description: If you are a white, male South African between the ages of about 35 and 60 it is very likely that you donned the nutria brown uniform of the South African Defence Force (SADF). Between 1967 and 1994 approximately 300 000 young white males were conscripted by the SADF. As far as most of these conscripts were concerned, there was no option other than heeding the call-up and performing national service or diensplig. Failure to do so meant harsh penalties. The alternatives were to object on conscientious (actually religious) grounds and face a six year jail sentence, or flee the country. And the obligation did not end with national service as conscripts were assigned to citizen force or commando units that were liable for periodical call-ups for camps that might have included deployment in the “operational areas” from 1974 or tours of duty in the black townships from 1984. Those - like myself - belonging to this national service generation were part-time soldiers for much of their adult lives. Most served willingly, some with patriotic fervour. Others did so reluctantly and with little enthusiasm.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
Accelerated sludge solubilisation under sulphate reducing conditions: the effect of hydrolytic enzymes on sludge floc size distribution and EPS composition
- Akhurst, P, Rose, Peter D, Whiteley, Chris G, Pletschke, Brett I
- Authors: Akhurst, P , Rose, Peter D , Whiteley, Chris G , Pletschke, Brett I
- Date: 2002
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6455 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1010430
- Description: Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are the construction materials for microbial aggregates such as biofilms, flocs and sludge, and greatly contribute to the structural integrity of sludge flocs in wastewater treatment processes. The loss of integrity of the sewage sludge floc is believed to be due to enhanced hydrolysis of important structural components such as lignin, protein and cellulose in the sludge floc matrix. The mechanism of enhanced sludge floc fracture, due to the action of enzymes hydrolysing these structural components, remains a key element in our understanding of how the floc integrity in systems utilising a sulphate reducing system is compromised. A range of relatively non-specific exogenous enzymes (ß-glucosidase, cellulase, proteases: trypsin, pronase E and chymotrypsin) were added to a sulphidogenic bioreactor- (containing both sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB) and a methanogenic bacterial system) and a (control) methanogenic bioreactor sample, and the effect of these enzymes on sludge floc size (diameter) distribution and EPS composition was investigated. Sludge samples from the bioreactors were examined under bright field and differential interference contrast light microscopy. Proteolytic and glucohydrolytic activity of the enzymes were monitored using standard enzyme assaying techniques, and Bradford, Somogyi-Nelson, and total carbohydrate assays were performed to establish the composition of the EPS (after extraction with 3% (v/v) glutaraldehyde and Sephacryl S-400 size exclusion chromatography). Sludge flocs present in the sulphidogenic environment of the sulphidogenic bioreactor were found to have smaller diameters than their counterparts present in the methanogenic bioreactor. The addition of hydrolytic (i.e. proteolytic and glycohydrolytic) enzymes resulted in an increased rate of matrix hydrolysis, leading to increased rates of floc fracture and deflocculation. The presence of ß-glucosidase, cellulase, and proteases naturally residing within the sludge floc was confirmed. We propose that the addition of commercially available enzymes may be prohibitively costly on a large scale, and that the activity of the enzymes naturally residing within the floc matrix be optimised or enhanced. As the bulk of the EPS was shown to be composed of mainly polysaccharides, we propose that by increasing the activity of the naturally occurring ß-glucosidases residing within the floc matrix, the process of deflocculation may be enhanced. As sulphide has been shown to increase the activity of this very important key enzyme, we propose that this is one of the contributing factors why sludge solubilisation is accelerated under sulphate reducing conditions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
- Authors: Akhurst, P , Rose, Peter D , Whiteley, Chris G , Pletschke, Brett I
- Date: 2002
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6455 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1010430
- Description: Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are the construction materials for microbial aggregates such as biofilms, flocs and sludge, and greatly contribute to the structural integrity of sludge flocs in wastewater treatment processes. The loss of integrity of the sewage sludge floc is believed to be due to enhanced hydrolysis of important structural components such as lignin, protein and cellulose in the sludge floc matrix. The mechanism of enhanced sludge floc fracture, due to the action of enzymes hydrolysing these structural components, remains a key element in our understanding of how the floc integrity in systems utilising a sulphate reducing system is compromised. A range of relatively non-specific exogenous enzymes (ß-glucosidase, cellulase, proteases: trypsin, pronase E and chymotrypsin) were added to a sulphidogenic bioreactor- (containing both sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB) and a methanogenic bacterial system) and a (control) methanogenic bioreactor sample, and the effect of these enzymes on sludge floc size (diameter) distribution and EPS composition was investigated. Sludge samples from the bioreactors were examined under bright field and differential interference contrast light microscopy. Proteolytic and glucohydrolytic activity of the enzymes were monitored using standard enzyme assaying techniques, and Bradford, Somogyi-Nelson, and total carbohydrate assays were performed to establish the composition of the EPS (after extraction with 3% (v/v) glutaraldehyde and Sephacryl S-400 size exclusion chromatography). Sludge flocs present in the sulphidogenic environment of the sulphidogenic bioreactor were found to have smaller diameters than their counterparts present in the methanogenic bioreactor. The addition of hydrolytic (i.e. proteolytic and glycohydrolytic) enzymes resulted in an increased rate of matrix hydrolysis, leading to increased rates of floc fracture and deflocculation. The presence of ß-glucosidase, cellulase, and proteases naturally residing within the sludge floc was confirmed. We propose that the addition of commercially available enzymes may be prohibitively costly on a large scale, and that the activity of the enzymes naturally residing within the floc matrix be optimised or enhanced. As the bulk of the EPS was shown to be composed of mainly polysaccharides, we propose that by increasing the activity of the naturally occurring ß-glucosidases residing within the floc matrix, the process of deflocculation may be enhanced. As sulphide has been shown to increase the activity of this very important key enzyme, we propose that this is one of the contributing factors why sludge solubilisation is accelerated under sulphate reducing conditions.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2002
From FidoNet to internet: the evolution of a national network
- Jacot-Guillarmod, Francois F
- Authors: Jacot-Guillarmod, Francois F
- Date: 1992
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6974 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/101
- Description: The South African academic research network, UNINET-ZA, evolved within two years from a FidoNet mail gateway that distributed email via interactive Kermit links, to a dialup uucp network, to wide area TCP/IP, and finally to full Internet connectivity. While the majority of UNINET-ZA sites are now TCP/IP connected, elements of the original gatewaying techniques are still fulfilling useful functions - for example a TCP/IP <=> FidoNet gateway, and links into non-Unix, non-TCP/IP based systems.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1992
- Authors: Jacot-Guillarmod, Francois F
- Date: 1992
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6974 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/101
- Description: The South African academic research network, UNINET-ZA, evolved within two years from a FidoNet mail gateway that distributed email via interactive Kermit links, to a dialup uucp network, to wide area TCP/IP, and finally to full Internet connectivity. While the majority of UNINET-ZA sites are now TCP/IP connected, elements of the original gatewaying techniques are still fulfilling useful functions - for example a TCP/IP <=> FidoNet gateway, and links into non-Unix, non-TCP/IP based systems.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 1992
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