Climate, Earth science centre launched

The University of the Western Cape (UWC) this week launched its new Applied Centre for Climate and Earth Systems Science, a joint venture with the National Research Foundation and the science and technology department.

Derek Hanekom, the deputy science and technology minister, gave the opening address on Monday at a two-day conference held in the UWC’s life sciences building to launch the new centre.

Professor Lee Berger (Wits University), Dr Monde Mayekiso (department of water and environmental affairs) and Dr Bob Scholes (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) were among the keynote speakers.

Luthando Tyhalibongo, the UWC spokesperson, said this week that the conference “celebrates the magnificence of Southern Africa, where the human species evolved over the past few million years. The story of our ancestors’ journey, through constantly changing climates and environments, from the world of the fossil recently discovered near Johannesburg [by Berger] to ours, culminates in the discovery that we are in a special place at a special time.”