SAEON Summit 2010 – Benchmarking environmental change observation regimes

Dr Albert van Jaarsveld, President and CEO of the National Research Foundation delivers the welcoming address (Picture: Dirk Snyman) Dr Manuel Maass of the Mexican LTER discusses the challenges Mexico faced in building a network under restricted economic and human resources (Picture: Dirk Snyman) Delegates against the imposing backdrop of Table Mountain at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, the first botanical garden in the world to be named a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Picture: Thomas Mtontsi) Delegates enjoy the opportunity to network with national and international environmental scientists (Picture: Thomas Mtontsi)

The second SAEON Summit is now officially a thing of the past and what a fun-filled and fulfilling journey it has been.

Throughout the months, dating as far back as mid 2009, all SAEON staff members have been preoccupied with was the successful hosting of one of the most important and anticipated environmental conferences on the environmental sciences calendar.

With much aplomb and excitement, about 120 delegates registered for the 2010 Summit. On opening day, delegates converged on the Old Mutual Conference Centre at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens in Cape Town for a dose of well researched presentations and a chance to network with the who’s who of environmental observation science in the country.

The first SAEON Summit, which was hosted in Pretoria in 2006, contributed to a shared national vision for a comprehensive SAEON system that delivers reliable environmental data and knowledge. Considerable time was subsequently spent on conceptualizing a Core Science Plan, stemming from the need for SAEON and its partners to clarify its scientific approach across the spectrum of disciplines and ecosystems.

A forum for sharing experiences

The aim of a SAEON Summit, however, is to provide a forum for sharing experiences of successful design and implementation of environmental change observation regimes in different bio-geographical regions and Earth systems. The second Summit wanted to provide an overview of the ongoing work of the network at large as well as international experiences against which to benchmark SAEON’s joint efforts and approaches.

The 2010 SAEON Summit attracted delegates from near and far. Among the special delegates that made the trip down to Cape Town were environmental scientists extraordinaire Prof Bert G. Drake (United States), Prof Jonathan Silvertown (England) and Prof Manuel Maass (Mexico). The Summit also attracted big names in local environmental research such as Summit guest speakers Prof Richard Cowling, Prof Norman Owen-Smith, Prof Colin Attwood, Prof Steven Chown, Prof William Bond, Prof Jenny Day and Dr Wayne Twine.

The Summit moreover attracted the attention of the media. The Business Day newspaper carried an interesting story titled ‘The value of snooping among snoek snapshots’, which emanated from a presentation by Prof Silvertown during the opening of the Summit. Talk Radio station SA FM interviewed SAEON Managing Director Johan Pauw on the significance of the Summit and what it hopes to achieve.

The Summit took place over a period of two days during which delegates took part in presentations and discussions ranging from Coastal and Marine ecosystems to Freshwater and Terrestrial ecosystems.

SAEON wishes to thank all people who honoured Summit invitations and those who responded to the call for abstracts, including students who participated in the Poster Competition of SAEON’s Graduate Student Network