ABSTRACT Extreme Temperature Events (ETEs), including heatwaves, warm spells, cold waves and cold spells, have disastrous impacts on human health and ecosystems. The frequency, intensity, and duration of ETEs is projected to increase due to climate change. However, very little research has been done on ETEs in South Africa, and only a few attempts have been made to identify and examine trends. Currently

ABSTRACT South Africa has periods of drought, which lead to water restrictions. Enhanced public awareness and understanding of water scarcity and drought might contribute to the sensible use of water resources. In this article the level and nature of public awareness towards water scarcity and drought in South Africa were determined using Google Trends over a period of 10 consecutive years from 1 January

ABSTRACT Although amateur birding makes important contributions towards conservation and the tourism industry, the precise motivations driving birders have not been extensively investigated. The aims of this study were to analyse birders’ highlights for birding trips within southern Africa and to establish whether local and foreign birders preferred to see rare or morphologically unusual birds, as

(2021). Commemorating three decades of the Southern African association of geomorphologists. South African Geographical Journal: Vol. 103, Geomorphology., pp. 1-6.

(2021). Publisher’s Note. South African Geographical Journal: Vol. 103, Geomorphology., pp. 64-64.

ABSTRACT Landform allometry has been a topic of inquiry since at least the 1970s. In this study, the presence of allometry is investigated for a barchan dunefield in northern Namibia. Using a combination of traditional morphometric parameters and techniques borrowed from geometric morphometrics it is shown that barchan allometry is present. This allometry is a combination of positive and negative allometry

ABSTRACT This study highlights a significant methodological and practical issue involving the use of a magnetic compass in aeolian studies in the field. Geomagnetic declination can significantly affect field measurements of wind direction from anemometers as well as measurement of the orientation of geomorphic features such as sand dunes, depending on geographic location. It is therefore surprising

ABSTRACT Landform allometry has been a topic of inquiry since at least the 1970s. In this study, the presence of allometry is investigated for a barchan dunefield in northern Namibia. Using a combination of traditional morphometric parameters and techniques borrowed from geometric morphometrics it is shown that barchan allometry is present. This allometry is a combination of positive and negative allometry

ABSTRACT Input data is one of the main sources of uncertainty in Land Use Cover Change (LUCC) modelling. Research has focussed on the sensitivity of LUCC models to the spatial resolution of Land Use Cover (LUC) maps. However, little attention has been paid to the way that spatial resolution is changed. Both the spatial resolution and the resampling method change the modelled landscape composition and

ABSTRACT Gated communities have evolved into providing unique residential offerings aimed at specific markets. Eco-estates and eco-friendly estates are examples of such niche estates which have witnessed increasing growth in their development throughout South Africa. This paper overviews the literature on the evolution of gated communities and provides a spatial articulation of the location of eco-

ABSTRACT The adoption of remotely sensed data in forest applications has grown significantly. Whereas high spatial resolution sensors have been successful in mapping and monitoring commercial forests, their cost, accessibility, and spatial coverage remain a critical challenge. Hence, it is was necessary to investigate the value of new and improved freely available sensors in forest species mapping

ABSTRACT The South African land redistribution is stalling, and frustration in both citizens and politicians has gained momentum in recent years. Among its numerous recommendations, the Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture, appointed by the presidency to ease the frustration, has recommended research to better understand the beneficiaries of land redistribution. Using a sample of 469 potential

ABSTRACT Wetlands form part of a diverse range of habitats and play an important role in the ecology and hydrological cycle but are amongst the most threatened ecological systems. It is therefore critical to understand the hydrology of wetlands, and their contributing water sources in particular, to ensure appropriate management of these systems. Land use activities not only alter the runoff characteristics

ABSTRACT The importance of Military Geography in the curricula of military academies cannot be overemphasized, because geography plays a significant role during military operations of any nature. Military Geography encompasses various social science sub-fields, among others political science, military history, military strategy and military intelligence. It should therefore be recognized as a force

ABSTRACT Implementation of climate-smart livelihood strategies in communities is central to reducing impacts of climate shocks. Although the communities are vulnerable to climate variability, the magnitude of vulnerability depends on the choice of livelihood strategies being implemented. This paper applied a realist synthesis method to evaluate peer-reviewed literature on climate-smart livelihood strategies

ABSTRACT Countries such as Latin America, Asia and Africa in the Global South are characterized by the prevalence of informal settlements, where policing is very challenging. Empirical research in an informal settlement in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) highlighted these challenges which included a lack of infrastructure and roads. Accurate geospatial data are required to timeously identify crime hotspots and

ABSTRACT South Africa experienced since 2008 high escalations in rhinoceros poaching. It is essential to protect southern Africa’s heritage by developing/adapting new research methods and techniques that can assist prosecutors to improve their successes in achieving convictions. The paper aimed to investigate the use of forensic geomorphology in the context of a poached rhino to assist in the prosecution

ABSTRACT Trend analysis for the long-term average temperature and rainfall of Ethiopia during 1901 to 2015 has been performed to understand the pattern of these important meteorological features under climate change. The rainfall characterizations viz., precipitation concentration index (PCI), seasonality index (SI), rainfall anomaly index (RAI) and departure analysis of rainfall (DAR) have been calculated

ABSTRACT In spite of their positive role, wetland ecosystems are under intense human pressure that results in their degradation and thus their ability to provide vital functions. The semi-urban community of Ga-Makanye in the Limpopo Province of South Africa is situated adjacent to a small wetland ecosystem. Because this community is poorly serviced in municipal functions such as personal and domestic

ABSTRACT This paper demonstrates the use of Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by SCANning electron microscopy (QEMSCAN®), an automated scanning microscopy technique, which combines scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), providing ultra-fast analysis of particle grains at a micron-scale resolution. We evaluate its application in aerosol studies by comparing surface

ABSTRACT Poor rural communities in Zimbabwe are increasingly becoming more reliant on the natural environment for their livelihoods. This is in direct response to the prolonged economic crisis facing the country. However, it is unclear how these livelihood strategies affect the natural environment. The purpose of this article is to identify the livelihood strategies used by people living in a rural

South Africa is crippled with high rates of crime. Examining factors that may build neighbourhood-level resilience to crime is central to reducing the poverty gap and lowering inequality particular...

Oral semiotic resources used by individuals for wayfinding purposes have not received sufficient attention in linguistic landscape (LL) studies. In a bid to contribute to this neglected area, this ...

Drought frequency is expected to increase in the coming decades due to climate change. Droughts are one of the most devastating natural disasters affecting food production, water resources and caus...

ABSTRACT As part of a special edition of the South African Geographical Journal on the centenary of geography at the University of Stellenbosch, this paper briefly documents the evolution of human geography since 1920 in the department. The paper is structured in three sections. First, a brief account is given of the contribution by an era of Piet Serton, founding professor of the department. Second

ABSTRACT This reflective paper, which introduces this special edition on a century of the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Stellenbosch University, begins by touching on two main features of the department since its inception, namely the fact that the department was founded mainly as a strong human geography department and the issue of Afrikaans as academic language. Then, brief

ABSTRACT The use of geographical information systems (GISs) for making sense of geospatial data has a long history at Stellenbosch University’s Department of Geography and Environmental Studies and has become an anchor identity of the department. As part of the department’s centennial celebrations, this article reflects on the circumstances and events that contributed to the evolution of GIS at Stellenbosch

ABSTRACT Sediment fingerprinting techniques are increasingly utilized across the globe to identify and quantify sources of sediment in catchments to assist adequate management and rehabilitation strategies. The technique generally includes classifying source groups, sampling sediment sources and sink zones, analysing tracers and applying statistical analyses to discriminate and quantify the contribution

ABSTRACT The Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Stellenbosch University is the oldest geography department in South Africa and celebrates its centenary in 2020. This paper provides insight into a range of publications that emanated from the department during that time. The presentation is periodized in three sections of review and analysis: the genesis of the department from 1920

ABSTRACT Restoration resources are usually limited and strategic information on and erosion susceptible areas are required to avoid further degradation. This study has potential in the Mzimvubu River Catchment, South Africa, where two large reservoirs are planned on the Tsitsa tributary. The Tsitsa River Catchment, however, consists of highly erodible soils with widespread gully erosion evident. It

Understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of active wildfires is critical for supporting policies and legislation related to wildfire management. The study tested the extent to which active w...

ABSTRACT Marion Island is a peak of a shield volcano located in the southern Indian Ocean. The island is strategically important for the collection of climatological data and marine and terrestrial research in a vast, oceanic region of the globe. This paper reviews the series of earth science programmes on Marion Island over the last 25 years, provides a synthesis of the research outcomes and demonstrates

ABSTRACT Cosmogenic nuclide (CN) applications offer methods to quantify rates of landscape change and of dating geomorphological deposits and surfaces. Over the past two decades, CNs have been used to determine denudation rates, constrain uplift rates and determine burial ages of sediments in different geomorphological settings across the Southern African landscape. Here, we first give an overview

ABSTRACT The Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Stellenbosch University boasts a long history of geography teaching and research. Notably, physical geography only gained traction in research only in the 1960s at Stellenbosch University and would again all but disappear from the research agenda of the department in the late 1990s and early 2000s, to be, in a sense, replaced by environmental

ABSTRACT Cyclones are some of the most devastating natural disasters that cause major losses of life and property. A few months after Cyclone Idai swept through Beira, Mozambique between 4 and 20 March 2019. An analysis is presented on the impacts of this disaster by assessing the extent of the floods. This study employed Sentinel-2 imagery and remote sensing techniques including a threshold analysis

ABSTRACT The conservation of indigenous tree species is not only significant for the natural heritage, but for conserving numerous species that are heavily dependent on these trees for survival. Remotely sensed data have been proven to be an effective tool for enumeration monitoring of vegetation resources. However, the utility of freely available new generation multispectral sensors with improved

ABSTRACT Solid waste management (SWM) is a challenge in poor urban neighbourhoods in sub-Saharan African cities. It is in this perspective that this paper examines the role of community participation in SWM in Orlando East, Johannesburg, South Africa. Using a qualitative research methodology inspired by the traditional participatory research approach, the results of this study suggest that the residents

ABSTRACT This research investigates the distribution and magnitude of vegetation loss in the Save catchment. The main objective is to map and quantify human-induced land degradation in the Save catchment, using Residual trend analysis (RESTREND) method. The investigation was done using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) NDVI time series data, and gridded precipitation datasets from

ABSTRACT The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), based on remotely sensed data, is an important tool for assessing erosion prone areas and serves as a guide towards soil conservation efforts. Besides being a crucial data source from which RUSLE parameters can be derived, remotely sensed data can also be used independently to delineate erosion features. This study aims to assess soil erosion

ABSTRACT Social Impact Assessment (SIA) is recognized as a valuable component of environmental management, yet it has been neglected internationally and in South Africa. Disaster Risk Assessment (DRA), is identified as a complimentary activity to SIA, that due to its shared focus on community wellbeing, has the potential for integration with and enhancement of SIA. The integration of SIA and DRA is

ABSTRACT Environmental problems during the post-mining phase have generally been given less attention than those during the operational phase of a mine. We reviewed the existing knowledge of the threats posed by closed and abandoned mines to natural and human environments in Namibia and identified current limitations and constraints to mine rehabilitation. The exposure of ecosystems and communities

ABSTRACT Destructive agricultural practices are some of the leading causes of environmental degradation. The adoption of voluntary landscape scale conservation initiatives, such as the South African conservancy model, offers a possible solution. This article uses the Grootvadersbosch Conservancy as an example of how the gap between agricultural productivity and landscape conservation can be bridged

ABSTRACT City and town administrators in Zimbabwe continue to push for the installation of prepaid water meters (PWMs). This is despite the residents' objections to the proposal. The merits and demerits of PWMs continue to be debated, and more empirical information will help chart a new course especially in smaller cities in poor countries. The paper adopts a qualitative research design and case study

ABSTRACT Urban greenery provide a variety of goods and services to city dwellers. A core one is amelioration of the urban heat island effect. However, the many estimates from temperate regions cannot be extrapolated to the tropics, where more empirical studies are required to guide urban planning and optimization of green infrastructure design and distribution. This study reports on the temperature

ABSTRACT The importance of considering both social and environmental impacts of infrastructure development is widely accepted. However, social impacts are often treated in subordination to environmental impacts. This paper examined whether social or environmental impacts dominate public discourse by reviewing 10 years of news coverage by the Mail and Guardian. This found that social impacts dominated

ABSTRACT Air quality is affected by the interaction between emission sources and urban planning factors such as land use. Limited empirical studies have been conducted to determine the influence of land use and population growth on air quality in South Africa. Thus, the purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between land use, population growth and air pollution focusing on black carbon

ABSTRACT Academic conferences are a regular appointment in many academic calendars worldwide. It serves several purposes, some of which are for networking, dissemination of research and adult training. For many years, the Society of South African Geographers has used the traditional conference format for their annual student and biennial academic conferences as a means of (partially) fulfiling their

(2019). Prof UJ Fairhurst –11 July 1935 to 2 July 2019. South African Geographical Journal: Vol. 101, No. 3, pp. 415-417.

(2019). Placing subnational borders in border studies. South African Geographical Journal: Vol. 101, No. 3, pp. 349-356.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to explore the challenges the South African National Defence Force faces in translating existing environmental management programmes into action. The challenge to military forces to protect the environment led the South African National Defence Force to establish a military integrated environmental management programme. This is to ensure that its daily activities

ABSTRACT With scant information available on domestic DEM quality and suitable evaluation methods, particularly in city regions, this study set out to evaluate and compare nine contemporary seamless DEM from different sources and spatial resolutions. The assessment focused on DEM accuracy, as well as determining the variation in data quality across several urban land cover types and slope classes.

ABSTRACT Pervasive border-making processes continue to produce territories and new borders within independent African states. Yet, current African border scholarship does not pay enough attention to the ongoing colonial dominance in post-independence practices in sub-national borders. This paper examines both colonial and post-independence mechanisms that support the creation and governance of the

ABSTRACT Urban agriculture is an integral aspect of the urban food system in African cities. This is particularly so in Cape Town where despite frequent droughts and harsh physical conditions the activity has thrived largely as a result of the available organisational and material support to urban gardeners. While several supporting actors (e.g. government institutions and non-governmental organisations)

ABSTRACT This paper sought to explore a connection between lifestyle migration and the emergence of gated communities in rural South Africa by examining the motivations of its participants to move to a rural gated estate. In aiming to understand the ongoing structuring and restructuring of post-apartheid residential spaces, motivations to migrate were analyzed with particular reference to discourses

ABSTRACT Satellite imagery has been widely used to delineate, map and monitor different wetland types. However, the influence of clouds and spectral confusion between wetlands and other land cover types has a negative effect on classification accuracies across nearly all methods. Most wetlands are topographic lowlands surrounded by uplands, and this study explores the possibilities of delineating wetlands

ABSTRACT This study, by applying the Levels of Conflict model, sought to investigate the manner in which human-human conflict (HHC) related to human-wildlife conflict (HWC) in Chapoto Ward in the mid-Zambezi valley, northern Zimbabwe. The focus was on three interrelated levels of conflict, namely disputes, ongoing conflictual relationships underlying disputes, and identity-level conflict. Besides the

ABSTRACT Wetland management and conservation is a priority in southern Africa, and urban wetlands are particularly vulnerable to pollution, development and environmental degradation. This study focuses on the perceptions of urban residents towards two wetlands in Harare, Zimbabwe, as a means of better evaluating their sustainability and management challenges. Questionnaires, interviews and focus groups

ABSTRACT Swaziland was affected severely by the 2015–16 El Nino drought, which severely affected agriculture and food security. Of special interest to this paper is its impact on irrigated home gardens on the Komati Downstream Development Project. This project was designed to extend irrigated sugar cane onto customary tenured Swazi Nation Land, with a secondary objective to improve food security by

ABSTRACT The debate centred on the artificial nature of colonial political bounders in Africa and their enduring legacy continues. What is not directly addressed by this literature is the parallel and, even more, destructive political-economic culture left behind by colonial rule, reified by factions of the political elite in Africa, and that appears to be on the march in several parts of the continent

ABSTRACT Mortality due to violent conflicts or political events (whether interstate, civil wars or conflicts between antagonistic groups, etc.) in countries of Africa is an issue of great concern due to the high number of victims and constant violation of human rights, which occurs daily. The participation of different types of actors, among them rebels, ethnic groups and regular troops, in these violent