 |
|
Growing up with close connections to the farming community in the arid eastern Karoo, principal climate change specialist Dr Emma Archer spent a lot of her childhood hearing relatives and family friends talking about drought and rain.
“My parents both originally come from farming backgrounds and my father grew up on an arid sheep farm, in the eastern Karoo. On a sheep farm your grazing and livestock are really your major assets and the climate is constantly monitored. I often think farmers know a lot more about their local climatology than we do,” says Archer, research group leader of climate change at the CSIR.
With more than a decade of climate change research behind her, she finds herself now working with colleagues at the forefront of climate change science in South Africa.
Trained at the University of Cape Town and Clark University in the United States, her expertise and experience range from climate change and managed ecosystems, to climatic hazards and food security in southern Africa.
“My interest and passion have always been climate and managed ecosystems. I feel incredibly lucky to have had the chance to pursue a career in what I love,” she says.
Starting out with a BA (honours) in Environmental and Geographical Science at UCT in the 1990s, she completed her PhD in Geography at Clark University in the US as a Fulbright and NASA Earth System Science Fellow. Maintaining her strong roots with the arid Karoo, she undertook research and wrote parts of her doctoral dissertation in the little Karoo town of Nieu Bethesda, where the family has a house just up the street from Nieu Bethesda’s main tourist attraction, the Owl House.
From 2000 to 2002 she also did research as a NOAA Global & Climate Change Postdoctoral Fellow at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia University in the US.
She joined the CSIR in 2009 as principal climate change researcher after lecturing at the University of the Witwatersrand for four years. She now heads up a group of five highly-specialised climate change researchers, while at the same time incorporating the wide range of expertise available across the CSIR: “The nicest aspect of working here at the CSIR is to get the chance to work in an incredibly exciting field, with young dynamic scientists - and some … er ... older dynamic scientists as well - I really enjoy the 'ding-dongs' and the lively discussions!”
The key focus of the group’s work is currently trying to understand the consequences and feedbacks of global change to southern African socio-ecological systems and how the surrounding oceans impact on them.
“We need to understand a changing planet by first understanding the basic drivers, changes and trends of the earth system and how changes in this system is going to impact on ecosystems that support the economy and quality of life we now enjoy,” she explains.
“We are also looking at how people will have to adapt – we need scientific information to inform strategies to improve our resilience and sustainability in a variable and changing environment.”
Described as a hard worker with a slightly ‘salty’ sense of humour by her colleagues, Archer currently plays a key role in the climate change research and policy-making field in South Africa.
For young researchers and students interested in climate change studies she has the following advice: “Fortunately, there are more and more options to explore in this regard. I would recommend a solid undergraduate degree in geography, environmental studies and climatology, followed by an honours degree and postgraduate work where you specialise in the field of climate change in which you have the most interest. Fieldwork experience, management of large-scale datasets and time-series analysis, amongst other areas of skills development, are also very important. But, mostly, only do it if you have a passion for it.”
While it may be one of the most exciting places to be a researcher at the moment, Archer can also become extremely frustrated with the current level of debate in the media and general society: “My most frustrating experience, for this week at least, is almost certainly the poorly named 'Climategate' saga, and the extent to which it has been given air time in the run-up to Copenhagen, and at Copenhagen itself.
“Science is not a religion. If we start to demonstrate unquestioned faith, then we truly are a 'climate change mafia'. Our disagreements with each other are the mark of a healthy community,” she argues.
Back at work, she’s thoroughly enjoying her research at the CSIR, the level of dialogue and spirited discussions: “I think 2010 is going to be an extremely interesting year for climate change research. We now start to move forward (hopefully) on key research gaps and to translate key scientific information into sectoral and cross-sectoral strategies. These are challenging tasks, but I think, as a community, we're up to it. With some good coffee, of course!”
So, for those of you who like to talk about rain and droughts, here is a list of selected publications from Archer’s CV:
Archer, E.R.M. & Tadross, M.A. 2009. Climate change and desertification in South Africa – science and response. African Journal of Range and Forage Science 26(3): 127 – 131.
Archer, E.R.M; Conrad, J; Munch, Z; Opperman, D; Tadross, M.A; & Venter, J. 2009. Climate change and commercial agribusiness in the semi-arid northern Sandveld, South Africa. Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences 6(2): 139 - 155
Archer, E.R.M., Oettlé, N.M., Louw, R, Tadross, M.A. 2008. ‘Farming on the Edge’ in arid western South Africa: adapting to climate change in marginal environments. Geography 93(2): 98 – 107.
Archer, E.R.M., E. Mukhala, S. Walker, K. Masamvu & M.Dilley. 2007. Sustaining agricultural production and food security in southern Africa: an improved role for climate prediction? Climatic Change 83: 287 – 300.
Mambo, J. & Archer, E.R.M. 2007. An Assessment of Land Degradation in the Save Catchment of Zimbabwe. Area. 39(3): 380–391.
Usman, M., E.R.M. Archer, P. Johnston. & M.A. Tadross. 2005. A Conceptual Framework For Improving Rainfall Forecasting For Agriculture in Semi-arid and dry sub-humid Environments. Natural Hazards 34: 111 – 129.
Archer, E.R.M. 2004. Beyond the ‘climate versus grazing’ impasse: using remote sensing to investigate the effects of grazing system choice on vegetation cover in the eastern Karoo. Journal of Arid Environments 57(3): 381 – 408.
Archer, E.R.M. 2003. Identifying Underserved End-user Groups in the Provision of Climate Information. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 84(11): 1525–1532.
|
