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Goals

THE BIG ISSUES: Understanding & Preserving
The current rates of human-driven biodiversity loss constitute a more serious threat to the future of humanity. Solid scientific knowledge will be the main requirement to address the biodiversity crisis.

United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services



BIODIVERSITY

PATTERNS
Exploration in the field, museums and libraries to obtain the baseline data on species and habitats diversity and distribution

EVOLUTION
How did biodiversity arise? What factors promoted diversification? How did species and habitats respond to climatic changes in the past?

ECOLOGY
How do species interact to create ecosystems? 
Ecological networks and the interplay between top-down and bottom-up processes.



THE HUMAN FACTOR


ORIGINS, DIVERSITY AND ADAPTATIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Using a multidisciplinary approach (human population genetics, linguistics, and livestock population genetics) to infer the history that gave rise to the current patterns of human diversity in Southern Africa.

CURRENT NATURAL RESOURCE USE PATTERNS AND FUTURE NEEDS
What are the current natural resource needs at the local, regional, and national levels? 





ACTING | CONSERVATION

HABITATS & SPECIES
Management plans for protected areas
Species Actions Plans for critical cases

ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
Restoration programmes
Conservation agro-forestry

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Technical advice to Governments, NGOs and other stakeholders




ADVANCED TRAINING




BIODIVERSITY, GENETICS AND EVOLUTION

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