The South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) is a science network of people, organisations and, most importantly observation platforms, that perform Long-Term Ecological Research ( LTER) in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

and its surrounding oceans. The SAEON is of global importance as an innovative approach in ecology to understand environmental change and to determine the impact of anthropogenic forces at multiple scales but it is a remarkably complex challenge to statistically discern between ubiquitous natural variability and exogenous forcing.Andelman SJ & Willig MR, 2004. "Networks by Design: A Revolution in Ecology". ''Science'' 305(5690):1565-1567 The SAEON constitutes a national government response to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (

Earth Summit 2002 The World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002, took place in South Africa, from 26 August to 4 September 2002. It was convened to discuss ustainable developmentorganizations, 10 years after the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. (It was the ...

) and is a component of the GEO (

Group on Earth Observations The Group on Earth Observations (GEO) coordinates international efforts to build a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). It links existing and planned Earth observation systems and supports the development of new ones in cases of p ...

). The SAEON has become the leader in environmental science and observation in South Africa, but has been criticised for taking a long time to establish, a situation which was inevitable in view of SAEON's multiple stakeholder corps. It has also been raised that the cost of replicated experimental treatments across SAEON sites will be high.

Vision

SAEON is a comprehensive, sustained, coordinated and responsive South African environmental observation network that delivers long-term reliable data for scientific research and informs decision-making; for a knowledge society and improved quality of life.Van Jaarsveld AS, Pauw JC, Mundree S, Mecenero S, Coetzee BWT & Alard GF, 2007. "South African Environmental Observation Network: vision, design and status". ''South African Journal of Science'' 103:289-294

Development path

The SAEON's development was stimulated by th
International Long-Term Ecological Research
in 1996 and promoted further by South Africa's Foundation for Research Development. This initiative led to a study tour of the USLTER and a landmark national science meeting, held together with an ILTER meeting in 1999, during which a large number of stakeholders supported the notion of a South African LTER. South African government departments met with the proponents of a South African LTER in 2001 and approved the establishment of the SAEON under the management of the National Research Foundation. The Department of Science and Technology (South Africa) funded the SAEON as of 2002. In 2004, the

Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism was a department of the government of South Africa from 1994 to 2009. Past Cabinet Ministers of Environmental Affairs and Tourism After the election of President Jacob Zuma in May 2009 the dep ...

recognised the potential role of the SAEON in

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

research in the national Climate Change Response Strategy.

Nodes and governance

The SAEON performs environmental monitoring and research via strategically located nodes. The nodes also provide research support to collaborators. Nodes are geographically distributed across South Africa to provide good coverage of

biomes A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader ...

or subsets thereof. At the start of 2011 the respective nodes were: * SAEON Ndlovu Node at

Phalaborwa Phalaborwa (translated to English as ''better than the south; phala'' means ''better than and borwa'' means ''south'') is a town in the Mopani District Municipality, Limpopo province, South Africa. It is located near the confluence of the Ga-Sela ...

, hosted by the

South African National Parks South African National Parks (SANParks) is the body responsible for managing South Africa's national parks. SANParks was formed in 1926, and currently manages 19 parks consisting of , over 3% of the total area of South Africa. Many parks offer ...

. The node focuses on the

Savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

Biome. * SAEON Elwandle Node in

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London. Makhanda is the largest town in the Makana Loc ...

, hosted by the

South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity The South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB), is involved in research, education and in applications of its knowledge and research to African fish fauna, for either economic or conservation benefit. The institute originally estab ...

. The node focuses on coastal-inshore systems. * SAEON Egagasini Node in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...

, hosted by the

Department of Environmental Affairs The Department of Environment, Forestry & Fisheries is one of the departments of the South African government. It is responsible for protecting, conserving and improving the South African environment and natural resources. It was created in 20 ...

. The node focuses on marine-offshore systems.
SAEON Fynbos Node
in

, hosted by the

South African National Biodiversity Institute The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) is an organisation established in 2004 in terms of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, No 10 of 2004, under the South African Department of Environmental Affairs ...

. The node focuses on the mediterranean Cape Floral Kingdom. * SAEON Arid Lands Node, in

Kimberley, Northern Cape Kimberley is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is located approximately 110 km east of the confluence of the Vaal River, Vaal and Orange Rivers. The city has considerable historica ...

, hosted by SANParks. The node focuses on the

Nama Karoo Nama Karoo is a xeric shrubland ecoregion located on the central plateau of South Africa and Namibia. It occupies most of the interior of the western half of South Africa and extends into the southern interior of Namibia. Climate The climate t ...

and

Succulent Karoo The Succulent Karoo is a ecoregion defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature to include regions of desert in South Africa and Namibia, and a biodiversity hotspot. The geographic area chosen by the WWF for what they call 'Succulent Karoo' does n ...

Biomes. * SAEON Grasslands-Forests-Wetlands Node, in

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu ...

, hosted by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. The node focuses on the Grassland and Forest Biomes as well as on wetlands. The SAEON is coordinated by a National Office located in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

Observation and research

The SAEON focuses on question-driven ''in situ'' monitoring to gather time-series data at multiple scales with a view to understanding environmental change guided by a Core Science Framework. An example of the role that the SAEON plays in the wider field of Earth observation is its assumption of custodianship of the Jonkershoek hydrological observation system in 2009 and the long-term preservation of the data set that spans more than seven decades.

Data and information

The SAEON developed an online information management system with spatial analytical capability to connect the distributed data holdings of nodes and external data sources.Pauw JC, 2007. Reliable Earth observation systems for science and sustainable development in Southern Africa. In: ''The Full Picture'', pp 271-273. GEO Secretariat (eds). Group on Earth Observations (GEO), Geneva. . The system, which uses open-source software and supports the visualisation of data, deals with multiple metadata standards and is being integrated with the

Global Earth Observation System of Systems The Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) was built by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) on the basis of a 10-Year Implementation Plan running from 2005 to 2015. GEOSS seeks to connect the producers of environmental data and decisi ...

. The SAEON offers open access to its own data, an essential strategy for its success.

Education and outreach

Schools and universities are beneficiaries of a programme designed to produce potential future Earth observation scientists. Monitoring projects, winter schools, training workshops, teacher support, science events and a graduate student network are some of the activities of the SAEON.

References

External links

SAEON Home Page

SAEON Fynbos Node
{{Authority control Environmental organisations based in South Africa