Conference on climate change and African earth systems, Cape Town, South Africa
The Fifth Alexander von Humboldt International Conference will be held from 11 to 16 January 2009, in Cape Town, South Africa.
Under the title 'Iphakade: climate changes and African earth systems - past, present and future', the conference will be dedicated to the following themes:
- climate variability and coupled systems (regional climate systems, hemispheric and global process);
- climate change in Africa (modelling climate change and managing uncertainty, regional climate change: identifying process and response);
- African topography, ecosystems and climate variability (tectonics, geomorphology, climate and ecodynamics);
- the palaeoclimate of Africa and its surrounding oceans (terrestrial systems, oceanic systems);
- economic and social dynamics of global change (valuing Africa's natural ecosystem services, costing anthropogenic changes to Africa's ecosystem services).
In Xhosa, one of South Africa's 11 official languages, 'Iphakade' means 'observe the present and consider the past to ponder the future', which is why the organisers selected it for the title of the event.
The conference will be preceded by a workshop for students on the weekend of 10 and 11 January.For further information, please visit:
http://www.humboldt5.uct.ac.za/