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In the context of ongoing climate change and increasing population, there is an urgent need to optimize the water consumption of surface and groundwater in agricultural production. In recent years, intensive irrigated viticulture and horticulture have faced increasing demand pressure in many water-limited areas including the Western Cape Province in South Africa. Shelterbelts of trees are often used to reduce wind speed and water demands as an eco-engineering measure directly influencing soil evaporation and crop transpiration. Objectives are (i) to evaluate the extent of impacts of wind speed from shelterbelts at canopy level in citrus orchards and vineyards (ii) to assess the wind effects at leaf level including leaf temperature and related ecophysiological performance in irrigated vineyards.
Ecosystems in southern Africa are threatened by numerous global change forces, with climate change being a major threat to the region. Many climate change impacts and environmental-based mitigation and adaptation options remain poorly researched in this globally important biodiversity hotspot. This book is a collection of chapters covering research undertaken in southern Africa by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research’s (BMBF) SPACES and SPACES II programs. SPACES II covered a wide range of global change-linked environmental issues ranging in scope from the impacts of ocean currents on global climate systems through to understanding how small-scale farmers may best adapt to the impacts of climate change. All the research has identified policy implications, and the book strives for a balance between presenting the detailed science underpinning the conclusions as well as providing clear and simple policy messages. To achieve this, many chapters in the book contextualize the issues through the provision of a mini-review and combine this with the latest science emulating out of the SPACES II program of research. The book therefore consolidated both past and the most current research findings in a way that will be of benefit to both academia and policy makers.
The sustainability of southern Africa’s natural and managed marine and terrestrial ecosystems is threatened by overuse, mismanagement, population pressures, degradation, and climate change. Counteracting unsustainable development requires a deep understanding of earth system processes and how these are affected by ongoing and anticipated global changes. This information must be translated into practical policy and management interventions. Climate models project that the rate of terrestrial warming in southern Africa is above the global terrestrial average. Moreover, most of the region will become drier. Already there is evidence that climate change is disrupting ecosystem functioning and the provision of ecosystem services. This is likely to continue in the foreseeable future, but impacts can be partly mitigated through urgent implementation of appropriate policy and management interventions to enhance resilience and sustainability of the ecosystems. The recommendations presented in the previous chapters are informed by a deepened scientific understanding of the relevant earth system processes, but also identify research and knowledge gaps. Ongoing disciplinary research remains critical, but needs to be complemented with cross-disciplinary and transdisciplinary research that can integrate across temporal and spatial scales to give a fuller understanding of not only individual components of the complex earth-system, but how they interact.