Page 48 - Thetha Issue 7

SUSTAINABILITY

There are
academic societies @
15 Mandela University

students the principles of the circular with Prof Louw’s presentation on
economy, of sustainable forestry the socio-ecological systems of the
management, and the potential of new southern Cape. The theme of the
innovative wood-based bioproducts student challenge for 2023 deals
that lower the environmental impact with the creation of a climate-smart
of current forestry practices and forestry production landscape in the
increase carbon sequestration. southern Cape.
“Forest21 promotes collaboration “At the core of the methodology
between academia, industry, society is innovation, learning research,
and government, while the concept interviewing and communication
of PBL relies heavily on multi- skills, and transdisciplinary knowledge
disciplinarity, beyond the traditional creation. The mentors and coaches
boundaries of faculties.” guide the students through their
Leading the student-directed critical thinking and help to scaffold
learning and teaching approach is the students’ thinking,” says Prof Louw.
Dr Joy Alexander Dr Joy Alexander, a senior teaching,
learning and curriculum specialist
employment and entrepreneurship, from the social sciences at Nelson
as well as contribute to mitigating Mandela University.
climate change, says Prof Louw – and “In 2022, the Finnish partners
this aligns with the United Nations came out to South Africa and we
Sustainable Development Goals, did some training together with our
Africa Agenda 2063 and South advanced diploma students, some
Africa’s National Climate Change of whom are now in the Honours
Adaptation Plan. programme,” Dr Alexander explains.
Forests are critical for global PBL accounts for 20% of the
ecosystems and carbon balances, Principles of Sustainability in the
especially because of their potential Honours module. It is a five-week
to sequester carbon in forests. In its module in July and August, starting Prof Josua Louw
2009 Forest Sector Charter, South
Africa officially recognised its massive
potential to sequester carbon through Real-World Learning
new afforestation of about 100 000
hectares (Forest Strategy 2009-2030). The students are currently working on a three-part challenge to identify
“This potential has not been entrepreneurial opportunities for a sustainable, financially viable, equitable
exploited and principles of sustainable and resilient forestry landscape.
forest management need to be This is a big, real-world question for an honours student. To further
emphasised to fully benefit from the assist them, they are exposed to guest speakers and lectures, engage with
several ecosystem services provided industry stakeholders, and are coached by Dr Alexander.
by plantations,” says Prof Louw. From a leadership perspective the biggest paradigm shift is that there
is not one model answer to solving the challenge; it requires a diverse set
Future-focused education of individuals and agents involved in the process, and to apply convergent
The Forest21 project emphasises thinking.
that higher education institutions The students are excited about this approach, say the academics, but
should take the lead in preparing once they start tackling the problem they hit waves of panic about how to
graduates for climate-smart, approach it, which is natural.
sustainability-aligned forestry. That is where mentorship and coaching comes in. Role-play sessions
To achieve this, curricula need to are held with the students, during which they need to demonstrate their
include sector-specific knowledge interviewing and research skills and show how they deal with conflict in a
on sustainable forestry practices group or lack of response from certain stakeholders.
and the entrepreneurial skills They also need to show how to communicate the climate-smart
required to leverage forestry problem. In synopsis, they learn to navigate problems, scientifically, socially,
opportunities, she says. environmentally and economically.
This includes teaching forestry

46 | Thetha Edition 7 | 2023