Carbon revenues fuel misguided policies in African conservation
- Wits University
Researchers working in Africa warn against consultants promoting a single veld-burning strategy for carbon credits, urging caution for stakeholders.
In a paper published this month in Nature Sustainability, titled ‘Viability, impact, and desirability of financing conservation in Africa through fire-abatement’, researchers challenge the feasibility of implementing early dry season (EDS) fires as a one-size-fits-all fire management strategy for African conservation areas. While proponents claim that this approach could reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, restore ecosystems, and generate significant carbon revenues to fund conservation, the paper argues that the ecological, climatic, and economic outcomes of such a strategy may not align with expectations, and more nuanced approaches are necessary.
Lead author Tony Knowles, from Cirrus, stresses that “there are some fantastic climate change mitigation projects, based on really good science, that are funding African conservation areas and programmes in surrounding communities, but we need to be careful about recommending actions when the science is not clear”. Cirrus is an advisory group that works with landowners across Africa on carbon revenue opportunities.
“Half of the GHG emissions from Africa are generated through land use, deforestation, and land degradation,” says Knowles. “As highlighted in recent IPCC reports, one of the principal mitigation opportunities is halting deforestation and the restoration of our landscapes. This also provides a good opportunity to generate carbon revenues for conservation agencies, farmers, and landowners.”
While there is a desperate need for funds to manage these landscapes and the restoration of indigenous grasslands and indigenous forests are strong legitimate carbon offset opportunities, there are a few emerging ideas that are contentious, says Knowles. One example is planting trees in indigenous grasslands. Another is the implementation of fire abatement in open, savanna or African rangeland systems.
The paper critically examines whether shifting fire regimes to the early dry season will achieve the dual goals of reducing emissions and financing conservation. The 31 researchers, largely from institutions and organisations in Africa, have reviewed the idea and found that it doesn't work in an African context.
Explains fellow author Sally Archibald: “Early season burning is sometimes very appropriate, but it’s not accurate to say simply ‘if we do early season burning, we're going to improve the ecosystem functioning and that's going to store carbon which will make you money’.”
Archibald says there is insufficient evidence that early dry season fires do store carbon or reduce GHG emissions. These fires might also not be desirable ecologically:
“Managers are using fire to achieve a lot of different objectives: they need to control ticks, manage poaching, and eradicate invasive plants, while at the same time thinking about forage for their herbivores. None of those things give them revenue, and they do it for ecological reasons.”
Archibald, a Professor at Wits University’s School of Animal, Plant and Environmental studies and who leads the Future Ecosystems for Africa program, explains:
“It's about keeping autonomy with managers as fire is one of the few tools that are available in places with few resources: it is effective and inexpensive. We worry that there's going to be pressure to prioritise early burning above other management needs because it provides revenue”
“If there was overwhelming evidence that you could store significant carbon by burning early, then, yes, let's balance those things. But recognise that there are a lot of good reasons to burn hot fires late in the season if you have a tick problem or you are trying to control your trees,” says Archibald.
"The appropriate burning regime and reasons vary from one country to another in Africa, also depending on sites in a given country," agrees Brigitte N'Dri, fellow author and researcher at Nangui Abrogoua University (Côte d'Ivoire).
The researchers make a number of recommendations to moving forward in setting policies for early dry season burning as a conservation tool. These include:
Potential carbon revenues should not drive fire management decisions to the detriment of livelihoods, biodiversity and ecosystem service outcomes. Carbon offset programmes in Africa should be assessed according to the African position statement, which prioritises climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation. Climate change mitigation activities will be supported only when aligned with these other priorities.
Distinguishing early vs late dry season fires is insufficient for effective policy guidelines, and cannot be used to predict GHG emissions or carbon cycling. Process-based models, that incorporate factors such as fuel load, structure, composition, greenness, and prevailing weather conditions are required to meet diverse management objectives.
Local data and evidence should not be ignored in regional assessments of climate change mitigation and restoration opportunities. This is especially important when these local data contradict the findings of the global models.
The paper argues that the tools and understanding are available to use fire to achieve a range of conservation and landscape management objectives, and it would be a mistake to reproduce the errors of the past by adopting a single approach to fire management across Africa’s diverse landscapes:
For this reason, urges Archibald, researchers and practitioners need to listen to local knowledge. “A number of researchers and communities across Africa know a lot about our ecosystems and have been using fire for many decades. If you keep them out of the loop, you're going to make wrong decisions,” she says.
Regular physical activity before cancer diagnosis may lower progression and death risks
- Wits University
Even relatively low levels of physical activity may be advantageous, findings from a study led by Wits Sport and Health (WiSH) show.
Regular physical activity before a cancer diagnosis may lower the risks of both disease progression and death, suggests research published online today in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM).
And even relatively low levels of physical activity may be advantageous, the findings indicate.
There is compelling evidence that physical activity has a key part to play in lowering the risk of death from cancer, but the evidence is not as conclusive for its role in disease progression, explain the researchers.
To explore this further, they analysed anonymised data from the Discovery Health Medical Scheme (DHMS), linked to the Vitality health promotion programme. The DHMS is the largest open medical plan in South Africa, covering approximately 2.8 million beneficiaries.
All Vitality programme participants are rewarded for adopting healthy lifestyle behaviours, earning points for physical activity, recorded by activity trackers, logged gym attendance, or registered participation in organised fitness activities. Activity type, frequency, duration, and intensity are recorded and translated into weekly minutes of exercise.
The research published in BJSM is novel in several ways:
It represents one of the largest datasets globally that investigates the association between cancer prognosis and physical activity
The cohort is the first to be studied outside of western medical centres/Global North
The research represents a collaboration between a private health insurer (Discovery Health Medical Scheme) and academic institutions in South Africa (Wits University) and Canada (University of Western Ontario)
Physical activity in the cancer patients was directly measured rather than self-reported.
Moreover, with cancers being diagnosed earlier and an increasing incidence, accessible interventions that may positively influence prognosis are more relevant than ever.
“Knowing that as little as 60 minutes of regular weekly exercise may reduce the likelihood of cancer progression by 27% and death by 47%, should encourage all doctors to use exercise as medicine,” says lead author Jon Patricios, Professor of Sports and Exercise Medicine at WiSH, Wits University. “Regular physical activity is the most powerful and accessible prescription we can give our patients. This study confirms the benefits of even relatively small amounts of physical activity, but we should encourage adherence to the WHO guidelines of 300 minutes per week of moderate intensity exercise for all of its well-described benefits.”
足球竞彩app排名 the study
In all, 28,248 Vitality programme members with stage 1 cancers, and comprehensive physical activity data for the year preceding diagnosis, were included in the study, which spanned the period 2007 to 2022.
Breast and prostate cancers were the most common cancers, comprising 44% of the study total.
The length of time between initial diagnosis and disease progression, death, or exit from the study ranged from 1 month to nearly 13 years.
Cancer did not progress in nearly two thirds of the total sample (65.5%), but in just over a third (34.5%) it did. And while 81% survived, 19% died before the end of the study. The average time to death was 20 months and the average time to progression was 7 months.
Levels of physical activity in the year before diagnosis were categorised as none recorded (17,457; 62% of participants); low, equal to 60 or fewer weekly minutes (3722;13%); and moderate to high, equal to 60 or more weekly minutes of moderate intensity physical activity (7069; 25%).
Key findings
After accounting for potentially influential factors, including age at diagnosis, sex, economic and social position, and co-existing conditions, rates of cancer progression and death from any cause were lower among those who were physically active in the year preceding their diagnosis.
The odds of disease progression were 16% lower for those who had engaged in low levels of physical activity in the preceding year than among those who had not recorded any physical activity, while the odds for those who had engaged in moderate to high levels were 27% lower.
Similarly, the odds of death from any cause were 33% lower among those who had engaged in low levels of physical activity compared with those who had not recorded any, and 47% lower for those who had managed moderate to high levels.
Two years on from diagnosis, the likelihood of no disease progression among those with no recorded physical activity in the year before diagnosis was 74%, compared with 78% and 80%, respectively, for those achieving low and moderate to high levels of physical activity.
While the likelihood of disease progression increased as time went on, it was still lower for those who had clocked up some level of physical activity in the year preceding their diagnosis. After 3 years, the likelihood of no disease progression was 71%, 75%, and 78%, respectively, for none, low, and moderate to high levels of physical activity. And after 5 years, it was 66%, 70%, and 73%, respectively.
Similar patterns were evident for death from any cause. Two years after diagnosis, the probability of survival among those with no documented physical activity in the year preceding diagnosis was 91% compared with 94% and 95%, respectively, among those who had recorded low and moderate to high levels.
The equivalent probabilities of survival 3 years after diagnosis were 88%, 92%, and 94%, respectively, and 84%, 90%, and 91%, respectively, after 5 years.
This is an observational study, and as such, cannot establish cause and effect. And the researchers acknowledge that they were not able to account for other potentially influential factors, such as smoking and alcohol consumption, while the data on weight (BMI) were incomplete.
But there are several plausible biological explanations for the findings, they suggest, chief among which is the way in which physical activity strengthens immunity by increasing numbers of natural killer cells, lymphocytes, neutrophils, and eosinophils.
Physical activity may also lower the progression risk of hormone sensitive cancers, such as breast and prostate cancers, by regulating oestrogen and testosterone levels, they add.
“Physical activity may be considered to confer substantial benefits in terms of progression and overall mortality to those diagnosed with cancer,” researchers note. “In a world where cancer continues to be a significant public health burden, the promotion of physical activity can yield important benefits regarding the progression of cancer as well as its prevention and management."
Three million years ago, our ancestors were vegetarian
- Wits University
Nitrogen isotopes in tooth enamel show no evidence of meat consumption in Australopithecus.
Human ancestors like Australopithecus – which lived around 3.5 million years ago in southern Africa – ate very little to no meat, according to new research published in the scientific journal Science. This conclusion comes from an analysis of nitrogen isotope isotopes in the fossilized tooth enamel of seven Australopithecus individuals. The data revealed that these early hominins primarily relied on plant-based diets, with little to no evidence of meat consumption.
The consumption of animal resources, especially meat, is considered a crucial turning point in human evolution. This protein-rich food has been linked to the increase in brain volume and the ability to develop tools. However, direct evidence of when meat emerged among our early ancestors, and of how its consumption developed though time, has been elusive. A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany and the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa (Wits University) now provide evidence that human ancestors of the genus Australopithecus that lived in southern Africa between 3.7 and 3.3 million years ago subsisted mostly on plants.
The research team analyzed stable isotope data from tooth enamel of Australopithecus individuals found in the Sterkfontein cave near Johannesburg, part of South Africa’s “Cradle of Humankind”, an area known for its rich collection of early hominins fossils.They compared the isotopic data of Australopithecus with that from tooth samples of coexisting animals, including monkeys, antelopes, and large predators such as hyenas, jackals, and big cats.
Tooth enamel preserved dietary signatures
"Tooth enamel is the hardest tissue of the mammalian body and can preserve the isotopic fingerprint of an animal's diet for millions of years," says geochemist Tina Lüdecke, lead author of the study. Lüdecke has led the “Emmy-Noether Junior Research Group for Hominin Meat Consumption” at the Mainz-based Max Planck Institute for Chemistry since 2021 and is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Evolutionary Studies Institute of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. She regularly travels to Africa to sample fossilized teeth for her analysis. Wits University owns the Sterkfontein Caves and is the custodian of the Australopithecus fossils.
When animals digest food, biochemical reactions favor the "light" isotope of nitrogen (14N). Consequently, the degradation products that are produced in their body contain high proportions of 14N. The excretion of these "light" nitrogen compounds in urine, feces, or sweat increases the ratio of "heavy" nitrogen (15N) to this “light" nitrogen the body in comparison to the food it eats. This means that herbivores have a higher nitrogen isotope ratio than the plants they consume, while carnivores in turn have a higher nitrogen isotope ratio than their prey. Therefore, the higher the 15N to 14N ratio in a tissue sample, the higher is the trophic position of the organism in the food web.
Nitrogen isotope ratios have long been used to study the diets of modern animals and humans in hair, claws, bones and many other organic materials. However, in fossil material, these measurements have previously been limited to samples that are only a few tens of thousands of years old due to the degradation of organic material over time. In this study, Tina Lüdecke used a novel technique developed in Alfredo Martínez-García’s laboratory at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, to measure nitrogen isotopes ratios in fossilized tooth enamel that is millions of years old.
Evidence of mostly plant-based food
The team of researchers found that the nitrogen isotope ratios in the tooth enamel of Australopithecus varied, but were consistently low, similar to those of herbivores, and much lower than those of contemporary carnivores. They conclude that the diet of these hominins was variable but consisted largely or exclusively of plant-based food. Therefore, Australopithecus did not regularly hunt large mammals like, for example, the Neanderthals did a few million years later. While the researchers cannot completely rule out the possibility of occasional consumption of animal protein sources like eggs or termites, the evidence indicates a diet that was predominantly vegetarian.
Further research on fossilized tooth enamel
Lüdecke's team plans to expand their research, collecting more data from different hominin species and time periods. They aim to examine fossils from other key sites in eastern and southern Africa as well as southeast Asia to explore when meat consumption began, how it evolved, and whether it provided an evolutionary advantage for our ancestors.
"This method opens up exciting possibilities for understanding human evolution, and it has the potential to answer crucial questions, for example, when did our ancestors begin to incorporate meat in their diet? And was the onset of meat consumption linked to an increase in brain volume?” says Alfredo Martínez-García, from the Max Planck institute for Chemistry.
“This work represents a huge step in extending our ability to better understand diets and trophic level of all animals back into the scale of millions of years. The research provides clear evidence that its diet did not contain significant amounts of meat. We are honoured that the pioneering application of this new method was spearheaded at Sterkfontein, a site that continues to make fundamental contributions to science even 89 years after the first hominin fossils were discovered there by Robert Broom,” says Professor Dominic Stratford, Director of Research at the Sterkfontein Caves and co-author of the paper.
The study was funded by the Max Planck Society. Tina Lüdecke's research group is supported by the Emmy Noether program of the German Research Foundation (DFG).
The chalk-dust revolution
- Deryn Graham
What impact does the changing world of work have on how higher education is delivered to students?
University teaching is no longer business as usual. 足球竞彩app排名s are entering the hallowed halls of learning with a very different approach from those of 20 years ago. These digital natives are astute in navigating the complexities of the learning environment and learn very differently from those who responded to the old ‘chalk and talk’ style of teaching.
Higher education institutions must keep pace with the world in which these students live and learn and the one in which they will eventually work, providing an education that is future facing. As just one example, the modern workplace demands the ability to work independently and in hybrid mode. In this new world, greater pressure is placed on higher education institutions to stay relevant, and nurture graduates that can hit the ground running in a highly technical and competitive job market.
For Professor Ruksana Osman, Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic at Wits whose association with the University spans forty years, while the fourth industrial revolution, digital transformation, 足球竞彩app排名 and many other external factors are pushing higher education institutions to evolve, it is this University’s core values of academic excellence, a commitment to enabling students to learn and student success that will ensure its relevance in the 21st Century and beyond.
“The fundamental question is what it means to be a university today,” says Osman. “The answer is that it needs to be more than an institute of learning; it needs to equip graduates to combine their academic learning with values and attributes that will help them beyond academia.”
Wits Senior Director: Academic Affairs, Professor Nicole de Wet Billings recently presented the latest iteration of the University’s Learning and Teaching Strategic Plan 2025-2029 which is responsive to current academic and workplace trends. “There is immense pressure on the University to make sure that our students graduate with degrees and skills that will add value to society. Today, the University is more student centred, looking to develop self-directed graduates who are driven and who pursue meaningful employment opportunities, or even create them themselves,” she says.
Iceberg ahead!
But finding the time to innovate within the structures of higher learning is a challenge in itself, according to Reuben Dlamini, Associate Professor in Educational Information and Engineering Technology in the Wits School of Education. He believes that there are structural constraints that stymy pedagogical innovation and resource constraints that inhibit change at a rate which matches the outside world.
Dlamini believes that wieldy processes in public universities and their traditional approach to learning and teaching mean that it takes long to change direction – a bit like trying to steer the Titanic – and that coming up with policies and frameworks that accommodate new curricula is a challenge.
All agree that universities need to stop talking about ‘fields of expertise’ and start thinking laterally and critically. In the new world of work that confronts graduates, those with critical thinking skills will secure employment and find meaning for themselves. For this reason, despite the demands of the technically and digitally driven world of work, no one believes that degrees in the arts and the humanities will become obsolete any time soon.
“Some of the best computer programmers and data analysts come from the schools of philosophy and linguistics,” Dlamini says.
Thinking beyond ‘pass’ and ‘fail’
With inputs from faculties, the Centre for Learning, Teaching and Development as well as representatives from the SRC, the WitsLearning and Teaching Strategic Plan continues Wits’ shift from thinking simplistically in terms of “pass or fail” outcomes to a focus on holistic student success and lifelong learning. Higher education today goes far beyond a single degree, offering opportunities through short courses, and soon, micro credentials, to upskill to meet work and personal growth goals. It makes sense therefore that institutions of higher learning, including Wits, have relationships with professional bodies, industries and other organisations to provide quality course content.
“The University is not, however, in the service of industry,” says Osman. “Our core responsibility is still to deliver relevant and quality curricula in all disciplines and fields of study.”
In terms of the higher education revolution, there could be a much greater integration of technology in education, according to Dlamini. Commerce and industry are way ahead of public education institutions in their technological knowledge and equipment, and so the challenge is how to position these new technologies into higher learning when some academics are fearful of their encroachment.
The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) may dismay many, but Osman believes that if a university uses multiple forms of assessing students’ work, they have nothing to fear about their use and incorporation into today’s classroom.
De Wet Billings agrees. “We have to be clear about that which we want our graduates to leave. Our course content needs to be socially just in order for us to nurture socially just leaders.”
A revolution in new methodologies, new ideas and new technologies in teaching and learning is already underway, transforming the country’s higher education landscape.
Universities as hubs of lifelong learning
Wits has always offered a range of short courses across different departments and disciplines, but these may no longer accommodate today’s busy lives and schedules. Professor Frikkie Booysen, a health economist who is also Chair of the University’s Microcredentials Working Group, believes that offering shorter courses using various modalities including online and on demand teaching, will meet the spatial and temporal challenges of those seeking to upskill themselves.
One in five higher education institutions currently offers microcredentials, according to Booysen, but for others the switch from academic teaching to teaching skills competency will require them to acquire new skills as they embark on this important journey.
higher education institutions seek to become hubs of lifelong learning and not simply producers of single degree graduates, providing additional resources to run microcredential courses is critical. In addition, more research into market demand for specific content, and quality assurance, is required. The South African Qualifications Authority already has a task team working on microcredential development to ensure quality.
In a recent call for expressions of interest in running pilot microcredential courses, Wits received five applications, including one from Booysen’s own School of Economics and Finance. A further two came from the same faculty’s School of Governance and the Wits Business School and two from the School of Languages.
“The challenge is to identify the competencies that the economy requires, design the content and then work out how to assess those competencies,” says Booysen.
WitsPlus (PTY) Ltd is the home of short courses and is a private company wholly owned by the University. “With declining government subsidies, microcredentials offer an additional revenue stream for the University as well as adding value for pre and postgraduates,” says Booysen.
Read more in the 18thissue, themed #Work, which delves into the evolving nature of work, shaped by societal shifts, technological advances, and equity challenges.
Let’s talk about #Work
- Lynn Morris
[Editorial] AI, Africa, equity, skills, burnout, toxic workplaces, semigration, sex work, and retirement, all in this issue of Curios.ty.
Work. It’s such a loaded word, isn’t it? It’s where most of us spend the bulk of our waking hours, how we pay the bills, and – hopefully – where we find some sense of purpose and community. But it’s also where we face stress, navigate change, and have those moments that make us rethink everything.
Take me, for example. I started out as a research scientist, completely fascinated by the world of microbes. I loved the thrill of discovery and analysing data. But fast forward, and today I’m the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research and Innovation at Wits. Now, my work is about strategy, leadership, and ensuring that research has a real-world impact. It’s a completely different kind of problem-solving – and one I never could’ve imagined for myself.
I’ll be honest, the transition was a big leap. But isn’t that life? Most of us end up on unpredictable career paths. The average person changes careers (not just jobs) three or more times in their lifetime. That’s wild, when you think about it, but also exciting, with each shift offering a brand-new world, with fresh challenges, opportunities, and lessons to learn.
In this issue of Curios.ty, there’s much to explore as we unpack what work means in all its forms. Artificial Intelligence is shaking up industries, offering incredible possibilities, but also sparking fears about job losses. How do we prepare for the evolving new world of work and ensure that no one gets left behind?
Education plays a huge role, especially in South Africa where inequality and our skills gap mean many young people are struggling to find meaningful work. Essential research will provide data to understand these challenges and insights to craft effective solutions. What skills will tomorrow’s workforce need? How can higher education adapt to prepare graduates for jobs that don’t even exist yet? And how do we create policies that ensure AI works for humanity and not against it?
Then there’s remote work – one of the biggest shifts in recent years. For some, it’s been a dream come true: no commuting, flexible hours, and escaping toxic environments. Let’s not ignore the downsides: endless online calls, blurred work-life boundaries, and feelings of isolation. Research is vital here too, to understand how remote work affects productivity, mental health, and equity.
Burnout is another growing concern. Even as we talk more openly about mental health, people are working themselves harder than ever. It makes one wonder when work stopped being about thriving and started feeling like just surviving? We need research to guide us toward healthier, more sustainable approaches that takes gender gaps, disability inclusion and the needs of the marginalised into consideration.
Work isn’t just about climbing corporate ladders or hitting deadlines. It’s about finding meaning and, sometimes, redefining what success looks like. The rise of side hustles and entrepreneurship show just how resourceful people can be. Even retirement is changing, providing the opportunity for many to reinvent themselves. Studying the “silver economy” can help us tap into the wisdom and experience of older workers while supporting their needs.
And let’s not forget nature. Worker bees, ants, and other creatures show us what collaboration and purpose look like in their purest form. Researching these natural systems can teach us lessons in efficiency, teamwork, and resilience.
So, what does work mean to you? Is it just a job, or something more? Whatever your answer, I hope that this issue of Curios.ty sparks some fresh ideas – and maybe even inspires you to take your next big leap.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my career journey, it’s this: Work isn’t static. It changes as we change. If we navigate that change with curiosity and intention, we can ensure that work evolves in ways that uplift us all.
Read more in the 18th issue, themed #Work, which delves into the evolving nature of work, shaped by societal shifts, technological advances, and equity challenges.
Curios.ty 18: #Work
- Curiosity
Work isn't static. It changes as we change. In this issue, we turn to our researchers as we grapple with the evolving nature of work and an unknown future.
The 18th issue of Wits University’s research magazine, Curios.ty, themed #Work, is available online now: www.wits.ac.za/curiosity. (See our guidelines below for article republication.)
The average person changes careers — not just jobs — at least three times in their lifetime. Work dominates most of our waking hours, providing purpose and community, but it is also a space where many encounter stress, burnout, and toxic dynamics.
The #Work issue explores how societal shifts, technological advancements, and equity challenges are reshaping the world of work. We examine the impact of AI on industries, ethical questions it raises, and ways to close South Africa’s skills gap amid changes in higher education.
This issue highlights efforts to build inclusive, adaptable workplaces that prioritise well-being and equity, it also celebrates student entrepreneurship and reaffirms the enduring value of human creativity in a digital age.
Highlights:
The impact of AI on future jobs (page 8): We look at the myths and realities, risks and opportunities posed by the adoption of AI.
Beyond degrees: plugging SA’s skills gap (page 12): Are we adequately training young people for the labour market?
The future of work – a flicker of a silver lining (page 24): SA has a mountain to climb as it claws its way back onto a much-needed growth path, but there is reason for hope.
Burnt out? (page 34): Experts in psychiatry, psychology, and ergonomics explain how burnout manifests and what institutions and individuals can do about it.
Retirement reimagined (page 38): People are living longer than previous generations. What does this mean for retirement at 60 or 65, and will the ‘silver economy’ replace traditional retirement?
Safeguarding sex work (page 44): Official recognition of sex work and viewing it in a sex-positive framework could advance healthcare and justice for those in the profession.
足球竞彩app排名 Curios.ty
Curios.ty is a print and digital magazine that aims to make the research at Wits University accessible to multiple publics. Curios.ty is available on the Wits website here: http://www.wits.ac.za/curiosity/
Contact Wits Communications should you require more information or visit our media section for more on our experts and latest media releases.
Plugging South Africaʼs skills GAP
- Deryn Graham
Are we adequately training young people for the labour market, or do we need to review our approach to education and training?
According to the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr Mimmy Gondwe, education is a means to an end and not an end in itself. The end goal, of course, is employment, but for many graduates, jobs are elusive, and years after graduation, they remain without work.?
But is there really a skills gap or does the problem lie elsewhere??
According to Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen, Senior Researcher at the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO), in order to meet the private sector’s employment demands, tertiary institutions need to balance managerial training and functional competency with academic excellence. “We need to create career pathways from hard skills to more general managerial training,” he says.
The Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) are in theory meant to drive reporting on skills demand in their respective industries, although their own skills in achieving this are patchy. Stephanie Allais, Professor of Education and Research Chair of Skills Development at the Centre for Researching Education and Labour, has written extensively about the shortcomings of the SETAs.?
“The process is too complex with too many tools to do too many things, rendering it ineffectual,” she says. “The data coming from employers is poor, and this feeds into poor reporting and so skills development funding goes to the wrong places.”? She also claims that SETAs tend to go through box- ticking exercises, reporting skills deficits only in areas in which they are already equipped to train, as this earns them their subsidies. In addition, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) lie outside skills sector planning and their needs are not factored in.
“Funding models for Technical and Vocational Education and Training institutions (TVETS) and vocational training are also complex and so, given that a university degree is still seen as increasing graduates’ prospects of getting a job, those that can, go to university,” she says. However, she believes, while vocational colleges can’t solve youth unemployment and plug all the gaps, they can play an important role in the economy if they are funded more efficiently and if they had a clearer mandate.
Government thwarts innovation
In his 2024 State of the Nation speech, President Ramaphosa spoke about a 'demand-led' approach to job creation, launching the National Pathway Management Network which aggregates learning and earning opportunities on a single platform. Here young people can match their skills with jobs and access a range of support services.??
Another government initiative is the Labour Market Intelligence Partnership (LMI) which aims to ‘integrate skills planning with government strategies and plans in order to produce a capable workforce to achieve an inclusive growth path’. Their manifesto goes on to say that ‘LMI ensures that skills are not a constraint on economic growth and promotes the use of labour market intelligence for skills provisioning’. Launched in 2012, the success of this programme is debatable.
If it’s entrepreneurial endeavour that is going to be the job creator of the future – picking up some of the slack in the labour market – then South Africa is in trouble. While we have great, innovative minds, legislative barriers to establishing a company are high and the track record of small businesses making it past year one is poor. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor shows that we score highly for start-ups, but low for established businesses, and this must be a concern.?
“We are an industrious nation, but South Africa is a difficult place in which to succeed and so we are not developing the jobs in the SME sector that we should be,” says Hassen. “The fact is that we have a concentrated economy dominated by a number of large companies.”?
Without a transition of asset holdings, the jobs and skills market will intrinsically be bound to their needs.??
Hassen believes that we will only build new assets by looking for a better return on investment on education. Allais puts it more bluntly, “South Africa has a skills crisis, and our education system isn’t meeting the needs of the economy.”
Skills scapegoating
Beyond the skills crisis, the socio-political landscape, too, impacts who gets to work. On claims that ‘automation and foreigners are taking jobs and widening the skills gap’, Hassen says, “The introduction into basic education of subjects such as robotics and coding, and the Basic Education Laws Amendment [BELA] Act making Grade R compulsory, will go a long way to addressing skills deficits, but only in the future.” As for xenophobic accusations that foreigners are taking South African jobs, he believes that a society that attracts skills from overseas is better than an insular one, and that we mustn’t scapegoat foreigners for our unemployment crisis.?
One proposal to meet the skills gap challenge is the provision of a universal basic income grant. Hassen believes that such a grant would put recipients on a path to economic activity, eventually funnelling some of them into the jobs market. “Make everyone part of the economy, and the opportunities for acquiring skills will be more equitably distributed,” he says.?
South Africa undoubtedly needs a programme of re- and up-skilling of the existing workforce, structural change to increase job opportunities, and a more innovative form of capitalism if we are going to address our skills deficit and a state of persistent unemployment.
Read more in the 18thissue, themed #Work, which delves into the evolving nature of work, shaped by societal shifts, technological advances, and equity challenges.
The sorcerer’s apprentice: The impact of AI on future jobs
- Deryn Graham
What is the future of humans in the world of AI? We look at the myths and realities, risks and opportunities posed by the adoption of AI.
In Disney’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Mickey Mouse employs the services of a broom to help him more efficiently fill a cauldron with water. The broom misses the brief and even when the cauldron is full, continues to bring in bucket after bucket of water. Unable to halt the broom’s advance, Mickey takes an axe to it, but each of the splintered pieces forms a new broom, and soon the place is overrun with over enthusiastic brooms and flooded with water.
This story has been used as an analogy for AI taking over jobs, after humans have used it to improve productivity. Man, it is predicted by AI’s detractors, will ultimately be taken over by machines (or brooms).
Dr Steven James, Senior Lecturer in the School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics quotes British sci-fi writer Arthur C Clarke who said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” and it is this mystification around AI and its uses and applications that is driving the myths around how far it may eventually take us.
“It’s common for most technologies to be overestimated in the short term and underestimated in the long term,” says James. “But AI is showing signs of diminishing returns; having ingested all of the data on the internet, we are starting to see a slowdown in the improvement of these systems. When there is no more data from which to draw, there will be no new outputs, making AI less than intelligent in the human sense,” he says.
Although the displacement of humans in favour of AI, bots and other automated functions may have been hyped, it is certain that, like the internet 40 years ago, new technology has changed the world of work irrevocably. However, it is said that in the next decade, most work roles are not at risk from AI, but from a human who knows how to use AI better than you do. After that, it’s impossible to say where AI may take us. People are still only dabbling in AI and large language models such as ChatGPT, with few fully fledged, scalable systems in commercial use, so keep your eye on your colleague and not necessarily company strategy around AI.
AI is not sentient
Fears around humans being supplanted by AI en masse are mere extrapolations of far-fetched scenarios. People who are surprised by how good ChatGPT and other large language models are, are likely to speculate and imagine ‘what else it can do’. But it is precisely language that sets humans apart from animals – and technology – and AI does not have a human’s nuanced understanding of a question or a prompt. Anthropomorphising technology is a mistake, says James, and ascribing to it human capabilities is simply good marketing on the part of its creators. When we prompt ChatGPT and it takes a moment to respond, it isn’t ‘thinking’, it’s ‘processing’ and studies have shown that using ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ doesn’t necessarily change AI’s output. No one ever used these social niceties with Google.
James believes that in fact, labelling these language models as ‘artificial intelligence’ is a misnomer. They are not intelligent in the way that humans are intelligent and should rather be called a ‘machine learning tool for language’ or a ‘machine learning tool for hiring’, or a machine learning tool for whatever function it is being deployed.
If machine automation has changed the workplace for blue collar workers, mechanising factory production lines, agricultural and other mundane, repetitive tasks, the fear is that it is now coming for white collar jobs. Some believe that this will result in the death of creativity, the erosion of critical thinking and increased job inequality and polarisation.
Bruce Mellado, Professor in the School of Physics believes that AI is simply a tool for improving efficiency and production and cannot be blamed for job losses. “We can’t blame inequality and unemployment on AI or machines, but on an unequal society and an imbalance in economic structures,” he says.
Finding purpose in AI
For Mellado, the critical question is the purpose for which technology is used, which should be for the enrichment of the many and not the few. In mining, technology has replaced some functions, but it can also be used to detect exhaustion in workers, potential hazards and dangers and therefore save lives and so is a good thing. “We need to judge AI on a case-by-case basis, find its responsible application and how and where it can help and do good,” he says. “If the goal is simply profit, there is no doubt jobs will be lost.”
As AI automates more work functions, Rosman says that this could free manual workers to pursue other opportunities that have the potential to make them more money with a greater sense of personal fulfilment. For example, AI gives people who have not had the advantage of education the opportunity to construct a business model from a modest idea. It can help propel a small business to greater heights. It can model financial projections, enabling people to look more successfully for funding for a business start-up. AI unlocks human potential that has been stymied by social circumstances, bringing more people into the formal economy, creating new jobs. AI gives people the freedom to innovate, and to create a strong gig economy, already part of South Africa’s work landscape.
Work’s existential crisis
Rosman doesn’t believe that there are many jobs which AI won’t be able to do in the future, and this poses an existential crisis for the world of work. AI affects the prospects of all employees, but rather than running off to retrain and reskill ourselves, he says, like Mellado, that it would be better to rethink and reimagine the structure of society and the economy. The expanding uses of AI means that there has never been a better time to realise dreams with fewer resources.
Much has been made of AI taking creative jobs driving Hollywood writers and the Actors’ Guild to go on strike in protest. But AI is not creative insofar as it cannot write with a distinct ‘voice’ shaped by human insight. It is unable to apply different literary devices, wit or subtlety to its output. It’s humans who give nuance as they finetune the work of AI and so it’s unlikely to replace many of the roles that go into producing a movie, a stage play, or even a novel. The Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strike showed the power of labour unions in being part of discussions and contractual negotiations about who controls AI and how it will be used. Labour in all sectors needs to be involved and have input into how AI technologies are deployed, bringing better efficiencies and productivity, cost reductions and improvements to the bottom line without jeopardising jobs. Freeing workers up from performing repetitive tasks allows them to move into bigger, more complex roles, developing a more, not less, skilled workforce.
The question is what we do in an age when there are more resources available but fewer jobs. According to Rosman, we re-think how we derive value from our lives. In the end, it’s entirely up to humans to craft the future we want to see, including the uses and purpose for which we deploy AI.
Sam Altman, CEO of Open AI said, “No one is ever going to be replaced, but jobs are definitely going to go away”. The question is how we use AI to boost innovation and create opportunities while reducing the risks to people’s chances of meaningful employment.
Who controls AI and how it’s used is critical in shaping the future of work, and is something in which multiple stakeholders including government, labour unions, lawmakers, and the public and private sectors need to be involved.
Read more in the 18thissue, themed #Work, which delves into the evolving nature of work, shaped by societal shifts, technological advances, and equity challenges.
Africa’s largest human microbiome study sheds light on gut diversity and health
- Wits University
The most extensive study of the gut microbiome in Africa has discovered new microbial species and never-before-reported metagenomes* from several African sites.
The paper, titled, Expanding the human gut microbiome atlas of Africa, was published today in Nature, the world’s leading scientific journal.
The gut microbiome has a significant impact on human health, and the lack of knowledge of the diversity of microbiomes in Africa has been a barrier to future health interventions and research.
The study is a critical development in gut health research globally as much more can now be learned, particularly about diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and obesity, and their relationship to gut microbiota.
In the study, high-quality genomes of 1,005 bacterial and 40,135 viral species have been produced, which bolsters the information in the current human gut microbiome databases.
“The importance of the microbiome on health is one of the most revolutionary scientific insights in the last 15 years. There are likely as many bacteria in the gut as there are human cells and more genetic diversity in the gut than in the human DNA,” says co-author Professor Scott Hazelhurst, senior scientist at the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience (SBIMB) and Professor of Bioinformatics in the School of Electrical and Information Engineering, Wits University.
Healthy gut microbiome plays a key role in overall health, helping with nutrient absorption, drug metabolism, gut barrier integrity, immune function, and protection against harmful disease pathogens.
Geographical location determines gut health
Participants in the study were from different regions and led varied lifestyles, including rural farming communities, towns transitioning towards industrialization, and dense urban settlements.
“This has rarely been captured in microbiome studies. We now know that geography largely shapes microbiome differences, with some species thriving in rural areas and others in industrialised settings,” says co-author Dr Luicer Ingasia Olubayo of the SBIMB.
Food deserts highlight impact of absence of beneficial gut microbiota in urban settings
In particular, there is the absence of important bacteria, Treponema, in urban participants. This is likely because of urbanisation, overuse of antibiotics, and so-called food deserts.
Food deserts are areas with an abundance of affordable, calorie-dense food but fewer fresh, healthy foods (which are often more expensive). People living in food deserts have a higher risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.
“Interestingly, in Burkina Faso, where a traditional lifestyle is led, there are more diverse gut microbiota associated with healthier strains of bacteria. Burkina Faso is not without its health challenges, particularly a high burden of infectious diseases. But people are eating more healthily,” says Hazelhurst.
Studies in low- and middle-income countries and non-industrialised communities, such as hunter-gatherer groups, show that the microbiome compositions of these populations are distinct from those in high-income country research cohorts.
Precision medicine and health interventions must be site and region-specific
Africa contains the most extraordinary genetic diversity, and the study shows the importance of African genomic data for furthering science and health research. “Africa is understudied, but with new information, we know that health and precision medicine interventions should be site and region-specific. It can’t be a one-size-fits-all approach to gut health,” explains Professor Michèle Ramsay, SBIMB Director.
Despite its large size, the study includes only four countries, so it represents just a fraction of Africa’s vast ecological and cultural diversity.
Moreover, the study’s HIV-related findings highlight the importance of studying microorganisms linked to health. “This research also underscores the need to include low-and-middle-income countries in global microbiome studies for more representative and applicable results,” says Olubayo.
Hazelhurst notes the importance of healthy lifestyle habits, like eating high-fibre foods, avoiding ultra-processed food, and taking antibiotics only when necessary. He suggests simple changes, such as diluting fruit juices with water, eating brown rather than white bread, and reading food labels. “If the labels have words that are hard to understand, then the food may contain additives that are not good for your gut microbiota.”
Logistical feats and shotgun sequencing – the power of collaboration and advanced technology
After consultation with local communities, local field workers and scientists collected stool, blood, and urine samples, clinical information, and questionnaire responses. Samples from across regions (some more than 16 000 km apart) were then sent to SBIMB’s Biobank in South Africa and stored at -80° Celsius.
“A defining feature of the study was the transformative potential of a collaborative and community-engaged research framework,” says co-author Dr Ovokeraye Oduaran at the SBIMB. The process of giving participants feedback on their results has started.
Meanwhile, the study made use of ‘shotgun sequencing,’ which has more power in identifying less abundant ‘taxa’** in the gut microbiome than the use of 16s genetic sequencing. This data gives more biologically meaningful results.
The study expands our knowledge of urban and rural gut microbiomes
This study, by markedly developing the knowledge of urban and rural microbiomes in Africa, represents a key step in extending our understanding of the composition, functions, and diversity of the gut microbiota on a global scale.
“This is also the beginning of many possibilities. There are plans to investigate the interplay between the microbiome, host genetics, environmental exposures, and a wide range of chronic illnesses. We also intend to use new DNA sequencing techniques to examine antibiotic resistance, mobile genetic elements, and the stability and dynamics of viruses that infect bacteria,” says Olubayo.
*A metagenome is the collection of all genetic material (DNA) from a community of microorganisms in a specific environment. Instead of studying just one microbe at a time, scientists analyse all the microbes present in the human gut to understand their diversity and functions.
**Scientists use taxa to describe and categorise the different bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microbes living in the gut, helping to understand their roles in digestion, immunity, and overall health.
The research paper was a sub-study of a multi-institution initiative under the umbrella of the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) consortium, the Wits-INDEPTH Partnership for Genomic Studies (AWI-Gen) and Stanford University in the US. The AWI-Gen collaboration centres were the Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro, Burkina Faso; the Navrongo Health Research Centre, Ghana; the DIMAMO Population Health Research Centre, University of Limpopo; the MRC/Wits Developmental Paths for Health Research Unit (DPHRU); the MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt); and the SBIMB at Wits University, South Africa. Dr Dylan Maghini, a joint postdoctoral fellow at the SBIMB and Stanford University and Dr Ovokeraye Oduaran led the paper.
The average person changes careers — not just jobs — at least three times in their lifetime. Work dominates most of our waking hours, providing purpose and community, but it is also a space where many encounter stress, burnout, and toxic dynamics.
