Brent Abrahams

Stellenbosch University | SUN · Africa Centre for Scholarship

The pervasiveness of threats posed by biological invasions presents significant challenges to human well-being, biodiversity conservation, and natural resource management, which has contributed to the growth of invasion science as a discipline. However, several studies have shown that the social-ecological complexity of invasions, the compartmental...

Increasing resources are being allocated both to the management and research of biological invasions in South Africa. However, as with many natural resource management and conservation programmes globally, the question remains as to what extent the science provides the necessary answers for management, and whether it influences decision-making. Thi...

This chapter describes the establishment of a Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology in South Africa, and reviews how its structure and functioning has evolved over time. The Centre has been guided in its activities by a set of principles that included conducting research on biological invasions that is world-class but relevant to South Africa,...

Addressing complex challenges facing social-ecological systems (SES) requires the integration of knowledge from a diversity of disciplines and stakeholders. This requirement has resulted in the establishment of many integrative research programmes, both globally and locally, aimed at coproducing knowledge relevant to solving SES challenges. However...

Moving towards more integrative approaches within the invasion sciences has been recognized as a means of improving linkages between science, policy, and practice. Yet despite the recognition that biological invasions pose complex social-ecological challenges, the invasion literature poorly covers social-ecological or distinctly integrative researc...

Scenario planning is a key approach for exploring the longer term consequences of nature-society interactions, and are used to inform policy making about the potential risks, opportunities and tradeoffs of different possible future pathways of change. Scenarios do not aim to forecast or predict the future, but rather to highlight how different pote...

The call for integrated social–environmental science, complete with outreach to applications and solutions, is escalating worldwide. Drawing on several decades of experience, researchers engaged in such science, completed an assessment of the design and management attributes and impact pathways that lead to successful projects and programs and to u...

Wolfgat Nature Reserve, experiences a severe security threat level due to violent crime as a result of its location and the social challenges facing the Cape Flats community of Mitchell’s Plain. The WNR has for a long period of time, received largely negative newspaper coverage. Mitchell’s Plain experiences immense socio-economic pressures, such as...