Global Change and Sustainability Research Institute (GCSRI)

The institute was established as an enabling research platform of global significance and local impact, fostering informed action for adaptation and innovation in the rapidly changing southern African region.

The Institute is multidisciplinary and some of the research agendas include:

• Global Change adaptation and mitigation
• Biodiversity, human health  and nutritional status of rural communities
• Sustainable urban living through improved water, waste and energy management
• Pollution, extraction and ecosystem health
• Action research on environmental policies
• Improve innovation policy-making  effectiveness and support cross field collaboration between environmental, science and technological agencies

The GCSRI will implement this vision by...

• developing new knowledge pathways that recognise that historical knowledge may not be an adequate basis for future predictions;
• identifying a robust agenda of high relevance to decision and policy makers;
• developing an agenda that is driven by and responds to sustainable local development needs;
• tightly linking the outputs of research to the intended end users; and
• planning research processes founded on partnerships rather than the activities of a discrete unit.