The authors

Robert (Bob) Scholes is a Professor of Systems Ecology at the University of the Witwatersrand. He has worked on the issue of climate change since 1990, and was a Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s influential assessments in 2000, 2007 and 2014. He has been closely involved with most of the major studies and policy processes associated with climate change in South Africa. His specialty is the interaction between terrestrial ecosystems in Africa and the global climate, and he is widely regarded as a world expert in this field.

Mary Scholes is a Professor in the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand and serves as the Director of Graduate Affairs. Her climate change research focuses on agriculture and food security as well as impacts of acidic deposition resulting from the burning of fossil fuels. She supervises a number of postgraduate students who are quantifying the impacts of industrialization in the Waterberg on human health and ecosystem function. 

Mike Lucas is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Cape Town. He is a member of the International Scientific Committee of Oceanic Research (SCOR) which focuses on promoting international cooperation in planning and conducting oceanographic research. His own research focuses on how climate change affects the marine environment, particularly the Atlantic and Southern Oceans, and how this in turn can affect global climate.