Eco Minute 13:30

BULLETIN 10 March 1:30 pm

Good afternoon, here is your Eco Minute:

# Tshwane University of Technology’s doctor Mokgadi Hlongwane has emerged victorious in the prestigious Elsevier Foundation Chemistry for Climate Action Challenge. The initiative aims to uncover practical and scalable solutions that address climate-related challenges, particularly in developing regions. Hlongwane’s ground-breaking proposal on improving climate change effects in medicinal plants and crops was selected as one of two winning projects for 2025. She received a grant to advance green and sustainable chemistry solutions that support both climate action and gender equity.

# The Kruger National Park says it is pleased with the success of the 22nd annual Savanna science network meeting. More than 200 global scientists from 21 countries attended the three-day conference in Mpumalanga. The aim was to bring together scientists, researchers, conservationists, and policymakers to address the challenges facing savannas and the people who depend on them. Topics including climate resilience, sustainability, and artificial intelligence were discussed.

# And finally: A new study from the University of Western Australia’s Oceans Institute suggests that the world surpassed 1.5 degrees Celsius warming in 2020. Scientists studied long-lived Caribbean sclerosponges and created an ocean temperature timeline dating back to the 1700s. The study concluded that the world started warming roughly 80 years before the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s estimates. Lead author of the study, Malcolm McCulloch, says the global warming clock for emissions reductions to minimise the risk of dangerous climate change, has been brought forward by at least a decade.

Stay tuned for more news………….