Grassland Research Database
Abstracts and links to full articles are provided making this exciting new database extremely useful and easy to navigate. You can conveniently search the database by keywords for all articles related to the grassland biome on, for example, biodiversity, fire management, land rehabilitation, grazing management, ecosystem services, rangelands, ecology, or water conservation. The database currently holds over 2500 references dating back to 1950 and it is growing.
Click here to Search the Grassland Research Database
The SANBI Grasslands Programme
The Grasslands Programme is one of SANBI’s bioregional programmes which aims to innovate, pilot and mainstream new models for biodiversity management. It does so through integrating biodiversity objectives into the major production sectors operating on South Africa’s grassland biome, namely agriculture, forestry, urban development and coal mining. Its implementation approach is based on partnership between the government, the private sector, civil society and the academic sector. The Programme has piloted projects in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Free State and the Eastern Cape. In addition, the programme works at a national level to strengthen the enabling environment for mainstreaming biodiversity into these sectors. The first five years of the Programme is funded by the UNDP Global Environment Facility (GEF).
Strength in partnerships
One of the Grasslands Programme’s important partnerships is with the Grassland Society of Southern Africa. This partnership has been specifically around the development of the Grassland Research Database, following a recommendation from the Grasslands Research Task Team (RTT). The RTT is an advisory committee of the Programme that developed the grasslands research strategy to improve the coordination, prioritisation and integration of research on grasslands biodiversity conservation. Better coordination of research in the Grassland biome should facilitate more effective identification of research gaps and improve aware of existing knowledge.