Professor Wendy Foden, a Specialist Scientist at South African National Parks (SANParks) and Extraordinary Professor at Stellenbosch University’s School for Climate Studies, has been awarded the inaugural Oppenheimer Research Chair in Conservation in a Changing Climate. The five-year programme aims to protect vulnerable species and ecosystems, focusing on Southern Africa’s arid regions, notably the Richtersveld in the Northern Cape.
The project will concentrate on desert succulents such as quiver trees and halfmens, which face severe threats from climate change. It will explore assisted translocation as a conservation intervention while assessing its ecological, genetic, and biosecurity risks. This method involves moving species to more suitable habitats as climate shifts threaten their natural ranges.
Collaborating closely with SANParks scientists and protected area managers, the programme also reportedly includes a partnership with the University of Cambridge’s Conservation Evidence group, though this detail remains unverified by multiple sources. The award, established by the Benjamin Raymond Oppenheimer Trust through Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation, aims to support cutting-edge research addressing climate change impacts on biodiversity.
Professor Foden, who also chairs the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s Climate Change Specialist Group, emphasised the critical need for robust evidence to guide conservation efforts: “We urgently need stronger evidence to guide conservation in a changing climate, alongside the space to develop and test new approaches.”
Her role at SANParks includes leading the organisation’s climate change preparedness initiatives and implementing various adaptation strategies to safeguard biodiversity. The timing of this award follows the release of SANBI’s National Biodiversity Assessment 2025, which highlights the increasing pressures climate change poses to South Africa’s ecosystems.
This research programme comes at a crucial moment, as arid regions like the Richtersveld experience rising temperatures and altered rainfall patterns, threatening species with limited ability to migrate. Insights from this work may provide vital strategies for protecting some of South Africa’s most vulnerable flora against the advancing impacts of global warming.
While the specific funding amount and final outcomes of the programme remain unconfirmed, its leadership by a leading expert like Professor Foden and its focus on practical conservation interventions mark it as a significant step for biodiversity preservation in the Western Cape and beyond.
The Cape Flats News journalist will continue to monitor developments in this research programme and report on its progress and findings.