Скачать или смотреть Meet Forestry Scientist, Prof Paxie Chirwa - Management Award winner

On a long drive from Cape Town to his birthplace in Malawi, Prof Paxie Chirwa can’t help but notice just how much plant life has been lost.

“This loss is not from natural calamities. It’s mostly due to human impact,” he says. “So to me, the idea is to understand why it is so, and how we can actually help people use this resource sustainably.”

As the chair and director of the Forest Postgraduate Programme at University of Pretoria (UP), he believes in a participatory approach to protecting forests.

He says previously, the focus was heavily on regulation for conservation. “Don’t touch this, don’t do that. But now, I think there’s a turn around — if you want to improve conservation, you have to bring people in at the centre of it all,” says Chirwa.

“In the past when I did research it was very much that you go and talk to the trees, so to speak,” he says. Scientists would study the ecology, measuring tree responses and so on, but they did not always engage communities or incorporate their indigenous knowledge about an area.

He says participatory management and adaptive resource management means that forestry researchers must work together with policy regulators, community leaders, scientists and other forestry professionals to prolong resources.

Prof Paxie W Chirwa, Chair and Director: Forest Postgraduate Programme, University of Pretoria (UP) was awarded the 2023 NSTF-South32 Management Award for his contribution, centred on people, to future forestry development in South Africa and training future foresters. His work is aimed at recognising the importance of communities in proximity to the forest resource in sustainable forest management and use.

This video series serves to inspire young minds to follow a career in science, engineering and technology (SET). The NSTF Share ‘n Dare Programme provides a platform for NSTF Award winners to act as role models and ambassadors for SET and innovation. Read more about the NSTF-South32 Award Winners: https://nstf.org.za/professionals-2023/

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