1995 World Conference on Natural Resource Modelling
Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
July 5-10, 1995
THEME
Models for managing natural resources.
ORGANISING BODY
Resource Modelling Association
PURPOSE
The purpose of the conference was to provide a forum for the presentation of recent progress in the mathematical modelling of natural resource systems: of their inherent physical, chemical, and biological processes, and of the economic and operational basis for their management.
The focus of the conference was on the development and analysis of mathematical models as tools for resource management and policy development. The analysis may be applied to a wide variety of resources: renewable and exhaustible resources, terrestrial and marine resources, energy, minerals and materials, land and soils, water resources, problems of pollution and residuals, managed biological populations, integrated pest management, agriculture and fisheries, rangelands and forest, wildlife and wilderness, preservation of endangered species and of genetic diversity, and still others.
SPECIAL SYMPOSIUM
The meeting included a special symposium on "Dimensions of sustainability in herbivore-vegetation interactions in variable environments". Vegetation degradation caused by livestock grazing has been recognised as a global problem, especially in semi-arid regions subject to wide variability in rainfall. Management models assuming fixed stocking levels have been notoriously unsuccessful. New paradigms are needed emphasising disequilibrium dynamics, high spatial and temporal variability, and opportunistic managerial responses. This symposium was aimed at drawing together resource scientists, mathematical modellers and policy analysists to confront these issues. Associated with the meeting was the 2nd International Foraging Behaviour Workshop.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Marino Gatto is Professor of Applied Ecology, and Coordinator of the Programme in Environmental and Land Use Engineering, in the Faculty of Engineering, Polytechnical School of Milan, Italy.
Graeme Wake is Professor of Applied Mathematics at Massey University, New Zealand, where he has established a group in Biological and Agricultural Systems. He is also Incoming President of the Australia / New Zealand Association for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.
LOCATION AND VENUE
The conference was held on the Pietermaritzburg campus of the University of Natal.
PIETERMARITZBURG AND SOUTH AFRICA
Pietermaritzburg or Umgungundlovu (Place of the Elephant) was capital of the former province of Natal and is a strong contestant for capital status in the new province of KwaZulu-Natal. There are lots of places of interest in this city of contrasts. Founded in 1838 by the Voortrekkers, the architecture is essentially British Colonial in character. After a visit in 1981 the secretary of London's Victorian Society wrote '. . .it is indeed one of the finest Victorian cities I have ever visited'. The contribution of the city's Indian population has also given the city a distinct Eastern blend - Hindu temples, Moslem mosques, colourful saris and numerous spice shops. And yet the Zulu majority ensure that the city is unmistakeably African.
Pietermaritzburg is central to the many attractions in the province of KwaZulu-Natal ... the game reserves of Zululand, fabulous beaches, the glorious Drakensberg mountains and nature reserves, the historic battlefields of three wars: Boer-Zulu, Anglo-Zulu and Anglo-Boer.
Many stayed longer and enjoyed some of the many attractions of South Africa - the rich diversity of birds, the game, the scenic splendour.