The recovery of Dutch freshwater nature is faltering. Environmental policy bore fruit for years, but in several areas, the upward trend has stalled or is even heading in the wrong direction again. “Biodiversity recovery in streams and rivers has turned into decline,” warn the World Wildlife Fund… Read more in NL Times…
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Tourism: A Reader
by GST Staff 3 pillars shaping Africa’s next hospitality chapter THE CONVERSATION AROUND African hospitality has shifted. For years, the continent was framed in terms of “untapped potential”; today, that potential is translating into sustained, undeniable growth. The industry has moved beyond recovery and into a phase of sophisticated expansion that is reshaping the global […]
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Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa: how they stack up on reusing waste
By Aifani Confidence Tahulela – Researcher, Durban University of Technology; Fulufhelo Netswera – Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Postgraduate Studies, University of Venda. First published in The Conversation on 13 May 2026 THE GLOBAL ECONOMY STILL largely follows a simple pattern: extract natural resources, manufacture products, use them and then throw them away. This […]
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The Future of Forests
By Richard Heinberg, originally published by Resilience.org Our species’ origin and destiny are entangled with the roots and branches of trees. We evolved in and around trees, and we’ve learned to breed and plant them for their fruit, nuts, wood, and blossoms, taking their seeds with us as we migrated-hence the English walnut, native to […]
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Don’t just plant trees, plant forests to restore biodiversity for the future
By John Parker, Senior Scientist in Community Ecology, Smithsonian Institution; Justin Nowakowski, Senior Scientist in Spatial Ecology and Conservation, Smithsonian Institution. First published in The Conversation on 20 April 2026 Around the world, people plan to plant more than 1 trillion trees this decade in an ambitious effort to slow climate change and reduce biodiversity […]
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From D’Olijvenboom to Boutique Elegance: A Paarl Story Worth Discovering
By Mark van Eyssen, GST Assessor Along the oak-lined Main Road of Paarl, directly opposite the historic Paarl Gymnasium, stands a building that quietly tells a story spanning more than three centuries. At first glance, it is a beautifully restored Cape Dutch property. But step closer and it becomes something more, a living piece of […]
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World Tourism in Geo-Political Chains?
By Selwyn Roup, GST Contributor Location, location, location… and never before has Southern Africa stood astride the Indo-Atlantic straits of East to West and North to South as in the past nine months. The good news is that in 2025 South Africa welcomed 10.5 million tourists, topping pre-Covid numbers. The ebb and flow of power […]
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Energy: A Reader
by GST Staff This solar farm lets cattle roam under moving panels SILICON RANCH HAS BROUGHT something online commercially that you don’t see every day: a utility-scale solar farm where cattle graze under moving panels. The Nashville-based developer has launched its new “CattleTracker” system at the Christiana Solar Ranch in Tennessee. It’s the first commercial […]
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A water solution for drought-prone South Africa: systems to replenish aquifers in five towns
By Surina Esterhuyse, Associate Professor in the Centre for Environmental Management, University of the Free State; Danita Hohne, PhD Candidate in the Centre for Environmental Management, University of the Free State; Fanus Fourie, PhD Candidate in the Institute for Groundwater Studies, University of the Free State. First published in The Conversation on 19 March 2026 […]
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Madagascar’s ancient baobabs store 700 years of climate secrets
By Estelle Razanatsoa, Junior Research Fellow, University of Cape Town;Lindsey Gillson, Associate Professor Plant conservation unit, University of Cape Town; Malika Virah-Sawmy, Visiting Scientist, Humboldt University of Berlin – First published in The Conversation on 19 April 2026 MADAGASCAR IS HOME TO seven species of baobab trees, of which six are found nowhere else on […]
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