Living Heritage, Climate Change, and Sustainability in South African Agriculture

The project aims to address fundamental questions about the future of South African wine in the context of worsening water scarcity, rising temperatures and unpredictable weather patterns.
Project status
Ongoing
Departments
International

Climate change presents the Cape wine industry with an existential threat. The challenge is to simultaneously achieve economic sustainability, sustain rural livelihoods and reduce wine's environmental footprint. The project seeks, firstly, to map and evaluate the adaptations that producers are making through selection of drought-resistant varietals, the selective preservation of old vines that require less water and innovations in vineyard management practices. Secondly, it evaluates initiatives to reconcile wine and biodiversity within the UNESCO-listed Cape Floral Kingdom in a manner that also includes adjacent communities. Thirdly, the project seeks to test a model for wine waste management through bio-refineries designed to valorise organic residues and to meet government targets. Fourthly, it will pilot old vine training for vineyard workers and monitor the effect on employment prospects. Finally, the project will initiate an exchange between regional/provincial governments, producers and researchers in the Cape and Sardinia based on their broadly similar profiles.

Research Team: Professor Paul Nugent, University of Edinburgh, Dr Isabella Soi, University of Cagliari; Professor Cristina Trois, University of Stellenbosch

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