The Sea and the Coast Programme developed by SANCOR and jointly sponsored by the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEA&T) aimed to promote the wise use of marine and coastal resources through appropriate marine science, engineering and technology. The programme was intended to make meaningful contributions to national or regional economies through enhancing the information support available for decision-makers in the public and private sectors. For the sake of convenience, the programme was split into four separate but interacting thrusts that focused on:

The joint sponsorship of this programme by the NRF and the DEA&T totaled R 17,990,386 from 1996 to 2000. As per the Joint Venture Agreement, the DEA&T contributed a fixed R1.45 million per annum to the Sea and the Coast Programme. The NRF's contribution per annum was based on the number of grant-holders, their training efficiency and their research needs in a process that ensured funding equitability between NRF Programmes. The breakdown of grants awarded is illustrated in Table 1. In terms of the Agreement, grant-holders were expected to contribute to both the DEA&T's environmental management mandate and the NRF's capacity building mandate.

Table 1: The breakdown of grants awarded in the Sea and the Coast Programme from 1996 to 2000.

 

 

The awarding of grants was a NRF managed process based on the recommendations by the Thrust Advisory Panels, the scores allocated for each research plan in the Multi-Criteria Decision-Making model (MCDM) of the NRF and the available budget. The DEA&T's contribution to this programme has allowed greater flexibility (i.e. by supporting non-NRF rated grant-holders) and substantially higher-than average grant awards in this programme.

 

In 1999 and 2000 the number of grant-holders was reduced mainly as a result of projects coming to an end. Hence the DEA&T's contribution was expanded to include the Thrusts of the NRF's Marine and Biophysical Programme (Marine and Coastal Biodiversity and Conservation Thrust, and Ocean Dynamics and Coastal Geomorphology Thrust).

 

The number of black grant-holders supported changed from 1 (2,1%) in 1996 to 2 (6,7%) in 2000. The number of female grant-holders supported changed from 5 (10,4) in 1996 to 3 (10%) in 2000. These statistics reflect the demographics of the pool of NRF-rated scientists who may apply for funding from the NRF, which in turn reflects the demographics of established researchers in Higher Education. The NRF implemented a Developing Institutional Research Culture Theme that in part addressed the shortfall of rated black scientists through the development of research at "Historically Black Universities and Technikons".

 

In addition the NRF also awarded staff development grants for black university/technikon staff to further their postgraduate studies and encouraged grant-holders, through MCDM credits, to collaborate with non NRF-rated black scientists. In addition, the DEA&T - NRF Joint Venture Agreement was open to researchers without a NRF rating on condition that a special motivation to have the research supported had to come from DEA&T. Thus it was expected that the number of black NRF-rated scientists will increase over the medium to long term.

 

The percentage of black and female students who received NRF grant-holder linked bursaries within this programme averaged at 42% and 50 % respectively (see Fig 1). Combined, these statistics reveal that the corrective action goal in terms of student training for this programme were very near to meeting the NRF targets i.e. a 1:1 ratio for black:white and female:male by the year 2000. This was partially a credit to grant-holders involved in the Sea and the Coast Programme.

Fig 1. Proportion of black and female students in the Marine and Coastal Programme

As per this report, substantial progress has been made in the Sea and the Coast Programme. It is expected that the knowledge base that is being developed will allow the informed and appropriate management of South Africa's marine and coastal resources, and that the appropriately-skilled human resources that are being developed will provide for South Africa's research and management needs for the future.

For further inquiries please contact Johan Pauw, National Research Foundation, Tel: 012 481 4031/56, Email:johan@nrf.ac.za