Prepared by: Nokubonga Mbandzi-Phorego, Lubabalo Mofu, Eleonora
Puccinelli & Francesca Porri
Understanding aquatic ecosystems is critical for environmental sustainability and societal well-being, especially in developing economies like South Africa, where coastal and freshwater resources support livelihoods, food security, and biodiversity. Healthy aquatic ecosystems provide essential services such as fisheries, climate regulation, and coastal protection, making their conservation and sustainable management vital in the face of climate change, pollution, and habitat degradation.
To effectively manage and conserve these ecosystems, robust research methodologies are essential. Stable isotopes and fatty acids play a crucial role in understanding energy flow, trophic interactions, contaminant transfer in food webs, and overall ecosystem health. The scope of this policy brief underscores the transformative potential of best practices courses in stable isotopes analysis (SIA) and fatty acid methodologies for developing economies. The Best practices in aquatic food web investigations: stable isotope and fatty acid approaches course serves as a critical platform for enhancing expertise, equipping participants with the necessary skills to apply these advanced methodologies effectively.
The course, sponsored by the Scientific Committee on Ocean Research (SCOR) programme through mobility of international expert Dr Puccinelli from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research-NIOZ, and organised by the National Research Foundation-South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (NRF-SAIAB), was held in August 2024 at the NRF-SAIAB, and aimed to address the pressing need for increasing African expertise in these approaches. Postgraduates and early-career researchers were trained by experts from NRF-SAIAB and NIOZ, building local capacity to address pressing environmental and socio-economic challenges (Figure 1).
This initiative highlights how specialised training in stable isotope techniques, not only advances coastal research and derived knowledge production, but also empowers expertise in the continent to independently tackle issues like coastal pollution, food security, and ecosystem management, allowing to uncover early the environmental stressors to hence provide solutions and long-term societal benefits. Investing in specialised training programmes also ensures that developing regions carry the expertise to generate high-quality data, apply cutting-edge analytical techniques, and contribute to global scientific advancements, fostering evidence-based policy and sustainable resource
management.
