Plant Conservation Unit News

Dr Theo Manuel graduated from the Plant Conservation Unit in 2006 with an award-winning PhD thesis which combined his two great passions - conservation and education.  Following his tragic death in 2008, the PCU established an award in honour of Theo’s memory, to be given out annually at the Fynbos Forum, for the best paper or poster delivered in the field of conservation education.

This year’s award was presented to Ms Wilma Strydom, of the CSIR, for her MSc research on the effectiveness of educational resources in teaching young learners and adults about the importance of river health. The project is supervised by A/Prof Karen Esler from the Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology at the University of Stellenbosch.

Though there were many impressive education projects show-cased at the Fynbos Forum, it was Wilma Strydom’s blend of education with scholarly research that caught the adjudicators’ imaginations. “We think Theo would have enjoyed and appreciated Wilma’s passion for conservation education, combined with her rigorous research into the value of educational material used in rural schools to teach young learners about the value and importance of their local river systems”.