Press Release: The Nature Conservation Corporation sponsors infrastructure for a conservation biology MSc programme

“Conservation Biology has been termed the ‘crisis discipline’ and is among the most relevant of modern sciences, striving to balance the needs of people with those of nature.” That is the explicit message of Prof. Phil Hockey who is the Director of the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology at the University of Cape Town.

In response, The Nature Conservation Corporation, based in the Westlake Business Park, Cape Town, has committed sponsorship for the purchase of 15 computers to be used by the Conservation Biology Masters students at the FitzPatrick Institute.

The FitzPatrick Institute, which will celebrate its 50th Anniversary in 2010, views conservation biology as the scientific study of how best to sustain and manage linked systems of people and nature. South African society has experienced a set of massive changes in the last 20 years, and much of the resulting dynamism and openness to new ideas is mirrored in South African conservation. Similarly, the discipline of conservation biology is undergoing a paradigm shift, in which outdated notions of preservation and paternalism are being replaced by an ethic that recognizes the complexity of linked social and ecological systems and the critical need for solid interdisciplinary research. The FitzPatrick Institute is contributing to this transformation through research and teaching, while also encouraging and supporting sound, action-oriented science.

“Our sponsorship of computers to the FitzPatrick Institute demonstrates our value of innovation and of advancement within our sector, for the benefit of our natural environment. We strive to be holistic and thorough in our approach to conservation, as we want what is best for the environment,” says Dean Ferreira, Managing Director of The Nature Conservation Corporation."

Released 26 October 2009: Download Press Release