The SAWMA 2027 conference will be held at ANEW Resort Mbombela, a country estate tucked away in the idyllic town of White River, Mpumalanga, just beyond Nelspruit’s borders in the Lowveld and 3,5 hours from Johannesburg. The resort is only 39 km from the Numbi gate of the Kruger National Park and 17 km from the Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport.

The main theme for this year’s event is Wildlife in Living Landscapes.

Living landscapes offer opportunities for both people and nature, but they are also places where competing values, objectives and expectations intersect. Decisions about connectivity, wildlife populations, land use, tourism, livelihoods, resource use and conservation investment often involve trade-offs rather than straightforward solutions.

Climate and environmental change are reshaping ecosystems and wildlife populations. Human needs place growing demands on land and natural resources. Conservation also seeks to maintain or restore ecological connectivity so that wildlife and ecological processes can function across larger areas. Yet greater connectivity can increase human-wildlife interactions, associated costs and risks. Wildlife economies may support conservation and livelihoods while raising difficult questions about equity, access, benefit sharing and who carries the costs of living with wildlife.

Creating landscapes in which people and nature can thrive therefore requires more than ecological understanding. It requires evidence, learning and adaptive management; transparent choices under uncertainty; and cooperation among people who may hold different values, rights and expectations. It also requires honest attention to failure and unintended consequences, because management does not always produce the outcome that was expected.

The conference will bring together ecological science, social understanding, Indigenous and local knowledge, economics, technology, policy and practical conservation experience. Its narrative moves from nature, to people, to practice, to enabling conditions and finally to cooperation. Across that journey, participants will repeatedly ask what is working, how we know, what is being traded off, who gains or loses, and how management should change when evidence challenges its assumptions.

Scientific and practical sub-themes

Eight broad sub-themes will invite a wide range of abstracts. They will remain flexible during submission and review, allowing contributions to be grouped into coherent sessions once the pattern of accepted abstracts is clear.

• Wildlife conservation and management under climate and environmental change
• Human-wildlife interactions, conflict and coexistence
• Conservation genetics and population resilience
• Wildlife disease and One Health
• Technology and innovation in wildlife management
• Wildlife economies, livelihoods and conservation finance
• Policy, governance, ethics and decision-making
• Community-based conservation and Indigenous and local knowledge

Local Organising committee:

Convenor: Prof Dan Parker (University of Mpumalanga)

Scientific Committee: Prof Sam Ferreira, Ms Khensani Nkuna, Ms Erin Crowhurst (SANParks), Prof Mduduzi Ndlovu, Dr Liaan Minnie, Dr Katherine Forssman (University of Mpumalanga)

Event co-ordinator: Mrs Elma Marais (SAWMA secretariat)