Wits and Sappi extend climate resilience forestry partnership to 2028

Wits University and Sappi Southern Africa have renewed the Wits Sappi Chair in Climate Change and Plantation Sustainability until 2028, backed by a new R4.3 million investment to strengthen forestry resilience under rising climate risks. Led by Professor Mary Scholes, the programme focuses on drought tolerance, fire regimes and tree responses to pests and pathogens, using tools such as climate modelling, genome analysis, controlled experiments and large-scale field trials to guide plantation management decisions. The initiative builds on a successful 2023–2025 cycle that produced high‑resolution climate datasets for forestry, new methodologies to track tree water use and training for multiple postgraduate researchers. A new plant mechanistic modelling platform demonstrated at the launch helps identify which tree species to plant where, and how they will perform under hotter, drier conditions expected over the next 40 years, supporting Sappi’s long‑term breeding strategy.​