A Systematic Study Site Selection Protocol to Determine Environmental Flows in the Headwater Catchments of the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 21;19(10):6259. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19106259.

Abstract

Developing nations will be worst hit by the impacts of climate change because limited resources hinder the spatial reach of climate studies, effort, and subsequent implementation to help with the improvement of livelihoods. Therefore, finding the best-case study is an essential undertaking in environmental assessments. This study explains one systematic approach to selecting a study site for an environmental assessment project. A desktop review of relevant literature, a simple factor scoring assessment process, reliance on expert opinion, and a field survey for ground-truthing were conducted. The desktop review showed the most critical factors to site selection. The scoring of these factors selected those that were crucial for the study. Experts validated the results and suggested the best study site among the ones identified. While the design is simplified, the proposed approach selects the most appropriate study site for environmental assessments.

Keywords: case study; climate change; data scarcity; environmental assessment; science communication; selection protocol.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Climate Change*

Grants and funding

This research was funded by South Africa-Flanders Climate Change Adaptation Research and Training Partnership: building the adaptation knowledge and capacity base.