The World Congress for Environmental and Resource Economists (WCERE) is a flagship event organised every four years as the main scientific forum for scholars in the field.  Dr Selma Karuaihe, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development at the University of Pretoria (UP) joined over 1 400 international scholars to attended the WCERE in Gothenburg, Sweden from 25-29 June 2018. She participated in a thematic session on “Innovative Ways to Communicate Environmental Economics” where she shared experiences of Blended Learning from the Collaborative Masters Program in Advance and Agricultural Economics (CMAAE). CMAAE is collaborative program among 13 African countries, offered at 17 departments, with the University of Pretoria as one of the partners, responsible for hosting the shared facility for electives from August to November every year. Dr Karuaihe presented her paper in a session, where the renowned Professor Lynne Lewis, from Bates College, acted as the moderator; Professor Laura Blythe Liu presented environmental issues in children’s books, and Professor Sara Jacobson from Williams College talked about interactive games for ecosystem services.  Their presentations were well received and provoked interesting debates as effective communication was acknowledged as one of the issues facing academics in this field. Their presentation led to a call, by the person in charge of communication for “Environment for Development (EfD)” at the University of Gothenburg, for academics to establish a platform to share experiences on effective communication.

In addition, Dr Karuaihe joined other African delegates in attendance to launch the new African Association for Environmental and Resource Economists (AfAERE). They identified a need for the African continent to form its own association and be represented at the next WCERE. A task team was established to look into issues of governance and elections of new board members for the association and Dr Karuaihe was nominated as one of the members, representing the Center for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa (CEEPA) and the department. Dr Karuaihe found the conference very beneficial and rewarding and she believes the kind of professional networks established will lead future academic collaborations.