ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the reader with an overview of environmental change in the southern African context during the relatively recent (geological) past and sketches a scenario for possible future change. Both the spatial and temporal aspects of environmental change need to be considered if the concept is to be fully entertained. In Europe and North America, pollen analysis had emerged as a key tool in reconstructing the details of Quaternary environments. Synthesising the range of records of environmental change over southern Africa remains a challenging task. Longer records from the Winter Rainfall Zone are reviewed by Chase and Meadows. Although there are relatively few palaeotemperature records for southern Africa, those that do exist show a remarkable consistency for around the time of the last glacial maximum. While late glacial records are relatively rare in southern Africa, the Holocene is represented at a more substantial number of sites.
