The South African Risk and Vulnerability Atlas (SARVA) is one of the flagship projects under the Department of Science and Technology’s 10 year Global Change Grand Challenge and is meant to bring the gap between science and policy, by providing information to decision makers of risk, vulnerability and impacts of global change. In 2008, the DST adopted a Ten-Year Innovation Plan aimed at propelling the country towards a knowledge economy. The Ten-Year Plan is underpinned by five grand challenges, one of which is Science and Technology for Global Change.

SARVA is based on a shared platform that also hosts South African Earth Observation Network (SAEON) and South Africa Earth Observation System (SAEOS), amongst others, providing access to a large collection of scientific data and knowledge in and about South Africa of the sensitivity of a myriad of themes to myriad of themes to global and climate changes, including those theme covered in the spatial portal. This is in addition to the basic Atlas data sets.

The SARVA project is currently implemented by the CSIR and hosted by SAEON, with key inputs from South African research and science institutions (see specific theme pages). The DST is currently establishing a Bureau on Global Change Science that will include the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), Africa Centre for Climate and Earth Systems Science (ACCESS), Africa Earth Observatory Network (AEON), the South African National Space Agency as well the Atlas. The Bureau will act as a high-level knowledge broker between researchers and policy-makers in parliament.