New in HOORC's Library: women in Okavango fisheries

Fishing on the Thamalakane River 2007

Integrating gender and livelihoods in a biodiversity project : a case study of the invisible stakeholders in the Okavango Delta Panhandle, a Master's thesis by Barbara Herrero Cangas for the University College London, looks at how women are participating in the fisheries co-management work of the BIOKAVANGO Project. Cangas' interviews with women who fish with traditional baskets to support their families in the Okavango Delta Panhandle uncovered gender differences in levels of participation and information sharing in the development work. You can find the thesis in HOORC's Library.

Rural poverty network funding

The UN International Fund for Agriculture (IFAD) has approved a grant to expand and support a knowledge network to connect development partners working on initiatives to reduce rural poverty in Western, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa. The network known FIDAfrique-IFADAfrica, which has operated since 1999, will allow members to share lessons learned, experiences and ideas for development. In HOORC's Library you can find Rural livelihoods and poverty reduction policies edited by Frank Ellis and H. Ade Freeman.

IV Symposium on Transboundary Waters Management

The deadline for submission of abstacts for the fourth International Symposium on Transboundary Waters Management, conference that will be held in Thessaloniki, Greece on 15th to 18th October 2008, has been extended to 15 June 2008.

Wetland management planning

The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) reports a new publication, Wetland Management Planning - a Guide for Site Managers. Four international organizations with a long record of water conservation -- Ramsar Convention Secretariat, Wetlands International, IUCN and WWF --have partnered to produce the reference source for water and wetland managers. With input from several experts around the world, the guide deals with building trust, participation, and capacity, assessing wetlands values, and setting achievable objectives. You can download the guide from the WWF web site, or you can find a printed copy in HOORC's Library.

HOORC scholar at Ohio State University

Dr Barbara Ngwenya, HOORC livelihoods specialist currently on sabbatical leave at the at the Wilma H. Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park, School of Environment and Natural Resources, Ohio State University, made two presentations at Ohio State at the end of April. Dr Ngwenya delivered “An Overview of Research Opportunities and Challenges at the Okavango Research Centre , University of Botswana ”on April 24th, to the School of Environment and Natural Resources, and “Children Fishing for Survival in the Okavango Delta, Botswana ” on April 25th to the Environmental Science Graduate Program. HOORC's Library recently received the 2007 annual report of the Olentangy River Wetland Research Park where Dr Ngwenya is spending her sabbatical.

Nature Conservancy project web site

From the Nature Conservancy's Expedition Namib site

The international organization, Nature Conservancy, uses multimedia effectively on its web site to publicise its projects. A recent example is the Expedition Namib -- a project to map and assess proposed national park work in the Namib -- the Kunene Region National Park – Skeleton/Etosha Link -- that would protect priority habitat for lions, elephants, rhinos, cheetah and oryx. The Conservancy's partners in the project are Save the Rhino Trust, Round River Conservation Studies and Namibia's Ministry of Environment and Tourism. The site takes the form of a diary of the expedition with links to photographs, videos, satellite images and slideshows.

A recent news story from Namibia's Ministry of Environment and Tourism reports that Etosha National Park is filled with water for the first time in a decade.

New in HOORC's Library: Botswana bird monitoring report

Important bird areas of Botswana : monitoring report 2007, published by Birdlife Botswana in December 2007 as a special supplement to Babbler, is now available in HOORC's Library. The report uses maps and colour illustrations to describe flight routes, nesting site status and territories of birds in three areas: the Linyanti swamps, Lake Ngami and the Makgadikgadi Pans. The report also describes environmental conditions in the areas surveyed:

"The issue of disturbance from livestock is debatable. Cattle possibly trample some nests, especially those of Collared Pratincoles; this species breeds on the short grasslands adjacent to the water, and birds can be seen performing their distraction displays as grazing cattle approach their nests. However, the vegetation along the lake edges is kept short by the livestock grazing pressure, and maintained as suitable habitat for both Collared and Black-winged Pratincoles -- the latter is a globally threatened species, and the International Single Species Action Plan for the Conservation of the Black-winged Pratincole (AEWA, 2004) highlights the importance of cattle grazing in maintaining suitable habitat for this species." -- Lake Ngami Important Bird Area Monitoring Report 2007, P. Hancock, M. Muller and K. Oake, p. 10