Okavango Delta Management Plan (ODMP) programme participants are reviewing the report, Development of a Five-year Research Strategy for the Okavango Delta Management Plan, released to participants in August 2005. The research strategy outlined in the report focuses on issues that will help improve management of the Ramsar site, including effective monitoring systems and obtaining the right mix of pure and applied research activities. The report calls on HOORC to place greater emphasis on focused or directed research activities that are designed to complement and inform the management goals of the ODMP.
The report recommends priority topics for research in three categories: physical and chemical processes and features (sediment transport, water quality and factors affecting flood distribution and frequency); ecological processes (detailed knowledge of elephant populations, impacts of fire, resource exploitation, poaching activities, aquatic invertebrates, specific important vertebrate species, in-flow stream requirements, and biodiversity indicators); and social and economic processes (livelihoods, economics, governance, and issues of spatial organization and development).
The report urges the timely formation of a Research Advisory Group for the programme to provide a forum for research collaboration.
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