SIT student reports

Photo courtesy of Wesley Anderson

With the holiday period fast approaching. the summer rains are coming more regularly, and activities at HOORC are slowing. School for International Training students, in and out of HOORC's library on their independent study projects for the past three weeks, have completed their papers are heading back home for the holidays. Among the projects carried out at or near HOORC were William Caffry's Differences in waterbirds between the Thamalakane River and Boteti River, Wesley Anderson's An assessment of the differences in terrestrial squamate richness between an actively grazed area and a recovering area in Ngamiland, Botswana and Cara Whelan's The impact of varying concentrations of deltamethrin on Bufo poweri tadpoles.You can find the project reports in HOORC's Library.

HOORC's Library will close today, December 19th and reopen on January 3rd, 2008.

Ozone biomonitoring

Pieter Smit of North-West University, South Africa, was at HOORC recently, working with Dr Wellington Masamba to establish an experimental site as part of the APINA Ozone Biomonitoring Project. The project, sponsored by SIDA and coordinated by the Air Pollution Information Network for Africa, aims at monitoring the occurrence of tropospheric ozone in southern Africa. Tropospheric or ground level ozone is a secondary pollutant, formed in the atmosphere by ultraviolet radiation in combination with emissions from human and natural sources, including fire, that affect human health, natural vegetation and crop yields. From previous measurements and modeling, it appears that the Okavango region has high levels of tropospheric ozone. The research site at HOORC will monitor ozone levels through observing the growth and damage to two types of clover (Trifolium repens), one ozone sensitive and one ozone resistant.

HOORC's project, part of a larger effort begun in 2005 in South Africa and now extending to other countries in the SADC region, will run throughout the 2007-08 rainy and dry seasons. The project team hopes to later extend the work to study the effect of ozone on locally important crops. Findings will be used to establish critical levels to assist southern African governments in regulating pollutant emissions.

Historical map of Botswana

The University of Texas at Austin has some interesting historical maps of Africa in its Perry-Castañeda LibraryMap Collection. You can also view the Sketch Map of British Bechuanaland, May 1887 http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/history_africa.html

Multilateral environment agreement negotiator’s handbook

The ELDIS web site's useful Manuals and Toolkits page alerted us to the second edition of Multilateral environment agreement negotiator’s handbook 2007: a handbook for negotiating environmental agreements. Developed by UNEP, Environment Canada and the Finnish University of Joensuu to respond to the need for a practical reference tool to assist officials from governments all over the world to participate in bilateral, trilateral or multilateral international negotiations, the handbook provides guidance in appropriate technical language, used in context, with a new glossary. You can find the handbook online.

New in HOORC's Library: Kalahari sediments study

In situ rounding of quartz grains within an African surface weathering profile in North West Ngamiland, Botswana by M.J. McFarlane, S.H. Coetzee, J.R. Kuhn, HOORC researcher Cornelis Vanderpost and F.D. Eckardt, was published in the September issue of the Zeitschrift für geomorphologie. The study looked at a basal sandstone in the thick, unconsolidated sands and silts assigned to the Kalahari Sediments in north west Ngamiland. The roundness of the quartz grains in the sandstone had been taken to indicate physical transport, which seriously conflicts with evidence that indicates that the sandstone is a component of an in situ weathering profile. You can find the article, and an explanation of sandstone weathering processes, in the Encyclopedia of Geology, in HOORC's Library.

Makgadikgadi news

The November issue of the Boteti Diaries covers the rains, this year's flood, lion hunting, and a new pool for hippos in the park. You can request the newsletter from David Dugmore and find back issues on the Meno a Kwenya web site.

Rainy season lilies

Photo courtesy of Shex Tlotlego

The rains have come slowly to Ngamiland this year, with sudden storms and long hot dry periods between. But the vegetation is responding to any moisture: HOORC Associate Sehenyi Shex Tlotlego stopped by the road at Kauxhwi, south of East Mohembo in the Okavango Panhandle, to photograph these Crinum eucrophyllum lilies (Tswana mogaga) next to a Department of Water Affairs pipeline marker.

Kalahari lunar rock

A rock discovered in the Kalahari has featured in worldwide news this week because of an article published in Nature on December 6th, 2007. The article, Cryptomare magmatism 4.35 Gyr ago recorded in lunar meteorite Kalahari 009 by Kentaro Terada and colleagues, claims the rock is evidence of volcanic activity on the moon.

BIOKAVANGO studies

Inception workshops for research to support the BIOKAVANGO project were held last week in Maun.

5th December 2007: Consultancy for the preparation of the Okavango Delta aquaculture guidelines. Water Farming Botswana is the consultant.
7th December 2007: Usufruct rights framework for joint management systems for fish and veldt products in the Upper Panhandle. S Thapelo Attorneys is the consultant.

Government notices of interest to the Okavango community

From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLV, no. 78, 30 November 2007

Statutory Instrument no. 83 of 2007: Diseases of Animals Act, Declaration of Foot and Mouth Disease (Infected Area) Order, 2007 (published on 30th November 2007)
C.1402

Tender announcements and documents may also be found on the Government of Botswana web site. The entire issue of the Government Gazette may be read in HOORC’s Library.

Tsetse spraying environmental monitoring report

Open Billed Stork, courtesy of Hannelore Bendsen


The latest report in HOORC's work on tsetse fly control, Environmental monitoring of May-August 2006 aerial spraying of deltamethrin for tsetse fly eradication in the Kwando-Linyanti and Caprivi region, prepared by HOORC researchers Casper Bonyongo and Dominic Mazvimavi for Botswana's Department of Animal Health and Production has been completed. The report describes findings of monitoring during the work's first two phases -- pre-spraying and spraying. Findings for the recovery monitoring phase will follow. The study found relatively high impact on invertebrates and low impact on birds, fish and people. You can find the report, and its executive summary, in HOORC's Library.

Okavango River Basin consultancy

A call for expressions of interest for a consultancy for the Environmental Protection and Sustainable Management of the Okavango River Basin (EPSMO) Project has been issued by the Okavango River Basin Water Commission, United Nations Development Program, and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The long-term objective of the Environment Protection and Sustainable Management of the Okavango River Basin Project is to achieve global environmental benefits through concerted management of the naturally integrated land and water resources of the Okavango River Basin.

The specific objectives of the project are to:

a. Enhance the depth, accuracy, and accessibility of the existing knowledge base of basin characteristics and conditions and identify the principal threats to the trans-boundary water resources of the Okavango River Basin through a Trans- boundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA);

b. Develop and implement, through a structured process, a sustainable and cost-effective program of policy, legal and institutional reforms and investments to mitigate the identified threats to the basin’s linked land and water systems through the Strategic Action Program (SAP); and,

c. Assist the three riparian nations (Angola, Botswana and Namibia) in their efforts to improve their capacity to collectively manage the basin.

The objective of the consultancy is to recruit a team of experts to collect and compile information in Angola and participate in a regional Technical Taskforce to formulate the Transboundary Diagnostic Assessment. This assignment will update the existing knowledge base in Angola by bridging critical information gaps. It will also recommend and implement systems to access and use the information for the adaptive management of the basin.

The work will include assessments in the following areas: • General catchment information (Geology, Soils, Topography, Geomorphology, Vegetation and Climate) • Analysis of key hydrologic and hydrogeological , variables • Assessment key water quality variables • Environmental system limits and parameters • Economic valuation of environmental assets • Socio-economic analysis to establish current and future patterns of water resource use and levels of demand.

Eligible bidders are institutions or firms or consortia of institutions or firms with demonstrated ability to complete the work. The primary institution or firm that submits the expression of interest should be registered as a company in Angola with a substantial (minimum of five years) and positive record of relevant work in Angola.

Expressions of Interest must be received by 31st of January 2007 in English and Portuguese. Interested potential suppliers of the services should send their expressions of interest to the following e-mail address only as adobe acrobat PDF files: Chaminda.rajapakse@fao.org, including the subject line in the email message: Expression of Interest TDA Okavango (Company name).

Zambezi Basinwide Stakeholders Forum

HOORC water resources specialist Dr Dominic Mazvimavi attended the third Zambezi Basinwide Stakeholders Forum in Victoria Falls this past week. The meeting was organized by SADC, the Zambezi River Authority, and IUCN-ROSA to discuss Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) issues in the Zambezi river basin, one of the largest in Africa and shared by eight countries: Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Dr Mazvimavi commented on the causes and solutions for drought at the meeting: you can read his remarks in AllAfrica.com's Inter Press Service story.

Herbarium research

The vlei lily, Pancratium tenuifolium, collected by the Heaths in Moremi

Roger and Alison Heath are passing through Maun, having completed collection and identification of plants for the Selinda Herbarium project in the Linyanti area north of the Okavango Delta. They are finalizing materials about the project for a book that will include local names and uses of the plants, to be published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew at the end of 2008. The team is now working in Moremi Game Reserve to collect specimens of all the plants in the reserve with a view to creating an identification guide for use by the Okavango community. The Heaths are depositing plant specimens with the National Museum of Botswana, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Botswana Ministry of Agriculture College at Sebele and with the Peter Smith Herbarium at HOORC. Tourism companies Linyanti Explorations and Orient Express are providing support to the project. The Heaths are asking for assistance with local plant names and uses: contact them at plantsandpeopleafrica@yahoo.co.uk.

Okavango session at IASTED 2008 water conference

The Second IASTED Africa Conference on Water Resource Management -- AfricaWRM 2008 --
Science and Technology Innovation for Sustainable Development, will be held in Gaborone, Botswana on September 8 – 10, 2008. HOORC researcher Dr Piotr Wolski is inviting submissions for a special session, Integration of Aspects of Water Resource Management in the Okavango Delta and Okavango River Basin. You can see a description of the session on the IASTED web site. Submissions for the Okavango session should be sent to africaWRM2008@orc.ub.bw by March 15, 2008.

HIV/AIDS and environment assessment

Michael Ramaano and Leigh Price, team members from the Kalahari Conservation Society's project, Status Assessement of the Relationship between HIV and AIDS and the Environment, visited HOORC's Library today at the end of a two week field trip that covered Chobe, Moremi Game Reserve and the Okavango Sub-District. The project, being carried out by Zimbabwean organizations SafAIDS and Shanduko, is looking at health services provided to national parks staff, safari camp and Ministry of Agriculture staff in remote areas of Ngamiland, seeking to identify best practices and how these can be replicated in other sectors. The project represents an initial planning phase for a transboundary system that will improve health care delivery to people affected by HIV/AIDS in the context of healthy ecosystems in the Okavango Delta area. In HOORC's Library, you can find The Impact Of HIV/AIDS In CBNRM In Botswana : The Case Of Ngamiland by B.N. Ngwenya, F.C. Potts And O.T. Thakadu.

Okavango Delta moisture feedback study

Maarten Smoorenburg, Master's student in civil engineering at the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands, made a presentation at HOORC today about his fieldwork of the past seven weeks, carried out with HOORC's Dr Piotr Wolski, to measure soil moisture and floodplain infiltration in the Okavango Delta. The study aimed to map moisture feedback to the atmosphere from the Delta's wetlands to contribute to a regional climate model. The fieldwork found that the band of wet land along temporarily flooded plains was more extensive than anticipated, indicating a larger contribution of moisture to the atmosphere over the Delta. The findings will be added to a study being carried out by Albert Kachapila under a research programme of UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education and the Dutch Royal Meteorological Institute (KNMI).

Government notices of interest to the Okavango community

From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLV, no. 75, 16 November 2007

Tender: Republic of Botswana: Ministry of Works and Transport: construction of a new passenger terminal building at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (SSKIA)
6146
Tender: Central District Council: erection of game farm fence for Hima Ranch in 4B zone area (Boteti Sub-District)
6161
Tender: Republic of Botswana Dept. of Water Affairs: consultancy for the environmental impact assessment of blockage clearance in the Okavango Delta
6212
Statutory Instrument No. 74 of 2007: Hides and Skins Export, Hides and Skins (Amendment) Order, 2007 Act
C.1389

From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLV, no. 77, 23 November 2007

Tender: Republic of Botswana Dept. of Water Affairs: consultancy for the environmental impact assessment of blockage clearance in the Okavango Delta, second publication
6277

Tender announcements and documents may also be found on the Government of Botswana web site. The entire issue of the Government Gazette may be read in HOORC's Library.

National park in Caprivi gazetted

AllAfrica.com has reported a story from The Namibian about the official declaration of the Bwabwata National Park in the Kwando River area in northern Namibia. The park incorporates Caprivi Game Reserve, the Mahango Game Park in the west and the Mamili Game Park south of Sangwali along the Linyanti River. According to the story, the three core areas Kwando, Buffalo and Mahango, will be zoned for special protection and controlled tourism. The central area of the park will be zoned to provide for a multiple-use area of community-based tourism. You can see a map of Namibian national parks on the Ministry of Environment and Tourism website.

Global water tool

HOORC's water tower

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)’s Global Water Tool, launched at World Water Week 2007 in Stockholm, is a free tool for companies and organizations to map their water use and assess risks relative to their operations and supply chains.

According to the WBCSD website, the tool:

• Compares an organization's water uses (including staff presence, industrial use, and supply chain) with validated water and sanitation availability information – on a country and watershed basis



• Allows calculation of water consumption and efficiency



• Establishes relative water risks in the organization's portfolio to prioritize action – including more detailed assessment



• Creates key water GRI Indicators, inventories, risk and performance metrics and geographic mapping



• Enables effective communication with internal and external stakeholders on the organization's water issues.

You can download the tool from the WBCSD website.

Poverty Environment Net

Poverty Environment Net focuses on capturing and sharing knowledge about poverty-environment linkages and good practices for addressing the environmental dimensions of poverty. The website was established through the Poverty Environment Program of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and contains links to documents, project descriptions and other resources from round the world. The site also links to the sites of the Poverty Environment Partnership and the UNDP-UNEP Poverty -Environment Initiative. In HOORC's Library, you can find Escaping poverty's grasp : the environmental foundations of poverty reduction by David Reed, and the Columbia University Earth Institute 's poverty mapping work, Where the poor are : an atlas of poverty.

New in HOORC's Library: Ecology and behaviour of the African buffalo

Ecology and behaviour of the African buffalo : social inequality and decision making by H. H. T. Prins examines the benefits that animals gain from living in a social group. His 40 years of research, mainly at at Lake Manyara in northern Tanzania, enabled Prins to analyse behaviour patterns in relation to food sources, competitors , breeding and disease. Closer to home, AllAfrica.com reports Mmegi's recent story about buffalo in the village of Nata.

MDG monitor

The United Nations has launched a new web site, the MDG Monitor, to help track progress of countries' efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The site uses interactive maps, country-specific and organizations profiles, and provides news feeds to describe challenges and achievements. A countdown ticker lets you know exactly how many days, months, hours and seconds remain until the goal date of 2015. Click here to see the profile for Botswana.

You can still find the main web site for the MDGs online and in HOORC's Library you can find Africa and the Millennium Development Goals : 2007 update.

Government notices of interest to the Okavango community

From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLV, no. 72, 2 November 2007

Tender: Republic of Botswana: Ministry of Works and Transport: pre-qualification bids for the construction of Maun Airport improvements : airside works
5910

From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLV, no. 73, 7 November 2007

Government of Botswana: Bill No. 20 of 2007: Mines and Minerals (Amendment) Bill, 2007, amendments to forms and provision of a new form for applications for renewal of mining licences
B.135

From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLV, no. 74, 9 November 2007

Tender: Republic of Botswana: engineering services for design and tender documentation of the New Xade access road from the Ghanzi/Kang Road junction to New Xade settlement
6044
Tender: Dept. of Water Affairs: Supply, installation and commissioning of analytical instruments and office equipment for the Okavango Water Quality Management Project
6048
Tender: Dept. of Water Affairs: Supply of vehicles and a boat for the Okavango Water Quality Management Project
6048
Tender: Republic of Botswana: addendum: lease of lodge sites in the Chobe National Park, Makgadikgadi Pans National Park and Central Kalahari Game Reserve
6049
Tender: Central District Council: erection of game farm fence for Hima Ranch in 4B zone area (Boteti sub-district)
6099

Tender announcements and documents may also be found on the Government of Botswana web site. The entire issue of the Government Gazette may be read in the HOORC Library.

Cross Sectoral Commons Governance in Southern Africa (CROSCOG) Project Workshop

HOORC's Governance Unit will host the first CROSCOG workshop which will be focusing on theme one of the project: “Knowledge, Power, Economic Change and the Commons Practices”. The workshop, to be held from the 28th -30th November at Sedia Hotel, Maun, Botswana, will bring together the project partners countries of Botswana, Malawi, South Africa and Zambia as well as the European partners from Denmark, Holland and Switzerland. For more information, contact Dr Lapo Magole.

GIS Day 2007 at HOORC

OIS students visiting the HOORC library on GIS Day

On Wednesday November 14, the students of Okavango International School visited HOORC to take part in GIS Day activities. The students took part in discussions about maps and scale and how GIS can be useful in conserving natural resources. They also took part in an activity to teach them about routing.

GIS Day

Tomorrow HOORC celebrates GIS Day with demonstrations by HOORC GIS Technician Masego Dhliwayo and exhibits at the HOORC GIS Lab and Library. All welcome!

Environment and poverty reduction

The Botswana Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism is hosting an Environment and Development Dialogue public meeting Thursday, 15 November 2007, 18:30 h, at the BTV Auditorium in Gaborone. Steve Monna of the Department of Environmental Affairs, Viola Morgan of UNDP, Abel Mabei of the Botswana Community Based Organisations Network (BOCOBONET) and a representative of the Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis will lead the discussion, Mainstreaming the Environmental Paradigm in Development for Poverty Reduction.

Meyer’s Parrot Project

Meyer's Parrot feeding young, from Steve Boyes' blog

The web site of the World Parrot Trust recently featured an entry by University of KwaZulu-Natal PhD student Steve Boyes about field research begun in the Okavango in 2007 to study the Meyer's Parrot in the wild. The field camp is on Vundumtiki Island in the Maunachira Channel in the north-eastern Okavango Delta, in the Kwedi Concession (NG22/23). Botswana government researcher Zenzele Mpofu has been involved with the associated Okavango Cavity Nesting Project. The goal of the research is to answer questions as to why this parrot, with a distribution extending from South Africa to northern Sudan, is so successful in the changing context on the African continent. You can find the report of observations made during the 2007 breeding season online or in HOORC's Library.

Fire ecology publication

With the first rains coming to Ngamiland these past few weeks and HOORC's Library garden full of the musical calls of African long tailed shrikes, the Okavango's dry season fires seem far in the past. Publication of Post-fire succession on savanna habitats in the Okavango Delta wetland, Botswana by Michael Heinl, Jan Sliva, HOORC researcher Mike Murray-Hudson and Budzanani Tacheba in a recent issue of the Journal of Tropical Ecology reminds us that fire is a natural part of the Delta's ecology. The researchers studied vegetation at 153 sites that had been without fire for two to three years to conclude that post-fire succession could be described as not only being driven by the life history of the species, but also by seedbank dynamics and plant mobility in early successional stages, and by competition and niche differentiation in late-successional stages. You can find the article in HOORC's Library.

Quaternary research newsletter

Guest editor of the November 2007 issue of the newsletter of the Southern African Society of Quaternary Research (SASQUA) is HOORC researcher Dr Philippa Huntsman-Mapila. The newsletter reports activities at the 17th SASQUA congress held at Umgeni Nature Reserve in KwaZulu Natal, the 17th International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA) held in Cairns, Australia, and research news and updates from quaternary scientists throughout southern and eastern Africa, including the work of HOORC's Professor Susan Ringrose and Dr Huntsman-Mapila. You can request a copy of the newsletter from Dr Huntsman-Mapila or read it in HOORC's Library.

WASD Conference

HOORC researchers Magole, Ngwenya and Mbaiwa (L to R) on Australian field trip

HOORC researchers Dr Barbara Ngwenya , Innocent Magole, and Joseph Mbaiwa have just returned from the Fifth World Association for Sustainable Development (WASD) annual conference in Brisbane, Australia, where they presented papers about food security, indigenous knowledge and ecotourism in Botswana. Dr Ngwenya's joint paper with Maria Nnyepi and Kethlatlogile Mosepele, Food (in) security and child nutrition in Ngamiland, Botswana, was judged second of all papers at the conference. HOORC was represented by contributions of ten of its researchers: their papers were Indigenous knowledge and ecotourism-based livelihoods in the Okavango Delta in Botswana by Joseph Mbaiwa, Olekae T. Thakadu and Susan Keitumetse, Indigenous knowledge and sustainable development: investigating the link? by Mago William Maila and Barbara Ngwenya, Is ecotourism the appropriate strategy for the socio-economic development of Basarwa (Khoisan): the case of Gudigwa village, Okavango Delta, Botswana by Lefatshe I. Magole and Lapologang Magole, and Indigenous knowledge and fish utilisation in the Okavango Delta, Botswana: implications for food security by K. Mosepele, G. Mmopelwa, B. Mosepele and D. L Kgathi. You can find the proceedings of the conference on the WASD web site.

HATAB annual conference

The annual HATAB (Hospitality & Tourism Association of Botswana) conference will be held in Maun on the 07th-08th December 2007.

THEME: Sustainable Transport Through Partnership with the Tourism Industry
For more information contact: hatab@hatab.bw.

Community mapping in the Okavango Panhandle

HOORC's Library had a visit today from team members of the Comic Relief / Open Channels sponsored Kuru project, Land and Livelihood Security. The project is producing community resource maps to support CBNRM activities in Ngamiland communities. Bill Kemp and Valter Blasovik from Strata 360, Montreal, Canada, who have worked on community mapping with First Nations communities in the Canadian north, and in the Mekong and Nile River basins, are visiting the project to provide advice and assistance. For more information about the Kuru project, contact Nathaniel Nuulimba. In HOORC's Library, you can find Boundaries of home : mapping for local empowerment.

Aliens under Siege - BIOKAVANGO Project

Workshop participants and stakeholders

A newly trained army in the fight against the Okavango Delta's alien invasive weeds graduated after a four day training workshop at Xakanaka, in the Moremi Game Reserve, on October 14th t0 19th, 2007. The workshop saw BIOKAVANGO Project, in collaboration with the Department of Water Affairs (DWA) jointly educating tour operators and other stakeholders on the deadly effects of Salvinia molesta and how to use a biological method to control it. Participants walked out of the workshop with certificates that not only verified their newly acquired knowledge on Salvinia molesta, but also water quality monitoring skills. Welcoming guests during the official opening, Tawana Land Board Secretary, Mr Nixon Mogapi said that failure to safeguard the Okavango Delta may affect the livelihoods of local communities and the tourism sector. Mogapi said that protecting the delta from potential threats ensures that all stakeholders depending on its natural resources continue to benefit and sustain it through to future generations.
BIOKAVANGO Project Fisheries and Water Coordinator, Mrs Belda Mosepele emphasised that the workshop objective was to introduce the DWA/BIOKAVANGO Project/HOORC/Tour Operators' collaboration in the integrated control of the Salvinia molesta and water quality monitoring in the Okavango Delta, and to implement the same.
Giving an overview on the integrated control of aquatic weeds, DWA Senior Botanist, Dr Naidu Kurugundla, explained Salvinia molesta as a floating fern, whose native range is Southern America. "In Southern Africa it was first noted by botanists in 1948 at Kazungula Island, Eastern Caprivi. It floated into Botswana through the Kazungula River and spread - out to Kwando/Linyanti/Chobe river systems in the north-eastern parts of the country". Kurugundla went on to add that the Salvinia weed is also found in the Okavango Delta. The direct agents that contribute to its spread in a given area are wind, water currents and water temperatures. Wild animals such as hippos and elephants can be responsible for small and local range infestations but the prime culprits for longer distance transfers are people.
Kurugundla also said that Salvinia molesta is controlled by integrating physical and biological methods. He said that the host specific biological control for Salvinia is the weevil insect (Cyrtobagous salviniae).
In his speech the National Coordinator for BIOKAVANGO Project, Dr Moleele said that tour operators have been identified as important stakeholders in the intervention program because of their daily dependence on the Okavango Delta. He applauded DWA for tirelessly waging war against the spread of Salvinia molesta since the 1970s.
Five tour operator companies represented by Camp Moremi, Moremi Safaris, Splash Camp, Sandebi Camp and Khwai River Lodge are involved in implementing the interventions. Following the workshop, BIOKAVANGO Project and DWA will develop the infrastructure for breeding the weevils, install the portapools at each camp and train two guides per camp to control and monitor new salvinia infestations. They will also be expected to manage the breeding infrastructure for breeding weevils.
To wind up the workshop, Dr Masamba from HOORC engaged the participants in water quality monitoring practical exercises at the Xakanaka channel and the Paradise Pools.
The workshop was facilitated by the BIOKAVANGO Project Assistant Technical. Mr Geof Khwarae.

Ephemeral River Basins project newsletter

The first newsletter of the project, River Basin Management of Ephemeral Rivers in SADC, arrived in HOORC's Library today. The newsletter aims to provide a forum for discussion of issues related to shared management of natural resources in the three ephemeral basins that are the focus of the project: the Boteti River Basin in Botswana, the Fish River Basin in Namibia and the Buffels River Basin in South Africa. HOORC and the Desert Research Foundation of Namibia are partners in the project.

This issue of the newsletter mentions local reaction to the high levels of water that have flowed into the Boteti this year. You can request a copy of the newsletter from the Editor, ERB Newsletter, P.O. Box 20232, Windhoek, Namibia, laura.chesnut@drfn.org.na or read it HOORC's Library.

Maun contact lists online

Jacana Enterprises, which circulates a daily weather update for the Maun area by e-mail, has posted its useful contact lists online. See the Jacana Maun Safari List , the Jacana E-Mail, Web and Skype List and the Jacana Maun Phone Book as well as the Jacana GPS List from the company's web site.

New in HOORC's Library: International Politics of Bird Conservation

The international politics of bird conservation : biodiversity, regionalism and global governance by Robert Boardman surveys the bird conservation and biodiversity field and reviews international bird protection development prior to 1970. Four chapters discuss transboundary and inter-jurisdictional developments throughout the world --of special interest to the Okavango community is Chapter 6: Development, Disparity, Diversity: North-South Encounters, which discusses the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds in the context of biodiversity goals, the role of NGOs in bird conservation in developing countries and potential conflicts between local economic activities and conservation goals. You can find the book in HOORC's Library.

Cultural heritage research at Tsodilo Hills

HOORC's Library has received a visit this week from Rachel Faye Giraudo, a Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley currently conducting dissertation fieldwork at the Tsodilo Hills as a Fulbright Fellow to Botswana. Rachel is studying issues of cultural heritage, tourism, and development through the implementation of the Tsodilo Integrated Management Plan (TIMP) and Okavango Development Management Plan (ODMP), and is particularly interested in women’s roles in tourism, development, and community based natural resources management (CBNRM). Giraudo has been in the country since January 2007 and plans to remain in Tsodilo until October 2008 when she will travel to Gaborone for an additional three months of archival research. You can learn more about her work on her web site.

ELTOSA WORKSHOP – October 22-26th, 2007

ELTOSA meeting participants at Satara exclosure, photo courtesy of Joh Henschel

The annual ELTOSA (Ecological Long Term observation network of southern Africa meeting took place in South Africa this year in Paborwa, a mining town on the edge of Kruger National Park with invitees from Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa. Following updates from the various representative networks (such as BENRON for Botswana) scientific papers demonstrated the successful integration of monitoring activities into mainstream science. An example of this is the Africa Array project which, while seeking to train geoscientists, is also establishing a seismic network throughout Africa. In fact, plans are currently underway to enhance long term seismic monitoring at the HOORC site.

Papers were also given by various funding agencies such as NEPAD, the NSF and the South African Department of Science and Technology. A number of grants for students are available from southern African countries, although registration at a South African University is often required. The workshop participants were charged with developing a proposal for integrated long term monitoring over several southern African rivers. Botswana’s contribution to the proposal will focus on augmenting and integrating monitoring activities through capacity building in the Okavango river basin.

Particpants also visited monitoring sites (exclosures and fire trials) in Kruger National Park (KNP) and heard a series of stimulating presentations by the Scientific Services group of SANParks. They introduced the concept of Thresholds of Potential Changes (TPCs), a monitoring indexing system now integrated into KNP management that enables them to respond to flooding and other aspects of change deemed detrimental to ecosystem functioning.

Government notices of interest to the Okavango community

From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLIII, no. 71, 26 October 2007

Tender: Republic of Botswana: engineering consultancy services for design, tender documentation and supervision of major villages sanitation schemes
5792

Tender announcements and documents may also be found on the Government of Botswana web site. The entire issue of the Government Gazette may be read in HOORC’s Library.

Winning nature photo

A photograph taken in Chobe National Park has won an international wildlife photo competition. The Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year award, organised by BBC Wildlife Magazine and London's Natural History Museum, and sponsored by Shell, was given to Ben Osborne, a freelance photographer based in the UK, for his picture of a bull elephant kicking and spraying mud in a water-hole. You can see the prizewinning photo on the BBC's web site

Waternet symposium in Zambia

Three of HOORC's researchers -- Dr Lapologang Magole, Dr Dominic Mazvimavi and Dr Wellington Masamba -- are in Lusaka, Zambia this week attending the 8th WaterNet/WARFSA/GWP-SA Symposium, “IWRM - From Concept to Practice", that runs from 31 October to 2 November 2007. The regional symposium is held annually to facilitate the sharing and dissemination of research results in Integrated Water Resource Management and provides a platform for researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders to meet and exchange ideas. The 8th symposium is being hosted by the Zambia Water Partnership.

University of Cape Town freshwater specialists

Helen Dallas and Belda Mosepele checking invertebrate samples in the Okavango Delta

HOORC's library has visitors from the University of Cape Town's Freshwater Research Unit this week --- Dr Helen Dallas and Dr Jenny Day -- who have been discussing aspects of aquatic biomonitoring in the Okavango Delta. In HOORC's library you can find A preliminary survey and analysis of the spatial distribution of aquatic invertebrates in the Okavango Delta by Helen F. Dallas and Belda Mosepele.

Aluka digital library

Habenaria pasmithii, discovered by Okavango researcher Pete Smith, from Kew Gardens collection, Aluka site

Aluka is an international, collaborative programme that is building an online digital library of scholarly resources from and about Africa. Aluka seeks to attract high-quality scholarly content about Africa from institutions and individuals across the globe. By contributing their collections to the Aluka platform, content owners have a means of offering access to their collections to an international audience—without having to develop and support their own technology platforms.

Included among the pilot content resources are African Cultural Heritage Sites and Landscapes, and African Plants. The African Cultural Heritage Sites and Landscapes content area links high-quality visual, contextual, and spatial documentation of African heritage sites including photographs, 3D models, GIS data, site plans, aerial and satellite photography, images of rock art, excavation reports, manuscripts, traveller's accounts, historical and antiquarian maps, books, articles, and other scholarly research. The African Plants content area comprises scientific data contributed by the African Plants Initiative (API), a collaboration among more than 50 institutions in Africa, Europe, and the United States. Botswana content in Akluka includes images of rock art and herbarium samples.

Okavango nature film clips

Barbel run photo from Earth-Touch.com weblog

The September 2007 issue of the Boteti Diaries alerted us to a new nature film clip web site, Earth-Touch.com that is encouraging submission of short videos about wildlife and other nature topics. There are already 50 Okavango related items in the form of clips about, for example, the barbel run, skimmers and bee-eaters on the Panhandle, and zebras at Meno a Kwenya's Boteti waterholes. The site allows comments and ratings.

Bilharzia study

Freshwater snails from Aquarap 2000 survey

HOORC's Library had a visit today from Professor C.C. Appleton of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, who is working with Professor Fred Ellery on a retrospective analysis of the bilharzia epidemic in the Maun area during the 1970s and 1980s. The study relates hydrological data to the available disease prevalence data and suggests that there is a six year lag between occurrence of high water discharges into the Thamalakane River and the disease assuming public health importance. In HOORC's Library, you can find Professor Appleton's Freshwater molluscs of Southern Africa : with a chapter on Bilharzia and its snail hosts.

Government notices of interest to the Okavango community

From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLV, no. 70 19 October 2007

Republic of Botswana: Government Notice No. 566 of 2007: Standards Act : Standard Specifications for Botswana (including storm water drainage, aggregates for natural resources, water quality sampling, environmental management systems, customer satisfaction)
5671-5673
Republic of Botswana: Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism : tender: consultancy for development of management plan for the Kwaii Conservation Trust at Khwee Settlement in Boteti area for the Department of Forestry and Range Resources (second publication)
5699
Statutory Instrument no. 69 of 2007: Statistics Act: Statistics (Family Health Survey) regulations, 2007
C.1319

Tender announcements and documents may also be found on the Government of Botswana web site. The entire issue of the Government Gazette may be read in HOORC’s Library.

New in HOORC's Library: The Remarkable Baobab

Thomas Pakenham's The remarkable baobab is a pictorial survey of the Adansonia genus, accompanied by snippets of historical and ethnographic context and personal travel anecdotes. Two of the sites mentioned in the book are in our part of Botswana: Chapman's Baobab on the Ntetwe pan, and the trees at Kubu Island in the Makgadikgadi. For the researcher, there is an index and bibliography. You can find the book in HOORC's Library.

New tourism package

Tourists in Okavango Delta

National Geographic has added to its activities in the travel industry in a partnership with Abercrombie and Kent to offer a new upmarket product, Private Journeys, geared for travelers who want the option to travel on their own or with family and friends instead of a larger group. The new product offers fifteen itineraries, including Alaska, Botswana and Victoria Falls, Budapest/Vienna/Prague, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, India, Italy, Morocco, Peru, Russia, Scotland, Tanzania, Thailand/Cambodia/Vietnam and Turkey. In Botswana the programme includes stays at Baines' Camp, Chief's Camp and Chobe Chilwero.

Government notices of interest to the Okavango Community

From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLV, no. 68 12 October 2007

Republic of Botswana: addendum: lease of lodge sites in the Chobe National Park, Makgadikgadi/Nxai Pans National Park and Central Kalahari Game Reserve
5586
Republic of Botswana: tender: consultancy for development of management plan for the Kwaii Conservation Trust at Khwee Settlement in Boteti area for the Department of Forestry and Range Resources
5403

Tender announcements and documents may also be found on the Government of Botswana web site. The entire issue of the Government Gazette may be read in HOORC’s Library.

Botswana ecotourism best practices workshops

Stakeholder workshops for development of a manual of best practice for ecotourism in Botswana and a feasibility study for an ecotourism accreditation system are being held this and next week in Gaborone, Maun and Kasane. Participants will include representatives of tourism enterprises in Botswana. For information about the workshops, contact Mr Richard Mafila Malesu at Botswana Tourism. You can read the Botswana national ecotourism strategy : final report in HOORC's Library.

Meteorological capacity building in Botswana

HOORC's Library had a visit today from representatives of the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) and the Botswana Department of Meteorological Services (DMS) who are working together in a capacity building project to train DMS personnel to provide a range of modern weather and climate services. Jointly sponsored by SIDA and the Botswana government, the project is ending the first 18 month phase of five and a half years of activities. The visit today was to discuss HOORC's use of climate data and possible collaborative data exchange activities. For more information about the project, contact Mr Balisi Gopolang, Principal Meteorologist. In HOORC's Library you can find From observations to simulations : a conceptual introduction to weather and climate modelling by Antonello Pasini.

ODMP news

The Okavango Delta Management Plan (ODMP) implementation team at the the Maun office of the Botswana Department of Environmental Affairs has sent out its first newsletter this week. The team reports progress with the international peer review of the plan being carried out by members of the IUCN network of experts, upcoming release of an ODMP video that documents the planning process, ODMP pilot projects and preparations for the official launch of the Plan in February 2008. You can get a copy of the newsletter from Mokgadi Monamati, 267-680-1237, or read it in HOORC's Library.

Fish parasite work

Trichodina magna parasite of Cichlid fishes

Professor Jo G. Van As and Dr Liesl L. Van As of the Dept. of Zoology and Entomology, University of the Free State, South Africa, visited HOORC's Library today with copies of published work from the last ten years of their research on fish parasites in the Okavango system. The Van As team is looking at the interactions among parasites and their hosts in the natural system of the Okavango, unlocking the fish parasite diversity. The team has identified more than 20 unicellular organisms, roundworms, flatworms, blood parasites and parasitic crustaceans, including many that are unique to the Okavango system. Their research is also contributing to graduate studies at the University of the Free State, the University of Johannesburg and the University of Limpopo. You can find the published work of the Van As team and associates in HOORC's Library.

Spatial data resources for Africa

The latest Spatial Data Infrastructure - Africa Newsletter is, as usual, full of useful information related to GIS projects and tools in Africa. The October 2007 issue tells us about the Conservation Resource Centre wiki site based in Arusha, Tanzania -- a collaboratively edited compilation of news, images, job and training announcements and links about conservation issues in East Africa, alerts us to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility's web site and practical georeferencing guides, and reminds us of the upcoming GIS Day 2007. You can read the newsletter online or download it from the GSDI Association web site.

Salvinia molesta control workshop

Clearing salvinia molesta

BIOKAVANGO Project, HOORC and the Aquatic Vegetation Control Unit of the Botswana Department of Water Affairs are sponsoring and organizing a workshop for pilot tour operators in integrated control of Salvinia molesta in Moremi Game Reserve. Operator guides for five lodges in Moremi are learning how to implement control methods, including the use of porta pools for breeding the black weevil insect that eats the weed. The workshop will also train guides in monitoring of water quality. The workshop, being held from October 15th to 20th in Xakanaxa, is part of a three year pilot project to monitor the response of control interventions in a co-conserved area. For more information, contact Mrs Belda Mosepele.

Government notices of interest to the Okavango community

From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLV, no. 65 28 September 2007

Republic of Botswana Ministry of Agriculture: request for expression of interest for consultancy service for agriculture sector review
5361
Republic of Botswana: re-tender: engagement of a legal expert to review and consolidate the Forest Act with the Agricultural Resource Conservation Act and Herbage Reservation Act
5403
Wildlife Conservation and National Parks Act: Controlled Hunting Areas (Amendment) Order, 2007
C.1281-C.1312 This order describes the boundaries of the CHAs

Tender announcements and documents may also be found on the Government of Botswana web site. The entire issue of the Government Gazette may be read in HOORC’s Library.

New edition of Ramsar Handbooks

HOORC's Library now has a complete set of the third edition of the Ramsar Handbooks for the Wise Use of Wetlands. The new publication replaces the series published in May 2004 and includes relevant guidance adopted by several meetings of the Conference of the Parties, in particular COP7 (1999), COP8 (2002) and COP9 (2005), as well as selected background documents presented at these COPs. There are now 17 volumes in the set, which includes guidances adopted by parties to the Ramsar Convention and supplementary material from COP information papers, case studies and other relevant publications that illustrate key aspects of the guidelines. The volumes are:

1. Wise use of wetlands -- 2. National wetland policies -- 3. Laws and institutions -- 4. Wetland CEPA (Communication, Education and Public Awareness) -- 5. Participatory skills -- 6. Water Related Guidance -- 7. River Basin Management -- 8. Water allocation and management-- 9. Managing groundwater -- 10. Coastal Management -- 11. Inventory, Assessment and Monitoring-- 12. Wetland inventory -- 13. Impact Assessment -- 14. Designating RAMSAR Sites.-- 15. Addressing Change in Ecological Character -- 16. Managing Wetlands. -- 17. International Cooperation.

The Okavango Delta became a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance on December 9th, 1996.

You can find the handbooks online and in HOORC's Library.

Invasive plant study in Zambian wetlands

Mimosa pigra on Kafue Flats from Environmental Council of Zambia web site

SciDevNet has alerted us to a recently released study of the impact of the invasive shrub, Mimosa pigra, on the environment of Zambia's Kafue Flats, a Ramsar wetland of international significance. The study, carried out by the Environmental Council of Zambia, reports that the plant is interfering with the ecosystems by blocking access to water for animals and birds and displacing animals by reducing available habitat. In HOORC's Library, you can find more about Mimosa pigra in Invasive plant species of the world and Problem plants of South Africa.

Freshwater Biodiversity Meeting

Photo: courtesy Conservation International / Aquarap participant

The Okavango Freshwater Biodiversity Expert meeting will take place at HOORC in Maun from 24 to 27 October. The meeting will focus on data availability for species with potential value in monitoring the Delta’s water quality over a long-term horizon. Participants will be reviewing the available species data in a few key taxonomic groups – fish, mollusks, crabs, odonates, and some aquatic plants. They will make technical recommendations on baseline field surveys necessary for the eventual development of indices of biological integrity. Registration is essential. Contact Jessica Jones (jjones@orc.ub.bw) for further details.

Multivariate statistics course for aquatic biodiversity

A short course on multivariate statistics for biological and environmental data has just been held at HOORC through HOORC's project, Monitoring and simulating threats to aquatic biodiversity in the Okavango Delta, led by the Darwin Initiative project's principal investigator Dr Anson Mackay. Participants from Botswana's departments of Water Affairs, Wildlife and Fisheries as well as from HOORC, learned over two days how to use advanced statistical tools to analyze biological and environmental data from the Okavango Delta. In HOORC's Library you can find Multivariate statistics for the environmental sciences by Peter J.A. Shaw.

Transfrontier parks status

The Palapye.com News Blog has posted a recent story by Botswana's Sunday Standard about the President of Botswana's comments about Botswana's two transfrontier protected areas, the Limpopo-Shashe Transfrontier Conservation Area and the Zambezi-Okavango Transfrontier Park.

Human-wildlife conflict resource

The People and Wildlife Initiative web site offers a compilation of practical manuals on non-lethal techniques to alleviate human-wildlife conflicts, targeted to various stakeholders and specific problems. The site has more than 30 manuals for downloading, including Crop raiding primates : searching for alternative, humane ways to resolve conflicts with farmers in Africa.

New drinking water web resource

The National Academy of Sciences and the Global Health and Education Foundation have released an interactive educational web resource about drinking water, Safe Drinking Water is Essential. The site uses sliding panels, pictures and maps to allow the user to explore information about drinking water sources, distribution and treatment. For example, the Technologies Decision Tool shows recommended treatment options based on type of water supply. Links to other online resources and a glossary are included. In HOORC's Library, you can find The environmental science of drinking water by Patrick J. Sullivan, Franklin J. Agardy, and James J.J. Clark.

New in HOORC's Library: Wildlife Contraception

Wildlife contraception : issues, methods, and applications / edited by Cheryl S. Asa and Ingrid J. Porton, analyses the use of contraception for a variety of animal populations, with an entire chapter about contraception for free-ranging wildlife. The book addresses problems related to unrestricted population growth, the ethics of wildlife contraception, and regulatory issues for wildlife managers. You can find the book in HOORC's Library.

Tsetse task force for southern Africa

The African Union's Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Campaign (PATTEC) has set up a technical task force to plan for a multi-national project to eradicate trypanosomiasis in the common tsetse belt in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. HOORC researcher and tsetse fly spraying monitoring specialist, Dr Casper Bonyongo will join William Shereni and David Zinyengere of Zimbabwe, and Dr Patrick Kgori of Botswana, as a member of the task force, which will begin its work the middle of this month with consultations in the relevant countries.

African Water Resource Database

The African Water Resource Database (AWRD) is a set of data and custom-designed tools, combined in a geographic information system (GIS) analytical framework aimed at facilitating responsible inland aquatic resource management with a specific focus on inland fisheries and aquaculture. The AWRD was designed based on recommendations of the Committee on Inland Fisheries for Africa (CIFA) and is both an expansion and an update of an earlier project led by the Aquatic Resource Management for Local Community Development Programme (ALCOM),Southern African Development Community Water Resource Database. You can access information about the database from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)'s The GISFish Global Gateway to GIS, Remote Sensing, and Mapping for Aquaculture and Inland Fisheries (GISFish).

New Birdlife periodicals in HOORC's library

Bird Conservation Newsletter Photo of the Month: Martial Eagle with Steenbok prey by Victor Horatius

The September 2007 issues of both Familiar Chat and the Bird Conservation Newsletter arrived in HOORC's library this week, alerting us to the avi-tourism work of the Bosele Lake Ngami Conservation Trust, the Trans-Okavango Transect expedition in that took place in September, a useful new resource from the United Nations Environment Programe (UNEP) --Environmental Reporting for African Journalists: a Handbook of Key Environmental Issues and Concepts -- as well as mention of many local bird sightings. You can find the publications through Birdlife Botswana's web site or in HOORC's Library.

Recent HOORC research publications

Percentage of Botswana district communal land available for use after reforms, from Magole

Recent publications issued by HOORC academic staff and associates make a multidisciplinary contribution to natural resources issues relevant to Okavango Delta planning and management. Dr Lapologang Magole's paper in the conservation and human rights special issue of the IUCN's Policy Matters, The history of conservation evictions in Botswana : the struggle continues, with new hope provides an account of land use issues in the context if the recent CKGR-San court decision. Dr Barbara Ngwenya and Keta Mosepele write about the value of fisheries to HIV/AIDS affected households in HIV/AIDS, artisanal fishing and food security in the Okavango Delta, Botswana in Physics and Chemistry of the Earth. The same issue of the journal contains The challenges of supplying water to small, scattered communities in the Lower Okavango Basin (LOB), Ngamiland, Botswana : an evaluation of government policy and performance by Dr Larry A. Swatuk and Phemo K. Kgomotso; Assessment of environmental flow requirements for river basin planning in Zimbabwe by Dr Dominic Mazvimavi, E. Madamombe, and H. Makurira; and A study of fluoride groundwater occurrence in Nathenje, Lilongwe, Malawi by K.W.M. Msonda, Dr. W.R.L. Masamba and E. Fabiano. Dr Cornelis Vanderpost, Professor Susan Ringrose, Professor D.L. Kgathi and Wilma Matheson published The nature and possible causes of land cover change (1984 -1996) along a rainfall gradient in southeastern Botswana in Geocarto and Dr Vanderpost looked at how to measure the impact of human sprawl in Protected areas in Ngamiland, Botswana : investigating options for conservation-development through human footprint mapping in the International Journal of Environmental Studies.

Histogram of Okavango Delta visitors’ income from Mladenov et al.

HOORC researchers Joseph E. Mbaiwa and Dr. Gagoitseope Mmopelwa joined colleagues Natalie Mladenov, John Gardner, Nicholas Flores and Kenneth Strzepk in an economic analysis, The value of wildlife-viewing tourism as an incentive for conservation of biodiversity in the Okavango Delta, Botswana published in Development Southern Africa. Dr Piotr Wolski made contributions to two conference proceedings with Interaction of density flow and geochemical processes on islands in the Okavango Delta, Botswana and, with Mike Murray-Hudson, Managing water abstractions for preserving the Okavango wetlands, Botswana.

Scanning electron microscope analysis of Kalahari soil particles from Wang et al.

And Professor Susan Ringrose participated in the review article, Biogeochemistry of Kalahari sands in the Journal of Arid Environments as well as in the International Journal of Remote Sensing's Proposed methodology for georeferencing and mosaicking Corona photographs with H. Hamandawana and F. Eckardt. All the publications may be found in HOORC's Library.