BIOTA Africa Congress

Potential monitoring points from Vanderpost presentation, Environmental Monitoring in the Okavango and the Kalahari

HOORC researchers Susan Keitumetse and Cornelis Vanderpost joined more than 350 policy-makers, scientists, land users and other stakeholders from 20 African countries, Brazil and Germany to discuss solutions for the challenges to Africa’s basis for survival – biological diversity – at Spier, Stellenbosch, South Africa from September 29 to October 3 2008. International organisations (UNESCO, GEOSS/GEOBON, WWF, IUCN, OSS) as well as relevant African ministries, research institutions and organisations attended the high-level congress organised by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). Local land users and decision-makers participated in the congress as partners in sustainable development. The conference was organized by the BIOTA Project, which aims to provide scientific support for sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity in Africa through developing a continental observation network in Africa.