HOORC seminars: palm conservation and stakeholder communication

Hyphaene petersiana

Two presentations were made by HOORC staff in the HOORC seminar series this past week: Impacts of palm wine tapping on Hyphaene petersiana population in Shorobe by Bongani Sethebe and Relative effects of visualized and verbal presentation methods in communicating environmental information among stakeholders: Okavango Delta, Botswana by Olekae Thakadu. Mr Sethebe, Herbarium Assistant, is proposing to look at the offtake from palm trees due to wine tapping and to explore sustainable methods for harvesting the trees, which are also used for basket making in the Ngamiland area.

Mr Thakadu, a Research Scholar in the area of environmental communication and education, is exploring communication and information diffusion processes among community stakeholders in the Okavango Delta. Guided by communication theoretical frameworks and processes, his research is assessing effective communication approaches and factors necessary to promote environmental knowledge sharing behaviors among Okavango Delta stakeholders.