World Wetland Day Commemmoration: 2nd February

The second day of the Flood Pulsed International Symposium marked the commemoration of World Wetlands day, (2nd February)with an event characterised by song and dance and attended by members of the community, school children, and Government dignitaries. The speakers echoed sentiments from previous speakers on the importance of wetlands, as a source of livelihood for the Okavango rural communities. Against this background, there is a growing need to sensitise communities on the importance of preserving them given global threats like climate change.The guest of honour, Professor Max Finlayson, delivered a message from the president of the International Ramsar Conversion in which he delivered sobering facts on the fast denigration of wetlands.i.e. 41% of water birds , 38% of wetland mammals are under threat. He concluded that the scientific community should ensure that most of the information generated from research should reach the ordinary people on the ground so that they can appreciate some of these developments and can assist in combatting some of these effects. Two books, were launched at the event namely: Okavango Delta: Floods of life by John Mendelson, Cornelis vander Post, Lars Ramberg, Mike Murray-Hudson, Piotr Wolski and Keta Mosepele, and Field guide to the plants of Northern Botswana: including the Okavango Delta by Alison and Roger Heath. The Okavango Delta Management Plan also took this ooportunity to launch its booklet, "An introduction to the Okavango Delta Management Plan.