DECENT WORK AND THE 2030 AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – IMPLICATIONS FOR BOTSWANA HRDC Job Summit

After years of intensive negotiations and dialogue bringing together governments, civil society and millions of ordinary people around the world, UN member states unanimously agreed in September last year to what the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described as the “most inclusive development agenda the world has ever seen”, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the associated Sustainable Development Goals. Agenda 2030 places decent work for all at the heart of policies for sustainable and inclusive growth and development. It is estimated that globally over 600 million new jobs need to be created by 2030, just to keep pace with the growth of the working age population.

Read more: http://www.bw.undp.org/content/botswana/en/home/presscenter/speeches/2016/10/10/decent-work-and-the-2030-agenda-for-sustainable-development-implications-for-botswana-hrdc-job-summit-.html

International Renewable Energy Conference - Call for Papers

The International Renewable Energy Conference is a consequence of research on "Southern African Sustainable Energy Initiative" funded by the ACP-EU Cooperation program and being collaboratively undertaken by three Southern African partner universities - the University of Botswana, National University of Lesotho, Namibia University of Science and Technology and the Hochschule Darmstadt University which is based in Germany.

 The overall objective of the research is to enhance the institutional, human and systems development capacity of the consortium of regional universities in the area of renewable energy and energy efficiency. The specific objectives of the conference are:

i. To provide a regional platform for knowledge sharing, and thereby integrate and co-ordinate initiatives in the field of sustainable energy

ii. To provide an innovative services and product platform that will raise awareness and provide sound research support to a broad range of stakeholders in view of ensuring participation and ownership of interventions and implementation.

Following a big success of the International Renewable Energy Symposium held in Windhoek in October 2015, the University of Botswana, through its Centre for Clean Energy housed in the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, will host the first International Renewable Energy Conference in Botswana from 26th to 28th October 2016 at GICC. The conference theme is "Renewable Energy Applications for Sustainable Development".

You are invited to submit papers to the following topics:

1. Options for increasing Energy Access Worldwide

2. Renewable Energy Resources Availability, Technologies and Environment

3. Trends and developments in Energy Efficiency and Technology

4. Stand-alone and Grid Connected Solar PV power systems –Enhancing Rapid Deployment

5. Renewable Energy Technologies for Electrical and Mechanical Power

6. Renewable Energy Technologies for Thermal Applications

7. Training and Capacity Building for renewable energy and Energy Efficiency

8. Energy Economics and Financing of Renewable Energy Technologies

9. Policy and Regulatory Environment for Improved Sustainable Energy Access

Deadline: 15 July 2016

Global alliance to study planetary changes

A global alliance of environmental research agencies, policy organisations and international donors is soon to be launched at the Planet Under Pressure Conference in London, 26–29 March. The 'Future Earth' alliance aims to deliver scientific and social science research in a way that policymakers and grassroots groups would understand to help them meet their sustainable development goals in the coming decades. It will also seek to co-ordinate and focus international scientific research in a wide range of disciplines including ocean acidification, climate change, land use and population growth, and the social impact of these changes.

GDP is 'not sufficient' for measuring economic wealth

A group of the world's top environmental scientists have backed calls for replacing the gross domestic product (GDP) as a sole measure of a nation's economic wealth with more inclusive indicators that would consider the impact of economic growth on the well-being of the environment. In a report presented at the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP) 12th special session of the governing council in Nairobi, Kenya, relying solely on GDP ignores important aspects of a nation's well-being such as sustainable development and threats to the environment. The report, 'Environment and Development Challenges: The Imperative to Act', was prepared by laureates of the Blue Planet Prize, known unofficially as the Nobel prize for the environment. "Governments should recognise the serious limitations of GDP as a measure of economic growth and complement it with measures of the five forms of capital, built (produced); natural; human; social; and institutional/financial capital," the report said.

Greater integration between science and policy:UN

Top-level political panel has endorsed calls for greater integration of science into all levels of policymaking on sustainable development. Scientists have already welcomed a significant number of references to the importance of science — including calls for better interchange between scientists and policymakers at the UN level — in the first draft of the outcome document for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), which takes place in Brazil in June 2012. Now, a report by the UN Secretary-General's Panel on Global Sustainability gives such calls a greater political weight, and provides guidance on some of the concrete steps that might achieve such objectives. A recently published report 'Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing', makes 56 recommendations, with the importance of science being highlighted throughout.

Scientists unite to put drylands on Rio+20 agenda

Scientists and policymakers from Africa, Argentina, Brazil, and France have called for better scientific cooperation and capacity building in the drylands with an eye on putting the drylands agenda on the UN Rio+20 summit agenda next year. Participants at the Fight Against Desertification in Africa conference in Niger (24–25 October) invited world leaders who will take part in the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, in June 2012, to make creative decisions to promote sustainable development in dryland areas — home to up to two billion people. Research activities should help build local expertise, the declaration says, and not be restricted to producing scientific publications but also have outputs that could be used directly by policymakers and other stakeholders.

Community-based approach to museum development for culture and sustainable development

At the World Conference on Cultural Policies , the inclusion of the concept of cultural identity in global cultural policies was strongly recommended. This concept stated that "the equality and dignity of all cultures must be recognized, as must the right of each people and community to affirm and preserve its cultural identity and have it respected by others". This article is available on the UNESCO site.

The First Africa Agriculture and Water Dialogue:Cape Town 2011

Sustainable land and water management in Africa is becoming more critical than ever. Crop output is dwindling and water management and storage infrastructure is desperately needed more than ever before to fast track and sustain socio -economic development on the Continent. Dialogue is now overdue to find solutions that will help charter a path to guarantee sustainable food production. So the 1st Africa Agriculture and Water Dialogue (AAWaD) is an event bringing together various institutions, individuals from the private and public sector, academia and NGOs to discuss solutions on the impact of climate change on agriculture and sustainable land and water management.

Ecosystem approach to fisheries and aquaculture: Implementing the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries

This publication provides guidance on how to implement the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF) using an ecosystem approach to fisheries and aquaculture. The CCRF is a voluntary code covering all aspects of the management and development of fisheries and is designed to ensure sustainable development without adversely affecting the livelihoods of local communities that share the same resources as the fisheries. The authors outline the basic principles of the CCRF; describe concrete steps to be taken to use the ecosystem approach effectively, and recommend certain institutional changes and reforms that will be necessary if the potential of the ecosystem approach is to be realized in the Asia-Pacific region. Full paper available on the FAO website.

New at HOORC's Library: wildlife resources: a global account of economic use

The management and use of natural resources such as forests, grasslands, rivers and lakes were formerly considered purely in a financial context. However, there has been a consciousness of their social function and the indirect economic benefits which can be derived from them. Conservation of natural resources for sustainable consumptive as well as non consumptive uses has been recognised as a key element for maintaining economic development all over the world. Fortunately, the industrialised countries have started to apply this principle themselves and in their technical and financial aid to the developing Third world countries. This is derived from policy documents such as the World Bank Policy on Development of Wild Lands, issued in 1987. While it was previously unthinkable that any development bank would invest in the conservation of natural resources of the management of natural forests, wetlands and other wildlands for long term sustainable utilisation, this has now become a legitimate area for loan consideration. The book is available in the HOORC library.

World Bank Group Environment Strategy

The World Bank Group (WBG) is preparing a new Environment Strategy to be presented to the Board of Executive Directors by December 2010. The new Strategy will propose an approach for achieving environmental sustainability at the WBG to ensure that its support to client countries leads to sustainable development outcomes. The WBG has made progress as an advocate for the environment since 1990, has not reached the level of full environmental sustainability to which it aspires. It is for this reason that it is updating the current Strategy, along with IFC and MIGA as active partners, and inviting people to share their insights and knowledge. The Group is also undertaking inclusive and transparent consultations with all WBG stakeholder groups, including governments, the private sector, civil society and representatives of vulnerable communities. For more on this , you can visit www.worldbank.org/environmentconsultations.

Call for papers: Ravage of the Planet II Conference

This is the second international conference on management of natural resources, sustainable development and ecological hazards to be held on 15 – 17 December 2009 in Western Cape, South Africa. Papers are invited on the following topics , political and social issues, planning and development, ecology, energy, water resources, new technologies and soil. Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be submitted to ravage2009@wessex.ac.uk. For more on the conference, you can visit: http://www.wessex.ac.uk/ravage09

African Network Professionals Congress

The African Network of Professionals,(ANOP) is calling for participation in its major event – “The Congress of African Professionals”. The congress will be held in Accra, Ghana on 11th - 13th November, 2009 at Accra, Ghana. The theme of the Congress is “Professionalism in Africa: Problems and Prospects”. There will be a pre-congress workshop on the 10th November, 2009 at same venue. The general objective of the programme is to achieve sustainable and equitable development in Africa by developing professionally and building a vibrant, prosperous, united, and stronger Africa. This is done by creating an enabling and conducive environment which is endowed with requisite resources (both human capital and infrastructures) and capable of optimizing its political, economy, socio-cultural and technological strengths and opportunities for the continental growth and development. For more you can visit: http://www.africannpro.net/1stcongressofafricanprofessionals/registration.html

Global Partnership for sustainable tourism

The Global Partnership for Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC Partnership) is a coalition of over 40 organizations to help increase understanding of sustainable tourism practices and the adoption of universal sustainable tourism principles.The Partnership, initiated by Rainforest Alliance, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Foundation, and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), launched the Sustainable Tourism Criteria at the World Conservation Congress in October 2008. These criteria will be the minimum standard that any tourism business should aspire to reach in order to protect and sustain the world’s natural and cultural resources while ensuring tourism meets its potential as a tool for poverty alleviation. For full report, you can visit: http://www.sustainabletourismcriteria.org/

Global environmental indicators

The 2009 United States focused Index of Leading Environmental Indicators points out that the world’s most severe environmental problems, as ranked by the Blacksmith Institute and Green Cross Switzerland, are overwhelmingly problems of poverty in developing nations. The report's section on water quality highlights the slow progress of the Florida Everglades restoration effort while the section on land and species conservation trends reports results of a biological survey of the Greater Mekong Delta in Southeast Asia. The report is published by the Pacific Research Institute.

HOORC Seminars

At HOORC seminar presentations this week, three researchers shared their findings of recent studies. The first presentation, Fire, wealth and access to wetland resources in the panhandle of Botswana's Okavango Delta by Dr. Lin Cassidy, focused on understanding the contribution of of wildfires and wealth on people's access to wetland resources, and looked at which types of households are seen to control and benefit most from burning wetland resources. Her findings showed that fires in the Okavango panhandle spread quickly due to the underpopulated nature and remoteness of areas like Nxamasere and Sekondomboro.

In his presentation, Building research capacity in Africa through research methodology training : introduction to EDULINK, Professor Moses Chimbari ,who leads one of EDULINK's funded project partnerships of universities in Botswana, Sudan and Zimbabwe, gave an outline of EDULINK activities. EDULINK's main aim is to fund cooperative projects between higher education institutions and promote capacity building and regional integration in higher education.

The last presentation, coauthored by Professors Vanderpost, Ringrose and Schuran, titled Landcover changes along the Boteti River, Botswana, aimed at finding the causes of riparian cover changes along the Boteti River and establishing biophysical and socio-economic baselines. This project aims to contribute to a long term equitable use of water along the river.

IUCN consultancy

Kalahari-Namib Project: enhancing decision-making through Interactive Environmental Learning and Action in Molopo-Nossob River Basin in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa

As part of the Project Preparation for the Kalahari-Namib Project, IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, is recruiting a consultant to provide technical support to three national consultants (Botswana, Namibia and South Africa); provide a broad sub-regional overview of drylands Natural Resource Management (NRM) and Sustainable Land Management (SLM); provide technical input to a regional project planning meeting and assist in the facilitation of that meeting.

Terms of Reference

Provide the national and sub-regional level context to improve understanding of the macro-level driving forces of land use, land use change, and land degradation, with specific details on cross-border politics, policies, laws and agreements that influence land use and degradation in the Kalahari Namib ecosystem;

Provide an insight to the regional status of integrated rangeland and water management, identifying key information gaps, areas of conflict or misunderstanding, gaps in policy and law, and opportunities for influencing changes at different levels;

Provide an overview of existing and past regional SLM/NRM initiatives and resources, and other stakeholders and investments in related regional and cross-border work, in order to propose the main regional-level components of the project, including relevant national, sub-regional and international policy components;

Technically advise three national consultants, providing technical review of their draft reports and attending one national meeting in each country, and incorporate the key findings of the three national studies into the final regional study so that it provides a comprehensive overview of issues at local, national and regional scale;
Co-facilitate a regional workshop to bring together the national studies into one over-arching regional proposal.

More specific Terms of Reference will be shared with the successful applicant.

Applications should submit a detailed CV highlighting relevant experience and letter of motivation (maximum length 1 x A4 page) to iucnsa@iucn.org. Closing date of all applications is 28th May, 2009.

New at HOORC's Library: The Gentle Subversive

As HOORC's Library prepares for events to commemorate the life and knowledge of Okavango researcher Pete Smith, we are reminded that people who are passionate about their work can have enormous influence on other people and, subsequently, policies. The gentle subversive : Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and the rise of the environmental movement by Mark Hamilton Lytle, published in 2007, tells the story of the marine biologist whose book Silent Spring helped launch the modern environmental movement. The Gentle Subversive offers a compact life of Carson, shedding light on the process that led to this influential book. It includes a bibliography of books and articles by Carson, and a good index. You can find the book in HOORC's Library.

Development as a conservation tool

Intute recently alerted us to a report from the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence, Development as a conservation tool : evaluating ecological, economic, attitudinal, and behavioral outcomes, a systematic review of the literature that examines development as a conservation tool, the characteristics of successful conservation projects and the monitoring of outcomes. The study concluded that better monitoring schemes were needed to evaluate success of differing strategies. You can find the full text of the study online.

Other titles in the organization's online library include: Effectiveness of African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) re-introductions in South Africa, What are the impacts of human recreational activity on the distribution, nest-occupancy rates and reproductive success of breeding raptors? , and Does Burning Degrade Blanket Bog?

Global Water Partnership Steering Committee membership

Four positions on the Global Water Partnership Steering Committee (SC) will become vacant after the next Steering Committee Meeting in May 2009. Of these, two will be selected from the nominees of the GWP regions and two from the self-nominated global pool.

A Steering Committee member serves in their personal capacity and is expected to work to support the realization of GWP’s vision and achievement of its mission. All new Steering Committee members are required to participate in an induction program, to bring them up to speed with the operations and culture of the Steering Committee. Steering Committee members are not remunerated for their services but may be reimbursed for reasonable expenses. It is expected that SC members be available to travel internationally and attend two 3-day meetings per year and it is desirable that they have the time up to 2 weeks so as to be able to effectively contribute to the deliberations of the SC. Members can serve up to two three year terms.

On behalf of the Nominations Committee, you are hereby invited to submit nominations for the global pool. This can be done by self-nomination or by nomination by any member, partner or donor of GWP. Two global members are to be nominated at this time. One should be a non-water sector professional, drawn from stakeholder sectors such as energy, agriculture, industry, community development, economics, urban development etc. and one should be a water sector professional.We are looking for candidates with profiles matching the two sets of criteria below.

The criteria for the Non-Water Sector Professional are:• Board experience (experience with board subcommittee work such as HR, or finances is desirable);• Internationally recognized professional (from high level educational or applied research establishment, international organization, international NGO, private sector or other similar organization)• Ability to contribute to helping GWP fulfill its mission and achieve its vision;• Ability to help GWP reach out beyond the water sector;• Understanding of development issues and their relationship to water.• Good understanding of and commitment to the poverty reduction agenda• Good working knowledge of English to allow effective participation in the work of the SC.

The criteria for the Water Sector Professional are:• Board experience (experience with board subcommittee work such as HR, or finances is desirable);• Internationally recognized water sector professional (from high level educational or applied research establishment, international organization, international NGO, private sector or other similar organization);• Commitment to GWP’s vision and mission;• Ability to contribute towards the development of GWP’s strategic directions;• In-depth knowledge of the role of water in sustainable development.• Good working knowledge of English to allow effective participation in the work of the SCFor each nomination, we need a CV, two references and a short explanation of the candidate’s interest in serving as a SC member and what the candidate can contribute. We need your nominations no later than Monday 13 April, 2009.Please send the nomination to Ms Suzanne Strömberg, at the GWP Secretariat in Stockholm, E-mail: suzanne.stromberg@gwpforum.org .

Nominations are valid for one year only, however, unsuccessful nominees can be re-nominated an unlimited number of times.The Nominations Committee will draw on the global pool to identify two candidates for submission to the Sponsoring Partners as part of the normal Steering Committee candidate selection process. The Nominations Committee will take into consideration, candidate profiles and specific needs within the Steering Committee to ensure that there continues to be balanced (e.g. gender, organization, sub-committee skills) representation within the Steering Committee. The candidates will be presented to the Consulting Partners in May 2009 for finalization and presentation to the Sponsoring Partners in August 2009.For a list of the elected members of the GWP SC 2008-2009, please visit the GWP website.