Corporate responsibility in mining

Cattle on South African mine site by David Van Wyk

HOORC's Library has had a visit today from David Van Wyk, chief researcher at Bench-Marks Foundation in South Africa, a subsidiary organization of the South African Council of Churches. Mr Van Wyk is in Ngamiland to study the relationship between mines and local communities as part of a wider SADC study on corporate responsibility in the mining sector. Previous studies have focused on Malawi, Zambia and South Africa. Results of the current study, about Botswana and the Democratic Republic of Congo, are expected to be published by June 2009. You can find Bench-Marks reports online and, in HOORC's Library, you can find Kenneth Good's Bushmen and diamonds: (un) civil society in Botswana.

Nile Basin Initiative visit

Nile River Fluctuations Near Khartoum, Sudan from NASA's Atmospheric Data Science Center

Representatives from the Nile River Basin came to HOORC's Library yesterday, on an official tour with the Secretariat of the Permanent Okavango River Basin Commission. The Nile Basin Initiative has been supported by the Nile Basin Trust Fund, coordinated by the World Bank, in preparation for establishment of of a river basin commission for the ten riparian countries: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The commission will jointly manage the shared resource to promote socio-economic development and promote peace and stability in the region. You can read more about the work in the Initiative's annual report in HOORC's Library.

Australian wetlands research

Gwydir wetland from Ramsar web site

Dr Glenn Wilson of the School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England in Australia recently visited HOORC to talk about his work. On his return to Australia, the local ABC radio reported his visit on its web log, drawing comparisons between the Okavango and the local Gwydir wetlands, a Ramsar site. You can read the blog post online.

Heritage tourism development in California

Historic fruit crate label from the Sacramentao San Joaquin Delta

Visiting scholar Alex Westhoff has been in Maun for the past two weeks talking to people about tourism in the Okavango Delta. Alex works for the Delta Protection Commission near Sacramento, California, and is engaged in developing a plan to designate the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta as a National Heritage Area, highlighting local natural, agricultural and cultural legacy resources. His stop in Maun included making a presentation about this work to HOORC's researchers. He now moves to to visit the Ebro River Delta in Spain, the Danube Delta in Romania and the Nile Delta in Egypt, courtesy of the Scott Travelling Fellowship from the University of California Berkeley Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning. You can follow Alex's tour through his web log.

Volunteer journalist visit

Maria Henson in the Delta

HOORC's Library had a visit today from Sacramento Bee editor Maria Henson, who has been working as a volunteer with the University of Botswana, Bana Ba Letsatsi, Children in the Wilderness, and Desert and Delta Safaris (through volunteer travel company The Leap). You can read about Maria's experiences in her web log, Maria's African Odyssey.

Australian waterways management

Queenland, Australia's Paynter Creek in 2006 and restored in 2008

HOORC's Library had a visit today from Mr Mick Smith, Waterways Coordinator, Sunshine Coast Regional Council in Southeast Queensland, Australia where he works on monitoring and restoring ecosystem health of natural watercourses. Mr Smith is on a study tour as a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust fellow to investigate climate change adaptation for freshwater environments, and is meeting with HOORC staff to learn about these issues in relation to the Okavango Delta. You find out more about eastern Australian efforts to preserve water environments on the web sites of the Sunshine Coast Regional Council and the Ecosystem Health Monitoring Program.

San studies and resources

HOORC Library digtitization team member Olebogeng Suwe with Mr Cgara Leneke of Bere

HOORC's Library had a visit this week from Dr Junko Maruyama of Kyoto University's Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies. Dr Maruyama is working on livelihoods and social relationships among the San people of the Central Kalahari. You can find her 2003 study, The Impacts of Resettlement on Livelihood and Social Relationships Among the Central Kalahari San online. Dr Maruyama's visit coincides with the BIOKAVANGO Project's first community internship, the visit of Mr Cgara Leneke of Bere in the Central Kalahari. Mr Leneke is assisting with digitization of colour slides of traditional San bushman life from the HOORC Library collection of the late Dr Hans Joachim Heinz.

HOORC seminar: cultural heritage and people

Two presentations at a HOORC seminar today featured ongoing research by HOORC cultural tourism specialist Dr Susan Keitumetse and PhD candidate Phemo Kgomotso. Dr Keitumetse spoke about linking cultural and intangible heritage to tourism while Ms Kgomotso discussed how implementation of Ramsar and government policies are affecting the livelihoods of people in the Okavango Delta, with special reference to the village of Seronga.

HOORC seminars take place throughout the year and are open to the public. Contact Dr Philippa Huntsman-Mapila to be added to the e-mail notification list.

2008 HOORC Winter Course work

Nineteen University of Botswana undergraduate students completed their work for HOORC's Winter Course this week, wrapping up their fieldwork assignments with presentations of the results of their research. This year's work included economics studies from Mbakile P. Seabe - Household attitudes and willingness to pay for the conservation of Lake Ngami, Botswana -- Kaelo Galeage - The impact of Foot and Mouth Disease on livelihoods in Habu -- Bonang Keagakwa -- Firewood trade as a livelihood activity in the greater Maun area, and Charlotte Masiangwako -- Benefits and challenges facing community participation in CBNRM.

Environmental science students Kelebogile Cole, Mokganedi Tatlhego, Kesego Mogotsi, Sandra Middleton and Ndobane Lokae looked at Temporal patterns in feeding ecology of several floodplain fish, the effectiveness and contribution to conservation of veterinary fences, Assessment of CBNRM projects as a poverty alleviation: the case of Kwai village, Soil factors influencing the abundance and distribution of threatened and endangered species with particular emphasis on Enlophia angolensis, and Change in flood regimes in the two distributaries (Thaoge-Karangana and Xudum-Xene), Western Okavango Delta, since 1989.

Biology majors Nonofo Ntsima, Tsharagano Folai, Melitah Motlhale and Ipeleng Randome worked on Using time series data to assess the Tilapia fishery of the Okavango Delta, Effects of Cytobagous Salvinae on nitrogen content of Salvinia molesta Botswana, An assessment of factors influencing the abundance and distribution of Loeschea leuntzia ( mokodi) in disturbed areas of the Okavango Delta, and Environmental factors influencing the abundance and distribution of wetland plants in the Okavango Delta: the case of Tswii (Nymphaea nonchali).

Chemistry students Kagiso Phaladi, Collen Saudu and Shedreck Motsholabatho studied The influence of sediments on water quality in the Lake Ngami Basin, Total and bioavailable arsenic, chromium and cobalt in the sediments of the Okavango and Determination of potential environmental impacts of sewage effluents in Maun.

History major Michael Lopang worked on Highlighting of the importance of historical literature in the development of Botswana tourism package: Livingstone's travels in Ngamiland, while sociology student Lollies Sakuze looked at Cultural tourism as a form of livelihood diversification: the case of Gcwihaba caves.

And pre-med student Mmoloki Rodney Maswabi made A retrospective analysis of clinical data to determine the magnitude and distribution of malaria in Maun.

All the students' reports can be found in HOORC's Library.

Habitat management for large mammals

Collared pronghorn antelope in Cain's US study

HOORC heard a presentation today from Dr James Cain of the University of the Witwatersrand who has been working on the monitoring of large mammals in the southwestern United States and in Kruger National Park with Professor Norman Owen-Smith. Dr Cain spoke about their studies of the consequences of developing water sources for wildlife. Findings from both locations indicate that the relationship between water availability and mammal populations is complex and strongly influenced by vegetation and climate change. Provision of artificial sources of water should be made only after careful observation and monitoring of environmental conditions, and with clearly defined objectives.

CBNRM specialist

HOORC's Library had a visit today from Ms Elizabeth Rihoy, of Resource Africa, Nairobi, who is in Botswana carrying out research about governance of community based natural resource management, and meeting with HOORC reseachers Joseph Mbaiwa and Lapolang Magole. One of Ms Rihoy's study sites is the Okavango Community Trust in Seronga. She has recently published, with Brian Maguranyanga, a comparative analysis of decentralization and devolution of natural resource management in Zimbabwe and Botswana. You can the find the study, Devolution and democratisation of natural resource management in southern Africa - CBNRM, Occasional Paper no. 18 of the University of the Western Cape's Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), online.

AfricaArray programme

Professor Durrheim installing seismic equipment

HOORC's library has a visit this week from Professor Ray Durrheim of University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, who is installing a broadband seismograph at HOORC as part of the AfricaArray network. AfricaArray is a collaborative research and training programme founded by Wits University, Pennsylvania State University and the South African Council for Geoscience with partners throughout Africa, including the University of Botswana and the Botswana Geological Survey. The southern African region has unusually high topographic elevation -- the African superswell, and deep in the earth's mantle there is a large seismic velocity anomaly-- the African superplume. The programme is looking at these features to determine if there is a connection between them. Data collected by the programme is archived by the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) in the United States. In HOORC's Library, you can find the FAO/UNDP 1975 publication, Seismicity, tectonics and seismic hazard of the Okavango Delta by Christopher Scholtz.

BIOTA observatory work

BIOTA transects in Africa

Professor Norbert Juergens of the BIOTA Africa (BIOdiversity Monitoring Transect Analysis in Africa ) project is visiting HOORC this week to discuss possible collaboration in observation of biodiversity change. The project, with bases in Morocco, West Africa, Congo, East Africa and Southern Africa (Namibia and South Africa), aims to provide scientific support for sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity in Africa, to help build a continental observation network in Africa -- contributing to the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), and to establish networks for observing land degradation, combating desertification and developing capacity for rural development.

Vegetation monitoring in Chobe National Park

Dr Kalwij's research team at Chobe water point



HOORC's Library had a visit today from Dr Jesse Kalwij (email kalwij(a)sun.ac.za), postdoctoral fellow at Stellenbosch University, who has recently completed his fieldwork about the long term vegetation dynamics around artificial water points in the Nogatsaa area of Chobe National Park. Monitoring of vegetation in the area began in 1997 with the first supply of artificial water, was repeated in 2000, and now in 2008. Preliminary findings indicate that, in spite of the 40 per cent elephant increase since 1997, tree height and density appear to have significantly increased while abundance of unpalatable species has grown. The work was supported by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's African Elephant Program.

Visit from Bottriells

Bottriell's King Cheetah web site

HOORC's Library received a visit yesterday from wildlife researchers Lena Godsall Bottriell and Paul Bottriell, author and artist of three books about natural history in the southern African region. The team is currently carrying out research for their latest book, a story of survival of a young woman who was lost in the wilderness in Botswana in the period 1914-18.

You can read about the Bottriell's work on animals and landmines on their Umbulala site and find the Bottriell's first book, King Cheetah : the story of the quest, which documents an expedition that proved the existence in the wild of the rare big cat, the striped and blotched King Cheetah of southern Africa, in the Pete Smith Collection in HOORC's Library.

Botswana Taxonomic Survey dragonfly studies

Trithemis brydeni

From November to December 2007 dragonfly expert Jens Kipping of BioCart Environmental Assessments from Germany participated in the Botswana Taxonomic Survey field work in Moremi Game Reserve and Chobe National Park. The project, initiated and coordinated by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) and co-funded by the Government of Botswana and the European Union, aimed to gather as much as possible data on the spatial distribution of different groups of animals and plants from the big five protected areas in Botswana. The project included desk work with databases, museum collections and available literature and two weeks of fieldwork.

Jens reported:

"Several specialists, mainly from Stellenbosch University under the leadership of Prof. Michael J. Samways, focused on different groups of animals: reptiles, amphibians, fish, birds, small mammals, various invertebrates with butterflies and dragonflies, but also vascular plants. The team decided to spend its limited time within the most promising areas: Moremi Game Reserve (Xaxanaka area) and, later, the dragonfly group (Jens Kipping and Elmar Schuran) visited Chobe National Park, the rest of the team the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.

The Botswana Taxonomic Survey project team

We had very positive results – the visits took place at the right time at the right place. In Moremi Game Reserve many dragonfly species were reconfirmed after a period of 30 years. Most spectacular was the rediscovery of Trithemis brydeni (only one male, see photograph), last recorded in the Okavango Delta in December 1975 by Elliott Pinhey (1976) but not seen in whole Africa since. This is a very rare and local species only known from less than ten specimens in all. Anax bangweuluensis, Trithemis aequalis, Aciagrion steeleae or Pseudagrion helenae had not been seen since more than 30 years in the region. A topping was the first Botswana record of Trithemis pluvialis at the Linyanti swamps of Chobe National Park the following week. Conditions of collecting at Moremi Game Reserve were excellent, due to the support of the local Department of Wildlife and National Parks scouts and the sunny weather.

During the visit to Chobe National Park the weather conditions changed for the worse with lots of rain and daily downpours, a challenge for people and their car. On the way back the dragonfly team spent some days at the Khwai River, Moremi Game Reserve with also good results. Alltogether more than 55 species of Odonata came on record – and this within only two weeks!"

The full report of the project can be found in HOORC's Library.

Wildlife tracking study

Zebra at Boteti water point, August 2007

HOORC researcher Casper Bonyongo joined Chris Brooks, and Stephen Harris of the University of Bristol, in studying how the weight of radio collars affects behaviour of, and location error for, plains zebra in the Magkadigkadi and Nxai Pans in northern Botswana. The results of their study, which found that small differences in collar weight or fit can affect specific behaviours, limiting the extrapolation of fine-scaled GPS data, was recently published in the Journal of Wildlife Management. You can find Effects of global positioning system collar weight on Zebra behavior and location error in HOORC's Library.

Eco-agriculture work

From Eco Research and Education Centre website: an elephant can pull a two furrow plough and plough around 1h a day, compared to a bullock 0.25h/day

HOORC's Library had a visit yesterday from Dr M. Kiley-Worthington of the Eco Research and Education Centre, Drome, France. Dr Kiley-Worthington spoke to HOORC staff about the Centre's African work in ecological agriculture, alternative approaches to human-wildlife conflict, and evaluation of energy budgets in agriculture. Dr Kiley-Worthington has published several books on the topic of animal behaviour, including Animals in Circuses and Zoos : Chiron's World? and The Behaviour of Horses.

Crocodile habitat monitoring in the Delta

Photo courtesy of Vincent Shacks

Vincent Shacks of ESA, Maun, brought a copy of his University of Stellenbosch thesis, Habitat vulnerability of the Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, to the HOORC library yesterday. Mr Shacks and associates are beginning a crocodile monitoring programme, extending former work in the Okavango Panhandle to the semi-permanent swamps of the Delta. The programme will continue to monitor population levels and extend nesting surveys to the Delta.

Climate change and forests seminar

Riparian woodland, Okavango Delta: Aquarap 2000

Yesterday, HOORC hosted a seminar by Dr Peter Eliasson of the Department of Ecology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, about using simulated ecosystem responses to evaluate the impact of climate change on carbon and nitrogen cycles in Boreal forests. For this work, Dr Eliasson had developed three scenarios of increasing atmospheric [CO2], elevated temperature and increased nitrogen input to provide insight to the importance of feedback mechanisms in the northern forest system. Now he proposes to apply this method in the riparian woodlands of the Okavango, where process models can be used to explain ecosystem mechanisms that link plant productivity and water status. You can find Dr Eliasson's doctoral thesis, Impacts of climate change on carbon and nitrogen cycles in boreal forest ecosystems, in HOORC's Library.