Urban Wetland Conservation is a different kettle of weeds

LINK to VIDEO CLIP  "Edith, Aliens and Inspiration" (6 min)




Luzann Isaacs, Site Manger

Abel Abelse, Community Researcher

Water hyacinth is an aggressive weed that causes lots of problems if allowed to get out of hand. At the Edith Stephens Wetland Park on the Cape Flats, it established itself on the stormwater pond, destroying a birdwatching paradise. In this short clip you will meet the narrator, Luzanne Isaacs, who is the City of Cape Town’s site manager at the park. Determined to involve people from the surrounding low-income communities in finding a lasting solution to this and other challenges of stewardship, she teamed up with local entrepreneur and social activist Dale Isaacs. Together they raised the funds to set up a work opportunity programme, and you will see teams of people working alongside the heavy machinery to bring the weed under control. Also part of the story is Abel Abelse, a local youth excited at the prospect of being involved in the ecological research that is going into finding a more stable solution to the problem of weed infestation. Abel is experimenting with indigenous aquatic plants, using the swimming pool of the old homestead turned Park HQ as a laboratory . He hopes to introduce these, some of which have been traditionally harvested as food plants, into the stormwater pond. His source of new material is the nursery of the world renowned Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, where he is helped by keeper of the aquatic plants, Josias Tamboer.



The battle for stable and sustainable management of urban ecosystems will be difficult and on-going, but we take our hats off to people like Luzann, Dale, Abel and Josias who bring different elements of society together to make a plan and make a difference.
GD 22 Dec 2010





Land Reform and Biodiversity Stewardship: a challenge for sustainability

A learning exchange 1 - 3 December 2010 at the Botshabelo Cultural Village, near Middelburg in Mpumalanga, South Africa

LINK to 3 VIDEO CLIPS:
Interviews: (1) Nomcebo (2) Lubabalo;  and  
(3) soundbites from  participants

The churchy images notwithstanding, this get-together in Dec 2010 was about biodiversity conservation, rural development and transformational governance. It took place at the cultural village of Botshabelo, which includes this imposing late-19th century Lutheran missionary church, a good venue for sincere discussion. This three day event was hosted by the Botshabelo Community, organized by the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA), convened by the National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), and sponsored by the Dept of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR). The meeting was held in the church that the community inherited with their land claim, and was the venue for the presentations, deliberations and discussions of the opportunities and challenges facing all stakeholders in the process.

The meeting revolved around a triangle of interests:

1) Government agencies are keen to see delivery in the realm of land claim resolution, as well as issues of development and land reform;

2) The biodiversity sector, led by SANBI, but also including conservation and toursims agencies, are interested in the longer term management of the environment and natural renewable resources; and

3) Community land claim beneficiaries, who for the most part are ill equipped, inexperienced and under supported in their endeavours to make their reclaimed land sustainably viable.

This learning exchange, the third of its kind over three years, provided an opportunity for the core groups to articulate, discuss and understand the overall set of problems faced collectively. The spirit was good, the information candidly shared, and the hope for productive collaboration to take shape as a result of the endeavours.

GD 22 Dec 2010

Photos below::

1. Lubablo views an erosion gully on Botshabelo community land. Working for Wetlands will be doing some restoration work there.

2. Lerato Noko view some of the game: antelope, warthog, zebra

3. Delegates stroll through the cultural village
4. Traditional leaders who attended the workshop take time out in the cultural village

5. Cultural resting spot





end of post

Biodiversity for Development: a valuable book is launched

 LINK to video interview with Caroline Petersen of SANBI

For the past 15 years or so, the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its partners have conducted many different projects that address the interface between socio-economic development and the natural resource base upon which we rely for our human existence. During this time, a number of outputs were produced that have practical value as implementation tools, especially with regard to the large scale, landscape approach to biodiversity conservation, both within protected areas, and beyond their boundaries.

In this short video, Caroline Petersen tells us about a book that SANBI has produced that catalogues some of these tools and perspectives under the title of "Biodiversity for Development". Underlying this collection of pragmatic and enabling formulae, many of which have been tested and are in use in South Africa, is a deep concern about finding effective ways of dealing with an uncertain future in which we will need to address not only issues of poverty, housing, education and economic growth, but also the shifting ground of climate change and biodiversity loss. How do we future-proof the ecosystems that keep us afloat in the business of living?

The book was launched to an international audience in the appropriate forum of the 10th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity during October 2010

This primer was commissioned by the Dept of Environmental Affairs and SANBI, funded by UNDP, and written by Mandy Cadman, Caroline Petersen, Amanda Driver, Nik Sekhran, Kristal Maze, and Shonisani Munzhedzi

Climate Change: a Panel Discussion in the Age of Stupid

This second post to SANBI-snippets goes back to an evening held at Kirstenbosch a few weeks back................

On 16 Sept 2010, the thought provoking film, "The Age of Stupid", was screened at SANBI's Kirstenbosch Research Centre to an audience of approximately 100. This was followed by a discussion session, led by a panel of climate change scientists. The panel comprised:
Dr Peter Johnston (Chair), Climate Systems Analysis Group at UCT; Drs Guy Midgley and Phoebe Barnard, Bioadaptation and climate change programme at SANBI; Dr Suzanne Carter British Consulate General Climate change policy office; and Akhona Nokeva, Social Science student at UCT .

The evening was hosted by the Climate Action Partnership, Conservation International, SANBI, the Endangered Wildlife Trust, and the British Council (who had screening rights for the film). STEPS and SANBI did the video recording.

The set of clips posted to You Tube are as follows:

VIDEO LINKS

,

· Guy Midgley comments on the Film:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raR3wtZMMiE

· Akhona Nokeva gives the student perspective:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFAg8nUIZm0

· Phoebe Barnard remains optimistic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6BcuvFeBtU

· Suzanne Carter talks about policy and negotiations: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq4LHI-s0HE

· Guy addresses the equity issue:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk6Pi2aq8l0

· Peter Johnston leads the panel’s summary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9y03NV-vTM

 

 

Some good input came from the floor, but unfortunately the sound was not good enough for postable clips. However, if you would like to view the footage for any reason, contact George Davis at g.davis(at)sanbi.org.za

The CareTakers short film series, phase 1, is now complete

VISIT the website  www.caretakers.co.za

This set of eight short films relate personal stories of people whose passion is biodiversity, and its protection. They cover a diverse range of South Africans working on a diverse range of projects, all focused on the diversity of nature. This set of films forms a set of resources that can be used by communicators wishing to inform their own constituencies about various aspects of nature in South Africa. The materials are available on request, on a cost recovery basis, and can be viewed at the project website www.caretakers.co.za . A users' guide is in preparation, which will provide background information on the individual films, and will suggest lessons that can be drawn from the material, both from the perspective of nature conservation, and life experience.


These 8 films form the basis for a more extensive project, in which an extensive film resource based on personal story telling will be developed for teaching, skills development, as well as understanding and appreciation of nature.


George, 12 Oct, 2010

The Kirstenbosch Botanical Art Biennale

VIDEO LINK to Julia Dabusch explaining the biennale

 

 

VIDEO LINK to Stephen Hopper's opening address  

 

 



Julia Dabusch, Kirstenbosch Scholar

 

Prof Stephen Hopper, Director of Kew

On Saturday 4th Sept, the 2010 Botanical Art Biennale was opened. As part of the exhibition, Kirstenbosch Scholar Julia Dabush was tasked with setting up a horticultural display of threatened plants. Listen to her explain the context of the exhibition on You Tube ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nClJfWlzmTw ). In this video she describes the relevance of both art and horticulture to the conservation of rare and endangered plant species.

The exhibition was opened at the Old Mutual Conference Centre, and the opening address delivered by Prof Stephen Hopper, Director of the RBG at Kew. His short opening address can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2ldOvKFlcs

Getting going on a new blogsite

This is a the first posting on an experimental blog site, where I hope to be able to encourage threads of conversation that cross the divide between, what we from the inside refer to as, the biodiversity sector and the mainstreams of society. My starting point is to say that biodiversity, as ungainly and problematic as the word is, is pretty well at the centre of human life on planet Earth.... and becoming frighteningly more central as it erodes and takes with it the functioning ecosystems that provide the services that keep us alive.

This site, if successful in it's purpsose, will articulate some of the conversations, insights and opinions that are generated within the biodiversity sector, and will make them available for scrutiny and comment by interested mainstreamers. I am hoping to use video as a medium to carry some of the messages on this blog (or with links to You Tube), In doing so, it will hopefully contribute to finding human resolve for addressing the addressable, and to provide opportunity for speaking wisely and listening attentively across the (imagined?) divide.

Unfotunately, a vehicle like this is unlikely to reach deep into the mainstream of society, where poverty and exclusion are monstrous barriers to participation in debate and idea sharing. Ironically our discussion will be happening between strata of society that are consuming natural resources at a rate three or four times greater than planet Earth can sustain them. Surely there are some very real lessons to be learned from people who know how to do with less? Democracy and equity have everything to do with sustainability.

The field is wide open, and the stakes are high. Can the ingenuity and imagination of Homo technologicus save the day, or do we have to dig deep into our faded memories woven in the fabric of life as H. ecologicus?

George Davis,
serving the SANBI mandate in a personal capacity

GEF-funded CAPE project closeout at Kirstenbosch , May 2010

The Fynbos Programme coordinates the partnership programme, Cape Action for People and the Environment (CAPE).  The CAPE programme has been running for 10 years, enabled by the pooling of resources by the 23 signatory partners from government and civil society, and significant donor funding.    2010 saw a triumphant end to the “Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development” project, which had been funded by the Global Environmental Facility through the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme.  Mandy Barnett, Programme Director, said "the achievements of this project are extraordinary, and will lay a foundation for conservation activities throughout the country, and on which we hope to build for years to come”. 

Link through to YouTube clips

Nik Sekhran of UNDP was enthusiastic about the model developed and adopted by CAPE  <CLICK HERE>

Tanya Abrahamse, CEO of SANBI said ..... <CLICK HERE>

Kathy McKinnon of the World Bank had this to say  CLICK HERE

CAPE reports back to UNDP and World Bank on the GEF investment.

DRAFT/TRIAL post.

This event was opened by Dr Tanya Abrahamse, CEO of the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). In the video below, she makes some comments about te GEF project.

The Flower Valley shoot

In the week following Easter we set out from Cape Town with a film crew to visit the Flower Valley Trust near Gansbaai in Agulhas area. Here we chatted to Roger Bailey, the conservation manager of this non-profit organization that aims to instil widespread practice of ecological sustainability and social equity as it goes about developing top notch wildflower harvesting and exporting practice in the area. One of the new harvesting entrepreneurs in this is Lydia van Riet, who has chosen the riskier life of the self-employed to a regular job in the local agricultural co-op. "I would never go back to a job in which I am confined by 4 walls", she told us. "To be in nature is something wonderful". (check quote in original Afrikaans). We followed Lydia, and captured activities in a typical day in the life of her and her team of harvesters; from the pre-dawn pick up of workers, to the delivery of harvested material at the kaleidoscopic packing shed. Later, around sunset, we joined Roger on the magical beach at Gansbaai to reflect on a day spent working with nature, before visiting Lydia at home to talk about the more mundane issue of paper work. But she did tell us about her dream to one day have her own farm.

STEPS and SANBI start to film

STEPS is the acroynm for Social Transformation and Empowerment Projects. It has been running an advocacy and information sharing project for the past decade using the medium of film to communicate a complex range of topics around the HIV/AIDS with various groupings around southern Africa. It has now partnered with SANBI, the South African National Biodiversity Institute to run a similar project that aims to draw mainstreams of society into discussions about biodiversity and its place in sustainable social development and sensible economic activity on a fragile planet.

Having been awarded a grant from the SA Lotteries Fund to profile South Africans and South African biodiversity during the period of the 21010 FIFA World Cup... so that international soccer fans can obtain a better understanding of the country that they are visiting ... STEPS and SANBI are now in the process of producing a set of eight short films that explore the productive partnerships that some unsung heroes are forging with nature and their biodiversity heritage.

Watch this space for news on the making of these films.