In Namaqualand with Conservation South Africa (1): Ouma Hannah se kookskerm

View video diary entry:  Ouma Hannah se Kookskerm

On the weekend of 14 & 15 May I was at Ratelgat, attending an assembly of people of the Griqua nation.  This was a film-making outing of a team adding material to the CareTakers series, looking for a story of home-coming:  Griqua people come to be at this ancient home site on the Knersvlakte, to pay respects to their leaders, and to meet the new challenges posed by threats to biodiversity, land-use pressures, and the insidious dangers of climate change.  That was a moving week-end, and we hope to have the 9th CareTakers film complete by August. But that is not what this posting is about.

When my filming colleagues headed south on the N7 back to Cape Town, I went north to meet with the team of Conservation South Africa (aka Conservation International) working in Namaqualand. Together we visited five of their projects in the area, all of which are initiatives to grow local skills and capacity for people to engage with a nature-based economy in the face of regional mine-closures, unsustainable levels of small-stock farming, and the harsh realities of climate vairability. 

In this, the first of a planned five video-diary entries, we meet Ouma Hannah and her two colleagues who have set up a small traditional eatery, complete with matjies huts and a kookskerm (cooking shelter).   Malinda Gardiner of CSA is our guide and narrator for this visit.   I'm afraid that the interview with Ouma Hannah has not been translated from Afrikaans as yet, something I hope to do when time permits. I'd first like to get all of the 5 clips completed:  Even if you don't understand Afrikaans, Ouma Hannah is very eloquent.

George 26 May 2011

Biodiversity and Mining: Kristal Maze talks to Martin Creamer



Kristal Maze, Chief Director
Biodiversity Mainstreaming at SANBI
 (photo from Mining Weekly)

 If you want to hear how biodiversity is presented to practitioners in the callous world of mining, have a listen to Kristal Maze and Dan Sonneberg in conversation with Martin Creamer, the legendary and progressive journalist of engineering and mining.  You can find them on  http://www.miningweekly.com/article/how-to-mine-and-shine-2011-05-20  "We have a real ally in Martin Creamer", Kristal has been heard to say.  And indeed, he has been open to airing the biodiversity debate for a long time, going back to the NBI days of the Ball Agreement (anyone remember that?).   Visit the site above and watch Kristal carving a convincing niche for the biodiversity economy in the in the harsh world of coal-fired energy, karoo-fracking and strip mining.