Trevor Sandwith of IUCN talks about the Global Protected Areas Programme

VIDEO LINK to TREVOR SANDWITH's CAPE TOWN TALK

On 28 Jan 2011, Trevor Sandwith, now stationed at IUCN headquarters in Switzerland, revisited his old stomping ground in Cape Town, and made time to share his current global perspective of protected area thinking.    His former colleagues gathered in the seminar room of the Kirstenbosch Research Centre, and to a packed house he presented a wide-ranging backdrop to his new role as Leader of IUCN's Global  Protected Areas Programme.    His prestentation was videographed, and then spliced together with his powerpoint,  and has now been posted on You Tube (in three 15minute slices presented as a playlist).

Please visit You Tube at < THIS LINK>  if you would like to share in this cutting edge of thinking, researching,  planning and action around the challenges of biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management in the face of suites of globally significant changes.   A thought-provoking presentation, and an insight into the IUCN position on these weighty issues.


posted by George, 16 Feb 2011

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





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

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

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.