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.     

CareTakers film wins the Short Film Award at Wild Talk Africa 2011

The Guardian can be viewed at  http://www.caretakers.co.za/film.php?id=1132





The 14 minute film “The Guardian”, one of the eight CareTakers films produced by SANBI and STEPS as a teaching, advocacy and information sharing tool, has won the ROSCAR Award for Best Short Film at the 2011 Wild Talk Africa film festival.   At an awards ceremony at the Spier Estate in Stellenbosch on 30 March, George Davis accepted the award on behalf of SANBI, STEPS Southern Africa (Laurence Dworkin, Producer),  and creative author of the piece, Michael Raimondo (African Renaissance Productions).  The film presents a moving personal story told by Tribute Mboweni, a CapeNature field officer, who lived alone on Dassen Island as guardian and protector of the largest breeding colony of African Penguins. 

Wild Talk Africa - an excerpt from their website  at  www.wildtalkafrica.com/

Wild Talk Africa is an international film festival and conference which takes place biennially in South Africa.  It attracts the global wildlife filmmaking industry by offering a forum for networking, debating and negotiating with commissioning editors, distributors and producers. The last Festival held in 2009 attracted 350 delegates from 22 countries and 253 ROSCAR film entries.

The Wild Talk Africa initiative was founded in 2005 when a group of 30 dedicated enthusiastic individuals gathered together to shape the future of the industry.  The initial members of this group included Dr Pallo Jordan - Minister of Arts and Culture, Eddie Mbalo - CEO NFVF, Marcel Golding - CEO e.tv, Mark Wild from Animal Planet and 20 wildlife filmmakers.  The decision taken was that Africa, the very continent that has been the setting for international award-winning wildlife films, should host a wildlife film festival to promote South Africa as the centre of excellence in the wildlife filmmaking genre

 
The other seven films can also be viewed on the project website www.caretakers.co.za/

The 2011 Biodiversity Planning Forum: A meeting of substance

To listen to Judy Beaumont's talk, click here

Some of the Biodiversity practitioners who met in The Wilderness,  8 to 10 March

"Government has agreed on 12 outcomes as a key focus of work

between now and 2014. Each outcome has a limited number of

measurable outputs with targets."  

These are the opening words of the Dept of Environmental Affairs' Delivery Agreement for OUTCOME 10, which deals with "...outputs and measures regarding environmetnal assets and natural resources that are well protected and continually enhanced".  (Draft dd 10 May 2010).  Part of the vibrancy that flows from this commitment can be seen in the high levels of energy and optimism that were generated at the 2011 Biodiversity Planning Forum, co-hosted by SANBI and the Dept of Environmental Affairs.   That was a get together that happened in The Wilderness in early March. In this blog post I will refer you to a 30 minute You Tumbe  video talk by Judy Beaumont, Deputy Director General in the Presidency on some of the deeper thinking around which our strategies and planning for protected biodiversity need to be built.    It is also a talk that offers recognition for some of the ground-breaking work already done.   With more video footage still to be edited, I will add more material over the coming weeks in which you can meet some of the people involved in this serious effort being made to secure a sustainable future.

Just as additional information, Outcome 10 has 4 outputs, which are:

1.  Enhanced quality and quantity of water resources;

2.  Reduced greenhouse emissions, climate change impacts and improved atmospheric quality

3.  Sustainable environmental management; and

4.  Protected biodiversity.

Biodiversity Expo 2011 at Kirstenbosch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts8FinljVk8

Have a look at the above You Tube posting to hear Augustine Morkel tell you how the biodiversity expo came to be

Augustine here. How can I help?

SANBI has hosted a Kirstenbosch Biodiversity Expo for 3 years running.  2011 will see a similar convergence of schools and members of the public descend on the world famous garden in early May, to meet up with biodiversity practitioners, to ask them questions, to look at practical demonstrations of their particular passions, and generally to take part in conversations about conservation.

For a look at what happened in 2010, go to the following clip:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NdSXmlrajw

The 2011 Biodiversity Expo will be held at the Old Mutual Conference Centre at Kirstenbosch between 5 and 8th May.    You will find the latest postings about the Expo at www.biodiversityexpo.blogspot.com 

Mainstreaming during 2010, the international year of biodiversity

This is not a blog post that refers to a specific video product.  Instead I'm taking the liberty of bending my own rules in order to get this summary of last year of some events and efforts in SANBI's Division for Biodiversity Planning and Mainstreaming out into the world.   You will find a copy of this occasional newsletter stored in my google docs account by  clicking here.   Publication of the biodiversity primer at Nagoya COP was a big milestone for 2010, so the cover features here, as well as the video interview with Caroline Petersen in an earlier posting. 

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