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

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