Historic fruit crate label from the Sacramentao San Joaquin Delta
Visiting scholar Alex Westhoff has been in Maun for the past two weeks talking to people about tourism in the Okavango Delta. Alex works for the Delta Protection Commission near Sacramento, California, and is engaged in developing a plan to designate the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta as a National Heritage Area, highlighting local...
Map courtesy of Hisso Sebina, Conservation International
HOORC tourism specialist Dr Joseph Mbaiwa has just returned from a Conservation International workshop in Kang where this week participants from government, NGOs, local experts, tourism businesses and researchers discussed opportunities for tourism development within the Western Kgalagadi Conservation Corridor. The Corridor runs between...
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in early 2004 produced a Programme of Work on Protected Areas, in which Parties to the convention are called to assess at least 30 per cent of their parks and their networks of protected areas, by 2010. To assist parties in this, the Worldwide Fund for Wildlife (WWF) has created two management effectiveness tools: the tracking tool and WWF’s RAPPAM...
The World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), a collaboration between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and WCMC 2000, a UK-based charity, has a mandate from the UNEP Governing Council to provide a range of biodiversity-related services to UNEP, the biodiversity-related conventions and their constituent party-states and other bodies in the non-governmental and private...
From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLVI, no. 35, 6 June 2008
Tender: Republic of Botswana: consultancy services for regional integration of Botswana’s transport sector study
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Tender: Tawana Land Board: tourism related sites identification in the Okavango Delta Ramsar Site (ODRS) second publication
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From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLVI, no. 36, 13 June 2008
Statutory...
AllAfrica.com has a story about the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism's planned auction of rare and high-demand game species from State-owned game parks towards the end of this month. The auctions, which take place every two years, support the government's conservation programmes. The story reports that game for this year's auction is being captured in Waterberg Plateau Park and...
Masters and doctoral graduate students from the University of Florida's Faculties of Natural Resources and Environment and Geography are in and out of HOORC’s Library until the end of June. Led by Professor Mike Binford, the students are working on integrated research projects about land use and land cover change, socio-economic and livelihood strategies, and governance and institutional...
Seasonal dwelling, Okavango Panhandle
Dr Kelebogile Mfundisi, HOORC ecologist, recently published an overview of the Okavango Delta Management Plan process in an article in the journal Wetlands. Note : overview of an integrated management plan for the Okavango Delta Ramsar site, Botswana, describes the three phases of the ODMP work, and concludes that the project was a demonstration of the...
The Good Safari Guide, a commercial travel site, has announced its 2008 awards. The winners include Botswana's Jack's Camp for the best ecological safari property in Africa (Camps), Kwando in second place for the best safari guiding team in Africa (Lodges), and Moremi for the best wildlife reserve in Africa (Reserves). In HOORC's Library, you can find The hotel book : great escapes Africa ,...
AllAfrica.com has recently featured news from the Kavango region in Namibia. Signing of a concession agreement between the Ministry of Environment and Tourism on one hand and the Gciriku Traditional Authority, George Mukoya and Muduva Nyangana conservancies on the other, will pave the way for the development of tourism facilities in the Khaudum National Park. This is the first such agreement to...
From the Nature Conservancy's Expedition Namib site
The international organization, Nature Conservancy, uses multimedia effectively on its web site to publicise its projects. A recent example is the Expedition Namib -- a project to map and assess proposed national park work in the Namib -- the Kunene Region National Park – Skeleton/Etosha Link -- that would protect priority habitat for lions,...
The March 2008 issue of the Boteti Diaries has arrived by email in HOORC's Library, with vivid descriptions of the past season's rains and floods on the salt pans, comments about tenders for new private development of lodges in Makgadikgadi Pans and Nxai Pan national parks and the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), white rhino relocation plans for the Boteti in Makgadikgadi Pans National...
Story Clark, author of A field guide to conservation finance, makes the point that organizing and financing local conservation of nature lies in the world of finance, where people understand the art and science of raising, borrowing, invensting and managing funds. Based on her knowledge and experience with private conservation projects in the United States, Clark aims to help the reader...
From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLVI, no. 16, 14 March 2008
Government Notice 133 of 2008: Town and Country Planning Act: Kasane - Kazengula Development Plan (2000-2024)
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Tender: Republic of Botswana: Management and operation of 15 public campgrounds / campsites
1346-1347
Tender: North West District Council: Gravelling and re-gravelling of roads
1376-1378
From the Botswana...
The Angola Press web site has a recent story about new German funding for the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area. According to the story, the organisation KHW has granted eight million Euro for implementation of the park, which involves SADC countries Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Angola's interministerial commission tasked with the development of the...
The March 2008 issue of the IUCN/WWF sustainable forestry publication, Arborvitae, focuses on tools that offer conservation professionals a methodology or practical technology. The methodology-based tools provide analytical frameworks for planning or monitoring conservation efforts and participatory processes for exploring local perceptions of forest use. Technology-based tools (such as computer...
AllAfrica.com recently reported signing of a Memorandum of Understanding among Angola’s Ministry of Urbanisation and Environment (MINUA), the body responsible for reintegration of ex-soldiers (IRSEM) and the German International Cooperation Enterprise (GTZ), for the management of biodiversity preservation zones. The agreement supports development of training programmes for ex-combatants in the...
From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLVI, no. 4, 18 January 2008
Tender: Republic of Botswana Dept. of Water Affairs: provision of consulting services for water tariff study
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From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLVI, no. 5, 25 January 2008
Tender: Republic of Botswana: management and operation of 15 public camp grounds/camp sites (Chobe National Park, Khutse Game Reserve,...
The November issue of the Boteti Diaries covers the rains, this year's flood, lion hunting, and a new pool for hippos in the park. You can request the newsletter from David Dugmore and find back issues on the Meno a Kwenya web...
The vlei lily, Pancratium tenuifolium, collected by the Heaths in Moremi
Roger and Alison Heath are passing through Maun, having completed collection and identification of plants for the Selinda Herbarium project in the Linyanti area north of the Okavango Delta. They are finalizing materials about the project for a book that will include local names and uses of the plants, to be published by...
AllAfrica.com has reported a story from The Namibian about the official declaration of the Bwabwata National Park in the Kwando River area in northern Namibia. The park incorporates Caprivi Game Reserve, the Mahango Game Park in the west and the Mamili Game Park south of Sangwali along the Linyanti River. According to the story, the three core areas Kwando, Buffalo and Mahango, will be zoned for...
From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLV, no. 72, 2 November 2007
Tender: Republic of Botswana: Ministry of Works and Transport: pre-qualification bids for the construction of Maun Airport improvements : airside works
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From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLV, no. 73, 7 November 2007
Government of Botswana: Bill No. 20 of 2007: Mines and Minerals (Amendment) Bill, 2007,...
The Palapye.com News Blog has posted a recent story by Botswana's Sunday Standard about the President of Botswana's comments about Botswana's two transfrontier protected areas, the Limpopo-Shashe Transfrontier Conservation Area and the Zambezi-Okavango Transfrontier...
Recent publications issued by HOORC academic staff and associates make a multidisciplinary contribution to natural resources issues relevant to Okavango Delta planning and management. Dr Lapologang Magole's paper in the conservation and human rights special issue of the IUCN's Policy Matters, The history of conservation evictions in Botswana : the struggle continues, with new hope provides an...
Antelope in Moremi Game Reserve, Aquarap 2000
Dr Paul Scholte has alerted us to a recent article in the African Journal of Ecology, When protection falters, that discusses the loss of large mammal species from many of Africa’s national parks. Crediting new methods of mining long-term datasets and increased tracing of population changes within a single reserve across considerable time frames,...
From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLV, no. 28 13 April 2007
Water Utilities Corporation: tender: Geographic Information System (GIS) Solution (first publication)
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From the Botswana Government Gazette, Vol. XLV, no. 33 4 May 2007
Government notice No. 219 of 2007: Water Act: Water Regulations: Application for Water Rights: A.H. Leroux, River Draw Off, Okavango River at Samochina...
The South African National Parks web site recently reported the Fifth Kruger National Park Science Network Meeting held in mid-April in in Skukuza. The meeting provides an opportunity for South African National Parks (SANParks) to gauge effectiveness of research programmes are to assess progress in meeting SANParks’ biodiversity conservation objectives. Scientific Services, based in Skukuza, has...