Weather data
A large number of automatic weather stations has been implemented in the frame of the BIOTA AFRICA project by the Namibian National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) and the Group "Biodiversity, Evolution and Ecology" (BEE) of the University of Hamburg. The website offers hourly updates of data and graphs of a large number of weather parameters.


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BIOTA Southern Africa - DS&T Project 10


Overview

Main

DS&T 10

Title

Developing local level monitoring of natural resources in communal rangelands

Project leader(s)

Dr Nicky Allsopp
ARC-Range and Forage Institute, Private Bag X17, Bellville 7535.

Project description

A group of South Africans will be selected to visit Namibian communities using or developing local level monitoring in order to manage their rangelands. Local level monitoring has been developed by the Namibian Programme to Combat Desertification. The South African group will observe the process and on their return to South Africa will determine how they can apply this in their own environments. Following a period of application of the methodologies they will return again to Namibia to discuss problems and challenges which they have encountered in its application and to develop solutions with Namibian proponents of the methodology.

The group will visit three to five sites in different communities in Namibia to experience a broad spectrum of vegetation type, tenure arrangements, community diversity and objectives in keeping livestock.

The project will be set within a learning environment. Individual and group objectives will be explored before embarking on the visits. Regular discussions of lessons learnt will take place during the visits. Follow up meetings to discuss progress in implementing the lessons learnt and problems encountered will be held.

Since some members of the group will have formal training in ecology and rangeland management they will be able to contribute their prior learning to the process of developing monitoring systems.

SADC and International Links

  • The project will be run in partnership with the Namibian Programme to Combat Desertification (Napcod). Napcod is a partnership of several Namibian government ministries, service organisations, NGOs and CBOs. Napcod will facilitate the training of the South African project group.

  • The paraecologists are employed by the BIOTA project

  • This project complements the objectives of the Desert Margins Programme (DMP) which is based in nine African countries. The Paulshoek community hosts one of the South African DMP sites

  • Links will be established with similar projects running in Botswana to compare learning experiences