Constantine Alexander's blog

Botswana, climate and tourism

Saving Botswana's tourist industry from climate change

Botswana's Okavango Delta is a sensitive ecosystem that could be affected detrimentally by climate change. Given the Delta's prominence in the country's tourist industry, such negative impacts could wreak havoc on its economy and affect the lives of its inhabitants.

Tourism in Botswana is the second largest economic sector, according to Wame Hambira of the University of Botswana in Gaborone. She has taken the Okavango Delta as a case study for investigating the vulnerabilities and problems faced by such an ecosystem and the side effects change might have on economic growth. She suggests that suitable adaptations and policy changes are needed in the face of climate change if Botswana is not to lose income from this sector.

The Okavango Delta is a richly diverse ecosystem, it is the world's largest inland delta and sits atop the Kalahari Desert. More than 10 trillion litres of water irrigate the 15,000 square kilometres of the Delta. Given the beautiful landscapes, the scientific importance and the presence of large mammals including African bush elephant, buffalo, hippopotamus, antelope, giraffe, leopard and lion as well as the endangered African Wild Dog, the Delta is an important conservation area and attracts an estimated 50,000 visitors annually. The actual figure may be more than double that.

"Currently, the prime sites for tourism in Botswana are geographically concentrated in the north-western part of the country along the Chobe River (Kasane/Chobe area) and the Okavango Delta, which are rich in pristine wildlife and wetlands attractions," says Hambira. She adds that the Okavango Delta offers popular tourism activities such as hunting safaris, photographic safaris, bird and animal watching, fishing, canoeing and cultural and heritage activities.

Hambira calls for a full vulnerability assessment of Botswana's tourism industry as a whole, taking into consideration that the different ecosystems ranging from the dry lands to the wetlands and their associated leisure activities will be affected differently by climate change. Planned adaptation could then be achieved through financial, technical, legal and other assistance to facilitate the implementation of policies to help the tourism industry adapt to the effects of climate change.

"Screening for climate change vulnerability in Botswana's tourism sector in a bid to explore suitable adaptation measures and policy implications: a case study of the Okavango Delta" in International Journal of Tourism Policy, vol 4, 51-65

Contact: Wame Hambira
hambira@mopipi.ub.bw
Inderscience Publishers

 

First Conference on Ocean Literacy in Europe

The FIRST CONFERENCE ON OCEAN LITERACY IN EUROPE is an important milestone in developing an ocean literate society. While worldwide people express serious concern for the protection and the health of the ocean, Europe has yet to provide a structure to make Ocean Literacy its priority. Ocean Literacy is understanding how the ocean affects us and how we affect the ocean. 

This one day (October 12, 2012) conference hosts high level speakers and leading experts in marine education who represent EU-policy, national governments, international organizations and European stakeholders.

The objectives of the conference are to address the lack of ocean-related content in science education standards and to envision how to bring ocean sciences into the mainstream science education. Furthermore, the conference will emphasize how marine formal and informal education projects lead to more public involvement and active participation.  

The conference is a major step in the collaboration with the wider international community on ocean literacy. From both sides of the Atlantic scientists, experts, educators and policy makers will discuss how ocean literacy can improve the future of European seas.

A detailed programme is available on this page.

 

EU LIFE's Angelo Salsi: 99 seconds for the future of biodiversity

Angelo Salsi

Angelo Salsi has been working as the Head of the LIFE Nature Unit since 2005. Between 2000 and 2005 he was the deputy head of the LIFE Unit, responsible for the management of the whole Life financial program, financing projects covering all possible environmental aspects.

 

Learn the Four Keys to Better Birding With the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Videos

Now that summer's here and the birds are back in force, it's a great time to brush up on identification skills. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology video series, Inside Birding, takes you in depth with the four keys to bird identification: Size & Shape, Color Pattern, Behavior, and Habitat. Your hosts are Jessie Barry and Chris Wood—two expert birders and members of the Lab's Team Sapsucker. They'll explain the finer points of ID in a friendly way that really makes sense.

 

 

 

 

 

Climate change remains an urgent public health concern

Schematic of inter-relationships between climate and health, with examples of determinants on a global to individual scale.

Top-down advocacy on health and climate at the UN level needs to be mirrored by bottom-up public health actions that bring health and climate co-benefits according to international experts writing in this week's PLoS Medicine.

The authors—public health experts from institutions in Sweden, Germany and South Africa—say: "It is becoming increasingly clear that maintaining a sustainable and healthy climate is something that can only be achieved by means of a concerted global effort, including large-scale and small-scale actions, in which the public health community must play an active part."

Evidence from many sectors shows substantial health impacts of climate change, particularly for the most vulnerable and the authors argue that possible climate changes constitute a public health crisis at least as wide-ranging as the effects of tobacco on health. But according to the authors: "As yet there seems to be a lack of coherence in terms of clear public health messages about climate aimed at populations in general."

The authors say that there are some things that can help: "Encouraging people to walk and cycle rather than using motorised transport, and to eat healthier, locally produced foodstuffs, are clear examples that can bring both individual health benefits and reduced climate impact."

However, moving from the individual to the corporate and societal levels needs further actions. The authors say: "In general, individuals cannot regulate their lives in terms of carbon footprint, for example, in a way that is completely independent of the societies in which they live."

The authors argue that at the global level the need for consensus actions on climate that only governments can make is equally important, but say: "public health voices must be heard on health-related issues in those circles, including lending support and influence for legislation, regulatory action, or other reform designed to address climate and environmental concerns."

They conclude: "We hope that the continuing [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change] process will nevertheless lead to an improving global prognosis—to which the public health community must contribute by effectively promoting health and climate co-benefits."

Citation: Nilsson M, Evengård B, Sauerborn R, Byass P (2012) Connecting the Global Climate Change and Public Health Agendas. PLoS Med 9(6): e1001227. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001227

Contact: Clare Weaver
press@plos.org
44-122-344-2834
Public Library of Science

Health and ethics must be included in future climate change talks

Human health and health ethics considerations must be given equal status to economic considerations in climate change deliberations and furthermore, the health community, led by health ministers and the World Health Organization, must play a central role in climate change deliberations, argues an international expert in this week's PLoS Medicine.

Jerome Singh from the University of Kwazulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, who also works at the University of Toronto, Canada, says: "The gap in ethics governance concerning climate change decision-making underscores the argument that policy-making on a variety of issues impacting climate change, including energy, transport, and development, needs to be underpinned by ethically sound principles, not just economic and legal considerations."

Dr Singh argues that the human health implications of climate change must receive greater prominence and be the main focus of future climate change deliberations. He makes the case for the responsibility of governments, the private sector, financiers, and society to practice socially responsible investment and to mitigate against the impact of climate change, particularly in relation to human health.

Going forward, Dr Singh argues that any ethics-based climate change guidance framework for investors, policymakers, and the private sector should incorporate relevant principles from the fields of bioethics, public health ethics, and global health ethics."

Dr Singh concludes: "Given that deliberations for a binding international treaty commence at [The 18th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change] in Doha 2012, there is an urgent need to devise such a multi-disciplinary synergized framework so that it can influence deliberations at future [Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change] meetings especially in the run-up to 2015, when a legally binding climate change agreement is expected to come into effect, as outlined in the Durban Platform."

This work was supported by an award from the National Research Foundation of South Africa. The author is also supported by the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), Durban, South Africa, which forms part of the Comprehensive International Program on AIDS, funded by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The author is also supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through the Sandra Rothman Centre, Toronto, Canada. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Citation: Singh JA (2012) Why Human Health and Health Ethics Must Be Central to Climate Change Deliberations. PLoS Med 9(6): e1001229. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001229

Contact: Clare Weaver
press@plos.org
44-122-344-2834
Public Library of Science

PETA to FDA: Don't let more animals suffer and die for tobacco products

Agency poised to finalize its guidance to companies on tobacco testing

PETA today submitted official comments to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the agency's Draft Guidance for Industry: Modified Risk Tobacco Product [MRTP] Applications, which, as currently written, will lead to animal studies being conducted in support of MRTP applications. PETA, along with hundreds of consumers who submitted comments to the FDA through an action alert on PETA's popular website, is calling on the FDA to amend its guidance to recommend using only modern, effective non-animal testing methods—including computer simulation, tests using human cells, and clinical studies with human smokers—that are widely available and are the required tests in Canada. Belgium, Germany, the U.K., and other countries have all banned the testing of tobacco products on animals.

"Everyone knows that tobacco products are inherently hazardous, addictive, and deadly and that decades of animal tests did not predict the link between smoking and cancer," says PETA Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. "PETA is calling on the FDA to make it clear, once and for all, that no more animals should suffer and die in tests for new tobacco products, 'less harmful' or not."

PETA recommends evaluation of toxicity in vitro be completed and submitted and MRTP applications be made public prior to commencement of any further studies, since many products will be similar to other tobacco products currently on the market, perhaps differing only in the concentration of one or more constituents already known to be harmful or potentially harmful. Laboratory analyses and evaluation in vitro should suffice to identify products of this type that are particularly risky or lack potential to reduce risk and harm. Development of such products need proceed no further, since any additional studies would be unlikely to restore confidence. For products that are not particularly risky, it should be possible to select clinical exposures that are not more risky than those from study participants' current tobacco use without first conducting animal studies.

Contact: Jessica Sandler
JessicaS@peta.org
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals