Phew, what a year! Especially with the dramatic conclusion or should I say rigging of the Kenyan elections. I have been scouring the internet for the lastest news, but a media gag has been issued on live updates. Needless to say,there is a news blackout and all that is available is outdated news. That would have been understandable, a decade ago when BBC's FOCUS ON AFRICA Program ruled the airwaves. But with the advent of the internet, and with it 24 hours news feed, the worst that can happen is a news blackout.
Considering that I'm a verocious news consumer, I was shocked to find out about the gag. It reminded me of my experience in China last year, where I had spent three weeks without any 'reliable' news from some of the major global news outlets like the BBC or New York Times. China is well known for censoring its media, but to block access to BBC online, was a little bit out of this world for me.
The likes of BBC and the New York Time are usually my number one stop when I need a quick fix to my news appetite, and has no time to browse the 10+ 'essentials' that usually usher in my day.
Anyhow, 2007 was a very exhilarating year full of drama, and one of immense personal and professional growth for me.
I thus wish all and sundry a very happy 2008.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Natural Areas conference
When I started my PhD studies in November 2005, I set myself a goal of attending atleast two international conferences every year. So far I have been living my dream, and sometimes exceeded my expectations. I have just returned from attending my last conference for 2007.
I was an international guest at the Natural Areas Conference. The NAC is an an annual conference of the Natural Areas Association, and every year they give scholarships to international guests to participate in the conference. This year's conference was held in Cleveland, Ohio from 9- 12th Oct. The NAC is quite unique from other conferences have attended because it is primarily made up of conservation practitioners, as opposed to academics. Although there were a few of us who gave purely academic talks, most of the focus was on pressing conservation issues like invasive species, deer and land management etc.
Prior to the conference I went on a field trip to Hockings Hills, in Ohio. It was a really exciting trip where I got to meet many people and made lots of friends. The Hokings hills is a real gem, very scenic with lush green forests. Ofcourse it doesn't come close to Africa, but for American standards it is great. What impressed me most were the sculpted sandstone cliffs and outcroppings, which were a result of past geologic events. Most of the sandstones were in regular shapes as if they were cut by a mschine.
During the conference I also took a field trip to Kelley's Island, but this was rather disappointing because I was expecting a very pristine, uninhabitated island. But Kelley is technically a small Isand town. Anyhow, the main attraction of Kelley's Isand is the abandon of fossils on the limestone beaches as a result of past glacial action. And the glacial grooves that were formed during the pleistocene era, when glacia brushed through the ancient sea bed rock and created the massive grooves on the bed rock which look like erosion gully. Apparently most of the Midwest USA and most of Canada was covered by glacia to a height of almost 2 miles...
...but that was 350 million years ago.
I was an international guest at the Natural Areas Conference. The NAC is an an annual conference of the Natural Areas Association, and every year they give scholarships to international guests to participate in the conference. This year's conference was held in Cleveland, Ohio from 9- 12th Oct. The NAC is quite unique from other conferences have attended because it is primarily made up of conservation practitioners, as opposed to academics. Although there were a few of us who gave purely academic talks, most of the focus was on pressing conservation issues like invasive species, deer and land management etc.
Prior to the conference I went on a field trip to Hockings Hills, in Ohio. It was a really exciting trip where I got to meet many people and made lots of friends. The Hokings hills is a real gem, very scenic with lush green forests. Ofcourse it doesn't come close to Africa, but for American standards it is great. What impressed me most were the sculpted sandstone cliffs and outcroppings, which were a result of past geologic events. Most of the sandstones were in regular shapes as if they were cut by a mschine.
During the conference I also took a field trip to Kelley's Island, but this was rather disappointing because I was expecting a very pristine, uninhabitated island. But Kelley is technically a small Isand town. Anyhow, the main attraction of Kelley's Isand is the abandon of fossils on the limestone beaches as a result of past glacial action. And the glacial grooves that were formed during the pleistocene era, when glacia brushed through the ancient sea bed rock and created the massive grooves on the bed rock which look like erosion gully. Apparently most of the Midwest USA and most of Canada was covered by glacia to a height of almost 2 miles...
...but that was 350 million years ago.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Press clip
The Monday paper did a short article on my recent award from the Society for Conservation Biology, now my friends are teasing me about autographs. I pitty celebrities!!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Student Award
The 21st Annual Meeting of the Society for Conservatiion Biology was concluded last Thursday in Port Elizabeth. The SCB is the biggest gathering of conservation biologists from across the global. This year it was attended by about 1700 delegates,with presentations runing into their hundreds. The exciting thing about the SCB is that, the 'who-is-who' of conservation biology is usually there, and there is also a large contingent of students.
The highlight of the conference for me was the award ceremony. Each year the SCB recognises distinguished conservation scientists and organisations. They also organise a student competition, where twelve students are selected to compete for award of the best student presentation. Its a very competitive award process where students abstracts are subjected to rigorous examination by a panel of experts prior to the conference. And then during the conference another panel of experts judge the students presentations based on scientific rigour of the paper, conservation relevance of the issue and the student's presentation skills.
This year I managed to qualify as a student finalist. I have to say that I was rather surprised, because at the 2005 SCB conference in Brazil I had applied but never got nominated despite having put a lot of effort in preparing that paper.
Knowing very well that this is a very competitive process the least thing I expected was to scoop the award. Anyhow, I was awarded the 3rd PRIZE for the best student oral presentation.
It felt really nice, considering that all the students competing gave really good talks, and the fact that I was the first to present and therefore had to set the standard.
But the really important thing about the award is the fact that my work was subjected to peer review. It is a real morale booster to know that one is not just doing crap but making meaningful contribution to science.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Human-wildlife conflict in Uganda
There is a major conflict in one of Uganda's most popular National Park, where local pastoralists have invaded the National park and are grazing their cattle inside the National Park.
Park Authorities are trying to evict the pastoralists, but without much success. Here is my opinion in response to one columnist of the New Vision Newspaper who suggested that a National Commission of inquiry be set up to resolve the dispute. My article was published on 8th June 07, in the New Vision (www.newvision.co.ug)
Here it goes...
SIR — I would like to acknowledge your columnist, Opiyo Oloya for his article “Basongora need a home and wildlife must be protected” published June 6. Oloya highlighted the issue of the Basongora- wildlife conflict.
But I take issue with his appeal to President Museveni to set up a national commission of inquiry. This suggestion will not lead to a sustainable solution to this conflict, because it is well established that top-down approaches to biodiversity conservation don’t normally succeed.
Human-wildlife conflicts is a well studied issue in conservation science. More often than not, such conflicts are a symptom of an underlying problem, such as poverty, disgruntled communities, population growth or lack of appropriate biodiversity policies.
Or it could be a combination of these lethal factors that will spiral up to such conflicts. I am not schooled enough on the nature of the problem in Queen Elizabeth National Park to comment authoritatively on the specific situation.
But I am sure that the blame does not lie solely on the Basongora community as the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) would like to make us believe. In my opinion, there is a fundamental flaw in the biodiversity conservation model in Uganda, which puts too much emphasis on securing protected areas as the key approach to biodiversity conservation.
Coupled with that is the marketing of biodiversity primarily as the source tourism revenue. These approaches have major implications on how people perceive biodiversity conservation. Firstly, it might send a signal, albeit wrongly, that land outside protected areas is not important for biodiversity conservation.
Secondly, if biodiversity is marketed in terms of its tourism potential it is obvious that conflicts will arise especially if the revenue does not flow down to the grassroots.
Any Commission of Inquiry that is going to be set up as a knee jerk reaction to this conflict will be counterproductive, as it is going to come up with prescriptive measures that no one is going to buy into. Engaging with local communities and a concerted effort to increase the level of awareness on biodiversity issues are the only viable solutions.
Park Authorities are trying to evict the pastoralists, but without much success. Here is my opinion in response to one columnist of the New Vision Newspaper who suggested that a National Commission of inquiry be set up to resolve the dispute. My article was published on 8th June 07, in the New Vision (www.newvision.co.ug)
Here it goes...
SIR — I would like to acknowledge your columnist, Opiyo Oloya for his article “Basongora need a home and wildlife must be protected” published June 6. Oloya highlighted the issue of the Basongora- wildlife conflict.
But I take issue with his appeal to President Museveni to set up a national commission of inquiry. This suggestion will not lead to a sustainable solution to this conflict, because it is well established that top-down approaches to biodiversity conservation don’t normally succeed.
Human-wildlife conflicts is a well studied issue in conservation science. More often than not, such conflicts are a symptom of an underlying problem, such as poverty, disgruntled communities, population growth or lack of appropriate biodiversity policies.
Or it could be a combination of these lethal factors that will spiral up to such conflicts. I am not schooled enough on the nature of the problem in Queen Elizabeth National Park to comment authoritatively on the specific situation.
But I am sure that the blame does not lie solely on the Basongora community as the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) would like to make us believe. In my opinion, there is a fundamental flaw in the biodiversity conservation model in Uganda, which puts too much emphasis on securing protected areas as the key approach to biodiversity conservation.
Coupled with that is the marketing of biodiversity primarily as the source tourism revenue. These approaches have major implications on how people perceive biodiversity conservation. Firstly, it might send a signal, albeit wrongly, that land outside protected areas is not important for biodiversity conservation.
Secondly, if biodiversity is marketed in terms of its tourism potential it is obvious that conflicts will arise especially if the revenue does not flow down to the grassroots.
Any Commission of Inquiry that is going to be set up as a knee jerk reaction to this conflict will be counterproductive, as it is going to come up with prescriptive measures that no one is going to buy into. Engaging with local communities and a concerted effort to increase the level of awareness on biodiversity issues are the only viable solutions.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Working late...
One of the greatest challenge of being a researcher is writing up research findings. Scientific writing requires clarity, simplicity and minimum verbosity, but to master these simple principles requires a tenacity and discipline that only comes with experience. If you add the fact that english is not the first language of an African boy then you will undertand what I mean. Even though my experience shows that first language english speakers do not necessariy write the best scientific papers. You see, scientific papers require a level of clarity that can only be achieved by a writer who is lost for words a.k.a second language english speakers.
This is not to imply that second language english speakers are not upto their craft. Infact as far as I'm concerned, I'm a first language english speaker, whateve that means. But what am I suppose to say, after english has dominated my entire life both in and out of school. From the day I was enrolled into Nursery, it was english...the British colonialists really did a great job.
I'm just thinking how it would have been, if I was to be writing my PhD thesis in Aringa, my mother tongue. Would I be re-writing the same paragraph for what seems like an eternity? Or would I be bogged down with the numerous special characters in my language? Maybe not, if the orientals figured that out, I'm sure any african language could thrive as a science language.
My first professional encounter with a first language english speaker was in form of a 'compliment' by my university professor, " very good presentation for a second language english speaker". I felt insulted because even if I speak with an accent, english is the language I have known since time immemorial. But to that Prof., I was still an amateur...
But as I spend hours trying to make a contribution to science, I can't help but wonder if things would have been different if I was thinking and writing in my mother tongue!!
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Cycle Tour
The big day is almost here, am so excited even though I did not practise yesterday and today due to the very high winds raging in Cape Town. So far my odometer is reading 336K for two weeks of training. That should be adequate for one who just wants to finish in a decent time, but if I remember how sore my body was due to last year's race am compelled to even train harder.
Wish myself a pleasant cycle tour...
Monday, March 05, 2007
Monday Blues
Today I struggled to get out of bed, which is quite unusual for me. I normally wake up at 0430 prompt, but today I had to drag myself to the shower. Now I'm in the office trying to get some work done, but it looks set to be another one of those very long Mondays.
I had a busy weekend, perhaps that is taking its toll. On Saturday there was a braai (South African for barbecue) at my place, though I'm a teetotaller it was a long and loud evening with a bunch of boy scientists, talking about Uganda's political future or the lack thereof. That is an emotive issue that is gurantteed to cause alot of headache.
The evening was great though, but when you are locked for hours with a bunch of mathematicians, space scientists and astrophysists, you are assured of serious mental engagement and after that long you need a well deserved break.
Oh, next Sunday is the popular Cape Argus Cycle tour, so yesterday I had to ride my bike for a cool 42km to practice for the eminent showdown come sunday. This is going to be my second time participating in this race, and I can't wait.
I need to make this a productive day even if my whole body is screaming...
I had a busy weekend, perhaps that is taking its toll. On Saturday there was a braai (South African for barbecue) at my place, though I'm a teetotaller it was a long and loud evening with a bunch of boy scientists, talking about Uganda's political future or the lack thereof. That is an emotive issue that is gurantteed to cause alot of headache.
The evening was great though, but when you are locked for hours with a bunch of mathematicians, space scientists and astrophysists, you are assured of serious mental engagement and after that long you need a well deserved break.
Oh, next Sunday is the popular Cape Argus Cycle tour, so yesterday I had to ride my bike for a cool 42km to practice for the eminent showdown come sunday. This is going to be my second time participating in this race, and I can't wait.
I need to make this a productive day even if my whole body is screaming...
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