AHEAD
Update – September 2008
Dear AHEAD Colleagues:
*I should again note that if you wish to be removed from this
e-mail list please just let me know. My hope is to keep parties
interested in Animal Health for the Environment And Development
up-to-date on developments post-Durban World Parks Congress over
time, but I certainly understand if anyone wants to opt out of
receiving such messages. Updates are also posted (and archived)
on the AHEAD website at http://www.wcs-ahead.org.
Please note that URL hotlinks for many of the organizations mentioned
below can be found at http://www.wcs-ahead.org/links.html.
If you would like to post an item in the next AHEAD Update,
please just send it to me- thanks!
*Happy
Birthday AHEAD!!! It was
5 years ago this month that AHEAD was launched at the
IUCN World Parks Congress in Durban, South Africa. Thanks to
all of you who have contributed to the ongoing evolution and
growth of AHEAD from
a pioneering interdisciplinary concept into an exciting cross-sectoral
program!
AWARDS!!
*AHEAD Great Limpopo Transfrontier
Conservation Area (TFCA) Seed Grant Winners Announced!!! In
response to the Request for Proposals issued at the beginning
of the year, twenty proposals were received, of which we
were able to fund ten after a rigorous peer review process (thank
you all reviewers!). $321,000
in Seed Grants (made possible by the generosity of The Rockefeller
Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation,
and the U.S. Agency for International Development - USAID
being a new addition to the Seed Grants program!**) also leveraged
an additional $202,000 from project partners- all totaling more
than half a million dollars for important work in the Great Limpopo
Transfrontier Conservation Area! We look forward
to hearing from all of the winners, who will be presenting what
they've proposed at the next full AHEAD GLTFCA
Working Group meeting,
to be held in the tri-national region (Mozambique, South Africa,
Zimbabwe) in early March (more "save the date" and
other details on that meeting will be sent to Working Group members
soon).
Please join me in congratulating all of the winners, as
well as all proponents who submitted worthwhile proposals that
were not able to be funded. The ten winning proposals are:
*Skills Development for Disease Monitoring
in the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA):
Capacity Building for Wildlife Disease Diagnostics- Emily Lane, Antoinette Kotze, Rosa
Costa, Mary Louise Penrith and team; National Zoological Gardens
of South Africa and collaborating institutions
*Land Use Alternatives
and Livelihood Viability in Ecosystems at Risk of Emergent Animal
Diseases- Brian Child, Gregory Parent and Jessica Musengezi;
University of Florida
*Balancing Ecotourism And Livestock Production-
Implications For Livelihoods And The Environment- Cheryl McCrindle
and Petronella Chaminuka; University of Pretoria and Wageningen
University
*A Comparative Study of Institutional
Arrangements for Small-Scale Livestock Farmers in Communities
in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area- Jeanette Manjengwa and
team; University of Zimbabwe Center for Applied Social Sciences
*Zoonosis
at the Interface: Lion (Panthera leo) Bovine Tuberculosis Overview
and Analysis Workshop- Yolan Friedman, Brenda Daly, Markus Hofmeyr
and Peter Buss; Endangered Wildlife Trust and South African National
Parks
*Alternative Sustainable Futures for Post-Resettlement
in the Limpopo National Park, Mozambique- Ken Giller and Jessica
Milgroom; Wageningen University
*Community Theatre as a Communications
and Outreach Tool to Support Local-Level Scenario Planning Initiatives
within the GLTFCA- Kule Chitepo, Webster Whande, Simon Anstey
and team; Resource Africa
*Improvement of Village Poultry Health
and Production by Communities in the Limpopo National Park Support
Zone in Gaza Province, Mozambique- Robyn Alders and
team; International Rural Poultry Centre, KYEEMA Foundation
*Exploring
Future Ecosystem Services: A Scenario Planning Approach to Uncertainty
in the South East Lowveld of Zimbabwe- Cees Leeuwis, Chaka Chirozva
and team; Wageningen University
*Pathogens, Parks and People:
The Role of Disease in TFCA Development- Elissa Cameron, Claire
Geoghegan and team; University of Pretoria Mammal Research Institute
More
details to follow in future AHEAD Updates!
**Note: The projects selected for AHEAD GLTFCA Seed Grants in no
way reflect the views of The Rockefeller Foundation, The
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, or the U.S. Agency
for International Development- none of whom were involved in
the selection of grantees.
RECENT FORUM OF INTEREST
*"Human, Animal, and Ecosystem
Health"- Woodrow
Wilson International Center for Scholars, Environmental
Change and Security Program, Washington, DC. Webcast available
at http://www.wcs-ahead.org/webcasts.html.
NEW
PUBLICATIONS & RESOURCES
*New primer available on southern
African TFCAs from WCS & AHEAD- "As
the Fences Come Down: Emerging Concerns in Transfrontier Conservation
Areas"- this piece is a basic attempt at
an attractive, easy read- one that hopefully opens some eyes
without attempting to spell-out all of the deeper details of
the work that needs to be done to make transfrontier conservation
areas (TFCAs) successful. AHEAD collaborating
individuals and institutions (and anyone else!) are welcome to
use this piece to help focus the attention of decision-makers
as well as the educated lay public on a set of issues of core
importance to AHEAD's goals. The
PDF is now available for download at http://www.wcs-ahead.org.
*New
chapter on transboundary conservation efforts in southern Africa
and inherent challenges at the wildlife / livestock / human health
interface- Osofsky, S. A., Cumming, D. H. M.,
and M. D. Kock. 2008. “Transboundary Management of Natural
Resources and the Importance of a ‘One Health’ Approach:
Perspectives on Southern Africa,” pp. 89-98, in Fearn,
E. and K. H. Redford (eds.) State of the
Wild 2008-2009: A Global Portrait of Wildlife, Wildlands, and
Oceans. Island Press, Washington,
D. C. See http://www.wcs-ahead.org/print.html.
*New
book- Responsible Tourism: Critical Issues for Conservation
and Development, edited by Dr. Anna Spenceley- Conservation
efforts are often seen to be in conflict with local livelihoods
and resource use - the 'park versus people' debate. 'Responsible
tourism' or 'Eco-tourism' is often invoked as a third way that
serves both ends. Yet does it actually work in practice? This
volume delves deep into practice in southern Africa, the hotbed
of innovation on the issue, and provides a comprehensive, evidence-based
examination of what works and what fails. It opens with an overview
of the issues, looks at what sustainable and responsible tourism
are in practice and how they may contribute to conservation,
poverty alleviation and local economic development. Part
one examines policies and institutions as they relate to responsible
tourism in terms of governments, donor agencies and NGOs. Part
two considers wildlife tourism and ecotourism, looking at local
economic development, supply and demand for responsible tourism,
certification and fair trade, the economics of wildlife tourism,
transfrontier conservation areas, ecological impacts of tourism
and other issues. Part three looks at more detailed case studies
of community-based tourism projects. The book concludes with
a synthesis of the key findings with implications for policy,
management and the business side of tourism. Published by
Earthscan with the Southern Africa Sustainable Use Specialist
Group (SASUSG) of IUCN: http://www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=26778
*New
COMACO (Community Markets for Conservation) e-News subscriptions
available (free!)- Sign-up at http://www.itswild.org/newsletter/subscribe. The
Wildlife Conservation Society has made a long-term commitment
to understanding the challenges of reconciling human needs
and addressing conflicts around protected areas in Zambia's
Luangwa Valley. In just over five years and with
support from the World Food Program, the Royal Norwegian Embassy,
USAID and other partners, COMACO has
demonstrated the important linkages between improved levels of
food security and income for over 40,000 families, and the
voluntary reduction in illegal hunting and snaring of wildlife. WCS
believes COMACO represents
an important contribution to future strategies for conserving wildlife
and wild places in many parts of Africa and has created a specific website, http://www.itswild.org,
to share information about this program and its operations. COMACO and AHEAD are
currently collaborating, for example, with the International
Rural Poultry Center (IRPC) of the KYEEMA Foundation and
Cornell
University to improve village poultry health to
contribute to food security while simultaneously diminishing
demand for illegal game meat.
*New University of Wisconsin- Madison's
The Nelson Institute Research Recommendations on Managing Human
/ Wildlife Conflict- See http://www.nelson.wisc.edu/people/treves/Publications.htm
*New
journal seeks submissions- Transboundary and Emerging Diseases brings
together the latest research on infectious animal diseases considered
to represent the greatest threats to animals worldwide. The journal
provides a venue for global research on diagnosis, prevention
and management, and for papers on veterinary public health, pathogenesis,
epidemiology, statistical modeling, diagnostics, biosecurity
issues, genomics, vaccine development and rapid communication
of new outbreaks. This international journal will be of vital
interest to scientists and practitioners working in the field
of infectious diseases, including veterinarians, animal scientists,
agricultural scientists, policy makers, wildlife workers, the
public health community, and conservationists. For more information
and online submission options, please see http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1865-1674&site=1.
SELECTED
UPCOMING MEETINGS & COURSES
*Envirovet Summer Institute is
7-week immersion-style summer course for veterinarians and veterinary
students from around the world aimed at educating, informing,
engaging and inspiring animal health professionals of all backgrounds
and nationalities to become integral members of teams protecting
animal, human and ecosystem health. The course is
led by Dr. Val Beasley, DVM, PhD (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)
in close collaboration with the University of California, Davis
Wildlife Health Center; key partners include White Oak Plantation
and Conservation Center, St. Catherines Island Foundation, Harbor
Branch Oceanographic Institute, and this year, Sokoine University
of Agriculture (Tanzania) and Tanzania National Parks. This year's
course was held from June 17 - August 6, 2008, and the class
was comprised of 27 students from eight countries: the
United States (17); Canada (1); Sri Lanka (3); India (1); Uganda
(1); Nigeria (1); Tanzania (2); and Mexico (1). Students gained
knowledge and skills in a variety of subjects, including (but
not limited to): biodiversity; climate change; terrestrial and
aquatic ecosystem health; wildlife immobilization; endangered
species reproduction; disease at the wildlife/livestock interface;
grantsmanship; media training; zoonoses; epidemiology, population
modeling; public health; ecological economics; and protected
areas management. Having trained more than 400 veterinarians
from more than 40 nations to date in the "One Health" approach,
this almost 20-year-old program is entering a new phase in its
development, transitioning to independent non-profit status and
seeking new partners to ensure long-term sustainability of the
program. Those interested in enrolling in the 2009 course or
in partnering with the organization are encouraged to contact
Dr. Val Beasley val@illinois.edu or
Dr. Kirsten Gilardi kvgilardi@ucdavis.edu. To
learn more about the program, please visit Envirovet's website:
http://www.cvm.uiuc.edu/envirovet/index.html.
*Southern
African Wildlife College offers “Infrastructure
Management” (Oct. 27 – Nov.14)- learn to construct
and maintain infrastructure usually associated with conserved
areas; and “Resource Economics” (Oct. 19 – 31)- gain
an understanding of basic economic principles and how they relate
to wildlife and communities in their different conservation areas.
Certain courses offered by the college comprise unit standards
of South Africa's National Qualifications in Conservation as
registered on the NQF. See http://www.wildlifecollege.org.za/,
or contact Terry Harnwell tharnwell@sawc.org.za.
*Increasing
Human Capacity for Global Human-Wildlife Coexistence, 'Pathways
to Success' 2008 Conference- Estes Park, Colorado
adjacent to Rocky Mountain National Park. Sunday, September
28, 2008 - Thursday, October 2, 2008. This conference includes
the special training workshop, "Understanding and
managing human-wildlife conflicts including participatory mapping
of risk and vulnerability" on October 1st. Instructors: Adrian
Treves, Assistant Professor, Nelson Institute for Environmental
Studies and Lisa Naughton, Professor, Dept. of Geography, University
of Wisconsin- Madison. The objective of this course is to
provide participants with a framework for understanding situations
in which wildlife pose a threat to crops, livestock, timber or
human safety within a broad, cross-cultural and international
perspective. The instructors will present a step-by-step approach
to building co-management structures, using participatory methods.
In particular, they will focus on participatory mapping to integrate
local knowledge into technical planning steps. Point of contact: atreves@wisc.edu
http://welcome.warnercnr.colostate.edu/nrrt/hdfw/Prog_Training.html
*International EcoHealth Forum
2008: 2nd Biennial Conference of the International Association
for Ecology & Health,
December 2008- AHEAD collaborating
institutions / individuals are encouraged to participate- see http://www.insp.mx/ecohealth2008/index.php for
details.
POST-DOC OPPORTUNITY
*The Percy FitzPatrick Institute at the
University of Cape Town currently has openings for postdoctoral
researchers in ecology and conservation. Contact Prof. Phil
Hockey phil.hockey@uct.ac.za for
further information. More information about the Percy FitzPatrick
Institute can be found at http://www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za/.
If
you have items for the next AHEAD Update, please
just let me know – thanks.
"What is AHEAD?" Animal Health for the Environment
And Development was launched exactly five years ago-
at the 2003 IUCN World Parks Congress in Durban, South Africa. By
assembling a ‘dream team’ of veterinarians, ecologists,
biologists, social and economic scientists, agriculturists, wildlife
managers, public health specialists and others from across East
and southern Africa, the Wildlife Conservation Society, IUCN,
and a range of partners tapped into some of the most innovative
conservation and development thinking on the African continent-
and AHEAD was born. Since then, a range of programs
addressing conservation, health, and concomitant development
challenges have been launched with the support of a growing list
of implementing partners and donors who see the intrinsic value
of what WCS has called the “One World, One Health” approach.
All the best,
Steve
Steve Osofsky, DVM
Wildlife Conservation Society
Director, Wildlife Health Policy
WCS AHEAD Coordinator
sosofsky@wcs.org
ph/fax: 1-703-716-1029
www.wcs-ahead.org
Please see the News Archives
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