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NEWSLETTER
Issue 3 -
September 2002
IOISA's
Advisory Board
IOI-SA’s first Advisory Board meeting took place on 25 July 2002. The venue was the Council Chambers in the Rector's Suite at the University of the Western Cape. After the Rectors’ welcome, Dr Prochazka (Director of IOI-SA), gave a brief overview of the IOI’s local and international history and background.
Standing Orders of the Advisory Board
The standing orders outline the purpose of having an advisory board and how they will function. Prof. O'Connell presented the draft Standing Orders to the Board for consideration.
These were adopted with the following alterations:
The Board would provide strategic advice to the International Ocean Institute, Southern Africa.
One of the functions would be to advise on and assist in fundraising.
A further function/duty would be to evaluate and assess the International Ocean Institute, Southern Africa.
Memorandum of agreement
Prof. O'Connell presented the current memorandum of Agreement between IOI and the University of the Western Cape to the Board, and indicated that this agreement terminates at the end of 2002. The Board suggested that this should be renewed, with the following alterations:
The agreement was for an initial period of three years. It was felt by the board that an agreement period of five years, with an extension of a further five years would greatly assist IOI-SA in giving it more permanence, and thus put IOI-SA in a stronger position to both raise funds, and to participate in larger projects.
Report on IOI-SA activities, 2001-2002 and potential activities
The Annual Report for 2001-2002 was presented to the Board, and Dr Prochazka gave a verbal report to complement this.
Mr Kleinschmidt queried the definition of “peace”. It was generally agreed that “peace” could used in a very broad context, and could be extend to include such issues as equitable access to, and use of, ocean and coastal resources.
Dr Mayekiso sparked a discussion of the extent to which IOI-SA's mission and goals overlap with those of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEA&T).
It was largely agreed that the scope of IOI-SA is somewhat wider than that of DEA&T, including the use of ocean space per se, and it differs in that it is part of an international network, and thus has the ability to provide a more global view, and to become involved in larger ocean initiatives. Therefore a need for a greater Southern African focus was mentioned, as IOI-SA's activities are heavily biased towards South Africa at present.
Prof. Jan Glazewski mentioned that IOI-SA could perhaps become involved in initiatives to investigate the current role of the South African Navy, and to perhaps to redefine this within the context of post-Apartheid South Africa. Prof. Glazewski also mentioned that the continent of Antarctica is a model for the Common Heritage of Mankind, and that IOI-SA could usefully become involved in issues surrounding this continent.
There was a general discussion surrounding the funding structure of IOI-SA. It was generally felt that a funding plan that was more sustainable in the longer term would need to be considered.
Other business
Pacem in Maribus Conference, December 2002
Dr Prochazka gave some background into the PIM conference, and reported on progress made to date in organizing this event. The issues of sponsorship and registration were the most significant. Advice on sponsorship included sending personal e-mails rather than pro-forma letters, using the names of speakers already secured, and names of particular companies, that could be approached with a view to sponsorship.
The Board agreed that a questionnaire should be devised and sent to each Board Member for them to fill in the names of contact people at organizations that could be approached for sponsorship. Suggestions regarding the slow progress of registration included requesting the Directors of other IOI Operational Centres to become more involved in marketing the conference, and to target particular people within the Southern African Development Community
(SADC).
African Process
The Hon. Rejoice Mabudafhasi, Deputy-Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, and Chairperson of the Preparatory Committee for the Partnership Conference on the African Process for the Development and Protection of the Coastal and Marine Environment, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, invited all Board Members to the Technical and Ministerial segment of the Partnership Conference on Friday 30th August 2002. The Partnership Conference is a parallel event to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
Present at the meeting were:
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Prof. Brian O'Connell, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, University of the Western Cape (Chair)
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Hon. Rejoice Mabudafhasi,
Deputy-Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
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Mr Horst Kleinschmidt,
Executive Director,
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Dr Monde Mayekiso,
Director of Research, Division of Marine and Coastal Management, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
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Capt. Eddie Bremner,
Port Captain, Cape Town, National Ports Authority
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Prof. Derek Keats,
Executive Director, Information and Communication Services, University of the Western Cape
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Prof. Jan Glazewski,
Institute of Marine Law, University of Cape Town
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Prof. Geoff Brundrit,
Oceanography Department, University of the Western Cape
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Dr Kim Prochazka,
Director, International Ocean Institute, Southern Africa, University of the Western Cape.
The Pacem in Maribus (PIM) conference is held every year under the auspices of The International Ocean Institute (IOI).
The new economy and the current trend of globalization exacerbate existing problems, and bring new challenges for the Ocean. At no time in history has the Ocean been under the pressure it is today, but also at no time has the Ocean been such a source of exciting opportunities. It is vital that we accept the challenge not only of creating opportunities, but also of using these in a wise and sustainable manner to bring benefits to coastal communities in both the developed and especially the developing world.
Registration:
Late registration deadline date is 15 November 2002
You can register online at: http://www.ioinst.org/pim2002
Late registration costs: R3 000.00
Student registration costs: R2 000.00
Cost of registration per day: R550.00/day
For more details please visit the website: http://www.ioinst.org/pim2002
The first day will consist of plenary lectures by invited speakers covering the following topics:
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Trade and the new economy
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Ocean commerce and trade and coastal peoples
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Valuing the ocean economy: globalization of trade and emergine economies
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Ocean trade and the new economy
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Ocean commerce and trade and coastal peoples between the IOI Head
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Quarters and its operational centres with regard to creating a virtual online university.
This will be followed by the signing of an agreement between the IOI Head Quarters and its operational centres with regard to creating a virtual online university.
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be dedicated to dealing with the sub themes of food, security, living space, communication, transport, industry, recreation and resource management with keynote speakers in each category.
Wednesday will be a day for getting out of the “office” and exploring various exciting venues on the Cape Peninsula.
Social functions will be offered on all but one of the evenings. The free evening will have transport laid on for delegates so that they can still enjoy the evening out.
IOI-SA Open Day Celebration
The International Ocean Institute- Southern Africa hosted its first-ever Open Day in June 2002 to promote the institute. The event was held at UWC's auditorium in collaboration with World Oceans Day.
Rector Brian O'Connell welcomed the guest and IOI-SA's first associate Dr. Richard Knight was introduced at this historic occasion.
Guests from various institutions including national and local government, universities, NGO's and the private sector were invited. Also attending the open day was the Bergrivier Visservroue Vereeniging from the West Coast Cookbook Project (part of IOI-SA's People, Oceans and Coast programme).
Although the institute was established in 1996 in the Botany department at UWC, not many of campus and the greater community are aware of its high quality research and developmental work. This occurs in the areas of sustainable livelihoods, seaweed mariculture and community development as well as technology in support of training.
The four programmes were therefore highlighted in the form of presentations and are namely Education through Technology; People, Oceans and Coasts; Biodiversity, Conservation and Environmental Assessment; and Online Services. IOI-SA will be hosting this exciting event annually.
Staff
Profile: Werner Phillips
Remember those days when everything just seems to be “so perfect” at work???… you’re typing a document; checking your e-mail; writing some code or surfing the net……….then all of a sudden your computer freezes and you just feel like thrashing the inert monitor?………well, don’t get too sadistic! That’s when we, the people at IOI-SA call on Werner Philips, our Systems Administrator for his assistance. Werner has been a part of IOI-SA for approximately three years after completing his A+ and MCSE courses at Cyber IT Solutions in Cape Town.
As a Systems Administrator his duties involve setting up servers, configuring the servers and the actual maintenance and monitoring of the servers to ensure that all systems operate in an efficient, responsive and secure manner. He is also involved in the technical support of the computers in the
CoE lab in the Botany department at UWC.
He acknowledges that the job is stressful, yet
exciting…..after all, maintaining servers requires so much tolerance, patience and understanding especially on those days when the server crashes and everyone else blames it on the Systems Administrator!!! However, it is quite evident that Werner enjoys his responsibility as the Systems Administrator at IOI-SA.
E-mail: wphilips@uwc.ac.za
Tel: +27 21 959 2704
The Southern African Marine Science Symposia
(SAMSS)
The Southern African Marine Science Symposia (SAMSS) are held every three years, with the objective of reviewing progress in marine sciences, enhancing communication within the marine science community between researchers themselves as well as with the end-users of research products i.e. the fishing industry, managers and conservators as well as other professionals. This year the symposium was held in Swakopmund, Namibia and this was the first time that SAMMS was held outside the borders of the Republic of South Africa.
The delegates traveled a great distance to attend this event at Swakopmund. Delegates came from Angola, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Chile, Peru, France, Germany, Iran, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, the UK and USA. They stayed at the Swakopmund Hotel and at The Alternative Space. The Alternative Space is a truly 'alternative' backpackers lodge, which was initially an art gallery, but had been graciously converted into a lodge.
Special attractions include the outdoor toilet and shower, as well as the works of several Namibian artists.The delegates attended oral presentations, poster presentations, workshops and meetings each day. A few examples of the presentations are: “The state of the environment in the Benguela Current – feedback from the Global International Waters Assessment (GIWA)”, presented by Kim Prochaska ; “Sacoast.uwc.ac.za: Development of an online coastal resource center”, presented by Dr Richard Knight; “seaweedafrica.org - Useful Seaweeds Online” , presented by Martin Cocks; “SA-ISISlearn.uwc.ac.za: An Online Integrated Coastal Area Management(ICAM) course”, presented by Faghrie Mitchell;” “Antifouling Mechanisms in South African Encrusting Coralline Red Algae”, presented by Gavin Maneveldt; “, etc …..
Apart from these formal sessions, the delegates attended several social functions, i.e. a German Bier Stübe (i.e. a German Pub evening); a free evening exploring Swakopmund’s restaurants and pubs; a symposium banquet, a fish braai, and a Dune Sundowners evening which was the most favorable. The dune sundowners evening was spent climbing the sand dunes; playing games; listening to the sounds of marimba bands; feasting on oysters, biltong, beers, snacks, etc……
For more information about the SAMSS symposium 2002, visit the website at
http://www.benefit.org.na/samss
IOI-SA
Programmes: "Education
through Technology"
The International Ocean Institute-Southern Africa has been conducting research into the appropriate use of technology in teaching-and-learning in support of its capacity building and networking goals.
The advent of the Worldwide Web (WWW), and associated technologies has made the construction of integrated online learning environment an easily achievable task. It is for this reason, and because the WWW connects learners to an array of learning materials that are otherwise not accessible, that IOI-SA has “Education through Technology” as one of it's core programmes.
We have several ongoing projects within this programme, namely:
1. KEWL
2. International Ocean Institute-Virtual University (IOIVU)
3. South African Coastal Information Centre (SACOAST)
4. SA-ISIS
5. Train-Sea-Coast (TSC): GloBallast
6. TSC: Marine Pollution Control
About the projects:
1. Knowledge Environment for Web-based Learning (KEWL)
KEWL is open source software and aside from the input by members of the IOI-SA staff, several programmers from the open source community have contributed code to the KEWL project. The tools that are part of KEWL are designed to facilitate a constructivist approach to online learning. UWC is currently using the KEWL learning management system.
2. International Ocean Institute-Virtual University
The mission of the International Ocean Institute (IOI) and its Virtual University (IOIVU) is to promote education, training, and research that enhance the peaceful use, management, and regulation of ocean spaces and resources as well as the protection and conservation of the marine environment.
The IOIVU aims to make the resources and expertise available, using the most advanced technologies of virtual or distance- learning and teaching. The IOIVU will offer a broad range of programmes with an interdisciplinary curriculum and specialised short courses.
3. South African Coastal Information Centre (SACOAST)
The White Paper for Sustainable Coastal Development recognizes the need for raising awareness of wise management of South Africa's coastal resources.
To this end, and in support of the implementation of the White Paper, the Coastal Management Office (CMO) of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism has initiated the development of the South African Coastal Information Centre through its CoastCARE campaign. This website, known colloquially as 'SACOAST', is therefore a virtual resource centre.
4. SA-ISIS.learn
This learning resource, possible through a grant from the South African Innovation Fund, provides web-based learning materials and courseware in support of the aims of the South African Intergrated Spatial Information Systems Program (SA-ISIS). Courses are developed within the framework of the recent legislation on higher education, and are available for university credit as well as credit towards lifelong learning programmes.
5. TSC: GloBallast
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) based in London had undertaken to design a number of modules on Ballast Water Management under its project called GloBallast. TSC had been requested to develop the modules for initial implementation in six selected countries. There are two pilot sites for the study, one in Brazil and the other in South Africa. IOI-SA is currently working together with the Centre for Marine Studies at UCT, to develop the Global Ballast Course.
6.TSC: Marine Pollution Control (MPC)
The University of the Western Cape (IOI-SA) and the Cape Town University jointly developed the training course using the TSC methodology. IOI-SA delivered its first MPC training course at the end of last year.
The course is designed to provide technical knowledge and specific skills to environmental officers, government officials and environmental specialists from the BCLME countries (Angola, Namibia and South Africa).
It covered the following areas namely, the Use of water quality guidelines in marine pollution; Marine pollution control law; Environmental economics; Maps, GPS, GIS and remote-sensing: tools for managing marine pollution; Sampling methods of the water column and sediments; Analytical methods of the water column and sediments; Data presentation and statistical methods; Reporting and presentation and Contingency planning for disaster management.
For more information contact the Programme Coordinator at:
IOI-SA
C/o Botany Department
University of the Western Cape
P. Bag x17, Bellville 7535
South Africa
Tel +27 21 959 2594
Fax +27 21 959 1213
| Did
you know? |
- South Africa is the only country in the world to have within its borders an entire floral kingdom (only six such kingdoms exist).
- Nowhere, in any one country in Africa, will you find such a rich variety of wildlife as in South Africa's.
The small Cape vulture colony at Potberg is most southerly vulture colony in Southern Africa and also the only surviving colony in the Western Cape.
- The world's fastest land animal, the cheetah, is the most unique and specialized member of the cat family and can reach speeds of 70 mph.
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The Earth
Festival: 31 Aug -1 Sept
The Earth Festival is a key happening on the Cape Town calendar. IOI-SA together with the rest of the city celebrated the two-day event at the Cape Town Civic Centre.
IOI-SA and many organizations used the opportunity to raise environmental awareness and advertise their various services. The festival highlighted the conservation of many species of plants and animals and the preservation of invaluable natural habitats.
Various endangered animals were also present at the festival, including a young cheetah, an eagle and a vulture. The audience, which included many curious children,found the close encounter with these animals to be both thrilling and educational.
There were also many cultural organizations and arts and crafts for sale. This ranged from scented candles to alternative and natural healthcare products. And to cater for the hungry visitors and participants, there were some lovely vegetarian dishes and some yummy cakes on sale.
The festival was really an opportunity to celebrate nature in every possible way. The entertainment included music and dance performances- a feast for both the eyes and ears. There was drumming, Indian, Contemporary and African dance and a Chinese martial arts demonstration. It was a festival for the whole family to enjoy and to be inspired by!
Enquiries:
Editors: Jocelyn Collins Tel. +27 21 959 2566 jcollins@uwc.ac.za
Tanya Potts Tel. +27 21 959 2594 tpotts@uwc.ac.za
Lucille Oliphant Tel. +27 21 959 2342 loliphant@uwc.ac.za
Deidre Bester Tel. +27 21 959 3782 dbester@uwc.ac.za
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