Friday 12 August 2011

Hello all,

sorry for the massive gap in posts. I've been crazy busy. This has turned from a job and more into a lifestyle/cause.

There is a lot to tell.

So I have gone from just doing the land management plans to keep the donors happy to being invited to be potentially involved in a 4 million euro project sorting out the Ramsar wetlands nearby. As I got on well with the council members I was working with I got invited to a Ramsar meeting. I expected a small room with half a dozen people. As it turned out it was a large conference room with delegates from all potential stakeholder groups. Within 2 minutes I was asked to talk about my interests in the area so I gave a quick impromptue speech. Then we were given a2 paper and told to basically pitch why our stakeholder group should get funding (ours was research). So with half an hour prep I gave a speech on how reseach forms the basis of everything, how if you don't know what the current situation is you can't make accurate decisions, if you don't know what happens once you implement a management strategy you have no idea if it works or not and how essentially long term planning has to include research. I then went to the pub with the french ramsar guy who said it looked very promising for us. If we get funding that would mean we could do a ton of interesting stuff that might actually save this corridor.

One of the reasons that this has turned into more of an adventure than a job is that the corridor here will either be saved or destroyed in 2 years and it would quite nice to see it not destroyed. Also the poaching in this area is quite hectic and if a wildlife managed area gets set up and works then the selous would be greatly protected from this side indefinately. If it does not then its all buggered.

mmmmmm crazy stuff

any way love to all and I'll post again soon