Previous Events
Community surveys on human wildlife conflict in Epupa and Okanguati Conservancies
Date: 05 May 2021 to 25 May 2021
Iona National Park carnivore collaring
Date: 03 May 2021 to 04 Jun 2021
Iona National Park Mountain top helicopter survey
Date: 21 Apr 2021 to 05 May 2021
Soil data collection around Springbokwasser
Date: 02 Mar 2021 to 07 Mar 2021
Transboundary workshop of cross fertilization of knowledge and NRM
Date: 12 Apr 2021 to 16 Apr 2021
Insect trapping from Hentiesbay to Cape Fria
Date: 29 Mar 2021 to 09 Apr 2021
Human Wildlife Conflict and Livelihoods household surveys
Date: 22 Feb 2021 to 15 Mar 2021
Technology usability testing, co-design, validation, etc
Date: 20 Feb 2021 to 24 Feb 2021
Human Wildlife Conflict and Livelihoods household surveys
Date: 07 Nov 2020 to 24 Nov 2020
Advisory Board Meeting
Date: 20 Nov 2020
Exploration, Co-Design, Technology Assessment, Vegetation
Date: 26 Nov 2020 to 02 Dec 2020
Welwitschia
Date: 22 Nov 2020 to 30 Nov 2020
These field trip involves measuring of Welwitschia plants, an ecosystem indicator of the SCIONA study area.
Kunene River – Serra Cafema field work
Date: 01 Oct 2020 to 07 Oct 2020
Work with camp management and communities on how to maintain the camera traps.
Community surveys
Date: 30 Sep 2020 to 11 Oct 2020
Human Wildlife Conflict and Livelihoods household surveys in Epupa
Management Framework, Biodiversity
Date: 16 Sep 2020 to 29 Sep 2020
Welwitschia, general information for managemenmt framework/baseline in SKNP, Orupembe, Sanitas and Okondjombo.
Community/Co-design/Network Technical Assessment/Vegetation
Date: 15 Sep 2020 to 20 Sep 2020
Focus Group discussion, co-design, technology deployment, technology network infrastructure deployment in Orupembe and Marienflus
Skeleton Coast National Park Exploration Trip
Date: 01 Aug 2020 to 10 Aug 2020
Human Wildlife Conflict Trip to Okanguati (Kunene Region)
Date: 30 Jul 2020 to 09 Aug 2020
Technical Research Team trip to Opuwo, Epupa and Okanguati (Kunene Region)
Date: 20 Jul 2020 to 26 Jul 2020
Southern Skeleton Coast insect and soil data collection field trip
Date: 18 May 2020 to 21 May 2020
Sanitatas Conservancy Game Count
Date: 21 May 2020 to 28 May 2020
Southern Skeleton Coast insect and soil data collection field trip
Date: 21 Mar 2020 to 24 Mar 2020
Okanguati Conservancy student research investigating drivers of human wildlife conflict occurrence and local tolerance for carnivores
Date: 15 Feb 2020 to 05 Mar 2020
2nd SCIONA Advisory Board Meeting
Date: 14 Feb 2020
Kunene River Mouth exploration
Date: 25 Jan 2020 to 31 Jan 2020
Vegetation survey of giraffe habitat in Kunene
Date: 26 Nov 2019 to 03 Dec 2019
Focus group discussion, co-design, showcase of HWC app, validaCon of HWC app and assessment of camera traps in Orupembe and Marienfluss conservancies
Date: 12 Nov 2019 to 19 Nov 2019
Student PhD DNA isolation in Pretoria
Date: 20 Oct 2019 to 07 Nov 2019
Click the below LINK to read the blog article on this event.
DNA extraction experiment at the Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics
Epupa Conservancy student research investigating drivers of human wildlife conflict occurrence and local tolerance for carnivores
Date: 10 Nov 2019 to 02 Dec 2019
Arid Zone Ecology Forum in Kimberley, South Africa
Date: 07 Oct 2019 to 11 Oct 2019
Southern Skeleton Coast National Park soil microbe data collection
Date: 26 Sep 2019 to 30 Sep 2019
Insect data collection in the areas of Ugab Gate, Terrace Bay, Mowe Bay and Springbok Wasser
Date: 18 Sep 2019 to 26 Sep 2019
Student MSc research in Iona National Park, Angola
Date: 05 Sep 2019 to 31 Oct 2019
Read story from this event:
Vegetation mapping in Iona National Park
Community household surveys in Epupa and Okangwati Conservancies
Date: 01 Sep 2019 to 14 Sep 2019
Iona-Skeleton Coast National Park TFCA Meeting
Date: 09 Sep 2019
Para ecologist trainings in Kunene
Date: 01 Sep 2019 to 07 Sep 2019
EU financial and Administrative training in Lubango, Angola
Date: 01 Aug 2019 to 03 Aug 2019
Giraffe Collaring and Data Collection field trip to the Kunene Region (Puros and Marienflus Conservancies)
Date: 13 Jul 2019 to 24 Jul 2019
Human Wildlife Conflict and Livelihood Household Survey data collection field trip to the Kunene Region (Orupembe and Marienfluss Conservancies)
Date: 26 Jun 2019 to 06 Jul 2019
Wildlife camera traps used by community game guards
At the end of June 2019, a SCIONA team travelled to the Orupembe and Marienfluss conservancies in the Kunene Region. The co-design team met with local game guards from these conservancies.
Southern Skeleton Coast National Park Insect and Soil data collection field trip
Date: 06 Jun 2019 to 10 Jun 2019
Litterbags collection for the litter decomposition experiment begins in the Skeleton Coast National Park
A team of researchers and students travelled from Windhoek to the Skeleton Coast National Park during the first week of June 2019. The team went to collect the first set of litterbags that were deployed in the field end of March 2019. The aim of the experiment is to measure the rate of litter decomposition in a hyper-arid system.
New Namibian Euphorbia presented at the International Euphorbia Convention
Date: 18 May 2019 to 19 May 2019
Meise, Belgium
SCIONA Mapathon: 06 and 13th May 2019
Date: 06 May 2019
Invitation to be part of the first MAPATHON in Namibia
NUST – 06 and 13th May 2019
What is a Mapathon?
A Mapathon – also called mapping party- is a coordinated mapping event. The public is invited to make online map improvements in their local area to improve coverage. Mapathons use an online site for storing map data. Mapathons are often held inside (armchair mapping) in a room with strong Wi-Fi for simultaneous access, assisted by satellite imagery (Wikipedia).
See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAcsCmvG2hs
Who can participate to the Mapathon?
Anybody with GIS skills. The two best skills of a Mapathoner are (i) being smart in high resolution image interpretation and (ii) being meticulous in digitising.
When and Where?
The Mapathon will be held in Lab 14 in the Land Management building on the main campus of NUST. There will be 2 sessions of 4-5 hours. The dates are Monday 6th May and 13th May 2019 starting at 8h00. It is required that the Mapathoner attends the 2 sessions.
Why?
The SCIONA project (running from 1 February 2018 – 31 January 2021) aims to strengthen cross-border management and wildlife law enforcement by co-designing and implementing conservation monitoring technologies with communities within the Iona - Skeleton transfrontier conservation area (TFCA) of Namibia and Angola. The study area contains Iona National Park in Angola, Skeleton Coast National Park and the adjacent Namibian communal conservancies. Part of the project involves setting up a GIS database whereby the Mapathon will greatly assist with the creation of this database.
How will it be organised?
During the first session (06 May), there will be an introduction on the exercise and the SCIONA study area, creation of the user’s profile, explanation of the digitisation and legend (1 hour). The digitisation will start right after the introduction. The 13th May will start with a brief recap on the work accomplished during the first session then the Mapathoners will start digitising the rest of the SCIONA study area. Both sessions will have a coffee/tee break. There will be a minimum of 4 supervisors for each session.
What is there to gain?
- Experience in using and editing in Open Street Map in a happy and friendly atmosphere
- 20NAD of MTC credit (delivered after the session of 13th May)
- Experience on how works a Mapathon
- Your name is added as an Open Street Map contributor
- An attendance certificate delivered by the Department of Geo-Spatial Sciences and Technology
If you want to register:
Please send an email to cdewasseige@nust.na with your Name, email address, cell phone number, a line telling why do you want to be part of the Mapathon and with “Mapathon” in the subject. We can accommodate only 16 Mapathoners. The places will be allocated on a first come first served principle.
For more information:
Please do not hesitate to contact Dr Carlos de Wasseige
Email: cdewasseige@nust.na Phone: 061 207 2904
Date:
Monday, May 6, 2019 - 08:00
Documents:
Iona National Park co-design workshops and field work focusing on rangeland activities, household and vegetation surveys. 15 to 29 May. Transboundary Monte Negro workshop 18 – 19 May
Date: 15 May 2019 to 29 May 2019
Blog Article : Angolan and Namibian communities, scientists and park managers join forces in Iona National Park
Technology usability testing and co-design validation field work in Orupembe and Marienfluss Conservancies
Date: 30 Apr 2019 to 05 May 2019
Joint fieldtrip on Welwitschia (CNR - Gobabeb – SCIONA), northern Kunene
Date: 11 May 2019 to 26 May 2019
Scarabaeinae and Neuroptera specimen collection in North West Namibia
Date: 06 Apr 2019 to 17 Apr 2019
Southern Skeleton Coast National Park insect and soil data collection
Date: 15 Mar 2019 to 20 Mar 2019
Edible Caterpillar and Moth Field Trip
Date: 09 Feb 2019 to 10 Feb 2019
Epupa Community Engagement and Technology Co-Design Workshop
Date: 19 Feb 2019 to 23 Feb 2019
First SCIONA Advisory Board Meeting
Date: 26 Feb 2019
Southern Skeleton Coast Field trip
Date: 28 Jan 2019 to 02 Feb 2019
NUST SCIONA student participating in GCF field trip to northwest Namibia
Date: 04 Sep 2018 to 13 Sep 2018
Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) student Albertina Fillipus participated in a recent field trip to northwest Namibia in September 2018. The trip was organised and funded by the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF), a local partner and stakeholder of the SCIONA (Co-designing conservation technologies in the Skeleton Coast – Iona Transfrontier Park) project. GCF’s programme in northwestern Namibia aims at conserving Namibia’s desert dwelling Angolan giraffe. Namibia’s northwest is one of the last remaining wildernesses on the continent and home to a plethora of desert-adapted wildlife including elephant, black rhino, lion, leopard, cheetah, mountain zebra, oryx, springbok, and of course, giraffe. In the northwest, giraffe occur mainly along the westerly flowing ephemeral river systems on communal farmland that end in the Namib Desert of the protected Skeleton Coast Park. The field trip was part of a long-term monitoring programme in the region and aimed to collect giraffe (and elephant) population dynamics data in the Hoanib and Hoarusib Rivers, as these mega-mammals share the same habitats in this arid part of the country. Additionally, the field work formed part of Emma Hart’s final season of field work for her PhD research on the population ecology of the giraffe of north-western Namibia which is a collaborative effort between GCF, NUST and University College Dublin. Data on woody endemic plant occurrences was also collected on the trip to assist with the SCIONA project. This data will feed into the Master’s thesis of Albertina Fillipus that aims to map and predict the distribution of endemic woody species in northern Kunene, Namibia. Albertina, whose studies are funded by SCIONA, was invited along as a NUST student, allowing a unique opportunity for training and collaboration with GCF.
SCIONA GCF TRIP REPORT_final.pdf
SADC TFCA Network Meeting
Date: 16 Oct 2018 to 18 Oct 2018
Field work in Skeleton Coast Park, Namibia
Date: 21 Sep 2018 to 28 Sep 2018
Kick off meeting in Namibe and scoping trip to Iona National Park, Angola
Date: 22 Sep 2018 to 30 Sep 2018
Launch of SCIONA
Date: 27 Mar 2018
Press release SCIONA
The Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) is proud to implement the project “Co-designing conservation technologies for Iona - Skeleton Coast Transfrontier Conservation Area” funded by the European Union with an approximate grant of approximately N$ 16 million (€ 1,095,570). The project aims to strengthen cross-border management and wildlife law enforcement by co-design and implementing conservation monitoring technologies with communities within the Iona - Skeleton transfrontier conservation area (TFCA) of Namibia and Angola. The study area contains Iona National Park in Angola, Skeleton Coast National Park and the adjacent Namibian communal conservancies, and is more than 40,000 km2 large. The project, baptised SCIONA, will be implemented over three years in co-operation with the Angolan partner, the Instituto Superior de Ciências de Educação da Huíla (ISCED), based in Lubango.
SCIONA was officially launched at NUST’s Hotel School on 27 March 2018. The Minister of Environment and Tourism, the Honourable Pohamba Shifeta, spoke at the launch and assured that the Treaty for the establishment of the TFCA between Namibia and Angola will be signed this year. Her Excellency Jana Hybaskova, Ambassador of the Delegation of the European Union to Namibia, expressed enthousiasm for the project and stressed the importance of working with the local Himba communties. The Vice-Chancellor of NUST, Dr. Tjama Tjivikua, assured the European Union that the project is in the hands of an experienced team of NUST staff members of the Faculties of Natural Resources and Spatial Sciences, and of Computing and Informatics.
