Partnership forged from International River Prize
Findings from the Lake Eyre Basin (LEB) Alliance’s land management and research programs and lessons learned from the LEB Intergovernmental Agreement have been exchanged with learnings from Africa’s Cubango-Okavango Delta at an international workshop in Maun, Botswana recently.
The board’s General Manager Jodie Gregg Smith and Senior Water Officer Aaron Smith were among a delegation of nine to represent the LEB Alliance at the workshop. It also included representatives from the Department for Environment and Water, Lake Eyre Basin Community Advisory Committee and LEB Scientific Advisory Panel, Desert Channels QLD, University of NSW, Griffith University, and Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation.
Their involvement in the workshop was supported by prize money received by the LEB Alliance in 2015 on winning the International River Prize. It was awarded to develop further capacity and shared learning in the management of significant global rivers and their importance.
Soon after the win, a ‘twinning’ partnership was established between the LEB and the Okavango Delta given their similarities and comparable attributes, where shared knowledge, resources and data could improve management and protection at a global level.
The prize money supported the first ever convergence of partners from Angola, Namibia, Botswana, the USA, UK and Australia in support of shared learning, data interpretation and practice exchange.
The three-day intensive workshop used Global Ecosystem Typology (GET), a mechanism for measuring, monitoring and recording information on the state and condition threats to the respective basins.
It applied the new global Global Ecosystem Typology created by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to the Okavango River Basin – the first entire river system in the world to do so. The framework helps to identify indicators, threats and environmental, social and economic values and will guide development of future management strategies across the basin.
The insights shared during the workshop helped shape collaborative strategies for the sustainable management of the Okavango River Basin, which spans Namibia, Botswana and Angola.
The trip concluded with on-ground analysis and exploration of the Okavango Delta at Khwai in Botswana, as the downstream part of the river which supports an incredible amount of biodiversity, including many endangered species.
General Manager Jodie Gregg Smith said observations of the life-giving impact the river has on communities, nature, wildlife and the economy enhanced the data analysis and interpretation process of the workshop.
“A rich information exchange and partnership has been forged for future sharing and capacity building across the globe, with the utilisation of the GET as a key way to better analyse and manage the data associated with the management of each system.”
