🦏 New #OpenAccess article in Biological Conservation!

'Community-based #conservation surveillance: an ethnographic analysis of the drivers & obstacles of local reporting on rhino & plains game poaching in Namibia'

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320725004331

Highlights & Abstract here ⬇️

Led by Ruben Schneider, with Jeff Muntifering of @SRTNamibia & me of 
@BathSpaUni & @GobabebRSH as co-authors.


Both Ruben & Jeff also have chapters in our Big Book "Etosha Pan to the Skeleton Coast" - now with over 2,700 downloads 🙂

See Chapter 5 and Chapter 8...  
https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402

Community-based conservation surveillance

"The Power of Praising #Bees 🐝" 

– new article in 'Doek! A Literary Magazine From Namibia' @doeklitmag, written with my longstanding Namibian research collaborator, Welhemina Suro Ganuses of @SRTNamibia 🦏

https://doeklitmag.com/the-power-of-praising-bees/ 

The image above is of the late Nathan ǂÛina Taurob. In 1995, he showed us how he collected honey from a hive he'd harvested from for around 20 years, north-west of Sesfontein/!Nani-|aus, Namibia. 

These practices have pretty much died out now, as people have lost access to land.

The article draws on archive research at the Basler Afrika Bibliographien in Switzerland in 2017. 

Suro, pictured below, began to sing along as she listened to the recordings – demonstrating how archived recordings from the 1950s linger on in people’s memories and experiences. 

We've drawn on this research to recompose a praise song (|gais) about #bees through collaboration with musician Toby Marks aka @bancodegaia. 

https://banco.co.uk/album/a-bee-song/

Released as a single in 2024, the video – drawing on footage from our filmwork with Oliver Halsey, and edited by Patrick Dunn – can be watched here: https://vimeo.com/992682994 🐝


The Power of Praising Bees

☮️ 🇺🇦 🌻New article in the J. of #HumanRights & the #Environment, engaging with

☢️ heightened nuclear threats in context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

⛽ frictions between fossil-fuel & nuclear economies

🇳🇦 & contexts of #genocide, building on historical research in #Namibia

Published in a Special Issue called "New Materialist Tangles In and For the #Anthropocene", all authors were invited to engage with work by political ecologists and theorists Jane Bennett and William E Connolly. 
#politicalecology

Article can be read on ResearchGate at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/389092698_On_doodling_and_other_modes_of_engagement_in_meltdown

On doodling and other modes of engagement in meltdown

Gotta say, it's puzzling to read this @dailymaverick article.

Said professor sometimes seems to instigate what she calls 'online hate'; & also denigrates people whilst blocking them.

So much for 'nuanced conversations' about #conservation 🤷‍♀️

Short 🧵
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2024-10-23-online-hate-hinders-nuanced-conservation-debates-a-call-for-a-better-way-forward/

Already in June, said prof. triggered fractious communications after divisively responding to a short @ScienceMagazine letter by #elephant & #conservation scientists who work with the cross-border Kenya-Tz population of so-called 'super-tuskers' 🐘 >

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq9074

This letter by scientists including @paulakahumbu, @pili_scotland, @katzyna, @ElephantTrust & others, was castigated as 'weak', 'backwards', 'imperious', 'dismissive', etc. 

On the prof.'s own terms, these labels are surely divisive, emotive & potentially hate-promoting >  

I too have been attacked by said prof.

Here I'm labelled as 'overblown', 'arrogant', 'confused', 'misleading', & writing from 'the comfort of the UK’s leafy Bath' when I've spent much of the past years living locally in arid n-w Namibia (where I am now) >
https://www.lionlandscapes.org/post/communities-conservation-and-colonialism

I responded here, hopefully with as much politeness & accuracy as I could muster ⬇️ >

https://x.com/SianSullivanUK/status/1681318454304075777

& this is the kind of inaccurate statement I sometimes become aware of –  done from behind a block.

Again, so much for open, civil debate & 'nuanced conversations' about #conservation concerns. 

Taking 'a step back from' division, hate & denigration is definitely needed >

Fwiw, we attempted a diverse "conservation conversation" through bringing together a range of contributors in our new book... @EtoshaKunene

Thanks for reading. Let's hope more divisive attacks [no doubt accusing me of lying] do not follow 🙏

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402

Online Hate and Nuanced Conservation Conversations

An article I didn't want to write:
"On the political ontology of making things up in #politicalecology critique: An engagement with @DimitrisBormp (2019) & @StaleKnudsen (2023)"

Thank you @journalofpolit1

@PolEcoNet  @torbenja  @DrX_ADunlap  @mikehannis

https://journals.librarypublishing.arizona.edu/jpe/article/id/5823/

Brilliant to be at the South African Wildlife Management Association @SAWMA_wildlife conference in Windhoek #Namibia! - hosted by @Save_Giraffe 🦒

Enjoyed co-presenting this morning with Prof. Selma Lendelvo of @unam_na

@BathSpaUni @bathspaBiology @ConservationNa1 

We mostly drew on our recently published co-edited #openaccess book: 

#EtoshaPan to the #SkeletonCoast

Pretty excited to see there's been nearly 800 full text downloads so far!
https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402 

SAWMA

☀️ Always a pleasure to be back at #Gobabeb Namib Research Institute ~ where the dune sea & gravel plains meet along the !Khuiseb River in #Namibia. 

I've been a Research Associate here for 30 years! - since the former Director Dr Mary Seely kindly supported my PhD permit process 

@GobabebRSH 🙏
 
https://gobabeb.org/currently-at-gobabeb/gobabeb-resaearch-associates-new/sian-sullivan

30 Years of Research at Gobabeb

#TrophyHunting requires large areas of #land, so it's great to see my book review of Fa et al.'s "Hunting Wildlife in the Tropics & Subtropics" & Bichel & Hart's "Trophy Hunting" republished in The Land Magazine @TheLandMag

#Hunting for #Conservation (?)

https://www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/sites/default/files/Hunting%20for%20Conservation%20-%20web%20copy2.pdf 

The original @ConBiology version is linked below. I'm quite amazed to see that a mere book review has been viewed/downloaded >1,000 times since March 😱

https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.14258

The ToC for the new issue of The Land is here ⬇️

Holly Marriott Webb's article 'A Right to Hunt?' – which queries why owning land should equate to owning its wildlife – is a provocative read. I hope it also goes online soon...
 
https://www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/issue/land-issue-34

Hunting for Conservation in The Land Magazine

☀️ Great to be back in #WalvisBay #Namibia as a co-organiser of the 6th Southern Deserts conference @SouthernDeserts 

website ➡️ https://www.southerndeserts.net/

#SouthernDeserts #SD6 @BathSpaUni 

Hosted by the #Namibia Archaeological Trust, we are grateful for support from the Wenner-Gren Foundation @WennerGrenOrg, Namibia Chamber of Environment @ConservationNa1, University of Western Australia @UWAresearch & Etosha-Kunene Histories @EtoshaKunene 🙏

Delayed by #COVID19, the conference follows on from #SouthernDeserts 5 in #Karratha, Western Australia in 2018. An amazing experience - I hope we can match it for #SD6!

2nd section of this blog ⬇️ talks about our presentations at #SD5 @MikeHannis 
https://www.futurepasts.net/post/2018/10/16/crossing-continents-with-future-pasts-a-tale-of-three-conferences 

Excited to be presenting on '!Nara harvesters of the Northern Namib' with my Namibian research collaborator Welhemina Suro Ganuses – drawing on our chapter in "Etosha Pan to the Skeleton Coast": https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.12

Image below reconstructs mobilities in the Northern Namib.

Even more excited to be doing a screening of our film 
"Lands That History Forgot: Three Journeys with Nami-Daman Elders in North-west #Namibia"

Linked here: https://www.nami-daman-heritage-house.net/post/lands-that-history-forgot-three-journeys-with-nami-daman-elders-in-north-west-namibia

Full #SD6 conference programme available here ⬇️

https://www.southerndeserts.net/so/abP3QobjP

Southern Deserts 6

☀️ A mega-🧵 with chapter links about
 
#Etosha Pan to the #SkeletonCoast:
#Conservation Histories, Policies & Practices in North-west #Namibia 🇳🇦

#OpenAccess, co-edited with Ute Dieckmann @UniCologne & Selma Lendelvo @unam_na

@BathSpaUni @EtoshaKunene >

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402

But first, thank you to our funders @ahrcpress and @dfg_public for supporting the "Etosha-Kunene Histories" project (www.etosha-kunene-histories.net); Namibia's research commission @NCRST_Namibia and @MinistryofEnvi2 for our research permits; & @OpenBookPublish for their amazing work >

This book includes 13 Namibian authors who lead 7 of the 21 chapters, plus a range of international researchers who have worked on #conservation issues in #Namibia. 

Here's our Table of Contents ⬇️ >

Our Intro chapter by the editors provides an overview of the book: 

"Etosha-Kunene Conservation Conversations: An introduction"

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.00

Part 1 includes 3 chapters by the editors on "Conservation Histories in Etosha-Kunene".

We aim here to set the historical scene for the detailed case material forming the book’s remaining chapters > 

Ch1: "Etosha-Kunene, from 'pre-colonial' to German colonial times", reviews how peoples of north-west #Namibia were affected by #colonialism, the dramatic events prior to 'Game Reserve No. 2' (1907), & the first 'game' legislation in the territory >

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.01

Ch2 on "Spatial severance and nature conservation: #Apartheid histories in Etosha-Kunene", considers the many boundary changes associated with settler #colonialism, #conservation & 'homelands' in n-w Namibia, from 1920 to #Independence in 1990 >

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.02

Ch3 focuses on "CBNRM [Community-Based Natural Resources Management] and landscape approaches to #conservation in Kunene Region, post-Independence". 

It explores how the post-1990 Namibian govt. worked to address past inequities, with varying successes >

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.03 

Part 2 on "Social Lives of #Conservation in Etosha-Kunene, Post-Independence" brings together detailed case-research on different socio-ecological situations, illuminating environmental governance complexities arising in the 3 decades since #Namibia gained #Independence > 

Ch4 by Ute Dieckmann on "Haiǁom #resettlement, legal action and political #representation" analyses an #Indigenous #landclaim & resettlement case arising from historical displacement associated with the establishment of what is now #EtoshaNationalPark > 

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.04

Ch5 by Ruben Schneider shares PhD research on widely varying local perspectives on #CBNRM in selected Namibian #conservancies (pseudonymised):

"Environmentalities of Namibian conservancies: How communal area residents govern #conservation in return" >

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.05

Ch6 by Elsemi Olwage also arises from PhD research. 

"The politics of #authority, #belonging and #mobility in disputing land in southern Kaoko" explores how drought & historical circumstances evolved into a legal #conservancy-related land dispute >

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.06

In Ch7 by D Menestrey Schwieger, M Bollig, E Olwage & M Schnegg, we shift focus onto #water & #borehole management in north-west #Namibia: 

"The emergence of a hybrid hydro-scape in northern #Kunene" >

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.07 

Ch8 by LZ Katjirua, MS David & J Muntifering of @SRTNamibia focuses on "Eliciting #empathy and connectedness toward different species in north-west #Namibia".

It explores connections amongst young Namibians with oryx, black rhino 🦏, lion 🦁 & goats 🐐 >

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.08 

In Part 3 we turn to "Etosha-Kunene #Ecologies", with 3 chapters focusing on different ecological issues & concerns in north-west #Namibia ... > 

Ch9 on "Giraffes 🦒 and their impact on key tree species in the #Etendeka Tourism Concession, north-west #Namibia" by K Maoveka, D Liebenberg & @SianSullivanUK, also looks at how to protect Maerua schinzii & Boscia albitrunca from browsing giraffe >

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.09

Ch10 by ǂKîbagu Heinrich Kenneth |Uiseb @KennethHeinric5 of @MinistryofEnvi2 asks: 
"Are mountain and plains zebra 🦓 hybridising in north-west #Namibia?" 
– esp. in the 'Greater #Etosha Landscape'; 
& considers the #conservation implications if they are >

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.10

Ch11 by M Wenborn, R Collinson, S Muzuma, D Kangombe, V Nijman & M Svensson focuses on "Communities and #elephants 🐘 in the northern highlands, Kunene Region, #Namibia": foregrounding the wealth of #conservancy ranger knowledge for ele #tourism & mgmt >

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.11

In Part 4 on "Historicising #Conservation and #Community Territories in Etosha-Kunene" we return to the historical contexts shaping present circumstances in specific areas, from the #SkeletonCoast to #Tsintsabis #resettlement farm east of #EtoshaNationalPark.

Ch12 by @SianSullivanUK & WS Ganuses documents "Cultural heritage & histories of the Northern #Namib / Skeleton Coast National Park", 
reconstructing #livelihoods & #mobilities in the challenging but beautiful lands of the #SkeletonCoast.

#oralhistory >

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.12

Ch13 on "Historicising the #Palmwag Tourism Concession, north-west #Namibia" is by me @SianSullivanUK, & draws on #archive & #oralhistory research to explore competing & overlapping #colonial, #Indigenous and #conservation visions of this landscape >

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.13

Ch14 on "Living next to #Etosha National Park: The case of Ehi-Rovipuka" by Art Hoole & @SianSullivanUK, reviews #ovaHerero histories in Etosha, experiences of living next to a park border, & local knowledge of wildlife & "field foods".

#memorymapping >

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.14

Ch15 by Ute Dieckmann on "‘Walking through places': Exploring the former lifeworld of Haiǁom in #Etosha" draws into focus the dense relational web of land, kinship, humans, animals, plants & spirit beings that once constituted Indigenous lives in Etosha >

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.15

Ch16 by Stasja Koot & Moses ǁKhumûb closes part 4 by reviewing "History and social complexities for #San at #Tsintsabis #resettlement farm, #Namibia" >

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.16

Part 5 picks up the "Etosha-Kunene Ecologies" theme in Part 3 by focusing in depth on "People, Lions 🦁 and #CBNRM" (Community-Based Natural Resources Management), through 3 chapters by authors involved with Namibia's #LionRangers Programme: 
see http://lionrangers.org/

In Ch17 John Heydinger focuses on "Integrating #remotesensing with #CBNRM for desert-adapted #lion conservation", to explain how #GPS & camera-trap data on lion 🦁 movements can contribute to community-oriented #conservation > 

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.17

Ch18 by Mathilde Brassine on "Lion Rangers’ use of SMART [Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool] for lion #conservation in #Kunene" reviews how software tools assist collection & analysis of patrol data to help manage human-lion 🦁 interactions >

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.18

Ch19 by Uakendisa Muzuma explores "Relationships between humans and lions in wildlife corridors through #CBNRM in north-west #Namibia". 

By focusing especially on the lion 🦁 | goat 🐐 interface, this chapter connects deeply with farmer concerns >

https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.19 

The book's concluding chapter highlights themes pursued through the book, namely: #histories, #politicaleconomy, #belongings, #power, 
#exclusions / #inclusions ... to consider possibilities for 
"Realising #conservation together" >
 
https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0402/chapters/10.11647/obp.0402.20

If you've read this far - thank you! (I'm impressed 🙂). 

I'd love to share with:  @PolEcoNet  @CRC228  @radicalanthro  @daughterofsahel   @GreatRiverSnake  @DrX_ADunlap  @journalofpolit1  @BGissibl  @historianmkalb   @AdamHartScience    @ConservationNa1  @tschukutschuku 

@danbrockington  @DanChallender  @brambuscher  @BSUEnvHums   @BSUHeritage  @SusannaN2  @DingliLaurent  @Nikolaj_Bi  @MrRyanJDalton  @IzakSmit  @JohnGrblr  @Bushbabyafolco2  @CWitvrouwen @convivconserv ...  
