The PLuS Alliance has expanded its successful field-based course in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, with students from Arizona State University, King’s College London, and UNSW Sydney set to travel to the UNESCO World Heritage site in July this year.
The course is part of the PLuS Alliance Connected River Basins project, where researchers from the three partner universities are collaborating to tackle sustainability challenges in global river basins. The students will join some of the world’s top water resource academics over ten days to explore the international and cross-border issues that affect ecosystem conservation and management, and learn about the social, economic and environmental factors that impact water governance. The Okavango Delta is a hotspot of biodiversity and home to diverse waterbird populations, vegetation communities, lions, leopards and the largest population of elephants in Africa. Three countries - Botswana, Namibia, and Angola - are all involved in its management and conservation. Course developer and trip leader, Professor Richard Kingsford from UNSW Sydney, said that the cross-border governance required by the Delta’s location make it the perfect case study for the PLuS Alliance programme. "It’s an incredible chance for students from three different continents to come together and collaborate on highly important field research. Working with academics, local NGOs, industry partners, and government, they will not only develop key practical skills in field methods but will gain a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities for international partners to work together on sustainability and conservation issues. The feedback on last year’s trip was incredible, and we’re very excited to offer this experience to a new group of talented students in July." The course is supported by the ASU Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives, King’s Water, and the UNSW Global Water Institute. To find out more about the course, please contact: ASU
Professor Dave White at Dave.White@asu.eduKing’s College London
Professor Naho Mirumachi at naho.mirumachi@kcl.ac.ukUNSW Sydney
Professor Richard Kingsford at richard.kingsford@unsw.edu.au
Image: Students from last year's field-based course in Botswana’s Okavango Delta
