Description

The inaugural SWS International Chapter meeting for the African Region will be held on Tuesday, October 19 at 7:00 AM GMT+2, and will be followed by a training in wetland rehabilitation.

Agenda
7:00 – 8:00         Opening of the virtual room
8:00 – 8:10         Welcoming; order of the day  
8:10 – 9:00         Chapter Meeting – aspects to be discussed will include:
                                  • The structure and function of the SWS International Chapter – African Region
                                  • Regional champions and networking
                                  • Webinars
                                  • Member support and annual chapter meetings
                                  • Voting for the incoming chair  
9:00 – 9:10          Comfort break
9:10 – 11:10        Training session 1: Wetland rehabilitation - concepts & theory  
11:10 – 11:20      Comfort break
11:20 – 12:50      Training session 2: Wetland rehabilitation case studies
12:50 – 13:00     Comfort break
13:00 – 14:00     Training session 3: Wetland rehabilitation monitoring & evaluation  
14:00 – 14:15     Concluding remarks and closure of the meeting

Click here to view the detailed agenda. 

Presenters

Pieter Botha
Pieter worked at the National Department of Agriculture for 20 years implementing CARA legislation with a strong emphasis on rangeland rehabilitation and wetland rehabilitation. He started his own farm in 2010 where he got involved in landscape restoration and wetland restoration. As an independent technical consultant he has since then worked on several wetland rehabilitation projects for private clients and Working for Wetland projects. He is currently busy with an MSc on peatlands in the Waterberg area of Limpopo.

Cilliers Blaauw
Cilliers has a B-Tech Degree in Civil Engineering and is currently employed as a Professional Civil Engineering Technologist at Zutari (formally known as Aurecon), based in Pretoria, South Africa. He has 13 years’ experience in the Water Resources sector as a public official at Department of Water Affairs and a further 12 years’ experience on a range of project disciplines as a Professional Service Provider (PSP). Since 2010 most of his time has been focused on identifying, planning and design of over 1,000 interventions/ structures, including technical support for the National Working for Wetlands rehabilitation project (WfWet) in South Africa (with the focus on Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West provinces). This also involved the training of contractors and project managers for WfWet programme and presenting at Wetland Rehabilitation Courses offered through the University of the Free State.

Anton LInstrom
Anton has a Master’s Degree in Environmental Management focusing on river and wetland ecology and 24 years’ experience as a professional conservationist. The majority of these years have been in Mpumalanga, although he has operated much further afield in Rwanda, Lesotho and Mozambique. Prior experience in conservation equipped him with a vast knowledge on wetland biota. He serve as a wetland ecologist as part of the Working for Wetland Rehabilitation Programme in the Mpumalanga Province. Anton is lecturing at the Advanced Wetland Course and the Wetland Rehabilitation Course through the University of the Free State and lecturing in River Ecology at the University of Venda. Anton is registered as a Professional Natural Scientist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (Registration number: 400275/11). He is also a member of the South African Wetland Society.