News
A new study by PCU researchers Glynis Joy Humphrey, Lindsey Gillson and colleague Gina Ziervogel titled 'How changing fire management policies affect fire seasonality and livelihoods' was published on 10 June 2020 in Ambio. The full article is available here.
In recent years there has been growing popularity of a group of medicinal plants in the Apocynaceae family locally known in Namibia as 'Dhingila'. The root of these plants is claimed to cure various ailments, including cancer. Concern over unsustainable harvesting practices has prompted the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism to take conservation action. PCU’s PhD Candidate Kirsti Nghidinwa and Dr Ezequiel Fabiano of the University of Namibia (UNAM) are leading the project in Namibia, with the much appreciated assistance of UNAM student Tanaka Muradzikwa who is manning the trap in Zambezi Region. There has been some confusion, however, regarding the botanical name of the plants, with some media articles citing an unrelated species that is also reported to “cure” cancer.
The Palaeo Lab at the Plant Conservation Unit is seeking papers for a Special Issue of Quaternary Journal. This is linked to a symposium that co-organised by Dr Estelle Razanatsoa, A/Prof, Lindsey Gillson and Prof. Rob Marchant at the ATBC 2020 in Cartagena https://atbc2020.org/.
Please see the website for more information: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/quaternary/special_issues/ATBC#info
In late September, Glynis Humphrey (Postdoctoral Research Fellow), Conor Eastment (Masters student) and Adele Julier (Postdoctoral Research Fellow) travelled to Bwabwata National Park in northern Namibia to conduct fieldwork including repeat photography, ground-truthing for remote sensing and modern pollen trap deployment.