Water Wheel July/Aug 2021: Capacity Building

Abstract

Namhla Mbona – wetland mapping maestro and citizen science champion “After finishing school in Keiskammahoek in the Eastern Cape, I signed up at the University of Fort Hare for a zoology degree with the aim of it being a pre-med, but within that first year I was introduced to GIS,” she explains. “I had a love of maps and computers, so I took computer science too and married the use of GIS and zoology for my third-year project. The linkages of using GIS as a tool in understanding biodiversity was what brought me to SANBI.” It was while she was doing a GIS internship at the Department of Public Works, based in Bisho and tasked primarily with capturing spatial data for Expanded Public Works Programme projects, that she heard about internships at SANBI, and duly applied. “They called me to say I was successful and gave me a choice of protected areas expansion or wetlands. Growing up, I knew a bit about wetlands, but I didn’t know about ecosystem services – I mainly thought of a dirty smelly place, where livestock had been stuck a few times.

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