BOTSWANA HOSTS INTERNATIONAL S&T CONFERENCE

UNCLAS GABORONE 000883


DEPT FOR OES/STC, OES/PCI, OES/ETC, OES/FO, OES/ENV
DEPT FOR AF/S, AF/EPS AND EEB

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TPHY ENRG SENV SOCI EAID BC
SUBJECT: BOTSWANA HOSTS INTERNATIONAL S&T CONFERENCE


1. Summary. The University of Botswana (UB) hosted September 8-10 in
Gaborone the second International Association of Science and
Technology for Development (IASTED) Conference (IASTED TWO). The UB
is placing increasing emphasis on Science and Technology (S&T) and
its participation in IASTED Two reflects that commitment. The event
was a combination of three workshops on Power and Energy Systems;
Modeling and Simulation; and Water Resource Management. Attendees
included the Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources Dr.
Ponatshego H. Kedikilwe, who gave the opening speech, directors and
other officials from various ministries, as well as NGOs, business
and academia from Botswana, Southern Africa and other regions,
including the United States. Many opined that the Second IASTED
Africa Conference was a success and noted its importance to
Botswana's S&T agenda. End Summary.

IASTED Africa TWO
--------------


2. The Government of Botswana (GOB),through the state-owned
University of Botswana (UB),hosted September 8-10 the second IASTED
Conference at the Gaborone International Conference Center located
in the complex of the Grand Palm Hotel. The event was in fact a
combination of three smaller workshops: a) Power and Energy Systems;
b) Modeling and Simulation; and c) Water Resource Management (WRM).
Among the sponsors were GOB agencies, and mining giants Debswana and
BCL. Attendance, which was quite good, included the Minister of
Minerals, Energy and Water Resources Dr. Ponatshego H. Kedikilwe,
who gave the opening speech, directors and other officials from
various ministries, as well as NGOs, business and academia from
Botswana, Southern Africa and other regions, including the United
States.


3. The Master of Ceremonies Professor George O. Anderson, Head of
Electrical Engineering at UB, explained the history and purpose of
the conference. IASTED is a non-profit entity founded in 1977 in
Zurich, Switzerland and now based in Calgary, Canada. Its mission
is to promote economic and cultural advancement and does this by
organizing multidisciplinary conferences and courses in both
industrialized and developing nations for academics and
professionals, mainly in the fields of engineering, science, and
education. According to Anderson, IASTED held its first conference
in Botswana in 2006, at which time it was agreed to hold IASTED in
Botswana every other year, with UB as host. He said that for this
event, UB had received and reviewed 310 technical papers, and
accepted 170, 140 of which came from 40 countries. In his
introductory remarks of the Minister Kedikilwe, UB Vice Chancellor
Bogosi Othlogile said that although UB is a young institution, it
enjoys a wide variety of partners. The university is placing
increasing emphasis on Science and Technology (S&T),and its
participation in IASTED Two reflects that commitment, he remarked.


Ministerial Plaudits
--------------


4. In his keynote address, the Minister praised the theme of the
conference (i.e., S&T Innovation for Sustainable Development) as
robust and visionary. Noting that the focus on water, energy and
power in the mini conferences were very important to Botswana, he
thanked the major sponsors of the event, such as Debswana, BCL, the
Botswana Power Company (BPC),the Water Utilities Company, Botswana
Telecommunications Authority (BTA),and host of other players in the
public and private sectors. Kedikilwe also applauded UB's practical
programs (e.g., solar power exploration),which, he said,
demonstrate an admirable mixture of practice and theory and guard
against UB simply becoming an ivory-tower university. To wit, he
challenged experts in the audience to seriously consider inventing a
stove that could use coal, which Botswana has in abundance, for the
benefit of rural communities, especially women. He offered in jest
to donate a cow to any successful inventor. On a more serious note,
the Minister revealed that the GOB had identified engineering, and
S&T as scarce skills. The government also mandated UB to be ICT
compliant (i.e., Information, Communications and Technology) as soon
as possible to be able to fulfill its role as a key player in a
knowledge economy for the benefit of society. Kedikilwe concluded
by stressing ICT's critical role in helping Botswana attain its
Vision 2016 goals, key among which are an educated populace and a
prosperous nation.

The Mini Conferences
--------------


5. All three workshops/mini conferences that formed part of IASTED
Two witnessed strong attendance, with lots of give and take in the
discussions that followed every presentation or "tutorial".
Unfortunately, for those with a keen interest in at least two of the
three topics, attending some sessions meant missing equally
fascinating and important contributions from experts in the various
sectors. Subjects covered in the WRM Conference included Integrated
Watershed Management(IWM); Drought in a Changing Climate
Environment; Ground Water Quality in Rural Villages; Waste Water and
Storm Water Management; Human Impacts, Water Resources and Ecosystem
Maintenance in the Okavango Delta; and Best Water Management
Practice for Sustainable Agriculture.


6. In the Power and Energy Systems Conference, among the topics
discussed were: Renewable Energy in Southern Africa; Power
Electronics and Motor Drives: Advances, Applications, Trends;
Renewable Energy: From Intellectuality to Reality; Application of
Solar Technology to Improve Energy Demand in Botswana: A Case Study;
An Investigation of the Wave Energy Resource on the South African
Southwest Coast; Achieving Sustainable Electric Power for Southern
Africa: Issues and Options; Energy Management in Hotel Facilities;
Energy Conservation in Households; and Renewable Energy Resources
Barriers in Africa. In the Modeling and Simulation Workshop,
subjects covered included: Forecasting Model for Energy Consumption
in South Africa; Modeling of a Solar Collector's Absorber; Modeling
of Generator Failures within Wind Turbine; Mathematical Modeling;
Scientific Applications of Modeling; and Simulation Optimization.


7. In an example of the informative sessions that took place, UB
Professor David Stephenson provided a tutorial entitled Supplying
Increasing Water Demands with Decreasing Resources." While
acknowledging that water demand is increasing as supplies are
decreasing, Stephenson made the bold assertion (contrary to the
claims by many experts and UN bodies) that "the world is not short
of water." He insisted that Botswana's problem is not water
supplies, which are adequate, although it will decrease in quantity
and increase in price. The problem, he asserted, is mismanagement.
The majority of water loss in this semi arid country is due to
evaporation (83.8 percent) and runoff (15.9 percent),both of which
could be mitigated by appropriate measures. In short, Botswana will
not run out of water, provided it plans ahead and manages what it
has accordingly. Stephenson closed by lamenting that "Africa is
plagued by international rivers that require tedious negotiations"
on usage rights.


8. Similarly, in a Power and Energy session, Professor Magdy Bayoumi
of the University of Louisiana, Layfette, reported a case study on
Keyna charcoal stoves in his presentation titled "Renewable Energy:
From Intellectuality to Reality". (Comment: Minister Kedikilwe
would have been pleased with this anecdote, given his pleas for a
similar invention for Botswana coal. End Comment). Bayoumi noted
that energy priorities necessarily varied in Africa, which has three
distinct energy uses: oil and gas in North Africa; coal in Southern
Africa; and biomass in Central, West and East Africa. (Note: REHO
attended a few model and simulation sections but they were largely
technical in nature. Nonetheless, attendance was strong. End
Note).

Comment
--------------


9. The consensus is that the Second IASTED Africa Conference went
well, with no major hiccups arising over the three days. Professor
Totolo, Dean of the Faculty of Science, observed that the Minister's
attendance reflected his appreciation of the importance of the
event, particularly with respect to Botswana. He also noted that
IASTED not only provides visibility to the University, but also
aligns nicely with its strategic plan and Botswana's Vision 2015
agenda. As noted reftel, the GOB, through the Ministry of
Communications, Science and Technology(MCST),is determined to
develop a credible natinal S&T capability that will yield globally
compeitie outputs. In Botswana, S&T funding has long een
inadequate and without systematic coordination, resulting, in lack
of significant impact on the economy. The September 23 edition of
the government newspaper the "Daily News" headlined the holding of a
UNESCO-funded SADC S&T workshop in collaboration with the African
Union September 23-24 in Gaborone to review S&T and innovation
policy in Africa. At that event, Botswana's S&T Minister Pelonomi
Venson-Moitoi reaffirmed Botswana's recognition of "the role of
science and technology in diversifying the economy and improving
national competitiveness." Most observers agree that the most
daunting challenge for Botswana is to utilize S&T towards achieving
broad national developmental goals. IASTED Two was a reminder of
the urgency of implementing that agenda.

GONZALES