news upfront
Acacia to re-locate to Australia?
At the International Botanical Congress (IBC)
in Vienna in 2005 a decision to ‘conserve’
the name Acacia for the Australian species
outraged many of us. The challenge being
mounted against the hijacking of the name
is based not only on misrepresentation, and a
sleight of hand voting mechanism engineered
in Vienna by the chairman of the nomenclatural
committee, but on legal and moral grounds as
a case of stealing African Intellectual Property
Rights*. This proposed name change goes well
beyond the botanical taxonomic community
because it has global significance, not least of
all for the African tourism industry.
The decision is being challenged by many
organizations worldwide, inlcuding BotSoc
on behalf of all South Africans.** Strangely
enough, the nub of the re-typification
proposal was not taxonomic. Supporters built
a case around the fact that there were far more
species of Australian wattles than ‘true acacias’.
Conserving the name Acacia with a new type
from Australia allowed the name Acacia to
be used for the bulk of species in the genus,
i.e. the 1000-odd, largely Australian wattles
instead of for the 160-odd true acacias. When
taxonomists recognized that the Australian
and African acacias should belong in separate
genera, the wattles would otherwise have had
The Arid Zone Ecology
Forum 2009
More than half of southern Africa
is classified as arid or semi-arid, and
these areas are rich in biodiversity and
support numerous people. They are also
sensitive environments requiring careful
management. The Arid Zone Ecology Forum,
now in its 24th year, focuses attention on
these regions by bringing researchers, land-
owners, managers and officials together to
ensure that we continue benefiting from the
variety of ecosystem services they provide.
The theme for the 2009 meeting, held in
to go by the generic name of Racosperma.
(The wattles had already been published
as belonging to the genus Racosperma by
Les Pedley some years ago, so there was no
confusion as to where they should go once
separated from the rest of Acacia.) There
was no good reason why the type should be
moved.
The debate, therefore, about divisions
within Acacia is quite independent from the
central issue – that of the type being moved
from Acacia to the wattles, based simply on
the fact that the latter group is bigger. The
re-typification initiative took little heed of
the social, cultural, ecological, economic,
demographic and historical concerns that
needed to be debated prior to a vote for or
against the re-typification.
The next episode in the saga takes place at
the IBC meeting in Melbourne in 2011. The
challenge being mounted is based on IBC
procedures and not on the broader issue of
stealing of intellectual property rights from
dozens of countries and billions of people. So
if the Taxon** challenge fails we can then take
the matter to the International Courts. That
would be messy and we hope the IBC will see
sense and reverse the Vienna decision and
avoid international embarrassment.
Graaff-Reinet in October, was ‘Biodiversity
conservation in arid zones: people, species
and landscapes’. Working with conservancies
to develop conservation plans that allow for
greater wildlife mobility was the subject
of Andrew Skowno’s plenary talk, which
was followed by local farmer, Trenly
Spence, who spoke on land-use history
and changing veld condition. Presentations
included information on soil and water
from the National Parks, universities and
local communities and Lubabalo Ntsholo
reflected on the first phase of SKEP (the
Succulent Karoo Ecosystem Project), a five-
year SANBI co-ordinated project.
The effects of grazing on biodiversity in
Namaqualand were discussed, and several
papers on disturbance and monitoring
given. Sessions on understanding and
managing change in the arid zone as
well as on veld restoration included a
talk by Ken Coetzee on his restoration of
degraded ostrich farms in the Oudtshoorn
area, followed by one by Sue Milton on
the trials and tribulations of establishing
a restoration business. Fieldtrips inlcuded
visits to the Camdeboo National Park led
Cartoon by Tony Grogan.
Visit www.acaciavote.com and register
your vote!
Eugene Moll, Veld & Flora Committee
* Professor Jan Glazewski (University of Cape Town Law
Department and a BotSoc member) co-authored a paper
questioning the validity of the Vienna decision, which was also
read at an international conference on legal issues, so it is now
‘on the record’.
** A multi-authored paper on the illegality of process when
the Acacia name was ‘changed’ has been submitted to the
journal Taxon. It remains to be seen whether the editors will
publish this paper, as some support the Australian manoeuvre.
by Angela Gaylard, Peter Burdett, Barbara
Mashope, Maryke Stern, Maitland Seaman
and Jan Vlok; a visit to Walter Murray’s farm,
Bloemhof, led by Shirley Grindley and Rachel
Hobson and a trip to the Karoo rangelands
with Willie Stroebel and Sue Milton to see
different approaches to dealing with sheet
erosion.
The prize for the best paper went to
Shannon Parring (adapting to climate change
in the Suid Bokkeveld) and second prize
was awarded jointly to Justus Kauartjirue
(restoration of gully systems in central
Namibia) and Richard Isaacs and Sebedeus
Swartbooi (a film project promoting capacity
development and raising awareness). Clyde
Lamberts was awarded first prize for his
poster presentation with second prize going
to Sarah Meyer.
On behalf of AZEF, I would like to extend
my thanks to Tessa Oliver and her willing
assistants for making this annual meeting
possible. For more information on AZEF
and this meeting, please visit our website
www.azef.co.za.
Patrick O’Farrell, Natural Resources and
the Environment, CSIR
JUNE 2010 | VELD&FLORA 67