R 070746Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY GABORONE
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 5290
INFO SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE

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