"My Traitor's Heart"

The family Malan has held a place of prominence in Afrikaner history since the very beginning. Dawid Malan was one of the first Europeans to set foot outside “white” Africa (north of the Great Fish river), as he fled persecution with his black mistress. (Later, oddly, he resurfaced as a vocal proponent of Afrikaner supremacy over the blacks). D.F. Malan, as leader of the National Party when it came to power in 1948, was the first president of apartheid South Africa. General Magnus Malan was Head of the Defense Force, and later Minister of defense in the 1970s.

For a liberal, anti-apartheid journalist named Rian Malan, therefore, reconciling family history with a proud personal ideology was bound to cause some anguish and confusion. He wrestled with the contradiction for three decades before “running away” to the United States. Malan's book, “My Traitor's Heart," which he wrote on his return eight years later, is a more vivid journey into the depths of a conflicted soul and a tormented country than I could have thought possible of any such attempt to understand...well I'm not sure what he sought to understand. Apartheid, perhaps, or maybe just himself.

Malan “loved” blacks, having grown up with them all his life, but he was reduced to paranoia every time he stepped into a township. He introduces friends more radically liberal than he, who were desperate to be black, to escape their whiteness, but unwilling to pick up a black hitchhiker with no legs, or stand on the black side of the divide during confrontations with the police. Most poignantly, though, he describes fear. Fear of the blacks he loves.

“My Traitor's Heart” left two impressions on me. The first is that Apartheid can in fact be understood. Which is a slightly uncomfortable realization, actually. It's easy enough to skim the surface of the issue by simply imagining a racist Afrikaner society that justified its ruthless suppression by means of some hopelessly blinkered and backward worldview. It's more difficult to question who I would have been, how I would have acted, and how I would have truly felt (empathetic to the core? I seriously doubt it) in such a place at such a time.

The second impression was that, whereas in its essence, every day impacts and political implications Apartheid may have been merely depraved, at the margins (and who knows how thick these were?) it was severely, nauseously fucked up. It was murder, torture, hatred and fear. Blacks victimized by whites (government as well as by truly racist individuals); whites victimized by blacks (much of Malan's fear came from the fact that, when you were on the black turf of the townships, or asleep in your bed, it made no difference if you had fought apartheid all your life, you were marked by your whiteness); whites by whites (estrangement, imprisonment and in some cases death greeted the regime's most committed white opponents); and, resulting in the greatest death toll of all, blacks by blacks in never ending warfare between ethnic tribes and political groups. The stories that Malan tells, dug up through years of journalistic investigation, are appalling.

For the vast majority of South Africans, then, to live during apartheid was to live with your head buried very, very deeply in the sand. As Germans must have done during the Nazi regime. As the UN Security Council did during the Rwanda genocide in 1994. As it does today during another genocide in Sudan. As I have always done with regard to the treatment of First Nations people in Canada. To live in our world is to live shuttered and isolated (or, for a lucky few, insulated) lives - we are neither omnipresent, nor omnipotent, after all - and it seems to me that it is fortune alone that dictates the consequences of our ignorance and inaction. As a Canadian I ignore poverty, abuse and discrimination everyday. If I was living in Germany in the 1930's and 40's (blond and blue-eyed) I probably would have ignored the Holocaust.

I have no idea what it means to be an Afrikaner in South Africa today (or elsewhere for that matter), but Malan brought me a little closer to understanding their past as well as their present I think. And despite the rather somber topic it's a beautiful book that I highly recommend. If anyone is looking for a good read these days :)

Floral Adaptation

I've seen a lot of plants, like this one (in Malalotja Nature Reserve, Swaziland), that flower after a burn. It is the same with the grasses that grazing animals feed on, which is why there are ALWAYS fields burning (set alight by farmers) wherever you drive outside the city. What was once an adaptive development that helped the species survive fires (by coating its seeds it thick wax or something - maybe somebody more informed can help me here) has become a necessary reproductive process. Without fire I don't think these plants can flower at all.

Conservation in South Africa

I was asked to write something on my experience as an intern at IUCN for last month's newsletter. This is what I came up with:

"Conservation in South Africa through the eyes of a Canadian intern"

In early August of this year I arrived in Pretoria as one of fifteen “Young Canadian Leaders for a Sustainable Future,” sent overseas each year by Canada's International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). Having only recently retired from the comfortable life of academia, this has been my first chance to apply years of study in environmental geography and international affairs to some real world issues.

At the mid-point in my six-month internship it is possible for me now to identify a few themes that have run through my thoughts and experiences at IUCN-SA so far. Two, in particular, set the South African context far apart from the Canadian one I have come from. An awareness of each has greatly deepened my appreciation for the challenges facing conservation efforts around the world, but has equally broadened my understanding of the important role healthy environments can play in meeting pressing human needs.

The twin realities of poverty and HIV/AIDS shape the role and place demands on the World Conservation Union and others working in the region to an extent far greater than I had appreciated. Poverty reduction is surely the most important national priority in South Africa, and conservation strategies are untenable without regard to the vast need for improvements in employment, health, nutrition and other development priorities. Perhaps it goes without saying, but the past three months have driven home for me the fact that conservation and development are two sides of the same coin – they will be forged together, or not at all.

Of course, the conservation of nature cannot be pursued in isolation from development in any country, and Canada is no exception. Many Canadians, and businesses in particular, were strongly opposed to ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, for example, because of fears that it would devastate the economy. I understand, therefore, that those of us who are committed to conservation must find ways to take sustainable development beyond the realm of a behavioural paradigm, and integrate it as a mechanism for growth and a provider of services into local, national and global economies. Conservation is going to have to cover its costs because, for the foreseeable future at least, most people will not be willing to pay for it.

Whereas in Canada we can probably muddle along for some time yet without truly making this link, however, South Africa cannot. Conservation efforts that do not contribute to human need will fall flat, and development that is not environmentally sustainable will perpetuate, not alleviate, poverty. Compounding this challenge, which the World Conservation Union is confronting head-on with initiatives such as Natural Futures (this issue), the HIV/AIDS epidemic is gravely affecting the capacity of communities, conservation organizations and governments to sustain resource management strategies that depend on the health, knowledge and skills of trained and committed individuals.

Whatever new lessons I receive in the second half of my internship, the need for solutions that meet the needs of people and environment together will stay with me when I return to Canada. There I hope I will find new opportunities to contribute to this challenge, which is clearly a global one, and share the knowledge, and commitment too, that I have gained from my experiences in South Africa.

Philip Akins, Project Officer, IUCN-SA

Blyde

I just though I'd add some photos of Blyde (pronounced Blay-Duh) River Canyon, which Laurel and I passed through on our drive up to Kruger. It's a stunning place and I was sad to rush through. Of added interest, the area is the subject of a joint project - World Conservation Union and the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism - to link existing protected areas along the upper catchments of the northeast Drakensberg escarpment.

"The initiative aims to link people and ecosystems in a way that maximises sustainable benefits through responsible tourism development and seeks to restore valuable ecosystem goods and services provided by the Blyde complex. The Blyde River initiative also allows a new model of parks to develop that is consistent with national development objectives while protecting the country's heritage of nature and culture. Blyde has been short-listed as a World Heritage Site because of its natural and cultural attributes."

Photos aren't exceptional, but the "potholes" are pretty cool, and check out the small but colourful lizard (here).

Jacaranda

This purple version of Victoria's cherry trees has been throwing its petals to the wind for the past month and a half or so, and I'm going to miss the Jacaranda when they're done (any time now). Often when I leave for work in the morning the sidewalk is sprinkled in purple, and the trees, which are much bigger than the cherries, spread wonderful canopies over the streets, such as this one in Melville (Johannesburg).

IUCN-SA (The World Conservation Union - South Africa Office)

A few friends have pointed out that I have yet to make any reference to the first subject of my trip to South Africa - the internship at the World Conservation Union. Although the most memorable highlights of my time here so far have all been out of the office, the job has been rewarding in a number of ways. As last Friday marked the halfway mark in my 6 month term, and some small part of the week was spent reporting back to my host organization in Winnipeg (IISD - The International Institute for Sustainable Development) and meeting with my supervisor, Anthea, the time seems ripe for me to provide some comments.

The best part of the job is that I am in environment in which I am being exposed every day to issues of conservation and sustainable development. I have skirted around my interest in the environment for much of the past five years, since finishing the physical geography degree at UVic; thought I was moving away from it when I started the grad program in international affairs, but then found that I kept turning back to it whenever I needed to focus on an issue. It seems like a bitch of a field to get into, forever cast in the role of Cinderella: worthy object of care and attention to those with their eyes open to things of beauty; undervalued and ignored by most. Enlightened soul such that I am, however, I treasure the natural world and am happy to be in a place where I can start thinking a bit more seriously about how I might contribute to it over the course of my career.

The job itself is diverse. Meaning that some days I am busy and fulfilled, and others I am unclear about my role, frustrated and bored. As one would expect, as I become more embedded within the office, and more capable of independent work, the fulfilling days are outnumbering the boring ones. I have arrived at IUCN's South Africa Office at a time of transformation, and this has added a challenging dynamic to my learning environment. The founding director, who started the office eight years ago, left on Friday, along with a senior programme manager, leaving us without much leadership and a lot of uncertainty (the Country Office is given no role in filling the position for its own Director, which is handled by the regional office in Harare, and it's not expected that we will have a replacement until middle of next year). So up until recently there was an air of discontent, even malaise, around the office, which rubbed off on me from time to time. But this turbulence is settling down now, with Anthea assuming the acting role, and I am expecting that the next three months will bring more focus, support, substance (and hard work!) to my own role.

It's not easy to point to any one new skill that I have acquired, or even specific knowledge that I have gained at IUCN, but I feel that I have learned a fair bit so far. Put simply, I'm learning how to work! I am learning how to come in in the morning and organize my thoughts for the day; how to get through emails without taking all day; how to make priorities and recognize when something important drops into my inbox; how to take notes at meetings, and make them meaningful for others; how to integrate what I am learning into some larger picture, and to consider the relevance of new information; how to pick up the phone and communicate with strangers with precision and clarity; how to do the same face to face; and, as in school, how to read and write. I am also learning, slowly, how to motivate myself and stay focused when I lack guidance and am struggling to see the context in which I am working. I am learning how to be more disciplined and responsible for my own achievements and production. I am learning, as always, about my weaknesses (one of my great strengths, I like to think!), but perhaps more productively than I have done in the past; these lessons are helping me understand the kind of support I need in a job, and pinpointing the things I need to improve on in order to be successful in the areas that I wish to be.

I haven't been heavily involved in any single project, which has had its downsides (not working closely with anyone I can use as a role model; not given tasks that fit clearly into something bigger; not spurred on by deadlines), but its advantages too. Mainly, I have appreciated being exposed to the breadth of the organization, from projects to programming to politics.

I have researched trade issues around the natural products sector in Southern Africa, helped Anthea with a paper on the subject, written up a “Scope of Work” for a consultancy on the trade component of a new programme, and have since been corresponding like mad in order to get it filled. I knew nothing about trade issues in the natural products sector, or any other, two months ago.

I have interviewed candidates to facilitate a donor workshop on community-based eco-tourism in World Heritage Sites. I still don't know anything about facilitation or community-based eco-tourism, though I have been to Angkor Wat and Quebec City, which are both World Heritage Sites.

I have taken minutes at a two-day technical workshop that informed the drafting of a funding proposal to the UN's Global Environment Facility, and managed to summarize them even though, again, I knew nothing about the subject (ecosystem services and environmental restoration).

I have proof-read a couple hundred pages from reports on the local karst (cave) geology, which includes the famous Sterkfontein Caves, home of Mrs. Ples - the 2.5 million year old hominid who fell into a hole, thus helping us understand the evolution of our species.

I have visited a small community-based organization that produces oil from the local marula tree, which can be used to make things such as soap, as well as that well-known liqueur, Amarula (which I am told contains only miniscule amounts of marula - just enough to provide a great marketing line - but tastes pretty great all the same).

And I have been working on and off throughout the internship to help develop the office's four-year programme, which is informed by resolutions and recommendations established by the global organization, most recently last year in Bangkok. This has been a journey into “Results Based Management,” “Logical frameworks,” head-scratching, coffee-drinking, grumbling and groaning, and has provided a pretty unvarnished, behind-the-scenes view into the IUCN. Which reminds me that I should say a word about the acronym. As the most perceptive among you may have noticed, it does not stand for “The World Conservation Union.” Rather, it stands for “The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.” Quite recently this mouthful was determined to be too much, though, especially when you factored in the language variations of some 130 member countries, and the name was changed. The problem, though, is that IUCN is a household name (providing at least one person in your house is interested or involved in conservation), whereas the World Conservation Union is not. So today we sit rather awkwardly with name and acronym that don't match, and employees who don't know how to answer the phone. All of which will be water under the bridge one day soon, I'm sure.

I haven't, actually, said all that much about what I do at work, but I hope that I have communicated some of its nature and what I have gained from it. It's been a good experience so far, working with good people on issues that need thinking about and investing in. Lisa's dad, David, asked me a little while ago if I've been making an impact down here, which seemed a bit mean - of course I haven't! It's not even clear to me what impact the organization itself has had in the last three months. It's a good question, though, and it probably doesn't get asked nearly enough. (Except by the private sector, naturally, which loves to use the absence of both question and answer to illuminate the vast superiority of market-based approaches and solutions to everything. But I'm not becoming an ideologue, I swear). Conservation, sustainable development, and all that don't present many easy answers. Most of them are complex, incomplete, expensive, easy to doubt, and easier to ignore. But rather hack away at it, I figure; at the very least it keeps the brain ticking over and the soul fulfilled, and with luck the IUCN and others WILL, in time, have an impact that we and our children can all be thankful for.

For now, I am just going to see if I can get my colleagues into the habit of recycling their coke cans.

Some photos here of the team buggy riding one Saturday afternoon, on the side of the highway outside Jo'burg - some funny South African thing I guess (here).