SAEON Snippets

New website for ILTER’s East Asia and Pacific Regional Network

The East Asia and Pacific Regional Network (ILTER-EAP) of the International Long-Term Ecological Research (ILTER) Network launched its website on 21 November, 2005. 

This follows an Information Management workshop that was held in Beijing on 20-22 July 2005, in which SAEON was an active participant. An undertaking was made during the Workshop to establish a website for the East Asia and Pacific Regional Network.

The website, which is available at  www.ilter-eap.org, serves as a platform for exchanging information on Long-Term Ecological Research in the East Asian and Pacific region. All SAEON e-News subscribers are invited to make full use of the site, particularly the E-Forum online, as a tool to promote information exchange and collaboration among ILTER members. 

Comments or suggestions can be directed to Lai Pengfei at  laipf@cern.ac.cn  orlaipf@igsnrr.ac.cn.

SAEON’s congratulations to the  East Asia  and Pacific Regional Network  for this milestone achievement!

Education experts review SAEON’s Education Outreach Programme

The Network of Education Experts convened in Pretoria on 24 November to review the progress of SAEON’s Education Outreach Programme. The main focus of the meeting was the implementation of a schools’ monitoring programme at the SAEON Nodes.

The Network is the primary advisory body for SAEON’s Education Outreach Programme. Representing various organisations involved with the environment, science and technology, members put their considerable experience in outreach education to good use by setting standards in place for the successful and professional execution of these programmes, and monitoring and reviewing the programmes throughout the country.

SAEON participates in the AfricaGIS2005 Conference

SAEON had the privilege of participating in the AfricaGIS2005 Conference, a highly informative event with workshops on GEOSS, Sensorweb, Collaborative GIS and Spatial data standards of particular relevance to SAEON. 

SAEON’s information management co-ordinator, Avinash Chuntharpursat, delivered a presentation about SAEON. Details of the presentation can be found at : www.africagis2005.org.za/agp/africagispapers

The Conference was a resounding success with the CSIR Conference Centre being filled to capacity with participants and displays, and with events running from 29 October to 4 November 2005 . 

SAEON’s congratulations to GISSA (Geographic Information Society of  South Africa  ), EIS-Africa and other stakeholders on a job well done!

Mysterious carnivore could be new species

Environmental researchers are preparing to capture what they call a new, mysterious species of carnivore on Borneo , the first such discovery on the wildlife-rich Indonesian island in over a century.

Environmental Group WWF said its researchers photographed the strange animal, which looks like a cross between a cat and a fox, in the dense, central mountainous rainforests of Borneo . “This could be the first time in more than a century that a new carnivore has been discovered on the island,” they said.

The mammal, slightly larger than a cat with red fur and a long tail, was photographed twice by a camera trap at night set up to capture the behaviour of nocturnal animals in the rainforest.

Wildlife experts who viewed the photographs of the animal, which has very small ears and large hind legs, said they had never seen such a creature before and were convinced that it was a new species. If it proves to be that, it would be the first since the discovery of the Borneo ferret-badger in 1895. 

Researchers hope to confirm the discovery by setting cage traps to catch a live specimen. (Adapted from  Pretoria  News)