Presents research within the framework of the international Biodiversity Monitoring Transect Analysis in Africa (BIOTA) Project. The BIOTA Project was inspired by the movement to translate the demand for sustainable development into international and national policies, which gained worldwide recognition at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992 and has remained on the national and international agenda since then. It was fortunate that some of the questions dealt with in the BIOTA Project could be continued in a new initiative, namely The Future of the Okavango [TFO] Project, which is still in progress.
The focus of the TFO Project is the sustainability of the Kavango River Basin, which spans from Angola through Namibia to Botswana. Some of the contributions in Knowledge Lives in the Lake mark the interface between the BIOTA and TFO Projects. The emphasis on water and water management in other contributions expresses this interface as well. Knowledge Lives in the Lake will be of special value to lawyers, anthropologists, students, policymakers and all members of the public interested in the sustainable development of mother earth.
Manfred O Hinz is Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Bremen, Germany, as well as Research Professor at the University of Namibia.
Oliver C Ruppel is Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa.
Clever Mapaure is a lawyer reading for his PhD at the University of Namibia, where he also lectures part-time.