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From 6 July 2006, a graphic version of the current edition is available at the Daily News Online web site.

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At a stakeholders' meeting at Maun Lodge to discuss the results, following the first phase of spraying, it emerged that there were no socio-economic impacts.

Coordinator of the environmental monitoring team Dr Jim Perkins said no fish was killed to deprive people along the Okavango Delta a source of income and food.

On the health front, Perkins said no person suffered from any skin irritation due to spraying as initially feared, adding that deltamethrin, the insecticide used in the spraying, was non-residual.

On the contrary, he said they learned through kgotla meetings that people were enthusiastic about the aerial spraying.

He said from questionnaires sent to lodges and completed by operators and tourists, it emerged that operators did not suffer any losses.

Responses indicated that some tourists did not even notice that there was any spraying in progress. However, he lamented that they received few responses from lodges. "This could have been because since spraying was not affecting business operators in Chobe, they could not talk to tourists about the campaign or give them the questionaires."

Roger Walker of the Wattled Crane Monitoring team said before and after spraying, monitoring indicated that there was little or no disturbance to the nesting habits of the birds, which were an endangered spices as some chicks even hatched during the exercise.

Research indicated that in the short-term death to some insects would not have any detrimental effect on the ecosystem.

Dr Mpho Mandlala, whose team was charged with monitoring terrestrial invertebrates, said death of some spices was possible but that could not lead to their extinction.

Though the co-ordinator for the environmental team described the exercise as a success, some stakeholders felt some results were inconclusive because the methodology used was flawed.

They also decried the short period in which the monitoring was undertaken and suggested that for the 2002 exercise, more money and time should be availed to the monitors.

Dr Motsu said in the sprayed block, tsetse had almost disappeared, adding that after the final phase of spraying in 2003 the sterile insect technique would be employed as the final chapter in integrated tsetse eradication campaign.

Tsetse-fly carries a virus that causes nagana in cattle and sleeping sickness in humans. The environmental monitoring was introduced after stakeholders expressed fears that aerial spraying would kill non-targets like the flora and fauna of the delta insects, fish and frogs, thus disturbing the eco-system.

Some environmental organisations even threatened to take government to court to stop the spraying.

Private consultants were then engaged by the government to ensure impartiality. The results from monitoring are expected to pave way for the next cycle next year. BOPA

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