Make a difference. Become a Citizen Scientist and PHRACK. Please Help Resist: Atlas the Colourful Karoo. 

The ADU's atlas projects are critical for the conservation of biodiversity.

You can lie down in front of the bulldozers.

You can write to your politicians.

You can take part in protest marches.

Or you can really make a difference. Be a citizen scientist.

And go and PHRACK. Please Help Resist: Atlas the Colourful Karoo.

For the bird atlas, the SABAP2 coverage map above shows that, even after five years of atlasing, vast areas of the Karoo are still poorly covered. If we want to make data-based arguments in relation to fracking the karoo (or mining in Limpopo, or whether Pied Crows really are a problem), we need first of all to have an inventory of what biodiversity is present, and how it is changing. The bird data is the best we have got. We have an amazing legacy of 11 million records of bird distribution data for SABAP1. The SABAP2 database is rapidly closing in on 4 million records. But for both databases the records are unevenly distributed and there is a shortage of records for the Karoo.

Likewise for the butterfly atlas, the reptile atlas and the frog atlas, the Karoo is more poorly covered than any other region. And the same is likely to be true of the new mammal atlas project.

So, if you live in the Karoo, please consider making a difference by becoming an ADU citizen scientist. The first point of contact is Doug Harebottle. There are lots of ways you can help collect the vital data that is needed to make the case for biodiversity.

And, if you are an ADU citizen scientist who doesn't live in the Karoo, please consider making a special journey to go atlasing in some of the most beautiful and unusual landscapes that South Africa has to offer.

Come and PHRACK. Please Help Resist: Atlas the Colourful Karoo.

Les Underhill
2012-09-22

Previous editorials