Nonofo
Mosesane
Nonofo E’man Mosesane was born on 10 September 1964 in a Botswana village called Molepolole, situated 50 km west of the capital, Gaborone. He completed his secondary education at Kgari Sechele Senior School in 1986. This was followed by one-year compulsory national service at Rakops Primary Hospital and at a Junior Secondary School. He undertook a pre-entry science course (PESC) with the University of Botswana in 1988 and qualified for entry to a BSc degree with the same institution, which he attained in 1992, majoring in Biology and Environmental Science.
He was employed as assistant curator in June 1992 in the Department of National Museums, Monuments & Art Galleries. In 1993 he was offered a one-year diploma course in conservation management with the University College of London (UCL). He was assigned the responsibility of the conservation of cultural objects in the Ethnology/Ethnography Division of the National Museum. He has published articles in the institution’s magazine, The Zebra’s Voice.
Nonofo was nominated as a visiting lecturer for PREMA courses and this has taken him to the University of Ghana and the United Kingdom in 1995. He was also assigned to assess the condition of Botswana’s “Pula Exhibition” that was floating around in Europe—he did the assessment in Sweden. He served on the national Standing Committee on Preservation and Conservation (SCOPAC).
When Nonofo moved back to the Natural History Division, he took on botany with an emphasis on plant conservation. He is currently the Curator of the National Botanical Garden in Gaborone. He has been involved in community-based natural resources management (CBNRM). He is a member of the national focal point on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
In 1998, the Environmental Education Association of Southern Africa (EEASA) Conference saw him present the topic, “Botanical gardens, tools for environmental education—Botswana study case”.
Nonofo’s involvement with SABONET started in 1997. He was the understudy to the head of Natural History, Mr Ulf Nermark, who served as the National Coordinator for SABONET Botswana in 1998. He attended the September 1998 Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) Conference in Cape Town, South Africa. He participated in the needs assessment exercise of the Botswana National Botanical Garden. In 2000, the Botswana Government sponsored him to do an MSc degree at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. His project was on the biology, ecology and economics of Sclerocarya birrea (Anacardiaceae) in Botswana.
He was a team member during the ecological economics assessment of the Kruger National Park water catchments in 2000. He presented a poster at the Kakamas conference of the Arid Zone Ecology Forum in September 2000. He regularly attended lectures at the University of the Western Cape and the University of Cape Town.
Nonofo is currently the National Coordinator for SABONET-Botswana. This has enabled him to interact with a number of botanists and plant specialists in the region and abroad. He attended the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa, thanks to sponsorship from SABONET. SABONET also sponsored him to attend the first African Botanical Garden Network conference held in Durban, South Africa, in November 2002.
He is married to Boipuso and has a four-year old daughter, Rorisang.
SABONET News 8.1: 5
