Centre for Environmental Management
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Item Open Access The use of ecosystem parameters in predicting the risk of aicraft-wildlife collisions at Namibian airports(University of the Free State, 2014-01) Hauptfleisch, Morgan Lindo; Avenant, N. L.; Toerien, D.English: Human-wildlife conflict is affecting a number of aspects of society as a result of increased competition for resources such as food and space. To address the complexity, management of human wildlife conflict needs to be innovative to achieve a difficult but possible win-win solution for both humans and wildlife. As an important form of human-wildlife conflict, aircraft-wildlife collisions (AWCs), more commonly known as bird strikes, require even greater imagination and innovation to solve. AWCs have the potential to cause loss of life to humans, and annual losses in damages as a result of such collisions runs in excess of US$ 3 billion per year to the aviation industry. Due to lack of accurate reporting of AWCs in Namibia (and Africa as a whole) losses have been impossible to quantify locally. In addition to direct damage, airlines, airports and individuals have been litigated in Europe and the USA for indirect damages resulting from AWCs. A number of studies have identified an increasing trend in AWCs globally as a result of higher flight volumes and increases in risk bird populations. Flight safety in Africa is of concern internationally, and AWCs are an important safety aspect which need to be understood better. Very little empirical research on the extent or causes of AWCs in Africa have been published. At Namibia’s two major airports, Hosea Kutako International and Eros (domestic), 128 AWC incidents were recorded between 2006 and 2010. Although none led to human injury or death, two major incidents lead to costs in excess of N$ 20 million and N$ 1million respectively. Publications on AWC minimisation strategies and techniques on the continent are limited to South Africa and Uganda. This is problematic, as mitigation measures for AWCs in Africa are therefore mostly based on research in foreign ecosystems; while we know that local knowledge of AWC factors, such as bird and mammal population dynamics and climatic seasonality are critical to the success of AWC management. This study is the first scientific investigation into any aspect of AWCs in Namibia. It aims to understand the relationship between ecosystem components and their effect on the risk of aircraft-wildlife collisions occurring at Hosea Kutako and Eros airports. Monitoring of ecosystem components such as insects and small mammals are useful to airport wildlife management as they are relatively quick and inexpensive tools for determining ecosystem health and functioning and can indicate varying environmental contexts and responses. These ecosystem components and others such as vegetation and avian communities were explored. The study found that modelling the abovementioned ecosystem factors to predict the risk of AWCs would be marginally accurate, but still useful in understanding the system, as well as the effects of various management actions on that system. Systems modelling was found to have the potential to map the complexity of influences on AWCs and make them understandable to airport management in order to allow more informed decision making and resourcing regarding the management of AWC risk. The international obligation placed on airport staff to control wildlife hazards in the vicinity of airports is often difficult to fulfil, especially at smaller airports or in countries with inadequate resources and capacity. In addition to this, research into wildlife habitat, species and their habits at airports has predominantly originated in Europe and North America, and hence mitigation measures are most effective in these conditions, and less effective elsewhere. Based on the context of its literature and empirical research, this study proposes a toolkit which was designed to guide airports in Southern Africa to minimise risk of aircraftwildlife collisions. It is based on the understanding of ecosystems in the vicinity of the two airports on which this study was based, but also on the broader understanding of capacity and resources available to many Southern African countries. It also considers the recommended practices of ICAO, global best practice and promotes a multi-stakeholder management approach. Key words: Aircraft-wildlife collision, airport habitat, avifauna, bird strike, ecosystem, human-wildlife conflict, multi-stakeholder management, systems modelling, toolkit, wildlife hazard management.