Picture:Witness Kozanayi 

Witness Kozanayi (photo attached), a PhD student in the Bio-economy Chair in the EGS Department, was recently featured in a Nature interview about the historical, cultural and spiritual significance of baobab trees across Africa. The need to revisit these salient but subtle values of the baobab trees was stimulated by the (contentious) observation by researchers that several big baobab trees in southern Africa are dead or dying.  Witness’s perspectives emphasised the crucial social place of baobab trees in African societies, and the need to broaden the ecological narrative to take into account the range of spiritual, cultural and historical factors affecting baobab-based livelihoods. Witness has recently submitted his PhD on the governance of baobab in Zimbabwe.

You can listen to the interview here:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05411-7