Category Archives: ENVIRONMENT
Border Jumpers : A few words about Zambia
Zambia: Bernie and Dani in Lusaka
[Photo Credit: Nourishing The Planet used with permission]
Guest Post by By Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack, BorderJumpers.org
Bugs. When I think of Zambia, I think of bugs.
It started when a mysterious little creature bit Dani on the side of the head. We spent hours monitoring the swelling as it inched closer and closer to her eye, applying cortisone, and praying that we wouldn’t have to go to the clinic. Thankfully, Dani’s head didn’t explode and the bite went way.
Despite a mosquito net, our favorite bug repellent (Dani has a newfound love for chemicals), and donning clothes head to toe while we slept—the bugs were everywhere.
Bugs aside, Zambia was one of my favorite countries. There is not a lot of infrastructure, or DSL, or many tourist destinations to visit in Lusaka. And definitely not a lot of food options for the vegan/vegetarians (thank Vishna and Shakti that there was one Indian restaurant within walking distance). Yet, in this medium sized city were some of the nicest people we’ve met yet on our journey and where we had some of the most frank conversations with agricultural aid workers.
Jan Nijhoff, who sits on the advisory group of Nourishing the Planet, served as a terrific host. In only three short days we had an incredible set of meetings with CARE , Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO), the World Food Program, USAID , and others. As part of our visit, Jan took some of the most experienced staff from various organizations to engage in a frank and open discussion on a wide range of topics that included: misuse of donor money, the role of the market and private sector in sustainable agriculture, developments in cell phone technologies to aid farmers, carbon trading systems, and so much more.
We also met with an environmental reporter named Benedict Tambo with the Zambian Daily Mail. Benedict lamented the fact that businesses were ordering fewer and fewer papers and a rising number of people impacted by the economic downturn were choosing food over their daily news. The troubles seemed all-too-familiar with the struggles facing the newspaper industry in the United States.
We also visited an organization created by a North Carolinian named Dale Lewis, whose life’s work has been in testing methods to have the most impact possible on conservation and in reducing the pouching of wildlife. After years of trial and error, his data showed that lifting farmers from poverty through providing access to a market, offering training, and fair wages, was the single biggest factoring in protecting wildlife. The growth, size, and scope of his operation are mind-blowing; he employs hundreds of staff that worked with thousands of farmers.
Mark Wood USAID PROFIT Project Chief of Party in Zambia
[Video Credit: Worldwatchag used with permission]
Suggested Books (US)
- Zambia, 4th (Bradt Travel Guide Zambia)
- Zambia in Pictures (Visual Geography. Second Series)
- Basic Facts on Zambia
Border Jumpers : A few words about Malawi
Malawi: Lilongwe Wildlife Center
[Photo Credit: Nourishing The Planet used by permission]
Guest Post by By Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack, BorderJumpers.org
In Malawi, we visited the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre, a project supported by companies like the Body Shop, providing sanctuary space for rescued, confiscated, orphaned and injured wild animals of Malawi. While touring their facility we met Kambuk (which means “leopard†in Chichewa), who was soundly sleeping in his 2,500 sq meter backyard of fenced green landscape. He was rescued by the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre after poachers shattered his knee in Nyika National Park (making it impossible for him to ever return to the wild.) As we toured the facility nearly every animal we saw — from baboons to alligators — had a similar Cinderella story of overcoming insurmountable odds to survive and, in most cases, return back to the wild.
The Center is one of the leading organizations in Malawi pushing lawmakers to enforce and enact legislation in support of wildlife conservation and environmental protection. They also develop local partnerships and training programs with the farmers and communities surrounding national parks. The struggle between protecting wildlife and agriculture is becoming especially evident as drought, conflict, and hunger continue to affect sub-Saharan Africa.
Malawi may actually be best known for its so-called “Malawi Miracle.†Five years ago the government decided to do something controversial—provide fertilizer subsidies to farmers to grow maize. Since then maize production has tripled and Malawi has been touted as an agricultural success story. But the way they are refining that corn, says Kristof Nordin who demonstrates permaculture techniques at him home with his wife, Stacia Nordin, makes it “kind of like Wonderbread,†leaving it with just two or three nutrients.
Most Malawians think of traditional foods, such as amaranth and African eggplant, as poor people foods grown by “bad†farmers. But these crops, being more nutritious and requiring less artificial fertilizer compared to hybrid varieties may hold the key for solving hunger, malnutrition and poverty in Malawi. Rather than focusing on just planting maize—a crop that is not native to Africa—the Nordins advise the farmers they work with that there is “no miracle plant, just plant them all.â€
And indigenous crops can be an important source of income for farmers. Rather than importing things like amaranth, sorghum, spices, tamarinds and other products from India, South Africa, and other countries, the Nordins are helping farmers find ways to market seeds, as well as value added products, from local resources. “A lot of solutions,†he says, “are literally staring us in the face.†And as I walked around seeing—and tasting— the various crops at the Nordins’ home, it’s obvious that maize is not Malawi’s only miracle.
[Video Credit: Worldwatchag used with permission]
Suggested Books
- Zambia & Malawi (Multi Country Guide)
- The End of Chidyerano: A History of Food and Everyday Life in Malawi, 1860-2004 (Social History of Africa)
- Malawi Moonsmoke: Changing a Part of Our World — One Life at a Time
Niger : Growing food crisis, WFP steps up help
You may be aware that there is a growing food security problem in Niger due to drought in the Sahel region. Today I received the following press release from the World Food programme which you may be interested in. A WFP background paper on Niger:Â http://www.wfp.org/stories/niger-media-background is also available.
World Food Programme steps up response to growing food crisis in Niger
Press Release 26 April 2010
DAKAR – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today announced it is more than doubling the number of hungry people it feeds in Niger, providing assistance to 2.3 million people caught in a worsening food crisis caused by drought in the eastern Sahel.
“Niger has been hit extremely hard by the drought and the world has to act to prevent massive human suffering and the loss of a generation,†said Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of WFP.Sheeran echoed comments made by the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, who underlined the need for joint action between development and humanitarian actors to deal with the structural issues underlying the recurrent food crises in the Sahel region.
Weak and erratic rainfall across parts of the eastern Sahel has destroyed harvests and parched land used by pastoralist communities to graze livestock. In January, results of a national survey found that more than half Niger’s population of 13.5 million is food insecure.
The ramping up of WFP operations focuses on reducing malnutrition through general food distributions to 1.5 million people, blanket feeding for children under two years of age and supplementary feeding for children under five in the worst-affected areas.
WFP will also target pregnant women and nursing mothers as well as supporting the provision of cereal banks – community cereal stores where women buy grain at subsidized prices at the height of the ‘lean season’ when the previous harvest has run out. Communities restock the banks during the next harvest when prices are lowest.
WFP has appealed for US$182 million to scale its operations in one of the poorest countries in the world. The current shortfall is US$96 million. “We need to move quickly to provide a buffer for the people and government of Niger against the shock of a serious food crisis,†said Thomas Yanga, WFP Regional Director for West Africa.
WFP is working against time to provide food assistance as fast as possible, buying most of the needed food from neighbouring countries to significantly shorten the lead time, which is normally about four months, to deliver food to Niger.
In addition to meeting the food needs of people hit by drought, WFP provides food for meals given to hundreds of thousands of school children in Niger and assists people affected by HIV/Aids and tuberculosis.
Suggested Books
- Adapting to Drought: Farmers, Famines and Desertification in West Africa
- The African Food Crisis: (Cabi Publishing)
- Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Niger: The Bradt Travel Guide
Other Africa environment books
A few words about Rwanda
Rwanda: With Heifer International
[Photo credit: Nourishing The Planet with permission]
Guest Post by By Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack, BorderJumpers.org
We’ve taken some long bus rides in Africa. We spent eight bumpy hours on a bus from Nairobi to Arusha and another eight from Arusha to Dar Es Salaam. The longest so far, though, has been from Kampala, Uganda to Kigali, Rwanda.
Once we finally arrived, we quickly realized, that we’ve never traveled anywhere quite like Rwanda.
Fifteen years ago one of the largest modern genocides occurred here.
Our visit to the genocide memorial museum in Kigali, was a painful reminder to us that, as Jews, our shared global commitment of “never again” was just words. More than 1 million men, women, and children were senselessly murdered, not by strangers, but by their own government, their own neighbors, and in some cases, their own family members.
Today in Rwanda, it’s clear that the country and communities are creating spaces for healing. Radio, print, and TV are filled with multi-ethnic dialogues about renewing and rebuilding Rwanda. Communities are holding public forums, counseling is offered, and dialogue is growing everywhere.
We also found a country bustling with energy as it rebuilds. Traveling in the countryside we saw many success stories, including the work of Heifer International Rwanda which is training farmers and increasing food security. “Heifer is helping a recovery process,†explained Dr. Dennis Karamuzi, a veterinarian and the Programs Manager for Heifer.
Heifer began working in Rwanda in 2000, but their start was a little rocky. At first the community was suspicious of the group—because they were giving farmers “very expensive cows,†says Holimdintwoli Cyprien, one of the farmers trained by Heifer to raise dairy cows; they didn’t understand how the group could just give them away. But as people began seeing the results of Heifer’s training, they become less suspicious and more interested in working with the group.
We were very inspired as we met with several farmers all over the countryside, who were lifting themselves out of poverty using help provided to them by Heifer. Several of the farmers became teachers in their own communities, helping their neighbors learn new skills and techniques that they were benefiting from, and working with them to implement them.
Rwanda may be our most interesting and beautiful visit in Africa but the country also feels lost, still struggling to find itself, still deciding what direction it will go. Its wounds may never completely heal—especially when “never again” happened here such a short time ago.
Conversations With Farmers: Madame Helen Explains Her Biogas Stove
[Video Credit: Worldwatchag with permission]
Africa : First Conference of Meteorology Ministers
Climate change is always high on the agenda these days and meteorology has moved from being a ‘Cinderella’Â science to being mainline and topical. African meteorology is now considered part of international development and this is reflected in a new conference that was convened this year for the first time.
The First Conference of Ministers Responsible for Meteorology in Africa convened from 12-16 April 2010 under the theme “Investing in Weather and Climate Services for Development.†The Conference, organized by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the African Union (AU), was attended by more than 400 participants.
The Expert Segment met from 12-14 April to discuss the challenges faced by National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) and their partners in fulfilling their potential contributions to achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Africa, the Strategic Plan of the African Union Commission (AUC), the objectives of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and implementing national and regional sustainable development plans, including sessions on: meeting development needs; the benefits of national meteorological, hydrological and climate services; capacity building; user perspectives; and closing information gaps.
The Ministerial Segment met from 15-16 April to consider and adopt the Ministerial Declaration on Meteorology and Climate in Africa.
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF METEOROLOGICAL AND HYDROLOGICAL SERVICES IN AFRICA
Weather forecasts and observations are one of the essential components of climate research and projections, which can help guide decision making in areas of energy, food security, transport and biodiversity conservation. Early warning systems are also imperative in ensuring that the impacts of extreme weather events are mitigated. NMHSs and their associated observation networks on the continent are necessary to ensure the availability of information for African decision-makers and end-users.
DROUGHT MONITORING IN THE GREATER HORN OF AFRICA
The Drought Monitoring Centre for the Greater Horn of Africa, renamed as the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) in Nairobi, Kenya, seeks to mitigate the negative impacts of extreme climate events in the region including its seven member countries: Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Kenya; Somalia; Sudan; and Uganda. The Center’s five objectives are to: provide timely early warning information and support sector-specific applications to mitigate climate change impacts; improve the technical capacity of the producers and users of climate information; develop an improved, proactive, timely, broad-based system of information dissemination and feedback at sub-regional and national levels; expand the climate knowledge base and applications within the sub-region; and maintain quality controlled databases and information systems.
METEROLOGICAL AND CLIMATE COOPERATION FOR DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA
The African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD), created in 1987 by the Conference of Ministers of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, is composed of 53 member states and has been based in Niamey, Niger, since 1992. ACMAD aims to provide weather and climate information and support sustainable development in Africa in agriculture, water resources, health, public safety, and renewable energy. Its activities include capacity building in weather prediction and climate monitoring, Regional Climate Outlook Forum activities, technology transfer and research.
COMMUNICATING WEATHER AND CLIMATE INFORMATION TO RURAL AREAS
The Radio and Internet for the Communication of Hydro-Meteorological Information for Rural Development (RANET) network is a collaborative effort of NMHSs, non-governmental organizations and communities to assist national and regional organizations in communicating weather, climate, and other developmental information to rural and remote areas. The network’s activities include developing new communication tools and capacity building in partnership with NMHSs.
DEVELOPING ACCESS TO SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY
The African Monitoring of the Environment for Sustainable Development (AMESD) project, launched by the AU in January 2010, aims to secure access to key Earth observations. National Meteorological Services and regional institutions will secure operational access to the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) data and improved data processing, as well as benefiting from the installation of 47 new EUMETCast stations to provide effective access to environmental data and products.
ENHANCING SAND AND DUST STORM WARNINGS
The Sand and Dust Storm Warning System (SDS-WAS) was established by the WMO in 2006 to coordinate the activities of a global network of regional centers that monitor and forecast sand- and dust-storms. SDS-WAS aims to enhance the ability of countries to deliver timely and quality information, observations and forecasts for sand- and dust-storms, through an international partnership of research and operational communities, comprising 12 centers including a regional center for Northern Africa, Middle East and Europe.
Download a PDF of the full BRIEFING NOTE ON THE FIRST CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR METEOROLOGY IN AFRICA
Suggested BookÂ
Other Africa environment books
Related articles
Africa Agriculture : 482 Words About Uganda
- Uganda: Visiting Schools with Project Disc (Slow Food International)
[Photo credit: Nourishing The Planet]
Guest Post by By Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack, BorderJumpers.org
People here are very laid back and the feeling is contagious! We managed to go three days without a cup of coffee didn’t seem to mind.
You hear the words “Hakuna Matata” everywhere. Literally.
Internet services down nationwide all day? Hakuna Matata…
Flights cancelled? Hakuna Matata…
Two hours in wall-to-wall rush hour traffic in Kampala? Hakuna Matata…
In the Mukono District, about an hour outside of Kampala, Uganda, we met Edward Mukiibi and Roger Serunjogi, coordinators of the Developing Innovations in School Cultivation (DISC) project. Edward, 23, and Roger, 22 are improving nutrition, environmental awareness and food traditions by establishing school gardens at preschool, day and boarding schools. By teaching kids early about growing, preparing, and eating food they hope to cultivate the next generation of farmers and eaters who can preserve Uganda’s culinary traditions. “If a person doesn’t know how to cook or prepare food, they don’t know how to eat,†says Edward.
One DISC student, 19 year-old Mary Naku, says she’s gained leadership and farming skills from the program. “As youth we have learned to grow fruits and vegetables,†she says, “to support our lives.†Thanks to DISC, students see agriculture as a way to make money, help their communities, and preserve biodiversity.
At the HIV/AIDS Resource Center in Katuna (on the border between Uganda and Rwanda and one of many towns along what is known as the Northern Transport Corridor—a span of highway that stretches from Mombasa, Kenya through Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and all the way to Djibouti), we were introduced to the important work of the Solidarity Center and Uganda’s Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union (ATGWU). The Solidarity Center is a non-profit launched by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), to empower workers around the world by helping them form unions.
The Center and ATGWU are working with truckers, who have some of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in Eastern Africa due to the frequent and lengthy delays at the border which often lead to boredom, drinking and unsafe sex, by providing care, support and information through one-on-one or community group outreach. The Center also provides free testing for truck drivers, already more than 5,000 of them to date.
We would be remiss if we didn’t mention that Uganda, like most of the countries in Africa, is full of contradictions. While we were there, the “Bahati Bill” was introduced in parliament, calling for life in prison—and in some case the death penalty—for people found “guilty†of homosexual activity. As gay marriage laws are passed around the world, including most recently in Mexico City, it’s hard to believe that lawmakers would punish people for being gay or having HIV/AIDS.
But as we traveled we couldn’t help but immediately feel, and fall in love with, the pulse and energy of the bustling country.
Video (Home Sweet Uganda): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7arx1tGe__M
Related video:
Suggested Books
- Stepping-Stones to Improve upon Functioning of Participatory Agricultural Extention Programmes: Farmer Field Schools in Uganda
- Experiences, Innovations and Issues in Agricultural Extention in Uganda. Lessons and Prospects
A Few Words About Tanzania
Tanzania: Food Market and Auction in Zanzibar
[Photo credit: Nourishing the Planet]
Guest Post by By Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack, BorderJumpers.org
A Few Words About Tanzania
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Kigoma, Tanzania.
Actually, we never even made it to Kigoma. Precision Air, one of only two airlines that flies to the remote region, had just suspended all flights for the next several weeks and the other airline was all booked.
No worries, we headed to Zanzibar instead….
Zanzibar: A Walking tour [Credit: Worldwatchag]
Everywhere you look in Zanzibar there’s a bounty of fresh vegetables, fruit, and spices. One of the “Spice Islandsâ€â€”a group of islands that supplied cloves, coriander, nutmeg, pepper, vanilla, and others to Europe in the 17th Century, Zanzibar still grows those spices in much the same way they were then—organically, without the use of chemical pesticides and artificial fertilizers, in response to consumer demand.
Later in our trip, back in Dar es Salaam, we met with Pancras Ngalason, Executive Director of Jane Goodall Center (JGI) in Tanzania, who explained how the Institute has evolved since it began in the 1970s as a center to research and protect wild chimpanzee populations in what is now, thanks to their efforts, Gombe National Park. In the early 1990s JGI realized that if it didn’t start addressing the needs of the communities surrounding the park, their efforts to conserve wildlife wouldn’t work. It was at that time, says Ngalason, that we “thought beyond planting trees†and more about community-based conservation.
JGI started working with communities to develop government mandated land use plans, helping them develop soil erosion prevention practices, agroforestry, and production of value-added products, such as coffee and palm oil. They like to say that their products are “Good for Allâ€â€”good for farmers by providing income, good for the environment by protecting natural resources, and good for the consumer by providing a healthy product.
In Arusha, Tanzania, we met with the World Vegetable Center where researchers and farmers are working together to improve crop diversity, nutrition, and livelihoods through vegetables.“None of the staple crops,†says Dr. Abdou Tenkouano, the World Vegetable Center’s Regional Director for Africa, speaking of historically popular crops used to combat hunger like rice, wheat, maize, and cassava, “would be palatable without vegetables.†And vegetables, he says, “are less risk prone†than staple crops that stay in the field for longer periods of time. Additionally, according to the Center’s website, vegetable production generates more income on and off the farm than most other agricultural enterprises.
Though their air travel leaves something to be desired, like many places in Africa, Tanzania is a country rich in fresh vegetables, fruit, and innovations that help nourish people and the planet.
Related articles
- Zanzibar – Stone Town, Tanzania (travelpod.com)
- Tanzania – country profile (rombizco.wordpress.com)
A few words about Kenya
Guest Post by Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack, BorderJumpers.org
Our entry begins in Maralal, Kenya, a place mostly known for its wildlife. And as we made the seven hour, bumpy trek from Nairobi—half of it on unpaved roads—we saw our fair share of water buffaloes, rhinos, impala, and giraffes. But we weren’t here to go on safari. We were here to meet with a group of pastoralists—livestock keepers who had agreed to meet with us and talk about the challenges they face.
Although most of these people don’t have access to cable TV or even radios, they do have a good sense of the challenges their fellow livestock keepers face all over Kenya: climate change, conflict over land and water access, and a lack of support from policy makers and leaders. They also understand that the world is changing. They know that many of their children won’t live the same kind of lives that their ancestors lived for centuries. Many will choose to go to the cities, but they said if their children become “landed,†they want them to be able to maintain links to the pastoralist way of life.
During our visit to the ‘big city,†Nairobi, we met a “self help” group of women farmers in Kibera—likely the largest slum in sub-Saharan Africa with a population anywhere between 700,00 and one million—who are raising vegetables on what they call “vertical farms.” But instead of skyscrapers, these farms are in tall sacks, filled with dirt, and the women grow crops in them on different levels by poking holes in the bags and planting seeds.More than 1,000 of their neighbors are growing food in a similar way. During 2007 and 2008 when there was conflict in the slums of Nairobi and no food could come into these areas, most residents didn’t go without because so many of them were growing crops—in sacks, vacant land, or elsewhere.
Kenya: Urban Gardening in Kibera (Nairobi’s largest slums)
[Photo credit: Nourishing The Planet]
In Kerecho, Kenya we met with the Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union (KPAWU) and the Solidarity Center—an organization affiliated with the AFL-CIO that provides resources to hire organizers, conduct trainings, and offer communications and transportation support. The union, despite having more than 200,000 members in the agriculture sector, has still lost density over the last two decades. Companies are trying whatever they can to cut costs, including implementing child labor, and mechanizing the plucking industry.
But the union, like all of the people and organizations we met in Kenya, is demonstrating its resiliency and fighting back. Despite the challenges it faces, over the past couple months it has grown, with 6,000 tea workers joining, thanks to organizing efforts supported by the Solidarity Center.
- Flower Factory Navasha Kenya
[Photo credit: Nourishing The Planet]
Suggested Books
- Adoption Of Agricultural Innovations By Smallholder Farmers In The Context Of HIV/AIDS: The Case of Tissue-Cultured Banana in Kenya (African Women Leaders in Agriculture and the Environment)
- Beyond the Miracle of the Market: The Political Economy of Agrarian Development in Kenya (Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions)
- Kenya (Country Guide)
Other Africa Environment books
Border Jumpers : A Few Words About Ethiopia
Guest Post By Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack, BorderJumpers.org
We started this trip in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a place most Americans associate with war and hunger due to the famines of the mid 1980s and 1990s. Even today, more than 6 million people in Ethiopia are at risk for starvation so we had mentally prepared ourselves to see very desperate people.
Instead, we found farmers and NGO workers full of hope for the future of agriculture in their country. That’s been our greatest surprise about the continent in general — how vibrant, entrepreneurial, friendly, positive, and alive people are here.
Ethiopia: Kids Playing With Water Well in Askum
[Photo credit: Nourishing The Planet (with permission)]
We met Kes Malede Abreha, described by our guides/interpreters as a “farmer-priest,†on his farm near Aksum in the Central Zone of Tigray region. One of the leading “farmer-innovators†in his community, eight years ago he started digging for water on his very dry farm and, though his neighbors thought he was crazy, about 16 meters down, Kes Malede hit water. He then went on to sketch ways that would make it easier to “push†that water to the surface. He developed a series of pumps, improving on each one.
As part of a group of farmers who can apply for and receive funding for their innovations from the global, NGO-initiated organization, Prolinnova, Kes Malede is teaching other farmers in the community by example, showing them how small investments in technology can make a big difference on the farm.
In Ethiopia we also had the opportunity to see on the ground something we’ve been reading about for a few years now: China’s investment in foreign infrastructure. In Aksum alone, the Chinese have built more than 150 kilometers of roads and provided cell phones for farmers — allowing them, for the first time ever, to check prices before they go to market and to call ahead for supplies and materials.
But this investment isn’t entirely altruistic. China, a nation of more than 1. 3 billion people and counting is concerned about its ability to feed its own population today and into the future, and buying up Ethiopian-grown cabbage, carrots, onions, and other crops to ship back home.
We ended the trip in Addis Ababa, which is one of our favorite cities in Africa. Alongside the bumper to bumper traffic, people herd flocks of sheep and vendors walk between cars hawking everything from Mentos to vacuum cleaners.
Ethiopia — Border Jumpers [www.borderjumpers.org]
Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack founded BorderJumpers.org when they began a journey to visit countries across Africa in October 2009. Their goal is share stories of hope and success as they meet with farmers, community organizers, labor activists/leaders, non-governmental organization (NGOs), the funding and donor communities, and local, regional, and international press at every stop along the way.
Suggested Books
- Living Terraces in Ethiopia: Konso Landscape, Culture & Development (Eastern Africa Series)
- Foods of Ethiopia (A Taste of Culture)
- Ethiopian Amharic (Lonely Planet Phrasebooks)
- Ethiopia, 5th (Bradt Travel Guide Ethiopia)
Africa in Pictures : Sahara Desert
Sahara from 30,000 feet
[Photo credit: msr]
Stunning Sahara
I came across this first image of an aerial photo of the Sahara whilst surfing on Flickr and it gave me the idea to look for more Sahara pix. I remember flying across the Sahara for 5 hours whilst on the way to Mali from Europe. It was amazing. One of the things that has surprised me is how varied the Sahara is. All the dunes are formed by the action of the wind on the sand.
The photo below shows the archetypal picture of the desert, large dunes in Morocco with a camel train in the distance.
[Photo credit: brockleyboyo]
This stunning photo has caught a camel train in the shadow.
[Photo credit: El Guanche]
This next photo must be a classic! Footsteps up a dune. Beautiful!
[Photo credit: Melanie Lukesh]
These next photos show different kinds of dune.
[Photo credit: Melanie Lukesh]
[Photo credit: LOPE - www.lphoto.es]
Here are beautiful oasis photos taken in Libya.
[Photo credit: 10 Ninjas Steve]
Finally, the desert is not all sand, but there are rocks too. Some of these rocks formations have ancient rock art on them from a time when the desert was fertile and occupied.
[Photo credit: 10b travelling]
[Photo credit: 10b travelling]
[Photo credit: 10b travelling]
Suggested Books
- Sahara Unveiled: A Journey Across the Desert<
- Sahara: The Extraordinary History of the World’s Largest Desert
Africa Report : Reforming wildlife governance in East and Southern Africa – the role of corruption
Corruption and wildlife governance
Reforming wildlife governance in East and Southern Africa: the role of corruption, U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre (2009)
This brief looks at the role corruption plays in structuring wildlife governance systems in Africa by comparing the differing governance structures which have elicited variant economic and ecological outcomes. Wildlife is an important economic asset in Africa worth billions of dollars annually. The biological diversity is a natural spectacle and priceless global heritage.
The author notes that Namibia is Africa’s best example of the role that institutional reforms play in increasing wildlife population and investment in wildlife-based enterprises. Local communities and private landholders have been involved in decision making about wildlife use on their lands what has in turn generated strong incentives for local investments in conservation. This attracts wildlife-based enterprises that contribute to local and national economic growth and encourages further investments in conservation in a sustainable and virtuous cycle.
In Tanzania however, reforms have made limited headway in the country and wildlife populations are declining as a result. Although reforms have been proposed and donors have extended support, governments are maintaining centralised wildlife governance arrangements, resisting the use of market-based mechanisms and thus creating opportunities for corruption.This has led to reduced benefits at the national level, by preventing market-based pricing of wildlife, and at the local level, through the failure to devolve greater rights over wildlife to local communities. These factors undermine incentives for conserving wildlife at all levels.
The brief presents the following lessons from the comparison between Namibia and Tanzania:
reforms that decentralise user rights over wildlife can radically change the attitudes of landholders towards wildlife and shift incentives from eradication of wildlife towards conservation and investment
reforms are often incompatible with the private interests and motivations of influential political elites and policy-makers. This is because devolving rights over wildlife to local actors constitutes a shift in control over wildlife’s economic value, which involves losing direct access to money and resources.
To attain better outcomes, the brief suggests the following strategic responses to the political challenges facing wildlife and natural resource governance reforms:
local activists, community based organisations, donor and government agencies all need to collaborate to improve the existing level of knowledge with regard to patterns of natural resource use
donors should deal directly with the reformist constituency itself, which comprises non-governmental actors such as local communities, civil society organisations, networks, and even private sector entrepreneurs.
[via ELDIS]
How to get a copy
Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=44891&em=030310⊂=enviro
Suggested Books
Africa Environment Report : Economy and climate change in sub-Saharan Africa
Impacts of climate change on agrictulture
Economy wide impacts of climate change on agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa by Calzadilla,A.; Zhu,T.; Rehdanz,K. International Food Policy Research Institute (2009)
This report takes cognizance of the fact that agriculture is very important to sub-Saharan Africa and there is potential to increase agricultural productivity through irrigation. It employs two possible adaptation options to climate change. The first scenario doubles the irrigated area in Africa by 2050, compared to the baseline, but keeps total crop area constant. The second scenario increases both rain fed and irrigated crop yields by 25% for all Sub-Saharan African countries. The methodology uses a partial equilibrium approach, which considers detailed water-agriculture linkages, with a general equilibrium approach, which takes into account linkages between agriculture and non-agricultural sectors and includes a full treatment of factor markets.
The report elicits the following findings:
- due to a relatively low share of irrigated area in Africa, an increase in agricultural productivity achieves much larger benefits than a doubling of irrigated area
- potential agriculture substantial productivity gains are technically feasible
- under both analysis scenarios there is increased total crop production, only differing according to crop type
- increased in irrigation and agricultural productivity leads to a decrease in the production cost of agricultural products, and a reduction in market prices
- both scenarios help lower world food prices making it more affordable for the poor and reducing the number of malnourished children
- changes in production in non-agricultural sectors shows an increase in domestic and world prices. In the food sector, prices decline because of a higher supply and lower price of agricultural products.
- the transfer of land from rain fed to irrigated agriculture increases market prices for rain fed land while market prices for irrigation and irrigated land decrease. In the second scenario, market prices for rain fed land and irrigated land decline
- both scenarios enable farmers to achieve higher yields and revenues from crop production
- the efficacy of the two scenarios as to cope with climate change is measured by changes in regional GDP.
The report concludes by applying some caveats to the results. The first is that increases in irrigated areas and improvements in agricultural productivity are not accompanied by changes in prices. Secondly, it assumes the availability and accessibility of water resources and their sustainable use. Thirdly, the complete integration of both models is not achieved and future work will focus on integration and accounting for possible feedbacks.
How to get a copy
Available online at: http://ideas.repec.org/p/sgc/wpaper/170.html
Suggested Books
- Agricultural Productivity Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: Malmquist and Stochastic Frontier Approach
- Food Culture in Sub-Saharan Africa (Food Culture around the World)
