SUSTAINABILITY - The African Mirror

Jan

16

2021

Global temperatures in 2020 among highest on record – WMO

SUSTAINABILITY

TIMOTHY GARDNER Global temperatures in 2020 were among the highest on record and rivaled 2016 as the hottest year ever, according to international data compiled by the World Meteorological Organization and released on Thursday. The heat came even as a global economic slowdown from the COVID-19 pandemic cut deeply into emissions from fossil fuels, adding evidence that carbon dioxide concentrations already in the atmosphere have set the planet on a warming track. The WMO report included data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the UK Met Office, both of which ranked 2020 as the second-warmest year…

Jan

20

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 has shown what happens when we destroy nature – 2021 must be the year we change course

SUSTAINABILITY

MARCO LAMBERTIN FOR years, we have ignored the silent crisis of biodiversity loss, but we cannot risk another damaging decade for nature COVID-19 is an unprecedented global health crisis. But it has also been a wake-up call to the risks posed by our destructive relationship with the natural world. The 2021 Global Risk Report, published this week by the World Economic Forum, reveals that environmental concerns including climate change and biodiversity loss - linked to the rise in global pandemics - are among the top long-term risks the world will likely face in the next 10 years. Science is clear…

Jan

18

2021

By The African Mirror

Worried about Earth’s future? Well, the outlook is worse than even scientists can grasp

SUSTAINABILITY

COREY J. A. BRADSHAW, Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University DANIEL T. BLUMSTEIN, Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles PAUL EHRLICH, President, Center for Conservation Biology, Bing Professor of Population Studies, Stanford University ANYONE with even a passing interest in the global environment knows all is not well. But just how bad is the situation? Our new paper shows the outlook for life on Earth is more…

Jul

04

2020

By The African Mirror

Why rural electrification won’t fix deforestation in Zimbabwe

SUSTAINABILITY

ELLEN FUNGISAI CHIPANGO, Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Johannesburg RELIANCE on biomass such as fuelwood for energy in rural areas has a strong bearing on Zimbabwe’s environment. Rural communities in Zimbabwe meet 94% of their cooking energy requirements by using traditional fuels, mainly fuelwood, and 20% of urban households use wood as the main cooking fuel. For this reason, unsustainable fuelwood use patterns are driving deforestation. Estimates are that deforestation has been high in the country, peaking at 330,000 hectares of forests destroyed between 2010 and 2014. Policymakers attribute deforestation to human activities such as the clearing of land for…

Jun

30

2020

By The African Mirror

After drought, Kenya’s herders hammered by coronavirus curbs

SUSTAINABILITY

WESLEY LANGAT PETER Olankai, who keeps cattle, sheep and goats, has struggled to buy and sell his animals in Kenya's Kajiado County as the coronavirus pandemic closed markets and ushered in movement restrictions and curfews that have eaten away at his income. "Our livelihood is reliant on livestock - we sell these animals to get money to buy food and other family needs, but now we can't," he said earlier this month. Olankai, 46, lives in Kisamis village in remote Maasai territory where there is no road network and connecting with buyers is a challenge. Now at home with his…

Jul

06

2020

By The African Mirror

With climate change, conflict and COVID, stresses grow for Malian villagers

SUSTAINABILITY

LAURIE GOERING NEARLY four decades ago, farmers in the small central Malian village of Dlonguebougou grew their millet crops with little more than hoes, and local mud-hut shops sold just the basics: salt, sugar, tea, cola nuts, kerosene and cigarettes. The vast empty reaches of the Sahel, stretching north into the Sahara Desert, offered endless grazing and land for farm expansion, residents told Camilla Toulmin, a researcher who has chronicled the community since the early 1980s. Today, however, life is changing in Dlonguebougou, as in many other villages across the drylands of West Africa. Some mud homes now sport satellite…

Mar

04

2021

By The African Mirror

Elephants or avocados: a Kenyan dilemma

SUSTAINABILITY

JACKSON NJEHIA and NAZANINE MOSHIRI THE majestic sight of elephants roaming beneath Mount Kilimanjaro has long lured throngs of wildlife-lovers to Amboseli National Park on Kenya's border with Tanzania. Yet the free movement of some 2,000 Amboseli elephants, along with two dozen other wildlife species plus cows owned by local Maasai people, may be under threat - from avocados. Kenyan agricultural company KiliAvo Fresh Ltd, which has farms near Amboseli on nearly 175 acres of land, is building nurseries and preparing to grow the fruit, whose popularity is growing worldwide due to its high nutritional value. Conservationists are aghast. They…

Mar

07

2021

By The African Mirror

Africa looks likely to continue relying on power from fossil fuels for some time

SUSTAINABILITY

THE narratives of “leapfrogging” to new technologies are pervasive when it comes to development in Africa. One example is skipping cord phones and landlines to advance directly from limited phone coverage to wide mobile phone usage. Another that’s frequently discussed is Africa’s potential for a quick transition to renewable energy. GALINA ALOVA, Environmental Economist | Energy, Sustainable Finance and Machine Learning, University of Oxford PHILIPP TROTTER, Research Associate, Renewable Energy, University of Oxford This is important both from a climate change and an economic development perspective. Providing affordable clean energy is big on the UN Sustainable Development Agenda (Goal 7).…

Mar

02

2021

By The African Mirror

We need a green recovery after COVID-19, but banning wildlife trade could do more harm than good

SUSTAINABILITY

AFTER several early cases of COVID-19 were linked to a wet market in China, wildlife trade became central to discussions about links between public health and nature. HOLLIE BOOTH, PhD Candidate, Conservation Science, University of Oxford Some groups called for a complete ban on the consumption and trade of wildlife, with governments such as China and Vietnam acting decisively to introduce large-scale prohibitions. The pandemic has brought humanity’s strained relationship with nature into sharp focus. It’s drawn public attention to links between environmental and human health, and led to calls for a “green recovery” that puts the environment at the…

Mar

18

2021

By The African Mirror

Solar lights help Kenyan women escape sex-for-fish trap

SUSTAINABILITY

KAGONDU NJAGI MARY Achieng' sifted through her catch of silver cyprinid fish, sorting them into gunny sacks and carrying them to the weighing stand at Kogwang' Beach, on the Kenyan shore of Lake Victoria. Achieng' had caught the fish the night before, using a solar-powered light to lure them into her nets. The 500-kg (1,100-lb) haul would earn her 50,000 Kenyan shillings ($450) - enough to keep her family going until she next went out again on the lake a week later. Before she got the lamp two years ago, Achieng' had to stock her stall in Kendu Bay with whatever she…