SUSTAINABILITY - The African Mirror

Feb

15

2021

New targets to protect biodiversity must include farmers and agriculture

SUSTAINABILITY

THE UN Convention on Biological Diversity is a treaty that aims to develop national strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of a country’s natural resources, or biological diversity. This is a general strategy that all countries must then adopt at the local level. ANJA GASSNER, Global Landscapes Forum science advisor and Senior Scientist, World Agroforestry (ICRAF) PHILIP DOBIE, Senior Fellow, World Agroforestry (ICRAF) TERRY SUNDERLAND, Professor in the Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia The Convention – a legally-binding international treaty – is currently negotiating new targets for the next 30 years. Decisions are made by parties to…

Feb

13

2021

By The African Mirror

Why African countries must invest more in earth sciences

SUSTAINABILITY

THE African continent contains some of the world’s richest mineral resources. For instance, the Democratic Republic of Congo produces most of the world’s cobalt; Rwanda, Ethiopia and Mozambique are major contributors to global tantalum output. These minerals are important constituents in modern electronics. WARWICK WILLIAM HASTIE, Senior Lecturer, University of KwaZulu-Natal The continent also has the bulk of global reserves of platinum and palladium, metals which are critical in the rapidly evolving market for renewable energy and electric vehicles. With such resources to hand, African researchers should be contributing significantly to the academic discipline of earth science – the physical…

Aug

05

2021

By The African Mirror

As oceans warm, Zanzibar’s women sea farmers grow sponges to stay afloat

SUSTAINABILITY

KIM HARRISBERG NASIR Hassan Haji never thought of herself as a farmer or a swimmer, but as she waded into Zanzibar's blue waters with goggles pulled over her headscarf to examine her floating sponge farm, she realised she had surprised herself by becoming both. Alongside 12 other women in Jambiani village on the Indian Ocean coast, Haji has come to rely on the climate-resilient, natural sponges bobbing on thick ropes where they grow for months before the women harvest, clean and sell them to shops and tourists. "I learned to swim and to farm sponges so I could be free…

Feb

12

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Seat at the table’: Women’s land rights seen as key to climate fight

SUSTAINABILITY

RINA CHANDRAN FROM legislative loopholes to cultural norms, women worldwide still face barriers in accessing land, researchers said on Thursday, despite evidence that tenure rights can protect them from the worsening effects of climate change. Women make up more than half the global population that relies almost exclusively on land and natural resources for a livelihood. Yet worldwide, only 14% of agricultural landowners are women - with an even smaller share in Africa and East Asia. Even in countries that recognise women's tenure rights, they often face practical and social barriers such as negative perceptions about their abilities, said a report from…

Feb

11

2021

By The African Mirror

Move into government, U.N. official urges young climate activists

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION, SUSTAINABILITY

LAURIE GOERING A generation of young activists eager to set the agenda on global warming and clean energy should seek government jobs as a way to get lagging climate and energy goals back on track, a top U.N. energy official said on Tuesday. "We can't keep doing things from outside," Damilola Ogunbiyi, co-chair of U.N. Energy and chief executive of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforAll), told an online youth summit on achieving universal clean energy access. With the world falling behind on goals to bring clean, affordable energy to billions more people by 2030, "changing the minds of leaders has to happen…

Feb

20

2021

By The African Mirror

Africa indigenous fruit trees offer major benefits. But they’re being ignored

SUSTAINABILITY

INDIGENOUS fruits have been collected from the wild for centuries for human consumption and other purposes. Across the African continent, indigenous fruit trees are valuable assets for local communities. ABIODUN OLUSOLA OMOTAYO, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, North-West University ADEYEMI OLADAPO AREMU, Associate professor, North-West University But the natural habitats of trees are being lost, mainly to widespread deforestation resulting from population growth. Industrial agriculture is also contributing to their loss. Indigenous fruit trees provide vital nutrients that may be scarce in other food sources. They are naturally adapted to local soils and climates, can enhance food and nutrition security and often…

Feb

19

2021

By The African Mirror

Five unusual technologies for harvesting water in dry areas

SUSTAINABILITY

MANZOOR QADIR, Assistant Director of the Institute for Water, Environment and Health, United Nations University VLADIMIR SMAKHTIN, Director of the Institute for Water, Environment and Health, United Nations University WATER scarcity is among the top five global risks affecting people’s wellbeing. In water-scarce areas, the situation is grim. Conventional sources like snowfall, rainfall, river runoff and easily accessible groundwater are being affected by climate change, and supplies are shrinking as demand grows. In these countries, water is a critical challenge to sustainable development and a potential cause of social unrest and conflict. Water scarcity also impacts traditional seasonal human migration…

Jul

30

2021

By The African Mirror

Heat wave shrivels mango crop for Egypt’s farmers

SUSTAINABILITY

MALAIKA TAPPER THE mango groves of Egypt's Ismailia province, normally humming with harvesting activity in July, have been quiet this summer following an unexpected heat wave that has ruined much of the crop and hurt farmers' livelihoods. Farmer Adel Dahshan, wearing a white galabeya stained with mango juice, said his farmed areas have yielded just a tiny fraction of their normal bounty. A sudden heat wave swept the province of Ismailia, which borders the Suez Canal, in early winter and then again in late March, and those hot days and cool nights have disrupted the fruit's development. "The weather at…

Feb

18

2021

By The African Mirror

South Africa to probe elevated sulphur levels

SUSTAINABILITY

SOUTH Africa's Environmental Ministry would investigate whether petrochemical company Sasol's Secunda operations could be the source of a sulphur smell experienced in parts of Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces since the weekend, officials have announced. The Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries said the smell was likely a combination of elevated levels of sulphur dioxide and hydrogen sulphide. Sasol said in a statement on its website on Tuesday that its Secunda operations did not have any operational incidents that could have resulted in an increase in sulphur emissions. The company said it had also started an investigation to assist in identifying…

Jul

29

2021

By The African Mirror

Senegalese plant circular gardens in Green Wall defence against desert

SUSTAINABILITY

CHRISTOPHER VAN DER PERRE and COOPER INVEEN EVERY night Moussa Kamara works at his bakery preparing hundreds of loaves but at sunrise, instead of going home to sleep, he now starts a second back-breaking job - hoeing the earth and tending newly sown seeds in a specially designed circular garden. Kamara, 47, believes the garden will prove even more important than the bakery in the future for feeding his extended family, including 25 children, and other residents of Boki Dawe, a Senegalese town near the border with Mauritania. He is part of a project that aims to create hundreds of…