SUSTAINABILITY - The African Mirror

Apr

10

2021

‘Sacred forests’ in West Africa capture carbon and keep soil healthy

SUSTAINABILITY

IN parts of West Africa, patches of forest have been preserved for long periods of time because of their cultural or religious significance. These “sacred forests” are believed to be inhabited and protected by gods, totem animals or ancestors. Local communities have their own rules prohibiting reckless harvesting of timber and game, which have protected the sacred forests over many generations. MICHELE FRANCIS, Researcher, Department of Soil Science, Stellenbosch University The forests cover several hundred square kilometres, and may be the remnants of a once continuous forest along the West African coast. The historically dense forest ecosystem in West Africa…

Apr

15

2021

By The African Mirror

Health systems urged to develop green cure for fast-rising emissions

SUSTAINABILITY

MEGAN ROWLING HOSPITALS and other healthcare facilities worldwide can prepare better for both climate change and future pandemics by adopting green technology and cutting planet-heating emissions from their operations and supply chains, health experts said on Wednesday. A new roadmap setting out ways for the health sector to reach net-zero emissions said healthcare has a "substantial" climate footprint, accounting for 4.4% of global emissions, mostly due to the use of fossil fuels for energy and products. Without action to shrink those emissions, they would more than triple by 2050, equalling the annual emissions from 770 coal-fired power plants, said the…

Jul

07

2021

By The African Mirror

Jacarandas in parts of South Africa are flowering earlier: why it’s a warning sign

SUSTAINABILITY

IN September each year, South Africa’s Gauteng province turns purple. The cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria are well covered with trees – and jacarandas (Jacaranda mimosifolia), with their purple blooms in late spring, are a prominent part of this urban forest. JENNIFER FITCHETT, Associate Professor of Physical Geography, University of the Witwatersrand About 16% of the land in the Gauteng City Region is planted with trees, forming one of the world’s largest and most densely vegetated man-made urban forests. Johannesburg alone is recorded to have over 10 million trees. Jacarandas were introduced to Pretoria and later Johannesburg in the early…

Jul

03

2021

By The African Mirror

Kenya’s huge railway project is causing environmental damage. Here’s how

SUSTAINABILITY

KENYA is constructing a railway line that connects the coastal port of Mombasa and the interior of the country. It is expected to terminate at Malaba, a town on the border with Uganda, and link up with other railways that are being built in East Africa. It’s locally known as the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). TOBIAS NYUMBA, Post Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Nairobi The passenger and freight railway line is one of the biggest infrastructure investments in Kenya’s history. Construction began in 2014 at an estimated cost of US$3.8 billion, 90% of which is supplied by a loan from…

Apr

21

2021

By The African Mirror

Solar and wind power could break the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam deadlock

SUSTAINABILITY

FOR several years, political tensions between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt have been escalating in a conflict over the near-complete Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The GERD is Africa’s largest hydropower plant. It dams the Blue Nile river coming from Ethiopia’s highlands just before it crosses into Sudan where, after merging with the White Nile, it continues northwards to Egypt. SEBASTIAN STERL, Researcher, Energy & Climate, Vrije Universiteit Brussel Ethiopia needs GERD’s electricity to lift millions of citizens out of poverty. But Egypt is concerned by GERD’s consequences for its agriculture, which depends completely on Nile water. Sudan, meanwhile, sees both…

Jul

01

2021

By The African Mirror

Kenyan farmers tap apps to ride out COVID-19 and climate storm

SUSTAINABILITY

WESLEY LANGAT OVER the past year, Wilson Lang'at has made a steady profit from his farm in Koiyet village, managing to get the seeds and fertiliser he needs, planning ahead for droughts and floods, and borrowing money to diversify his crops - all through his phone. His experience is not the norm, as most farmers across Kenya have struggled with the double hit of extreme weather shrinking their yields and coronavirus lockdowns and curfews choking off access to supplies and demand for their produce. Until two years ago, the 46-year-old father of six traded cows while growing maize on the…

Apr

16

2021

By The African Mirror

Air pollution: How to create an ‘air quality’ garden

SUSTAINABILITY

RACHEL BROWN WHY is air pollution a concern? Air pollution is a global problem that affects us all, causing harm to our health, vegetation and ecosystems in both urban and rural areas. It occurs when clean air is polluted by particulate matter (PM). This is made up of solid or liquid particles from natural sources such as pollen and desert sand, or from man-made sources, such as dust, soot and smoke. Man-made PM mainly comes from wood-burning stoves, solid-fuel stoves, and open fires in homes; industrial combustion and processes; and road transport. Air pollution also come from gases that have…

Apr

17

2021

By The African Mirror

Is ‘frugal innovation’ Africa’s ticket to green development?

SUSTAINABILITY

LAURIE GOERING CASH-SHORT Africa will need "frugal innovation" based on simple, local solutions to deal with serious and growing problems, from climate change to a surging youth population and a lack of jobs, African entrepreneurs and officials said on Wednesday. The good news is Africans "have frugal reflexes. They have been doing frugal innovation a long time", said Fatima Denton, director of the U.N. University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa, based in Ghana. But sparse research funding, government restrictions, a cultural under-appreciation of entrepreneurs and a focus by many governments on large-scale industrialisation as the way ahead are holding…

Apr

22

2021

By The African Mirror

Who is the man Jeff Bezos chose to spend $10 billion as head of his Earth Fund?

SUSTAINABILITY

MEGAN ROWLING TEN billion dollars - that's a lot of money for one person to invest in anything, especially in the space of just a decade. It's the staggering size of the Bezos Earth Fund, set up last year by the founder of online retailer Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos, to tackle climate change. That fund gets a new boss on Thursday: Andrew Steer. Announced in March, Steer's appointment went down well with experts in the climate world, following his respected stewardship of the World Resources Institute (WRI). Known as a straight talker, Steer brings decades of experience in international diplomacy and…

May

12

2021

By The African Mirror

Futuristic computer game hopes to be tonic for climate change anxiety

SUSTAINABILITY

KIM HARRISBERG IT is the year 2050, the planet is warming up, meals come from nutritional food packs and dozens of new zoonotic viruses are spreading. As the editor of an influential newspaper, how would you try to shape public opinion? This is one of the scenarios encountered by players of an online game launched on Monday, which uses humour and interactive decision-making to encourage people to think about the future of climate change, and what they can do about it. Survive the Century is the work of scientists, economists and writers around the world brought together by U.S.-based research group…