drought - The African Mirror

Feb

2021

Smart weather app helps Kenya’s herders brace for drought

KAGONDU NJAGI SITTING under a low tree to escape the blazing Kenyan sun, Kaltuma Milkalkona and two young men hunch intently over the older woman's smartphone - but they are not transfixed by the latest sports scores or a trending internet meme. The men instead are looking at a weather alert for their village in the country's north, sent through an app that uses weather station data to help pastoralists prepare for drought. The myAnga app on Milkalkona's phone showed that Merille would continue facing dry weather and that "pasture conditions (were) expected to be very poor with no grass…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Namibia to auction 170 elephants over drought, increased population

NEWS

NAMIBIA has put 170 "high value" wild elephants up for sale due to drought and an increase in elephant numbers, the southern African country's environmental ministry said on Wednesday. An advertisement carried by state-owned daily New Era said an increase in incidents of human-elephant conflict motivated the sale of the large mammal that is at risk of extinction due to poaching and ecological factors. The Ministry of Environment Forestry and Tourism said it would auction the animals to anyone in Namibia or abroad who could meet the strict criteria, which include quarantine facilities and a game-proof fence certificate for the…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Extreme heat is a threat to lives in Africa, but it’s not being monitored

ENVIRONMENT

EXTREME heat is a serious hazard to people’s health. It affects the cardiovascular system and is particularly dangerous for the elderly and people with pre-existing health conditions. LUKE HARRINGTON, Postdoctoral researcher in Climate Extremes, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford FRIEDERIKE OTTO, Associate Director, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford Recent research has found that since the 1950s, extreme heat has become more frequent and severe, and lasted longer, in nearly all regions of the world. The biggest increases have been seen in the Middle East, South America and parts of Africa. Because societies in different parts of the world…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

As Cape Town races to save water, risk of ‘Day Zero’ drought seen rising

ENVIRONMENT

KIM HARRISBERG CAPE TOWN faces an 80% higher chance of another 'Day Zero' drought by the end of the century if greenhouse gas emissions keep rising at current rates, research showed on Monday, as the South African city races to safeguard water supplies. Following a 2018 drought in South Africa that nearly caused Cape Town's taps to run dry, known as Day Zero, officials have been working to avert further water crises that could put lives at risk and destroy livelihoods in the coming years. Using new high-resolution simulations, researchers from Stanford University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Potholes’ from the past help drought-hit Zimbabwean farmers save water

ENVIRONMENT

LUNGELO NDHLOVU FOR 18 years, Thokozile Ncube has been planting her crops in manure-filled holes covered with straw - and every year, she grows enough to feed her family, as other farmers in Zimbabwe's drought-prone Matobo district watch their crops shrivel. The traditional planting method helps crops survive droughts by keeping them hydrated for longer than tilling and watering an entire field, said the mother of eight from Gwangazile village, 40 km (25 miles) south of Bulawayo. "Whenever the rain comes, that's when you do the planting and your crops will remain green, even during a dry spell, until the…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

In a thirsty world, information gaps dog a push to tap groundwater

ENVIRONMENT

LAURIE GOERING AS growing populations and accelerating climate change worsen water scarcity around the world, pumping more from underground could help fill the gap in poorer nations - but only if supplies are better charted and they are used wisely, researchers said. "It's a resource with a huge amount of potential," said Jude Cobbing, who led a new study for charities WaterAid, Earthwatch and WWF on how groundwater is managed in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Nigeria and Ghana. Little is understood about how much groundwater is available, particularly at local level, and poor organisation between government agencies can mean it does…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Kenyan county tackles water woes with locally led climate fund

ENVIRONMENT

GEOFFREY KAMADI EXPOSED to both drought and flash floods, Makueni was one of the first counties in Kenya to set up its own fund to help small-scale farmers cope with worsening climate change impacts, and dedicate local resources to tackling the problem. Inhabitants of this water-scarce region southeast of Nairobi have often faced hunger during long dry periods, while heavy rains inundate its low-lying savannah with little notice. Sometimes the two extremes hit the county at the same time. "We had to think of a quick, locally led solution for our people," said Mary Mbenge, Makueni's chief officer for natural…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Hit by worsening drought, Zimbabwe taps funding for water-wise farming

ENVIRONMENT

LUNGELO NDHLOVU AFTER long-running drought slashed their harvests, small-scale farmers in Lupane, western Zimbabwe, decided to switch away from irrigating their fields by flooding them, which wastes huge amounts of water. They tested out more precise drip irrigation that saves water by delivering it to plants efficiently, while monitoring soil moisture and temperature with pressure sensors. Those practices have enabled farmers in the Tshongokwe Irrigation Scheme in Matabeleland North province to grow vegetables and adapt to more challenging climate conditions. "We started growing cabbages at a larger scale last May," said Soneni Dube, chairperson of the scheme's committee. "We had…