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A simple way to prevent African water wars
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on February 17th, 2016
SciDevNet: The first stage of Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance dam project is fast approaching its end. At 70 metres high, the dam is just 25 metres shy of the target for this stage of the project. Come June, it will be able to store the 14 billion cubic metres (BCM) of river water needed to kick the first turbines into action. [1] With two out of the 16 planned turbines up and running, the dam will generate 700 megawatts of electricity per year. And by late 2017, all turbines will produce 6,000 megawatts of power,...
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Timely flood warnings for downstream Nepal and India
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on February 16th, 2016
SciDevNet: Communities in flood-prone areas often do not have access to information about flood forecasting. As a result, they do not have sufficient time to evacuate and put their cattle and belongings in a safe area. The new Community-Based Flood Early Warning system, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)'s new initiative, now allows communities downstream to access almost real-time information about the water level upstream.
The system is cheap (at US$1,000) and the technology...
Improved irrigation backed halve food gap
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on February 16th, 2016
SciDevNet: If all farmers adopted well-known water management methods, global food production could expand as much as 41 per cent, scientists have shown.
Scientists modelled 35 "ambitious yet achievable' water management strategies and found that improved irrigation could halve the world's food gap, researchers write in a paper published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. This means the potential increase in crop yields could provide half the calories needed to eradicate hunger worldwide by 2050,...
Why the world needs a new diet
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on November 2nd, 2015
SciDevNet: Until not so long ago, the perceived solution to global hunger was to produce more food, mostly through intensive agriculture. But the dietary needs of a growing global population are now changing so we need to focus on producing food that is not only abundant, but also nutritious and grown sustainably, says Frank Rijsberman, CEO of agricultural consortium CGIAR, in this audio interview. New studies on food security show that, while many people in poor countries are still hungry, many more are...
El Niño doubt delays disaster preparation
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on October 21st, 2015
SciDevNet: Disagreement between scientists over whether Central and South America are about to be hit by a major El Niño event are delaying vital preparations, the region's weather organisations warn. South American scientists are still quibbling over whether an El Niño event is building. The uncertainty is impacting officials and states, who must act soon to prevent the worst scenarios, including deaths from natural disasters, meteorological organisations say. Eduardo Zambrano, a researcher at the International...
Scientists look to mosquito data to map spread of disease
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on July 7th, 2015
SciDevNet: Mosquitoes that carry the dengue and chikungunya viruses are more widespread than ever, believe scientists mapping the global spread of the insects.
There are no treatments or vaccines for these diseases, so knowing where the mosquitoes that transmit them occur and thrive can help focus research and public health resources, the scientists say.
A study, published in the journal eLife last week (30 June), focuses on two species of mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, which carry the...
Thousands die in Yemen in fights over water
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on June 25th, 2015
SciDevNet: Clashes over water are killing up to 4,000 people a year in Yemen, its government says. These conflicts, which predate the country's civil war, include raids on wells and other fights over water access involving armed groups, according to Yemen's interior ministry. "The conflict in Yemen is exacerbating water scarcity by reducing access to safe drinking water. If urgent action is not taken, the country will fall into further humanitarian crisis.' This compares with more than 2,500 deaths so far...
Forest communities map their land using data loggers
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on June 8th, 2015
SciDevNet: Simple data logging devices can help forest communities map their land and monitor environmental change, according to researchers running a trial.
An ongoing project by NGO the Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) encourages indigenous people in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo, to use portable, satellite-linked data loggers to create maps of areas that have not been mapped in great detail, or where existing maps are out of date.
These devices help communities visualise their...
Reliance on trade makes food systems vulnerable
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on May 21st, 2015
SciDevNet: Boosting international trade may not be the best way to improve food security, as it makes many countries vulnerable to food shortages caused by market fluctuations, according to new research.
A study published on 11 May in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that countries heavily reliant on importing their food -- including many in the Arab world and Latin America -- are more exposed to environmental and market shocks than those where at least half of all food is home-grown....
The struggle to get indigenous knowledge into policy
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on May 15th, 2015
SciDevNet: Compared with national and regional programmes, global level recognition of the importance of indigenous knowledge to scientific assessments has been lagging. But recently there have been signs of a shift in thinking among the organisations that help shape international agreements. For starters, an indigenous expert has made it onto the UN secretary-general’s board of science advisors. Plus, experimental projects are finding ways of making indigenous knowledge ‘citeable’ to ease its integration...