RSS Feed
Author Archive
Knowledge hub aims to boost herders’ political clout
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on May 14th, 2015
SciDevNet: A hub aimed at helping nomadic livestock keepers share information and unite to better defend their cause in global policy talks is up and running. There are hundreds of millions of pastoralists worldwide, managing ranges covering a third of the earth's land, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which launched the Pastoralist Knowledge Hub last month (27 April). But despite their numbers, pastoralists struggle voicing their concerns and wishes politically, because of their...
Posted in 
Three major canal schemes criticised over use science
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on April 21st, 2015
SciDevNet: Three water management projects involving canals in separate parts of the world have been criticised for how they incorporate scientific evidence -- albeit for varying reasons.
The ambitious projects are being marketed as an opportunity to improve the fortunes of the regions surrounding them. Yet perhaps due to their great geopolitical significance, each is treating the scientific analysis of the canals' potential risks and benefits very differently.
All three projects reached turning points...
How farmer-led radio propagates best practice
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on March 18th, 2015
SciDevNet: Getting farmers and farm science on air in Sub-Saharan Africa can vastly improve how agricultural knowledge is shared and taken up, says Kevin Perkins, executive director of Canadian charity Farm Radio International, in this audio interview. In Ethiopia, for example, 80 per cent of those who listened to a show on the benefits of planting the grain tef in rows started using this technique. Farm Radio International supports radio stations and farming communities in countries across Sub-Saharan Africa...
Rwanda fills climate data gap to protect against storms
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on December 17th, 2014
SciDevNet: Rwanda's weather service is now better able to forecast floods and other natural disasters after scientists bridged climate-data gaps left by the 1994 genocide.
The collection of national rainfall and temperature records lapsed for after the genocide, and the absence of reliable records had hampered the Rwanda Meteorology Agency's ability to forecast threats such as torrential rain or flooding that damaged homes and crops, and caused fatalities.
But researchers have now combined Rwandan weather...
Indian anti-cyclone actions slash extreme-weather risks
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on December 9th, 2014
SciDevNet: Developing nations should build resilience to extreme-weather events by learning from previous disasters and introducing technology such as early warning systems, says a report by UK-based scientific academy the Royal Society.
As an example, the researchers highlight Cyclone Phailin, which hit the east Indian state of Odisha in October 2013. It was the area's strongest storm since Cyclone 05B struck in 1999, killing almost 9,000 people and leaving more than 1.5 million homeless. Yet just 44 people...
Urban sustainability starts by bridging divides
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on November 19th, 2014
SciDevNet: Integrating tech and planning, urban with rural and formal with informal development can help transform cities.
For the first time in human history, more of us live in cities than in rural areas: 54 per cent of the world's population is now urban, a figure expected to increase to about 70 per cent by 2050.
It's easy to see why migration drives this trend -- cities offer economic opportunities that entice people in search of a better life. But growth and urbanisation bring with them a host of...
Don’t forget ethics when mapping uncharted slums
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on November 17th, 2014
SciDevNet: In 1854, physician John Snow identified the main source of a cholera epidemic in London using a map, and with it established the field of epidemiology. In a lecture theatre — fittingly named after Snow — at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, an initiative was launched earlier this month (7 November) to generate maps to help trace disease in uncharted areas.
The Missing Maps Project, founded by a consortium including Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), aims to develop basic maps of slums...
Solving salt water contamination in Bangladesh
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on October 29th, 2014
SciDevNet: Salt water has contaminated the drinking water in the Dacope district, a coastal region of Bangladesh. The increase in salinity, linked to rising sea levels associated with climate change, threatens the health of many people, particularly women and babies.
To deal with the problem, Bangladeshi and UK scientists are moving on two fronts. First, they are collecting more evidence on the links between climate change and water quality, and the resulting health impact. This kind of data might help promote...
Politicians urged to preserve finite phosphorous supply
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on September 10th, 2014
SciDevNet: Global policies are needed to promote technologies and farming practices that will help preserve phosphorous, a nutrient essential to increasing crop yields and ensuring food security, a conference has heard.
Phosphorous is commonly applied to crops in the form of phosphate fertilisers. But these are often inefficiently managed, Arno Rosemarin, senior research fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute, told the Sustainable Phosphorous Summit 2014 last week (1-3 September) in Montpellier, France....
The ultimate limitation of big data for development
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on September 2nd, 2014
SciDevNet: Big data can only capture the past -- without theory, they cannot predict into a changing future, says Martin Hilbert.
Recently, much has been written, talked, and done about the usefulness of big data for development. The UN Economic and Social Council recognises that "big data have the potential to produce more relevant and more timely statistics than traditional sources of official statistics, such as survey and administrative data sources', while the OECD is convinced that "big data now represents...