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The foggy future of fresh water in Chile
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on August 27th, 2014
SciDevNet: One of the two 17 square metre fog-catchers that harvest water for producing Atrapaniebla beer. The three main parts of the fog catcher are a structure with mesh, a gutter and a tank to store the water. Miguel Ángel Carcuro Each month the Carcuro brothers, owners of the Atrapaniebla microbrewery, produce 1,000 litres of this ale. They mainly supply the beer to the cities closest to Peña Blanca, where the beer is made. Marco Carcuro The tiny water droplets in fog naturally condense on vegetation....
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‘Highly influential’ scientists still rare in the developing world
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on August 15th, 2014
SciDevNet: The latest list of the world's most highly cited researchers features few scientists based in developing countries -- and none from Africa outside South Africa -- exposing the North--South divide and raising questions on how the impact of science is measured.
Thomson Reuters has issued its The World's Most Influential Scientific Minds: 2014 report based on analysis of recent citations of published papers across science.
But only 86 out of the approximately 3,200 scientists on the list are affiliated...
Africa makes inroads on open development data
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on August 15th, 2014
SciDevNet: New statistical and open data platforms are being set up to remedy long-standing challenges of development data access across Africa, promising to improve services and increase transparency.
Open data on developing countries can be used "to improve the efficiency and coverage of public services in a variety of development sectors such as education, health, transport, energy', says Amparo Ballivian, a lead economist at the World Bank.
Open data can also help generate new businesses and therefore...
Hotter nights may cause rice yields to fall
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on May 17th, 2014
SciDevNet: Nights are getting hotter and scientists are sweating over the possibility that rice yields may fall as a result. Decreasing rice harvests mean higher prices. That would be a scary scenario in Asia where rice is considered not only a basic food staple but also a political commodity. Shortages of the commodity in 2007-2008 angered consumers across the region and caused some governments to wobble. A 35-year climate trending by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) under its Long-Term Continuous...
Climate-hit fisheries ‘can still meet demand in 2050’
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on March 31st, 2014
SciDevNet: Fish catches will need to increase by only 3.4 per cent to meet global dietary demand in 2050, according to a study predicting how climate change will affect marine ecosystems.
The authors warn that achieving this will require the wider implementation of sustainable harvesting, such as technological developments to reduce dependence on wild stock for farmed fish feed, and more-effective distribution of wild fish products from regions with a surplus to those with a deficit.
This means that changes...
Riverboats help get remote parts of Amazon online
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on March 14th, 2014
SciDevNet: The world's second largest river is home to some of the most remote communities in the world, but thanks to a recent connection drive they are now increasingly benefiting from internet access.
The Amazon Connection project has brought 3G (third generation) internet access -- which can be used for voice and internet services -- to rural communities living along the Tapajós River, a major tributary of the Amazon River.
The project is a partnership between Swedish communications company Ericsson,...
Rise in malaria forecast for tropical highlands
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on February 14th, 2014
SciDevNet: More people may contract malaria in the tropical highlands of Africa, Asia and South America as global warming makes the climate in these areas more suitable for the disease's transmission, according to a study. While the study focuses on the effects of global warming, it notes that further studies will be needed to account for other factors that may influence the disease's spread, including economic development, changes in human population patterns and adaptations in the mosquitoes that transmit...
Gates’ scheme to reinvent the toilet is ‘too high-tech’
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on December 5th, 2013
SciDevNet: Bill and Melinda Gates's competition to produce a high-tech toilet for the developing world has been questioned by toilet experts.
An environmental engineer and an NGO worker have criticised the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for funding the development of advanced toilets that would be too expensive to provide sanitation for the 2.5 billion people without access to a toilet.
The foundation should instead focus on cheaper technologies and ways to get toilets into communities in a sustainable...
Developing nations bear the brunt of extreme weather
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on November 13th, 2013
SciDevNet: Haiti, the Philippines and Pakistan were the countries that suffered the most due to extreme weather events in 2012, according to the Global Climate Risk Index released yesterday at the UN Climate Change Conference in Warsaw, Poland. The 2012 events that hit these countries and, so explain their high ranking were Hurricane Sandy in Haiti, Typhoon Bopha in the Philippines, and severe monsoon flooding in Pakistan. "We have lost almost US$15 billion to floods and droughts in the last three years and...
Treaty to cut mercury pollution signed by 92 countries
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on October 23rd, 2013
SciDevNet: A ground-breaking, legally-binding global treaty on reducing mercury pollution has been signed by 92 countries.
The treaty spells "the beginning of the end of mercury as a threat to human health and the environment', UN Environment Programme (UNEP) executive director Achim Steiner, told a diplomatic meeting in Japan earlier this month (10-11 October) where the treaty was signed.
But much work remains to provide the funding and technical and scientific advice needed to implement the treaty,...