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The Ebo Forest in Cameroon, Africa, is a biodiversity hotspot, home to an amazing range of wildlife, including forest elephants, gorillas, drills, chimpanzees, grey parrots and the goliath frog. San Diego Zoo Global
By Lamfu Fabrice Yengong and Sylvie Djacbou Deugoue
Biodiversity loss is a global crisis. In May last year, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) warned that over 1,000,000 species are threatened with extinction worldwide. On May 22, the International Day of Biodiversity, it is important to recall the silent victims of our country's obsession for industrial growth at the expense of our forests.
<p>Tropical rainforests are estimated to harbor more than half of the world's plant and animal species. They are also essential for access to water, regulating temperature and preventing soil erosion. It's time to return the forests to indigenous and local communities. </p><p>In our country, Cameroon, the conservation of biodiversity, global climate goals and human rights of indigenous and local communities are all put at stake for industrial exploitation of the rainforest, driven by short-sighted thinking. Biodiversity hotspots are put at risk by industrial logging and agriculture, as trees are cut for the tropical timber market and entire forests cleared to make room for oil palm and rubber plantations. The government tries to assure conservationists that some space will be reserved for the wildlife in the forest it trashes, but even protected areas are not truly safe. </p><p>Companies, usually foreign-owned, are rapidly destroying rainforests that have existed for years. Local communities are left poorer after their traditional source of livelihood is desecrated. The only ones getting rich are a small group of beneficiaries that are close to the circles of power. </p><p>Some low-income countries that are rich in forests are resorting to quick solutions like logging and industrial agriculture. But industrial logging concessions and rubber and palm oil plantations are never the job-creating mechanism they promise to be. That has been demonstrated over and over again in forest countries around the world.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/407/" target="_blank">the Dja Faunal Reserve</a>, a UNESCO world heritage site in the South of Cameroon, is home to more than 100 species of mammals, including at least 14 primates, such as the endangered western lowland gorilla, chimpanzee, and white-collared mangabey, as well as species such as the endangered forest elephant, and the African grey parrot, bongo antelope and leopard.</p><p>The Dja Faunal Reserve is adjacent to the Sudcam rubber plantation, mainly owned by rubber giant Halcyon Agri. Sudcam has cleared more than 10,000 hectares (approximately 25,000 acres) of dense tropical rainforest in the South region of Cameroon – an equivalent of 10 football pitches a day – to make way for a rubber plantation between 2011 and 2018. The rubber plantation has rattled the lives of several indigenous communities, namely the Baka, but it has also aggravated the lives of those numerous protected species in the Dja Reserve.</p><p>To indigenous and local forest dependent communities, the rainforest serves as a source of nutritious foods and traditional medicine, much of which science has yet to explore. The forest is also the foundation of their social life, from recreational to ritual practices. Furthermore, biodiversity loss itself is a direct and immediate threat to the livelihood of indigenous peoples like the Baka next to the Sudcam plantation.</p><p>Upon the arrival of rubber company Sudcam, the indigenous community has lost access to its forest and specifically to the animals and plants they rely on. As Sudcam gets richer, it leaves entire communities in impoverishment, abjectness and destitution. </p>
<p>That is the fate which the chiefs of the Banen people of the Littoral region in Cameroon are trying to avoid <a href="http://www.cameroon-info.net/article/cameroun-denonciation-le-peuple-banen-du-littoral-soppose-a-la-confiscation-de-ses-terres-371484.html" target="_blank">in their current struggle</a> against the destruction of large parts of the Ebo forest. </p><p>The <a href="https://www.globalwildlife.org/blog/ebo-forest-a-stronghold-for-cameroons-wildlife/" target="_blank">Ebo Forest</a> is a biodiversity hotspot, one of the intact forest ecosystems in the Gulf of Guinea, stretching over 2000 square kilometers (approximately 772 square miles). Ebo Forest is home to an amazing range of wildlife, including forest elephants, gorillas, drills, chimpanzees, grey parrots and the goliath frog – the largest living frog on the planet. Accordingly, it was designated over a decade ago by the Cameroon Government as a National Park. </p><p>However, on February 4, the same government of Cameroon authorized two logging concessions (<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P8O3pc1JeLaAnDF1ERXvRrIAzjnw09SG/view" target="_blank">UFA07005</a> and <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n2cgvavirDdYmApiTd5vLV0hQRova6Ed/view" target="_blank">UFA07006</a>) inside the area of Ebo Forest. The planned concessions are enormous – about the size of London. Again, the government of Cameroon wants to convince us that conservation can be done with chainsaws. </p><p>Biodiversity loss doesn't only mean our children would get to see some of the world's most marvelous creatures only in documentary films. The consequences are far greater and more tangible.</p>
<p>The extinction of forest elephants, for example, small relatives of African Savanna elephants, might also reduce the number of large trees that they support, trees that excel at storing carbon. In the Congo Basin forest, the disappearance of forest elephants might mean a loss of about three billion tons of carbon – equivalent to France's CO2 emissions over more than 25 years, according to a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/19/science/elephants-climate-change.html" target="_blank">New York Times article</a> on recent research published in the journal <em>Nature Geoscience.</em> </p><p>Cameroon's government has made public commitments to preserve and protect biodiversity. Positive declarations and ambitious plans may win applause and some international funding, but all eyes should be on implementation. <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/africa/en/press/8593/we-were-told-not-to-go-into-the-forest-anymore-greenpeace-investigation-exposes-human-rights-violations-by-halcyon-agri/" target="_blank">Field investigations by Greenpeace Africa</a> and others clearly show how far we are from protecting biodiversity. </p><p>In Cameroon's government, as well as in the meeting rooms and corridors of development agencies, decision makers often hold outdated views. Too often we hear that only through rapid and massive removal of the rainforest in favor of large-scale logging and industrial agriculture plantations can the country emerge out of poverty. </p><p>Yet that model has repeatedly failed the people, as short-term high profits always remained accessible only to a small circle of beneficiaries. On the contrary, local communities who have lived in harmony with nature for many generations are likely to face poverty, abuse, hunger and alcoholism <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-sustainable-development-ravaged-the-congo-basin/" target="_blank">wherever</a> forests are suddenly destroyed. It is becoming increasingly clear that the best solution for both human rights and the planet is for forests to be managed by local communities. They do so much better than the industrial loggers or plantation owners. </p>
<p>The Cameroonian government needs to realize that trashing forests is not the way to make the economy grow. Rapid and intensive exploitation of nature has more far-reaching consequences than short-term economic growth. To prevent the extinction of fauna and flora species, indigenous communities that live among them need the rights to manage their forest.</p>
<p>Standing for biodiversity means communities should get the rights to manage their forests, instead of the corporations that destroy them. </p>
<p class=""><em>Lamfu Fabrice Yengong is a Congo Basin researcher. </em></p><p><em>Sylvie Djacbou Deugoue is a forest campaigner for Greenpeace Africa.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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A worker with the local collective SN3D - COVID19 carries a box of protection masks, made from their 3D printing machine to be delivered to emergency workers on the frontline of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak in Dakar, Senegal on April 16, 2020. JOHN WESSELS / AFP via Getty Images
The glaring lack of adequate medical resources is becoming increasingly pronounced as developing nations try to prepare for a COVID-19 outbreak.
<p>In Africa, for example, there are fewer than 2,000 working ventilators in public hospitals across 41 African countries, the World Health Organization says, compared with more than 170,000 in the U.S., as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/18/world/africa/africa-coronavirus-ventilators.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p><p>Ten countries in Africa have none at all.</p><p>Somalia's Health Ministry has none. The Central African Republic has three. South Sudan has four, which is one fewer than the number of vice presidents it has. Liberia has five. Nigeria, with a population of over 200 million, has fewer than 100, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/africa-coronavirus-ventilators/2020/04/17/903163a4-7f3e-11ea-84c2-0792d8591911_story.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.</p>
<p>The paltry number of ventilators across the continent means that patients who appear at hospitals with the most severe acute respiratory symptoms from the novel coronavirus have little chance of surviving. While the number of ventilators is expected to increase as donations trickle in, few doctors across the continent have had the extensive training necessary to use them. Also, the ventilators usually require an anesthesiologist to intubate patients, or at least supervise the process, but anesthesiologists are scarce in Africa, according to The Washington Post.</p>
<p>The shortage of ventilators, training and specialists required to make them functional is only part of the massive shortage in resources that poorer countries face during the global pandemic. Health officials have also warned about a dire shortage of oxygen and masks. Even soap and water are in short supply.</p><p>According to the <a href="https://www.unicef.org/stories/infographic-get-facts-handwashing" target="_blank">United Nations</a>, only 15 percent of sub-Saharan Africans had access to basic hand-washing facilities in 2015. In Liberia, UN numbers showed that in 2017, 97 percent of homes did not have access to soap and clean water, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/18/world/africa/africa-coronavirus-ventilators.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>"The things that people need are simple things," said Kalipso Chalkidou, the director of global health policy at the Center for Global Development, a research group, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/18/world/africa/africa-coronavirus-ventilators.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported. "Not high-tech things."</p><p>As of Saturday, there were more than 21,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and 1,000 deaths across the continent. The World Health Organization said that the virus appears to be spreading away from Africa's capital cities. The UN Economic Commission for Africa warned that 300,000 could die and called for a $100 billion safety net for the continent, including halting external debt payments, as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-52323375" target="_blank">BBC</a> reported.</p><p>"Anywhere between 300,000 and 3.3 million African people could lose their lives as a direct result of COVID-19, depending on the intervention measures taken to stop the spread," the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa said in a <a href="https://www.uneca.org/sites/default/files/PublicationFiles/eca_covid_report_en_rev16april_5web.pdf" target="_blank">report released Friday</a>.</p>
<p>The problem, according to the UN agency, rests partly with the layout and infrastructure of some of Africa's biggest cities, where the majority of the urban population lives in overcrowded neighborhoods without reliable access to hand-washing facilities, as <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/17/836896562/u-n-agency-fears-vulnerable-africa-may-suffer-at-least-300-000-covid-19-deaths" target="_blank">NPR</a> reported.</p><p>"We are now failing. Let me use that word deliberately," said Mahad Hassan, one of Somalia's few epidemiologists and a member of the government's coronavirus task force, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/africa-coronavirus-ventilators/2020/04/17/903163a4-7f3e-11ea-84c2-0792d8591911_story.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported. "At our main treatment center, almost nothing is there. Last time I visited, beds, only beds. No oxygen, no ventilators."</p><p>Liberia's minister of information explained to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/18/world/africa/africa-coronavirus-ventilators.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> that attempts to procure medical equipment run into problems like wealthier countries hoarding supplies, bidding against other governments, and price gouging by suppliers.</p><p>"We keep fighting with our neighbors and the big countries. Even having a contract is not a guarantee we're going to get a supply," Eugene Nagbe, the minister of information said. One vendor, after entering a contract, turned around and raised the price from the agreed-upon $15,000 per ventilator to $24,000, he added, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/18/world/africa/africa-coronavirus-ventilators.html" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/18/world/africa/africa-coronavirus-ventilators.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p>
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A Unicef social mobilizer uses a speaker as she carries out public health awareness to prevent the spread and detect the symptoms of the COVID-19 coronavirus by UNICEF at Mangateen IDP camp in Juba, South Sudan on April 2. ALEX MCBRIDE / AFP / Getty Images
By Eddie Ndopu
- South Africa is ground zero for the coronavirus pandemic in Africa.
- Its townships are typical of high-density neighbourhoods across the continent where self-isolation will be extremely challenging.
- The failure to eradicate extreme poverty is a threat beyond the countries in question.
<p>As soon as the novel coronavirus criss-crossed the planet, defying borders and rooting itself in our daily lives, public health officials started singing from the same song sheet – warning those of us with underlying health conditions to be especially careful. I was in New York to see my neurologist when the Centres for Disease Control first publicly announced that the COVID-19 pandemic would disproportionately impact the elderly and people with serious underlying health issues.</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/covid-19-south-africa-developing-countries/" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a>.</em></p>
<p>As a young disabled man living with spinal muscular atrophy – a degenerative, motor-neuron condition that makes the immune system more susceptible to acute respiratory infections – I took heed of the call for vigilance and cut my trip short. With support from my US-based medical team, I fled New York before the dramatic surge in state-wide cases and returned home to Johannesburg on the eve that President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national disaster. At the time, South Africa had fewer than 100 confirmed cases.</p><p>That was just over two weeks ago.</p><p>As I write this on 31 March, 15 days into self-quarantine since my safe return home, our confirmed cases stand at nearly 1,500. We are now five days into a nationwide lockdown for 21 days in a desperate bid to flatten the curve.</p><p>Flicking through the news channels, I just heard President Ramaphosa address the South African National Defence Force in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief. Clad in full military camouflage, his directive was clear: "You are called upon to defend the people of South Africa against this virus."</p><p>For the first time since the dark days of apartheid, South Africans are bearing witness to the marshaling of the armed forces to restrict freedom of movement as part of a dramatic intervention to enforce social distancing on a mass scale. With winter fast approaching and with the highest number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Africa, South Africa is ground zero on a continent that has been all but forgotten in the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
Self-Isolation in the Townships
<p>While I worry about the risk of exposure to myself as a young disabled man, I worry more about the risk of exposure to a continent that is completely ill-equipped to deal with this approaching tsunami. I shudder to think what would happen if South Africa – or the continent at large – became the epicentre of the pandemic.</p><p>For public health officials around the world, density control is proving to be the most effective tool in their arsenal to slow down the rate of transmission. But in townships across South Africa where millions of people live in crammed, makeshift houses perched on top of burst sewage pipes, telling people to stay at home and hunker down seems like a callous and potentially counter-intuitive prescription from a public health standpoint. In these densely populated communities, where there's no access to running water and where a single family must share one mobile toilet with at least 10 other families, how on earth do we expect this segment of society to diligently practice hand-washing with soap and water?</p><p>In addition to the concerns linked to containment and mitigation, I worry about the state's capacity to accord its citizens the economic safety net to weather the storm. South Africa – like the rest of the continent – is deeply indebted. In this context, the state is not in a position to craft the kind of economic rescue packages required to soften the blow from the havoc wrecked by the novel coronavirus.</p>Entrenched Inequalities
<p>To grapple with these challenges, we must accept that in many ways the chickens have come home to roost in terms of persistent global inequalities and the monstrous neglect of the most marginalized segments of society. Because of our continued failure to invest in the eradication of extreme poverty and in the creation of economic and social safety nets for the most vulnerable among us – actions that underpin the SDGs – we have arrived at a historical moment in which entire populations face the very real possibility of being killed because of their own vulnerability.</p><p>The novel coronavirus is certainly a crisis, but alongside this crisis, we face a deeper crisis of solidarity and international cooperation. In the context of doing everything we can to flatten the curve, the case for self-isolation is clear. But when it comes to the broader context of global health and sustainable development, countries operating in isolation from one another threatens progress and prosperity for humanity as a whole.</p><p>It was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr who said that a threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Now more than ever, what happens to Iran affects Italy and what happens to Spain affects the United States. What I fear might happen to Africa will most certainly affect the world.</p><p>May this moment serve as a reminder that not only are we in this together, we are in actual fact bound by a shared trajectory. What happens over the next 21 days in South Africa might very well affect the trajectory of humanity moving forward, so we better pay attention.</p>From Your Site Articles
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Black rhinoceros in the African Savannah. Pierre-Yves Babelon / Moment / Getty Images
There's a welcome bit of good news coming out of Africa. After immense conservation efforts, the numbers of critically endangered black rhinoceroses is slowly ticking up, according to the latest figures released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as the BBC's Science Focus reported.
<p>The numbers show that the population is growing, albeit at a slow rate — just 2.5 percent per year over six years. The species is still in grave danger, susceptible to poaching and a changing habitat due to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate crisis</a>. Yet, the population growth, from 4,845 in 2012 to an estimated 5,630 in 2018, provides a glimmer of hope that efforts put into saving the species are paying off, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/19/win-for-conservation-as-african-black-rhino-numbers-rise" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p>
<p>"While Africa's rhinos are by no means safe from extinction, the continued slow recovery of black rhino populations is a testament to the immense efforts made in the countries the species occurs in, and a powerful reminder to the global community that conservation works," Dr. Grethel Aguilar, acting director general of the IUCN, which compiles the global red list of species under threat, said as <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/african-black-rhino-population-endangered-extinction-a9412341.html" target="_blank">The Independent reported</a>.</p>
<p>"At the same time, it is evident that there is no room for complacency as poaching and illegal trade remain acute threats," she added. "It is essential that the ongoing anti-poaching measures and intensive, proactive population management continue, with support from national and international actors."</p>
<p>The IUCN projections forecast that the population will continue to grow over the next five years. </p>
<p>Different strategies to save the endangered species have been employed to varying degrees of success. Those attempts have included relocating some individual animals from established groups to new areas to increase the species range, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-20/population-of-endangered--african-black-rhino-rise/12076484" target="_blank">according to the Australian Broadcasting Company</a>. Some rhinos have been removed from their home areas to avoid interbreeding.</p>
<p>In an upsetting failure in June 2018, 11 black rhinos were move to Kenya's Tsavo East National Park, from Nairobi. They all died — 10 from drinking water that was saltier than they were used to, and one from a lion attack, as the Australian Broadcasting Company reported.</p>
<p>Despite those mishaps, the largest threat to black rhinos is still poachers. </p>
<p>"There are major challenges still facing rhinos today," Paula Kahumbu, the CEO of wildlife charity Wildlife Direct said to the Australian Broadcasting Company. "The first is the demand for rhino horn in Asia. So long as that demand remains, the price will stay high and the incentive for poaching will continue across Africa."</p>
<p>"The prevention of poaching requires very good intelligence, extremely good anti-poaching efforts, and that is expensive," she added. "It means that we have to have almost a military-style approach to protecting these animals."</p>
<p>The IUCN has said that ramped up efforts from range states, private landowners and communities in recent years are having a positive effect. The numbers are still troubling, but trending in the right direction. Figures indicate that poaching numbers have decreased after peaking in 2015, when a minimum of 1,349 rhinos were poached. In 2018, that number dropped to a minimum of 892 rhinos poached. That's equivalent to one every 10 hours, according to Science Focus.</p>
<p>"With the involvement of transnational organized crime in poaching, rhino crimes are not just wildlife crimes," Richard Emslie, a coordinator for African rhinos at IUCN, said as The Guardian reported. "If the encouraging declines in poaching can continue, this should positively impact rhino numbers. Continued expenditure and efforts will be necessary to maintain this trend."</p>
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<p>The mother and calf were confirmed dead Tuesday in Ijara, Garissa County by community members and rangers from the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/IshaqbiniHirola/" target="_blank">Ishaqbini Hirola Community Conservancy</a>, according to a press release.</p><p>"This is a very sad day for the community of Ijara and Kenya as a whole," conservancy manager Mohammed Ahmednoor said in the press release. "We are the only community in the world who are custodians of the white giraffe. Its killing is a blow to tremendous steps taken by the community to conserve rare and unique species, and a wakeup call for continued support to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> efforts."</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1237362770439536641" id="twitter-embed-1237362770439536641" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1237362770439536641&created_ts=1583845248.0&screen_name=NRT_Kenya&text=SAD+NEWS%F0%9F%98%A2%3A+%40IshaqbiniHirola+Community+Conservancy%2C+Garissa+County+loses+two+famous+white+giraffes+to+poachers.%0A%0AFor%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2F8ULLnKRfAi&id=1237362770439536641&name=%40nrt_kenya" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="PU62581583930683"></iframe><p>The Kenya Wildlife Service had been called to the sanctuary after it was reported that the two giraffes had not been seen for some time, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/10/africa/white-giraffes-kenya-poachers-trnd/index.html?utm_medium=social&utm_term=link&utm_content=2020-03-10T21%3A01%3A00&utm_source=fbCNN&fbclid=IwAR0_t1DhUnq1t6ZmUj4B9uC5sbgS9ssqOU-f2wDCLitQrlv-9jBYA0lyh2o" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>. When their skeletal remains were found and photographed, it was estimated that they had been dead at least four months. The Kenya Wildlife Service is now investigating the deaths.</p><p>Only one white giraffe is left in the conservancy, a male who is believed to be the only one now living, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-giraffe-kenya-killed-by-poachers-rare-female-and-baby-bbc-news-reports-hirola-conservatory/?fbclid=IwAR3zEHJmw-S9ssHEfs4UcrAvTtsiDl-Mai3_AiLKT1UTIP23LlHyUb_Xu9M" target="_blank">according to CBS News</a>.</p><p>The female white giraffe was first spotted with a pale calf in 2017 by a villager out herding animals, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/world/white-giraffe-killed-poachers.html" target="_blank">according to The New York Times</a>. It is not known what happened to that first calf, or if its coloring changed as it grew older. But the female gave birth to a second calf, according to CNN, and the rare animals drew visitors to the park and went viral on social media.</p>
<p>The giraffes' rare coloring was due to a genetic condition called leucism, which stops some skin cells from producing pigment, The New York Times explained. It is different from albinism in that animals with leucism can still produce melanin in their soft tissue, and their eyes are usually dark rather than red. It has been documented in birds, lions, fish, peacocks, penguins, eagles, hippos, moose and snakes, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-51816083" target="_blank">according to BBC News</a>.</p><p>"This is a long-term loss given that genetics studies and research, which were significant investment into the area by researchers, have now gone down the drain," Ahmednoor said in the press release. "Further to this the white giraffe was a big boost to tourism in the area."</p><p>A white giraffe calf was also reported in Tanzania in 2015, according to The New York Times, but CNN reported that it is not known what became of her.</p><p>Giraffes in general are threatened by poaching and habitat loss across Africa, where their population has fallen by 40 percent in 30 years, <a href="https://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/giraffe" target="_blank">according to the African Wildlife Foundation</a>.</p>
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A group of Fulani women and their daughters walk towards their houses in Hapandu village, Zinder Region, Niger on July 31, 2019. In the African Sahel the climate has long been inhospitable. But now rising temperatures have caused prolonged drought and unpredictable weather patterns, exacerbating food shortages, prompting migration and contributing to instability in countries already beset by crisis. LUIS TATO / AFP / Getty Images
At the 56th Munich Security Conference in Germany, world powers turned to international defense issues with a focus on "Westlessness" — the idea that Western countries are uncertain of their values and their strategic orientation. Officials also discussed the implications of the coronavirus outbreak, the Middle East and the Libya crisis.
<p>In the crowded Bayerischer Hof Hotel, African delegates were in the single digits. Not a single head of state from the continent attended, despite the growing threat of terrorism and the armed conflicts tearing it apart.<em></em></p>
<p>A report by <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/415-million-children-grow-up-in-war-zones-save-the-children-reports/a-52359439" target="_blank">Save the Children</a>, published as world leaders convened in Munich, Germany, said at least 95,000 children had been killed or maimed across the world since 2005. Tens of thousands were abducted and millions were denied access to education.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjc3NDY5My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5ODE2MTA3MH0.Ewvdg0emexycvUBokiM7-1Dqqn27tGEe6PJvYt2hgwU/img.png?width=980" id="9e7fc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9e2a9b3165a6488ff2224c2476cb707a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>African children were the worst affected, according to Save the Children. Some 170 million across Africa and the Middle East are living in war zones. "You will see that most of the violent conflicts do not feature," Dan Smith, director of SIPRI, an international think tank dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control, and disarmament, told DW.</p><p>Smith is disappointed the international community is not paying attention to the crisis unfolding in Africa. "They (Africans) are not part of the thinking of the security community that is gathered here," Smith adds. "That doesn't mean that this community's concerns are irrelevant, but they're not focused on the Sahel; they are not focused on the Horn of Africa."</p>
<p>Security experts say the West doesn't care because armed conflicts in the Sahel, West Africa and the Horn are far enough away that they don't directly impact EU countries. "When something happens in the Sahel, unless it affects the flow of migration towards Europe — Europe is not particularly concerned about it,"<em> </em>Smith says. </p>
Germany Makes a Case for the Sahel
<p>In the absence of African leaders, to bring the matter to the table, German Defense Minister <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/merkels-party-struggles-with-identity-crisis-in-wake-of-cdu-leaders-departure/a-52355906" target="_blank">Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer</a> called for an increased effort in the fight against Islamists in Africa. </p><p>"The Sahel is a key region for Europe, for example, when it comes to migration or the threat of terrorism," she said, adding: "That is why it is so important that Germany remains committed there, militarily as well."</p><p>Kramp-Karrenbauer's statement was encouraging to the Central African Republic's defense minister, Marie-Noelle Koyara. "I take this opportunity to thank the German government for making such a wise decision,"<em> </em>the CAR defense minister told DW<em>.</em></p><p>Koyara said this was not just about politics, but about caring for humanity. The <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/central-african-republic-peace-deal-violated-and-fragile/a-50039847" target="_blank">Central African Republic</a> has been stricken by civil war since 2012. A Muslim-dominated coalition of armed groups known as Seleka took over the capital, Bangui, in 2013. Since then, the country has seen thousands killed amid clashes with Christian militias. </p><p>"If you look at the million children suffering, the women who are running around to save their own lives, the women who are raped and entire villages bombarded, humanity should not tolerate it," Koyara said, supporting Germany's call for action in conflict-afflicted areas in Africa.</p>
World Bank Beefs up Support
<p>A climate change panel discussion preceded the Munich Security Conference. It reminded the security and political heavyweights in Munich that the war in Darfur 17 years ago was triggered by the effects of climate change and claimed the lives of 300,000 people.</p><p>The conflict has since exacerbated environmental degradation in Sudan, forcing more than 2 million people into refugee camps.</p><p>Today, climate change-related conflicts are spreading rapidly in the Sahel region. </p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjc3NDY5OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMTk1NDUxMX0._dNpBIXjll0kFtwMV3LkLprwHxzn-2FubYSpid9JWDE/img.png?width=980" id="de761" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="dc825450524acfdd4b27a33cc8a690e9" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" /><p>Some 4.2 million people have been displaced as of March 2019 — one million more than the recorded number in 2018. Violence escalated in 2019, particularly in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and the areas around Lake Chad.</p><p>In response to the crisis, the World Bank is dispatching its director of operations, Axel van Trotsenburg, to the region. "We plan, in the next three years, to provide $53 billion (€49 billion) to the Africa region," he said ahead of his visit to Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad and Mauritania. "Special attention will be given to the fragile states like the Sahel region, the Horn of Africa and Lake Chad," van Trotsenburg told DW.</p><p>The World Bank says it has put a lot of emphasis on good governance and strict controls on the use of "our money." The Sahel countries are marred with issues of mismanagement and corruption, among other problems. "That means if there's corruption and we find out, we will go after those who are abusing the money."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/munich-security-conference-african-leaders-absent-from-sahel-talks/a-52398078?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Fridays for Future Movement Urges Greater Global Focus on Africa's Climate Champions
01 February
Climate
Swedish climate activists Greta Thunberg (R) and Ell Ottosson Jarl sit in front of a screen displaying Vanessa Nakate from the Fridays For Future movement in Uganda as they give a press conference during a meeting with climate activists and experts from Africa focusing on key environmental threatening of the continent, on Jan. 31 in Stockholm. PONTUS LUNDAHL / TT News Agency / AFP / Getty Images
By Jessica Corbett
The Fridays for Future movement held a press conference Friday focused on the need for the world to better recognize the amazing climate activism taking place in Africa — a continent that is already enduring severe impacts of global heating in spite of its limited contributions to creating the crisis.
<p>Climate activists and experts joined the event via video, including Vanessa Nakate of Fridays for Future Uganda, who <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ikrd/vanessa-nakate-greta-thunberg-davos" target="_blank">was cropped out</a> of an Associated Press photo with four white school strikers while <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/01/24/we-have-so-much-more-do-youth-climate-activists-declare-global-elite-close-out-davos" target="_blank">attending</a> the World Economic Forum's summit in Davos, Switzerland last week. The incident put a spotlight on the erasure of Africans in conversations and reporting about the climate emergency.</p><p>Joining Nakate for the live-streamed conference were movement founder Greta Thunberg of Sweden; Fridays for Future activists Ell Ottosson Jarl of Sweden, Makenna Muigai of Kenya, and Ayakha Melithafa of South Africa; and Ndoni Mcunu, a climate scientist at the Global Change Institute at University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.</p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9f9bbb823dcc0bff315bf4620fb57a50"><div class="fb-video" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/FridaysForFuture.org/videos/2250738001887650/" data-allowfullscreen="true"></div></div><p>In a Facebook post about the press conference, Fridays for Future International <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FridaysForFuture.org/videos/2250738001887650/" target="_blank">said</a> that following the photo incident, which the AP called a "<a href="https://apnews.com/6a853a81f34164ab85713e68a889976d" target="_blank">terrible mistake</a>" and apologized for, "The media must report fairly and justly on the climate crisis throughout the world."</p><p>Not only do journalists and news outlets often lack African voices in climate coverage, they also fail to report on how global heating is impacting the continent. A new CARE International analysis that Common Dreams <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/01/28/largely-driven-climate-crisis-9-out-10-least-reported-humanitarian-crises-2019-were" target="_blank">reported</a> on this week found that nine of the 10 most under-reported humanitarian crises in the world last year were in Africa, and many of those crises were climate-related.</p><p>Nakate, <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ikrd/vanessa-nakate-cropped-photo-climate-crisis" target="_blank">according to</a> BuzzFeed, now sees the photo incident at Davos as an opportunity to make climate discussions, including in the media, more inclusive:</p><blockquote>"After the picture and everything that happened, I received quite a number of messages and support from different parts of the world," she said.<br>"It's been my encouragement, motivation, and source of energy to move on—to keep demanding for climate action, and keep doing the climate strikes and everything that we've been doing for climate activism.<br>"I believe that after this incident and all that's happened, there's going to be a change in how the media reports the issues of climate change," Nakate said. "I believe that the media will start to cover stories from different parts of the world, because I believe that each country has an activist, and every activist has a story to tell, a solution to give."<br></blockquote><p>Thunberg, who was in the photo at Davos and <a href="https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/status/1220736865877270529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeednews.com%2Farticle%2Fikrd%2Fvanessa-nakate-greta-thunberg-davos" target="_blank">expressed</a> support for Nakate after she was excluded from it, said Friday that "the African perspective is always so under-reported" and with the press conference, she hoped to use her platform to direct some focus to activists on the continent.<br></p><p>"I'm not the reason why we're here," she said. The 17-year-old Swede acknowledged that her climate activism often garners global headlines, while the actions of others in the movement — particularly those from the global south — don't receive the same level of attention. As Thunberg put it: "We are fighting for the exact same cause."</p><p>Nakate said during the press conference that "African activists are doing so much ... and it gets so frustrating when no one really cares about them."</p><p>"Every individual is needed in the fight against the climate crisis," added the 23-year-old. "Because climate change is not specific about the kinds of people it affects. It affects everyone, so it's up to all of us to rise up and speak up, because when we do, we'll be able to get the change and the action that we need."</p><p>With a nod to the massive youth-led movement that saw millions of people<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/09/27/over-6-million-people-worldwide-climate-strikes-largest-coordinated-global-uprising" target="_blank"> take to the streets</a> to demand ambitious climate policies over the past year, she declared: "If 2019 was the year of creating awareness, then let's make 2020 the year of action."</p><p>Muigai, who is from Nairobi, pointed out that "Africa at large is being affected by the negative impacts of climate change ... A great example of the impacts of this is the locust infestation in East Africa, which will soon lead to food insecurity."</p><p>As Common Dreams <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/01/28/climate-crisis-fueled-locust-swarms-pose-unprecedented-threat-food-security-and" target="_blank">reported</a> this week, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization recently warned that the locust swarms pose "an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods in the Horn of Africa."</p><p>The region's worst locust outbreak in decades is partly fueled by the climate crisis. Muigai said that due to lack of quality education, some people in less developed countries don't fully understand climate issues.</p><p>The African continent, Muigai noted, is also dealing with issues like deforestation and bad energy policies that contribute to global heating. She said that "all of us, at the end of the day, will be affected by climate change."</p><p>Melithafa explained that in South Africa, where severe drought has hit crops and water supplies, people are living though climate impacts each day. Highlighting how wealth inequality factors into climate issues, Melithafa said that as the rich dig private wells, poorer residents "already struggling to make ends meet, just to get a decent meal at the end of the day," also have to buy drinking water.</p><p>Mcunu, the climate scientist, pointed to the difficulties of responding to extreme weather events, scarcity of food and clean water, and electricity demands as key issues the continent is grappling with related to the climate crisis.</p><p>"How is it that we are not being spotlighted in stories or being told in these stories?" Mcunu said. "That's the main challenge we have as a continent."</p><p>"It is said that Africa only contributes to approximately 5% of the [global greenhouse gas] emissions, yet we are the most impacted," she added. She noted efforts to raise awareness worldwide about African knowledge and adaption initiatives as well as the necessity of working with scientists on the continent to gather accurate data.</p><p>Mcunu emphasized the importance of international cooperation to not only adapt to the impacts of climate change but also prevent further global heating, particularly by decarbonizing economies.</p>
<p> <em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/01/31/fridays-future-movement-urges-greater-global-focus-africas-climate-champions" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>. </em><em></em></p>
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Locusts swarm from ground vegetation as people approach at Lerata village, near Archers Post in Samburu county, approximately 186 miles north of Nairobi, Kenya on Jan. 22. "Ravenous swarms" of desert locusts in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia threaten to ravage the entire East Africa subregion, the UN warned on Jan. 20. TONY KARUMBA / AFP / Getty Images
East Africa is facing its worst locust infestation in decades, and the climate crisis is partly to blame.
<p>The UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said that Ethiopia and Somalia had not seen a swarm this bad in 25 years, while Kenya was facing its largest infestation in 70 years, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-51234135" target="_blank">BBC News reported</a>.</p><p>"Vulnerable families that were already dealing with food shortages now face the prospect of watching as their crops are destroyed before their eyes," UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock told Kenya's <a href="https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2020/01/un-releases-sh1-9-billion-to-help-tame-desert-locusts-in-east-africa/" target="_blank">Capital News</a>.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1220700627912798209" id="twitter-embed-1220700627912798209" lazy-loadable="true" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1220700627912798209&created_ts=1579872683.0&screen_name=FAO&text=Over+11+million+people+in+Kenya%2C+Ethiopia+%26amp%3B+Somalia+already+suffer+from+acute+food+insecurity.+%23Locusts+are+threate%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FMr046yiLvp&id=1220700627912798209&name=FAO" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="3S6F7P1580137510"></iframe><p>The desert locust swarm came across the Red Sea from Yemen and was encouraged by heavy rains in late 2019, according to BBC News. The UN was already warning that the infestation could spread from Ethiopia in November. Some farmers in the country's Amhara region lost 100 percent of their crops, and a swarm forced an Ethiopian passenger plane off course in December.</p><p>Locusts can travel 93 miles a day, and each adult can eat its weight in food in the same time span. A small swarm can eat enough food to feed 35,000 people in 24 hours, <a href="https://apnews.com/3a94858d9ba8c642e80fa3c141c9a8f8" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a>, and the locusts have already infested around 172,973 acres of land in Kenya.</p>
<p>"The speed of the pests' spread and the size of the infestations are so far beyond the norm that they have stretched the capacities of local and national authorities to the limit," the FAO said, according to BBC News.</p><p>The unusual size of the swarms is connected to the climate crisis, <a href="https://apnews.com/c89d01fd28ab067ef9bf5ca017904768?fbclid=IwAR0ScMffgqDaqenQZZdP9fwnW_tZ0LflKan60U8ozhu7TYrO7NQYQtX_rfk" target="_blank">The Associated Press explained further</a>:</p><blockquote>Heavy rains in East Africa made 2019 one of the region's wettest years on record, said Nairobi-based climate scientist Abubakr Salih Babiker. He blamed rapidly warming waters in the Indian Ocean off Africa's eastern coast, which also spawned an unusual number of strong tropical cyclones off Africa last year.<br><br>Heavy rainfall and warmer temperatures are favorable conditions for locust breeding and in this case the conditions have become "exceptional," he said.</blockquote>
<p>Rainy conditions expected in March could cause the locust swarms to grow by a factor of 500 before drier weather is expected in June, the UN said.</p><p>Now, authorities are working to control the infestation by spraying <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pesticides" target="_self">pesticides</a> from the air. The UN funneled $10 million towards the spraying Wednesday, but said that $70 million was needed to spray sufficiently.</p><p>"This one, ai! This is huge," Kipkoech Tale, a migratory pest control specialist with the Kenyan agriculture ministry, told The Associated Press. "I'm talking about over 20 swarms that we have sprayed. We still have more. And more are coming."</p>
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Rangers said burning poisoned vulture carcasses removes the poison from the ecosystem. Wildlife ACT / Mongabay
By Fred Kockott
Another mass vulture poisoning incident has ended the year on a sour note for Wildlife ACT rangers in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal.
<p>Soon after releasing two rehabilitated vultures, rescued from a different poisoning scene earlier this year, WildLife ACT was alerted to another incident on Dec. 23, on Rolling Valley Ranch, located between Pongola and Mkuze in the far north of the province.</p>
<p>"Arriving at a scene like this with everything so fresh, but too late to assist in saving any poisoned birds is heartbreaking. Losing one vulture is always a tragedy. Losing at least 16 birds at one feeding is a crisis," said PJ Roberts, manager of Wildlife ACT's Emergency Response Team.</p><p>Wildlife ACT works closely with Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, local farmers and communities, and other conservation groups to <a href="https://wildlifeact.com/about-wildlife-act/wildlife-species/vultures/" target="_blank">protect three endangered vulture species in KwaZulu-Natal</a>.</p><p>The first bird found, a white-backed vulture (<em>Gyps africanus</em>), hinted at Roberts's worst fears: "It had a full crop (still containing undigested food), contorted feet and many dead flies were scattered around its remains — all clear signs of fast-acting poison."</p><p>The team swept the area, but it took an aerial search to locate more victims. "We landed to find the devastating remains of multiple birds hidden at the base of the tree. Included in this discovery was the removed, yellow, wing tags of H065; a young lappet-faced vulture (<em>Torgos tracheliotos</em>) tagged in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park in October 2017 as a fledgling," said Roberts.</p><p>"No more than 30m away, the morbid discovery of 13 processed and harvested white-backed vultures, with their heads and feet removed, were found very purposefully hidden in a thick bush," added Roberts.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjM2MTcyNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMTY0MDg3Mn0.MysjGvCDwhJ6aPXpCNJl8q7oOFVeaJl5yJSp2U16nRQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="5aa35" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7f41bafad10c573d40bfcce0a2654e0b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Wildlife ACT response team with the bodies of 13 white-backed vultures, poisoned for the traditional medicine trade. Wildlife ACT / Mongabay
<p>Nearby was the body of an impala — snared, killed, and laced with poison. The rangers burned all the contaminated carcasses to ash to remove the poison from the ecosystem.</p><p>It is the fourth vulture poisoning incident in northern Zululand this year, bringing the total recorded number of vultures harvested for body parts in this region alone to 53. The actual number of birds killed is believed to be much higher as many incidents are never detected.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.ewt.org.za/what-we-do/what-we-do-species/vultures-for-africa/" target="_blank">Endangered WildLife Trust's (EWT) Vultures for Africa Programme</a> manager, Andre Botha, said it was difficult to quantify how many vultures are deliberately poisoned for body parts.</p><p>According to records kept by EWT, more than 1,200 vultures have been deliberately poisoned in Southern and Eastern Africa this year. Culprits include poachers who poison the carcasses of elephant and other game in an apparent effort to conceal illegal activities from rangers. These poisonings are referred to as "sentinel poisonings", as vultures circling over poached animals alert rangers to the killings.</p><p><a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/conl.12182" target="_blank">Africa's vulture populations have already declined by an average 62 percent over the past three decades</a> — with seven species crashing by 80 percent. Experts recently warned that the continent's vulture populations face the prospect of collapsing, in much the same way as vulture species did in Asia thirty years ago.</p><p>In the early 1990s, millions of Asian vultures died after eating the remains of cows in carcass dumps; India has 500 million cows raised for milk, but not eaten by the majority Hindu population. Scientists identified the culprit: diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory used by vets. Vultures feeding on carcasses containing the drug died swiftly of kidney failure.</p><p>The reasons for the African vulture crisis are vastly different. They include habitat loss, ingestion of lead ammunition, collisions with power lines, accidental drownings in farm water reservoirs, and the use of poisoned bait by livestock owners to kill predators like jackals. Vultures feeding off the carcasses subsequently die, often in significant numbers.</p><p>But many more are poisoned deliberately to harvest body parts for belief-based use.</p>
<p>"The vultures are killed for their heads and feet and other parts," said Chris Kelly, a species director at Wildlife ACT. "This is definitely the single biggest threat to diminishing vulture populations in this province," said Kelly.</p><p>In many parts of Africa, vultures are believed to have psychic powers, including an ability to see into the future.</p><p>According to a fact sheet from EWT, the brains of the bird are dried, rolled and smoked as joints or simply burnt and the fumes inhaled. Users believe this improves their odds when they gamble on the lottery or place bets on sport. Students take it when preparing for exams. Other reported uses of vultures include consuming their eyes to improve eyesight, their beaks for protection, or their feet to heal fractured bones or make a person run faster.</p><p>In 2014, EWT estimated that 130,000 traders, hunters and traditional healers were operating in South Africa. This figure is believed to have increased, sparking calls from conservationists, environmental scientists and wildlife experts at this year's <a href="https://conservationsym2019.dryfta.com/" target="_blank">Conservation Symposium</a> for an awareness-building campaign to reduce this consumption and demand for vulture parts.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjM2MTkwNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzODE0NjkxNX0.R-62PKK1sJiwH0LF9GK5HXZLLqIuLBw4I6iuH-ZW5Ec/img.jpg?width=980" id="3be72" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="85a0cc8ac0066e9e095f3a83a1d607d7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Poisoned vulture: more than 1,200 vultures have been deliberately poisoned in Southern and Eastern Africa in 2019. Wildlife ACT / Mongabay
<p>"Vultures provide critically important ecosystem services by cleaning up carcasses thus reducing the spread of dangerous diseases such as anthrax and rabies and resulting in highly significant economic and human health benefits," said Brent Coverdale, an animal scientist for Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife at the symposium. "We really can't afford to lose them."</p><p>As vultures are protected by law, it is illegal to possess or kill any of the six vulture species found in South Africa. Nevertheless, deliberate killings continue.</p><p>Roberts said the latest poisoning incident had been reported to local police.</p><p>"We are hoping this leads to an arrest," said Roberts. "If the illegal harvest of these birds is not halted, then extinction may be just around the corner and the services that they provide within the ecosystem will be lost forever."</p><p>As part of a bid to save vulture populations, managers of conservation areas and private game reserves in South Africa are collaborating to <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/lift-off-for-first-african-vulture-safe-zones/" target="_blank">create safe havens for existing vulture populations</a>.</p><p><em><em>Fred Kockott is the founding director of <a href="https://rovingreporters.co.za/" target="_blank">Roving Reporters</a>, a journalism training agency that focuses on environmental, social and justice issues.</em></em></p><p><em>Additional reporting by Mlu Mdletshe, Roving Reporters.</em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/alarm-over-mass-vulture-poisoning-in-south-africa/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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The largest wetland in Africa is in the South Sudan. George Steinmetz / Corbis Documentary / Getty Images Plus
Methane emissions are a far more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide – about 28 times more powerful. And they have been rising steadily since 2007. Now, a new study has pinpointed the African tropics as a hot spot responsible for one-third of the global methane surge, as Newsweek reported.
<p>Satellite data captured a large influx of water from East African lakes, including Lake Victoria, flowing into the wetlands of South Sudan. That water triggered plant growth and microbial activity that produced a massive amount methane, as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-50708544" target="_blank">BBC</a> reported.</p><p>"Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas, behind carbon dioxide," Mark Lunt, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, told <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/huge-boost-methane-concentrations-africa-wetlands-1476667" target="_blank">Newsweek</a>. "We need to be able to understand how and why it is changing in our atmosphere to inform how we might mitigate future emissions."</p><p>Lunt is the lead author of the <a href="https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/19/14721/2019/" target="_blank">new study</a> published in the journal <a href="https://www.atmospheric-chemistry-and-physics.net/index.html" target="_blank">Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics</a>. Lunt and his team used six years of satellite imagery to figure out if there was methane coming from Africa, which had been largely overlooked because of a dearth of atmospheric data, according to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/huge-boost-methane-concentrations-africa-wetlands-1476667" target="_blank">Newsweek</a>.</p><p>"There are very few studies that have focused in detail on Africa, primarily because there isn't much atmospheric methane data from there," said Lunt in a university <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/12/191211082702.htm" target="_blank">press release</a>. "Using satellite data gives a unique perspective on the continent that wouldn't otherwise be available."</p><p>The research team used data from GOSAT, the Japanese Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite, to look at annual and seasonal methane emissions in sub-Saharan Africa.</p><p>The area identified in the study, the South Sudanese wetland, is recognized by <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6276/" target="_blank">UNESCO</a> as one of the largest freshwater ecosystems in the world. It covers an estimated 22,000 square miles.</p><p>Satellite images "show the Sudd wetlands expanded in size, and you can even see it in aerial imagery – they became greener," said Paul Palmer, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Edinburgh who co-authored the research, to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-50708544" target="_blank">BBC</a>. "There's not much ground-monitoring in this region that can prove or disprove our results, but the data we have fits together beautifully."</p><p>The new research helps put together the pieces of a puzzle that has vexed scientists about the sources of methane emissions. While <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_self">fossil fuels</a> and agricultural practices have certainly made enormous contributions to the release of methane, there is undoubtedly a natural source as well, as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-50708544" target="_blank">BBC</a> reported.</p><p>Methane in the atmosphere had stabilized during the early 2000s, but atmospheric concentrations spiked in 2007 and then again in 2014.</p><p>"Global levels of methane in the atmosphere have been on the rise since the mid-2000s, after a period of relative stability," said Lunt, as <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/huge-boost-methane-concentrations-africa-wetlands-1476667" target="_blank">Newsweek</a> reported. "There are many different explanations for why this is the case but the primary suspects have been an increase in microbial sources such as wetlands and agriculture from the tropics, as well as increases in fossil fuel emissions from countries such as the U.S. and China. Alternatively the sink – the process of removal of methane in the atmosphere – could have decreased resulting in the resumption of growth we see."</p><p>The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" target="_self">climate crisis</a> will lead to an increase in methane emissions from natural sources, since warmer temperatures will cause wetland microbes to accelerate the rate they break down and to release more methane, according to a study published in the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/114/36/9647" target="_blank">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.</p><p>"Wetland methane is produced through a process known as methanogenesis. Essentially wetlands are anaerobic environments which are ideal for the production of methane," Lunt explained <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/huge-boost-methane-concentrations-africa-wetlands-1476667" target="_blank">Newsweek</a>. "Microorganisms break down organic matter in a process that results in the production of methane."</p><p>Lunt added that a study like this is important for identifying future interventions and improving predictions for Earth's climate.</p><p>"In order to understand how methane might change in the future, it is essential that we can adequately explain changes in the present and recent past," said Lunt in a University of Edinburgh <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/12/191211082702.htm" target="_blank">statement</a>. "Studies such as this can help narrow down the list of possible explanations, and hopefully improve our predictive capabilities for the future."</p>
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'Grand African Savannah Green Up': Major $85 Million Project Announced to Scale up Agroforestry in Africa
25 October 2019
Climate
Forest landscape restoration in Ethiopia. CIFOR / Mokhamad Edliadi
By Erik Hoffner
Amid a deluge of news during the U.N. Climate Summit last month, one major announcement went largely uncovered, yet is among the most important initiatives aimed at reducing the effects of climate change revealed during the events in New York City.
<p>A group of NGOs announced there that they have joined forces in what they're calling "the biggest land restoration project ever seen." They reported securing funding from <a href="https://g9ark.org/" target="_blank">G9 Ark</a> to implement the initial phase of their first initiative, an $85 million project dubbed the Grand African Savannah Green Up.</p><p>The Green Up project is envisioned as a massive scaling-up of <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/farmer-managed-natural-regeneration-the-fastest-way-to-restore-trees-to-degraded-landscapes/" target="_blank">Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration</a> (FMNR) — the encouragement of regeneration of trees and shrubs that sprout from stumps, roots and seeds found in degraded soils, such as those currently under agricultural production — and other complementary practices across a swath of Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Kenya and Ethiopia.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjAzMTc0OC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NzExMTQwN30.5V3Sb68ZOpGrGjlwA_bHFOc0W-mGJTj6FfWNwb3UHSk/img.png?width=980" id="30bda" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="227e74042f6f39119742fc7bc0e613b7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
FMNR in action: a farmer removes side stems from resprouted Guiera senegalensis, the first step in encouraging a strong trunk. Image courtesy of P. Savadogo / World Agroforestry
<p>Once established in farm fields, these woody plants improve soil fertility and moisture for crops planted in combination with them in a system known as <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/series/global-agroforestry/" target="_blank">agroforestry,</a> which also sequesters carbon from the atmosphere while providing habitat for a diversity of creatures. FMNR made headlines several years ago when 5 million hectares (12 million acres) of Niger were <a href="http://www.worldagroforestry.org/news/niger%E2%80%99s-re-greening-revolution" target="_blank">reported</a> to have been regreened via the practice.</p><p>The coalition, which calls itself the <a href="http://www.evergreening.org/" target="_blank">Global EverGreening Alliance</a>, has a goal of capturing 20 billion tons of CO2 annually by 2050, a figure they say would offset the anticipated <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuel</a> emissions during this period while cooling the atmosphere via projects across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast and South Asia. The coalition is made up of NGOs such as World Vision, Catholic Relief Services, World Agroforestry, CARE International, Justdiggit, World Resources Institute, The Nature Conservancy, Concern Worldwide, and others.</p><p>Calling the Climate Week <a href="https://www.globallandscapesforum.org/video/glf-new-york-2019-forests-evergreening-the-earths-degraded-landscapes/" target="_blank">launch event</a> at the Global Landscapes Forum a success and climate change an existential crisis, alliance chairman Dennis Garrity (who is also a distinguished senior research fellow with World Agroforestry and drylands ambassador for the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification) told Mongabay by email that there will be six key areas of activity.</p><p>According to a draft alliance white paper reviewed by Mongabay, these activities include tripling the current rate of carbon accumulation on degraded farmlands by increasing tree cover through FMNR and agroforestry; increasing soil carbon through conservation farming practices on at least 500 million hectares (1.24 billion acres) of agricultural land; scaling up the use of leguminous shrubs that can fix nitrogen on farmlands; restoring tree cover on 575 million hectares (1.42 billion acres) of degraded forests and in urban environments; suppression of fire and regenerating a "healthy grass-tree balance" on 650 million hectares (1.61 billion acres) of degraded pasturelands; and deployment of carbon capture and storage from "evergreen energy generation."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjAzMTc1My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNzAwNjMwOH0.1YIA7KMA5w1f2Lvc4mzNZKro6rQqsxuF6VRj8hjQ-_g/img.png?width=980" id="fdcb4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ba6fb597a66290e3fc28c5ed0ffd4f80" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Millet in Maradi, Niger, benefiting from proximity to Combretum glutinosum shrubs that a farmer is assisting to resprout from stumps. Combretum glutinosum is a fast-growing, drought-resistant woody plant common in the dry Sahel. Image courtesy of P. Savadogo / World Agroforestry
<p>Reached by Mongabay for comment about the alliance's first initiative, agroforestry author and expert <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/07/carbon-farming-can-fight-climate-change-boost-diversity-and-feed-people-author-interview/" target="_blank">Eric Toensmeier</a> said, "This may be the largest individual investment ever made in agroforestry. The area that will be restored, 2 million hectares [5 million acres] by 2025, is almost the size of New Jersey."</p><p>The author of the best-selling book <em>The Carbon Farming Solution</em> and a research fellow for the climate change mitigation think tank Project Drawdown, Toensmeier said that FMNR "was developed in the Sahel and is one of the world's fastest-spreading agricultural mitigation practices. It's great [to] see this recognition of the critical role that Sahelian farmers play in drawing down atmospheric carbon," he added.<br></p><p>The alliance's Garrity agreed: "Millions of farm families in the Sahel have been regenerating hundreds of millions of trees on their croplands, to enhance their crop and livestock production and adapt their farming systems to climate change-induced droughts [and] the average tree cover on Sahelian farmlands has now reached 16%. Their efforts are truly inspiring, and they point us toward how much greater action can be achieved to restore degraded lands throughout the drylands of the world," he said.</p><p>Agroforestry is already thought to sequester <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/srep29987" target="_blank">45 gigatons of carbon</a>, a figure estimated to grow by almost 0.75 gigatons annually, and is said to already cover up to a billion hectares (2.5 billion acres) of land globally. For the past two years, Mongabay has focused a <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/series/global-agroforestry/" target="_blank">special series</a> on the implementation and impact of agroforestry worldwide.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/85-million-initiative-to-scale-up-agroforestry-in-africa-announced/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>
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