Fragilecologies Archives
12 December 2005
Individuals and, collectively, societies have their own perceptions and expectations about the natural flow of the seasons where they live, despite the actual climate in their region. Whenever the actual flow of the seasons does not match those expectations, human activities are often disrupted in negative ways. For example, too much or too little rain at the wrong time in the crop life cycle can have a direct negative impact on crop yields, overall food production, and the availability of food in local markets. Even the timing and intensity of the rains throughout the rainy season can be quite disruptive, even though the total annual amount may be normal (for example, farmers do not want heavy rain at harvest time). In fact, many of the food-related problems that Africans continually face are related to the behavior of global climate and its influence on regional and local climates.
Droughts are of particular concern in Africa. Drought is a constant threat to many parts of the continent. It often strikes whole regions that encompass several countries at the same time. In just about any given year, food insecurity (that is, a worse-than-normal shortage of food) takes place somewhere in sub-Saharan Africa. That is the reason for a sustained focus on food security programs of many national as well as international humanitarian development programs. Droughts are often erroneously blamed as being the major or the sole cause of hunger and famine. Research has shown that to be far from the truth, as socio-economic and political factors are now known to play a major role. Considerable work needs to be done on improving drought and drought-related early warning systems, coping strategies and tactics, and drought response mechanisms.
http://www.the-human-race.com/pages/about_desertification.htm
Desertification has become a catch-all phrase that encompasses adverse changes in the surface of the land. It is a process of land degradation that can be brought about by allowing herds to overgraze the rangelands, by cutting trees for firewood and construction purposes, and by cultivating the wrong crops in marginal areas. Desertification aspects include but are not limited to soil erosion by wind or water, deforestation & woodcutting, reduction in vegetation cover, and the salinization of soils resulting from improper use of arid and semiarid soils. Large dust plumes, originating in the Sahara Desert and its surrounding West African Sahel, have been seen from space heading westward across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States and the Caribbean region.
Floods, too, are a constant threat to people across the African continent. In addition to the dislocation of populations, the destruction of dwellings, and the death of individuals and livestock, flooding is often accompanied by infectious disease outbreaks. Such outbreaks often occur as a step-like increase in the incidence of chronic diseases, both vector-borne and water-borne diseases; today’s medical facilities are wholly inadequate to treat anomalous disease outbreaks.
Because of the already critically urgent need in Africa to better understand and respond to the good as well as bad influences of climate variability, climate change, and extreme weather and climate extremes on human activities and on the ecosystems which societies depend on for their well-being, we want to pursue support for the establishment of an “All-Africa Center for Climate, Water and Weather Affairs.”
We can encourage this by seeking to convince governments, agencies, and development banks to support a multidisciplinary approach to address climate-, water- and weather-related issues and climate-related phenomena that are obstacles to sustainable development in Africa. The notion of “Affairs” encompasses the following: climate, water and weather science; impacts on ecosystems and societies and their impacts on the atmosphere; policy & law; politics, economics and ethics & equity.
Our new century will be dominated by climate-, water-, and weather-related events, anomalies and impacts. The need for bringing together African expertise and experiences related to climate, water and weather is ever-present, growing and urgent. Much of the basic capacity required to operate such an education and training center of excellence already exists on the continent Ö but is quite dispersed.
By creating this Center, it is possible to put together a coalition of supporters for developing it. Issues include not only climate change but environment, development, seasonality, and the use of climate knowledge for development in climate-sensitive sectors such as food, energy, water, health and public safety.
It is a well-known fact that many African researchers, educators and trainers leave the continent for education and training or employment opportunities elsewhere. Although several have the intention to return to Africa, many do not return.
An All-African Center would provide a hub of activity on the continent for educating and training professionals in the workforce, government personnel as well as educators in universities and colleges on climate-, water-, and weather-related knowledge. It would also provide a focal point for climate-related expertise in Africa as well as for Africans working or studying in other parts of the world. The center would be designed to attract the involvement of foreign expertise, experience, and resources as well.
In sum, I sincerely believe that it is time for the establishment of an ” All-Africa Center for Climate, Water and Weather,” an education and training center. It is a win-win-win situation: Africans win, both individuals and governments; the donor community wins because it has filled a void in African education and training focused on climate, water and weather issues, and the global community wins as a result of successful capacity building activities, with a focus on one of the major threats of the 21st century: an uncertain climate. By educating educators and training trainers in climate-sensitive sectors of society, societies can become better prepared to cope with the vagaries of climate on a range of time scales relevant to the concerns of governments and individuals.
A phrase used by an investment corporation captures the overarching mission of an All-African center: Knowledge is Power. Sharing Knowledge is Empowering.