DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (PAMACC News) - Building a large dam to feed into a hydro-electricity power plant in a river basin will always result in trade-offs, as sectors such as urban water supply, rural food production and ecosystem services compete with a country’s growing energy demands. Infrastructure built now will have an effect on the system long into the future, when climate change impacts are likely to manifest.
YAOUNDE, Cameroon (PAMACC News) - A machine that has the capacity to provoke condensation and consequently rainfall, has just been designed in Yaounde, Cameroon.
The invention called the “Kisha” which in the Nso Language means metal, and signifies strength is the innovation of Dr. Venatius Wirkom Kihdze. He has just finished with the experimental phase prototype and he discribes it as a game changer in the fight against climate change that manifests in the form of drought, high temperatures and Hurricanes. Dr. Wirkom says the prototype has the capacity to provoke rainfall within an area of 5000 metres square.
The inventor Dr. Venatius Wirkom Kihdze, a Medical Laboratory Science researcher, says his invention is the fruit of his childhood dream, nursed for over 40 years.
Scientific Manifestation Of “Kisha”
The “Kisha” can cause rainfall at man’s will be increasing atmospheric moisture, which leads to more water vapour in the air which condenses and produces rainfall.
The Kisha the inventor says, is two metres long and a quatre metre wide. It is comprised of four components:
an electric machine that pumps the air. a channel pipe that takes air from the machine to the compression tank that serves as an air reservoir a compression tank, 13 tubes that take air from the air reservoir to the different humidifier positions, placed at evenly distributed distances in the circumference around the machine.
Dr Wirkom says this idea is a childhood dream he has nurtured for over 40 years. He wanted to help in the cultivation of vegetables during the dry season when the soil is dry. With the increasing effects of climate change, farmers no longer master the seasons. The “Kisha” will cause rainfall at man’s will, thus increase food production in areas suffering from drought or desertification.
The production phase of the experimental phase prototype of the “Kisha”is over. ” We need now to test it” Dr Wirkom says. “We need the collaboration of Environmentalists, Meteorologists, Geographers. Mechanical engineers, Energy Engineers and Microbiologists to fully valorise the invention” he says. He is also in need of funding to develope the technque.
The experimental “Kisha” can cover a space of 5000 metres square. But Dr Wirkom says as time goes on, they can build bigger and stronger versions of Kisha that can cover an entire region or a continent.
This researcher has been most active in innovations concerning health. He has carried out research in developing easy methods for testing bacteria and parasites in stool, and many other findings in tuberculosis, opportunistic infections in HIV /Aids Patients, effectiveness of Fansidar in the treatment of malaria in pregnant women, among others.
YAOUNDE, Cameroon (PAMACC News) - A machine that has the capacity to provoke condensation and consequently rainfall, has just been designed in Yaounde, Cameroon.
The invention called the “Kisha” which in the Nso Language means metal, and signifies strength is the innovation of Dr. Venatius Wirkom Kihdze. He has just finished with the experimental phase prototype and he discribes it as a game changer in the fight against climate change that manifests in the form of drought, high temperatures and Hurricanes. Dr. Wirkom says the prototype has the capacity to provoke rainfall within an area of 5000 metres square.
The inventor Dr. Venatius Wirkom Kihdze, a Medical Laboratory Science researcher, says his invention is the fruit of his childhood dream, nursed for over 40 years.
Scientific Manifestation Of “Kisha”
The “Kisha” can cause rainfall at man’s will be increasing atmospheric moisture, which leads to more water vapour in the air which condenses and produces rainfall.
The Kisha the inventor says, is two metres long and a quatre metre wide. It is comprised of four components:
an electric machine that pumps the air. a channel pipe that takes air from the machine to the compression tank that serves as an air reservoir a compression tank, 13 tubes that take air from the air reservoir to the different humidifier positions, placed at evenly distributed distances in the circumference around the machine.
Dr Wirkom says this idea is a childhood dream he has nurtured for over 40 years. He wanted to help in the cultivation of vegetables during the dry season when the soil is dry. With the increasing effects of climate change, farmers no longer master the seasons. The “Kisha” will cause rainfall at man’s will, thus increase food production in areas suffering from drought or desertification.
The production phase of the experimental phase prototype of the “Kisha”is over. ” We need now to test it” Dr Wirkom says. “We need the collaboration of Environmentalists, Meteorologists, Geographers. Mechanical engineers, Energy Engineers and Microbiologists to fully valorise the invention” he says. He is also in need of funding to develope the technque.
The experimental “Kisha” can cover a space of 5000 metres square. But Dr Wirkom says as time goes on, they can build bigger and stronger versions of Kisha that can cover an entire region or a continent.
This researcher has been most active in innovations concerning health. He has carried out research in developing easy methods for testing bacteria and parasites in stool, and many other findings in tuberculosis, opportunistic infections in HIV /Aids Patients, effectiveness of Fansidar in the treatment of malaria in pregnant women, among others.
In light of these challenges, how should river basins be designed?
UMFULA is working with water researchers and managers in Tanzania to address such questions. The team, led by Professor Declan Conway (London School of Economics), is generating new insights and understanding about climate processes and extreme weather events, and their impacts on water, energy, and agriculture.
The project results are becoming available just as work begins on building the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project (JNHPP) on the Rufiji River, earmarked for a site about 200km south of Dar es Salaam. For the first time, researchers and planners are considering these trade-offs in detail, and assessing how they might evolve with climate change across the Rufiji River Basin.
The ability to create computer simulations of the river basin will be made available using a new river basin management model called ‘Python water resources’ or ‘Pywr’, and will be applied to the Rufiji River Basin in Tanzania. Rather than using a model that needs to be installed via proprietary software, the open-source model will be available to project members and stakeholder partners online through a website. Both the model and its website are generalised tools, applicable to any region but are applied to Tanzania in this project.
The tool is designed to support longer-term water management decisions upstream and downstream of the dam linked with the JNHPP scheme. It can also inform infrastructure planning across the basin, where other hydro-schemes and dams are under consideration for development.
There are complicated interactions in a river basin system, where demands for water, food production, and energy intersect with environmental needs, explains Prof. Julien Harou (chair of water engineering at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom) who is spearheading the application of this new FCFA-funded online systems-based assessment tool.
A system-scale assessment approach can help identify tradeoffs between different water needs so that decision-makers can better understand the impact of water and hydro-scheme infrastructure development in the basin, and make better-informed water management decisions in other sectors, such as agriculture.
One anticipated demand on water in the Rufiji River Basin is from agricultural irrigation, much of which is drawn off the river by unregulated water users, which will increasingly impact on water flow in future. Another area for consideration is the possible impact that dams and hydro-schemes will have on water flow downstream of each development including the impact on wildlife and ecosystems associated with riverine and estuarine edges such as wetlands, floodplains, riverine forests, and mangroves.
This online tool will allow stakeholders to conduct basin-wide assessments to consider contested demands for water and can help identify infrastructure opportunities or inform operational policies to balance potential benefits and impacts according to Harou. It could also help different sectors better coordinate water management and infrastructure development decisions.
The first iteration of the tool, which will be further refined by Prof. Japhet Kashaigili of the Sokoine University of Agriculture and Tanzania’s Rufiji Basin Water Board, allows for a basin-wide assessment of the tradeoffs between sectors with competing water needs, as well as the possible synergies. The next step of the tool’s development is to include UMFULA project data that will allow estimating future impacts of climate change. Climate change is expected to alter temperatures, evaporation rates, and rainfall patterns across the river basin in coming decades and will impact water availability in the catchment.
The Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project will involve building one of the largest dams in East Africa, explains Harou, and stakeholders have already identified the main tradeoffs that this project will involve. This includes competing demands for irrigation taken from the system, much of which is removed from the river informally by farmers and the impact on the Nyerere National Park which is upriver of the JNHPP dam and where about 2 per cent of the park is expected to be flooded once the dam is completed.
Computer modelling of river basins is technically complex and usually only accessible to a small scientific community. This new tool is part of an effort to open up strategic river basin planning to a wider community of stakeholders involved in governance and water management in the region including; government, researchers, and civil society organisations.
The work reported on in this story is part of the FCFA UMFULA research initiative, a four-year project that aims to improve climate information for decision-making in central and southern Africa, with a particular focus on Tanzania and Malawi.
This article was written by Leonie Joubert as part of a series covering the science produced by various FCFA projects, and introduces some of the people behind it.
NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - As the world grapple with containment of COVID-19 pandemic, food protests especially among poor and vulnerable African communities are likely going to be deadlier than the virus itself, if governments and international institutions do not act now, experts have warned.
In a virtual meeting with the press from across Africa, experts from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and ONE – a global movement campaigning to end extreme poverty and preventable disease by 2030 said that there exists a window of opportunity for governments to save the situation, and plan for future eventualities but only if they act in time.
“We are heading towards a real disaster because when hunger comes in, people will always protests,” said Dr Fidel Ndiame, AGRA’s Vice President for Policy and State Capacity, noting that COVID-19 effects to food security are going to be worse than what was witnessed during Ebola, because the current virus is affecting the entire world.
As a short term measure, the experts want African governments to expand and improve food assistance and social protection programs to protect the most vulnerable including cash-based transfers as the primary safety net, which can largely be distributed through contactless solutions; in-kind food assistance such as take-home rations, food package delivery, and food vouchers where necessary.
It was observed that at the moment, there is no food shortage in the global market. In Europe and the US for example, milk is being dumped and eggs are being smashed as demand from restaurants decreases. But access to the food poses a problem because borders have been closed, and movements curtailed as part of COVID-19 containment measures.
At the same time, during such crisis, some families panic and hoard food. In response, countries impose export restrictions in a misguided effort to protect domestic prices. This is likely going to be a huge problem because many African countries depend on imported food, especially rice from Asian countries.
“Food security concerns go hand in hand with pandemics,” said Edwin Ikhuoria, ONE’s Africa Executive Director, noting that the SARS and MERS outbreaks led to food price hikes and market panics in affected areas, leaving the poorest groups without access to essential foods, especially staples
In the East African region for example, Tanzanian President Dr John Pombe Magufuli has publicly urged farmers in his the country not to sell food to neighboring countries, and if they must sell it, they must make sure they charge exorbitantly to take advantage of food shortages in countries that imposed lockdown to contain the virus.
With the invasion of desert locust, floods and containment measures for COVID-19, Kenya and Uganda are the most affected in the region. Kenya in particular heavily relies on supplies of commodities such as onions, fruits, tomatoes and other vegetables from Tanzania through Namanga border. Yet, due to the COVID-19 pandemic containment measures, movements across the border have been restricted.
To that end, the experts asked all governments to step up efforts to ensure adequate food reserves by stepping up local production and storage, and called on donors to fully fund the US$1.5 billion requested by the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP).
GAFSP, created by the G20 in response to the 2007-2008 food price crises, is a multilateral mechanism to improve food and nutrition security that has effectively channeled finances to governments, the private sector, and directly to farmers.
To the international institutions, the experts called on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Board to act to create $500bn in Special Drawing Rights and all actors should immediately enact a debt moratorium for bilateral, multilateral and private debt for 2020 and 2021.
“Special Drawing Rights should be allocated to poorer countries, providing them with immediate liquidity to respond to the crisis, said Ikhuoria, further calling on donors to fully fund the US$6.7 billion requested for the Global Humanitarian Response Plan.
The GHRP is a coordinated global humanitarian response plan to fight COVID-19 in 64 of the world’s most vulnerable countries, and includes financing for the UN World Food Program (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The IMF forecasts global economic growth to contract by 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020, a downgrade of 6.3 percentage points from the January 2020 projection. This will make it the worst downturn since the Great Depression. As a result, 419 million additional people could fall into extreme poverty in 2020, particularly in the sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia according to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Recent studies on the impact of COVID-19 in rural China confirm that in order to ensure adequate food, families substituted high nutrition foods such as meat and produce, for lower nutrition items like grains and staples, significantly impacting nutrition. In Senegal, more than 85% of its population has seen a reduction in income, and as a result, over a third of them now eat less food every day.
Generally, the main productive asset of the poor is physical labor. Yet, this has already been affected by social distancing measures making efforts to contain the virus much more challenging, according to IFPRI.
As a result, media reports have shown that vulnerable citizens in Tunisia have disobeyed lockdown measures to protest over hunger. In Zimbabwe, where extreme hunger debilitates 30% of the population, many are willing to risk contracting COVID-19 if it means they can eat.
“We need governments to develop sustainable food systems that can support individual countries even in times of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Ndiame.
