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Showing posts with label earth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label earth. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Unlocking Africa’s earth observation potential @1st GMES Africa - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:
The first Global Monitoring for Environment and Security and Africa (GMES and Africa) Forum of the GMES and Africa has kicked off in the Gabonese capital, Libreville, with some 400 delegates, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The delegates, NaijaAgroNet gathered were drawn from Africa, Europe and other parts of the world have gathered to discuss new and innovative Earth Observation technologies supporting Africa’s socio-economic development.

Organized jointly by the African Union Commission and the government of Gabon, the Forum is the first gathering of all stakeholders involved in the GMES and Africa programme. The programme was jointly launched in 2016 by the African Union and the European Union to strengthen Africa's capacity for the optimal exploitation of Earth Observation systems, data and technologies.

Africa has significant aptitude to utilize the opportunities provided by Earth Observation, through satellites and other applications that improve environmental management, agricultural productivity, climate change mitigation, food security, health, and disaster risk reduction, among many of its developmental priorities. Limited investments and a fragmented approach has constrained the continent’s ability to mobilize funding, develop local capacities, and provide the necessary infrastructure for a robust Earth Observation industry.

The African Union Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology, H.E Professor Sarah Anyang Agbor said the Forum will evoke the aspirations envisioned by the people of Africa in Agenda 2063 for a prosperous continent with the means to harness its resources to drive its own development on a sustainable basis. She pointed out the pressing imperative for Africa to invest in technological innovation and harness its existing human capital for better health, education and infrastructure systems.

The Head of the European Union delegation to Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tomé-et-Principe and CEEAC, H.E. Ambassador Helmut Rudolf KULITZ, stated that "GMES and Africa and its predecessor programmes represent more than 15 years of fruitful cooperation with Africa on Earth Observation and a European contribution of more than €100 million.

The 1st GMES and Africa Forum is centred on the theme “Unlocking the Potential of Earth Observation as a Key Driver of Africa’s Sustainable Development”, a reference to the existing imbalance between the continent’s potential and the actual benefits it derives from Earth Observation dividend. The theme addresses the means of harnessing opportunities offered by Earth Observation to leverage Africa’s socio-economic development.

‘By putting end users at the heart of product and service development, GMES and Africa has become a vision for the sustainable and efficient management of natural resources and security in Africa’, remarked Guy Bertrand Mapangou, Gabon’s Minister of Digital Economy, Communication and Post Office, who is also the government spokesperson.

Forum delegates comprise African end users of Earth Observation services, policy makers, scientists, businesses and academia, who will use the five-day conference to discuss the challenges undermining the growth and expansion of the sector in Africa. They will devise strategies for closer communication, collaboration and engagement among industry experts and users of Earth Observation services. They will further explore the building of stronger partnerships and the deeper involvement of players especially from the private sector and academic institutions.

The Global Monitoring for Environment and Security and Africa (GMES and Africa) is a flagship programme of the African Union under the African Space Policy and Strategy. It prescribes a pathway for the continent to be globally competitive in space activities, including Earth Observation, and to develop a viable continental space programme. With continent-wide coverage, the programme is implemented through grants to African institutions under the banners of regional consortia. 13 consortia representing a total of 72 African institutions have been awarded grants through open competitive bidding to implement projects in water, natural resources, marine and coastal areas management.

GMES and Africa is supported by the European Union through its Pan-African Programme. It is also supported by the European Commission (EC) "COPERNICUS" Earth Monitoring Programme, which provides satellite data and products from the services through the satellite EUMETCAST system of EUMETSAT. Today, more than 300 users in Africa can directly receive Sentinel 3 data and Global Land products. A collaboration arrangement was also signed in June 2018 between the AUC and the EC for Copernicus information and data exchange with Africa. GMES and Africa Programme is another example of the long-standing partnership between the European Union and the African Union.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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Friday, February 17, 2017

Pope Francis urges government to develop indigenous cultures, relationship to earth

The Catholic pontiff, Pope Francis has urged the government to reconcile development, both social and cultural, with the protection of indigenous peoples and their territories, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Pope Francis made this call in Rome, Italy while in audience with the representatives of IFAD's Global Meeting of the Indigenous Peoples’ Forum, which focused on economic empowerment of indigenous peoples, particularly women and youth.

This call has become vital especially when planning economic activities that may interfere with their cultures and their ancestral relationship to the earth.
The 36-member delegation, which included representatives from the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), were in Rome to take part in the Third Global Meeting of the Indigenous People Forum of IFAD.
During the morning meeting, the Pope emphasized the need for governments to pay attention to indigenous identity, and to generate guidelines and development approaches that include young people and women.
“For governments this means recognizing that indigenous communities are a part of the population to be appreciated and consulted, and whose full participation should be promoted at the local and national level,” he said.
Mirna Cunningham, President of the Center for Indigenous Peoples’ Autonomy and Development (CADPI), headed the delegation.
"I think the Pope's words are important," she said. "He went straight to the point. We have to remember that technological and economic development is not progress in itself and IFAD can play a very big role with technical and financial support to ensure that these measure are considered with indigenous peoples."
Antonella Cordone, Coordinator for Indigenous and Tribal Issues Policy and Technical Advisory Division at IFAD, said that “recognizing and institutionalizing indigenous peoples’ rights is essential, but we also have to work to set self-implementation strategies to support local economies. Otherwise we risk that indigenous peoples’ societies will disappear.”
Members of the delegation brought gifts to illustrate the work of indigenous peoples around the world, including an alpaca coat from Bolivian Andes, a blanket from the Igorot people in the Philippine Cordillera, and a bible translated into Miskitu from Nicaragua.
NaijaAgroNet recalled that between 10th and 13th February, IFAD hosted the Third Global Meeting of the Indigenous Peoples Forum, bringing together representatives of indigenous peoples organizations and leaders of partner organizations to discuss the ongoing challenges faced by these communities.


Isaac Oyimah/GEE 
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Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Commentary: Why are earth’s 4th deadliest terrorists headed South

Commentary@NaijaAgroNet:
Introduction:
Preoccupied with everyday living, unruffled politicking, unrestricted worship, busy days and quiet nights, Southern Nigerians have been paying little or no attention to the fact that two of Earth’s top 4 deadliest terrorist groups are at home and active in Nigeria. Popular Boko Haram have been constrained to the North East but the other are nomadic unchecked. Now, having restricted their operations to regions that separate North from South, they’ve finally announced their planned ubiquity beginning with an audacious assault on South Eastern State of Enugu on Monday 25th April.  They are the Fulani militants.

They’ve ransacked communities that lie on their grazing routes since 2010 (actually for decades), leaving thousands dead, more injured, tens of thousands displaced, with assets worth millions of naira destroyed on their exit. The ascension to power of Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani, suspiciously coincides with the stepping up of their degree of deadliness.

But The Igbos Are Not United:
For centuries, the Fulanis have traversed the breadth of West Africa unimpeded, not by pre-modern hostile cultures; and not by modern day immigration. The trend of slaughtering owners of farms is however a 20th craving they developed. While they pounded Middle Belt states again and again, other Southerners wondered why the Federal Government would not as little as release a statement to condemn the attacks; and the indigenes would not stop them. But now, the militants are through with the intervening region and are at the door steps of the interior South. They are going closer to the Atlantic coast and this advancement will surely evoke a different kind of response.

South East Nigeria, occupied by the Igbo ethnic group, is the epicenter of calls for the breakup of the country. And their primary reason can be summarized as hatred from and for the Northerners consisting of the Hausa/Fulani tribes. Having endured and survived pogroms in Northern Nigeria leading to the Nigerian civil war of 1967, and several perceived follow-up acts of persecution – well documented – the Igbos were nearly unanimous in rejecting the presidency of Muhammadu Buhari in the March 2015 elections. As a result, odium between Hausa/Fulani and the Igbos is still very high.

Already, many southern Nigerians on Social media are calling for self-defense, citing the silence of the Buhari administration, his spokesperson’s admittance of “working in silence”, and the well-established inability of the nation’s security forces to contain the daring Fulani marauders – especially as Boko Haram in the extreme north and Niger Delta militant threats have stretched them thin. We must keep in mind that the generations of Igbos who suffered the perils of the Civil War are long past. The present generation of young Igbos neither listen to their elders nor possess deference for chilling history. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for Nigeria, they are not united too.

No Logistic Problem
But the Hausa/Fulani are everywhere inside Nigeria. In every state, they have their community.  In cities further south where there have been little or no inter-ethnic tensions, these communities exist. In Calabar, they call it Bogobiri. In Uyo, Nasarawa; and in Port Harcourt they call it simply Slaughter. In fact, in PH, at Slaughter, they have their own ‘agberos’, their mosques are built there, and if there’s any ethnic clash, they mobilize and protect themselves. Imagine that these brazen Fulani militants decide to advance till they can see the Ocean; these settlements will automatically serve as bases and barracks. What other logistic problem have they?

What a Global Terrorism Index publication of 2015 designates as Fulani militants was responsible, according to the report, for the death of 1229 in 2014r. Hundreds more have been added to that figure in 2015 and 2016. In Nigeria, victims and survivors alike no longer separate Fulani militants from Fulani herdsmen. They’re now one and the same. How else can one explain countless herdsmen armed with assault rifles captured on camera?

According to Secretary to the Government of Benue State – which is a frequent target region of the militants – Barrister Targema Takema, speaking on a national radio interview, natives of the State had cohabited with the nomads for ages until recently when a different set of Fulani began to arrive. The farming communities started complaining of herdsmen leading their cow herds into crop farms and destroying agricultural assets worth millions of naira. As they began to take measures to prevent further occurrence of these widely confirmed incidences, the herdsmen began to arrive closely followed by the dreaded Fulani militants.

They Will Head To The Atlantic If…
It is not unhealthy to imagine these Fulani herdsmen taking their militants all the way through Southern Nigeria, to the ocean coast in the future, for four reasons.

1.            The Sahara desert is expanding. The country is presently losing about 350,000 square meters of its land mass to desertification, which is advancing southward at an estimated rate of 0.6 kilometers a year. This is according to Fade Africa. The website also records that the activities of Fulani herdsmen is greatly responsible for desertification in the north; and they’re heading south.
“In some areas, Nomads moving to less arid areas disrupt the local ecosystem and increase the rate of erosion of the land. Ironically, Nomads try to escape the desert, but with their land use practices, ignorantly set off another process of desertification in their new settlement. They will have to move soon taking with them their land use practices, leaving a trail of desert behind, and the chain goes on.”

The desert is driving them down south. They need more land to graze in.
2.            The return to agriculture. Crash in global oil prices has driven more Nigerians back to farms. In most Southern states, governments and private sector industry heads are not only advocating a return to commercial agriculture, but are investing too. And that means, more people are going back from cities to rural areas to reclaim their farmlands for expansion from subsistent to commercial agriculture. Governments, like in Akwa Ibom and Cross River, are packaging even more robust supports for the re-emerging venture. But don’t Fulani herdsmen have destructive objectives?

3.            Fulani herdsmen are respecters of no man. Nothing is beyond their imagination. Inherently, a Fulani man is forthright, blunt and fearless – even the policies and communication style of the President of Nigeria are proofs of this – to a fault. Their fearlessness frequently transforms into thoughtlessness. This is why they can attack different regions of ‘enemy territory’, on different fronts – thousands of miles apart – simultaneously. They can breach the security of a former Presidential aspirant, surrounded by his own tribesmen, and kidnap the man, demanding for ransom. They can poison the source of drinking water of an entire community, carrying out wanton crimes against humanity without thinking twice. They can attack the convoy of an ex-military chief and former Senate president of the nation without fearing his military escorts. They have achieved all these already and there is no carnage too unthinkable for their conscience.

The Goodluck Jonathan administration, according to a House of Representatives member from Taraba state, and one time BBC correspondent in Jos, Nigeria, Rima Shawulu, did rebuild several dams to enhance irrigation and reduce desertification in the North. Yet the Fulani ignore their green grass, to head south.

4.            According to Max Gbanite, a security consultant, speaking on an AIT programme, Focus Nigeria recently, the Fulanis do not understand that in southern Nigeria, unlike in the North, “every inch of land belongs to an individual, a family or a community.” And you can’t just move into someone’s land and graze. Hence, if they keep encroaching into the south, which they will due to 1, 2 and 3, more land owners will kick against them and, without desiring to sound like a prophet of doom, more Fulani militants will attack more towns and the rest is left for the mind’s eye.

Fulani Herdsmen already have settlements close to the Atlantic shore, I’ve earlier mentioned. Southern Nigerians can expect their militant sons in the near future, unless [emphasized] the leadership of Nigeria come up with a solution for the nomadic culture.

The solution, I believe, that would come closest to preventing the prediction of more Fulani herdsmen attacks is borrowed from Gbanite. And that is a combination of creating cattle ranches across the nation and providing a reorientation to Fulanis aiming to make them embrace cultural changes; in effect, strategically abolishing ‘nomadism’ -“the way of life of a nomad” according to my dictionary. For, creating grazing routes for them will most certainly not be welcomed by those who stand to lose their property and the temptation to graze beyond the created routes will dominate the minds of the nomads.

Obudu Cattle Ranch, For Example:
Besides, the herdsmen themselves would admit that they lose hundreds of livestock subjecting them to those strenuous trips on foot. Next, the animals can hardly be made to birth up to a calf per year, wandering as they do. It also exposes the animals to all manner of diseases that end up in the stomach of human beings. Whereas in a ranch, several scientific rounds of research can be carried out to try to improve the breed of the cattle; the country can now benefit from Cattle farming in monetary terms by managing a more controlled farming system. Obudu cattle ranch was established by late Sir Michael Okpara decades ago to serve as a model for the rest of the country.

The Igbos are not as easily forgiving. They are still licking wounds of humiliation – reopened by frequent friction with their Hausa/Fulani countrymen – from the 1967 war that claimed over 1 million of them; and from several ethnic killings suffered by their brothers in northern Nigeria. The agitation for their own country has been heating up lately, with increased debates amongst them on continuing with Nigeria or not. With the Fulani herdsmen invasion of Igboland,and taking into consideration the thoughtlessness of their militants – prospecting that they will surely return; more reasons to remain with Nigeria are getting eliminated. This is yet another implication of the nagging Fulani herdsmen crusades.

If the tiers of Nigeria’s Government keep foot-dragging in containing the Fulani herdsmen, they may prepare for anarchy. Once people are forced to defend themselves; and none of the parties accepts to be the defeated foe, the situation could degenerate so dreadfully that Boko Haram would be child’s-play; Gbanite believes it can lead to a civil war. Senator Godswill Akpabio, too. And there are more who believe same.

*Uduak Umo is a Lagos/Uyo based PR consultant and Public interest researcher. Follow him on Twitter @umo2013

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Monday, January 25, 2016

Rotation speed, bad news for Red Planet pioneers



A team of scientists from Holland, Germany and the United Kingdom (UK’s) University of Manchester have revealed the importance of a circadian body clock that matches the rotational speed of the earth in a new study, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to the Media Relations Officer, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Mr. Mike Addelman, these group of scientists studied animals in which variation in a single gene dramatically speeds up the natural circadian cycle from 24 to 20 hours.

“It is the first study to demonstrate of the value of having an internal body clock which beats in tune with the speed of the earth’s rotation,” he said.

The researchers, Addelman said, released animals with 24 hour or 20 hour clocks into outdoor pens, with free access to food, and studied how the proportion of animals with fast clocks changed in the population over a period of 14 months.

This, he said, allowed the team to study the impact of clock-speed in context of the “real-world” rather than indoors.

Mice with fast-running clock, experts said, gradually become less common with successive generations, so that by the end of the study, the population was dominated by animals with “normal” 24h clocks.

The research has potentially important implications for human health:  clock-disruption associated with abnormal work and lighting conditions, such as night shift work leads to health problems, such as increased risk of Type 2 diabetes.

The scientists pointed out that these studies now extended to the potential implications of space travel in the future, citing for instance, that the Martian day is 37 minutes longer than that on earth.

Professor Andrew Loudon, from The University of Manchester said the rotation speed of Mars may be within the limits of some people’s internal clock, but people with short running clocks, such as extreme morning types, are likely to face serious intractable long-term problems, and would perhaps be excluded from any plans National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has to send humans to Mars.

“The prospect of settling on Mars is a somewhat distant prospect. But if we ever do get to the Red Planet, I suspect we will be faced with body clock problems; those people with abnormally slow body clocks would be best suited to living there,” Prof. Loudon said.

Correctly, he pointed out that ticking body clock is essential for normal survival in the wild, and this has to be in phase with the rotation speed of the earth.

“Animals with clocks that do not run in synchrony with earth are selected against. Thus, the body clock has evolved as an essential survival component for life on earth,” he explained.

 Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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Friday, June 19, 2015

FAO launches digital one-stop-shop, lauds family farmers



The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) Director-General, Jose Graziano da Silva has reiterated that family farmers are crucial allies in the fight against hunger and rural poverty through feeding the community and taking care of the earth, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Director-General speaking at the launch of a new digital platform that aims to become a "one-stop shop" for information, data and legislation on the sector that produces some 80 per cent of the world's food, NaijaAgroNet gathered, recognized the contributions of family farmers to food security and poverty eradication worldwide.

The new digitized platform would gather information on family farming from all over the world, cutting across public programs, national and regional legislation and academic researches, thus creating an enabling environment for governments to build stronger policies in support of family farmers and farmers’ organisations.

Reiterating this stand, Chief of the Advocacy Unit in FAO's Office for Partnerships, Advocacy and Capacity Development, Francesco Pierri, noted that there was a need to share knowledge on family farming on the different kinds of policies that governments have implemented and the numerous activities of family farmers and their organizations in the field.

“There is a lot of information available on the web, but it's scattered -- we wanted one single access point for all the information out there, for anybody working in this field to use," he said.

The platform NaijaAgroNet learnt, would benefit diverse international entities including governments, family farmers' networks, United Nation agencies, Non Gonvernmental Organisations and research organizations. 

FAO maintained that with governments partnership, through the provision of large portion contents for the platform’s legal database that allows users to browse through a catalogue of family related policies and programmes per country, the UN agency aims at a second phase initiative to also host online policy dialogues after successfully establishing the platform.

Daniel Nsolibe/GEE
 

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Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Geothermal energy saves cost for sustainable food production





Geothermal energy which is the heat energy radiating from the earth’s core  has been  discovered to provide  unique opportunities for cost efficient, sustainable food production and processing in developing countries,  according to  information released by FAO and made available to NaijaAgroNet .

According to Carlos da Silva, Senior Agribusiness Economist in FAO, “It’s an energy source that’s renewable, clean and low-cost once you’ve made the initial investment to harness it.”
Da Silva who works in FAO’s Rural Infrastructure and Agribusiness Division said that  “By using a clean energy source, you’re not only addressing cost but also the environmental impacts of food production and processing,” NaijaAgroNet reports.

Agriculture both consumes energy and emits greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Research suggests that using geothermal heating for greenhouses decreases fungus infections and cuts fuel costs by up to 80 per cent, providing significant savings to operating budgets.
In some developing economies, as much as half of all food produced is lost post-harvest – that's due in part to a lack of affordable energy for food processing, according to “Uses of Geothermal Energy in Food and Agriculture.”

“Geothermal energy for agriculture can be done even at small-scales and can significantly contribute to income generation, providing employment and improving food and nutrition security in developing countries,” adds Divine Njie, AGS Deputy Director and co-editor of the report.

Worldwide, 38 countries currently use geothermal energy for direct application in agricultural production and some 24 countries harness it to generate electricity, with Iceland, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Kenya, New Zealand and the Philippines deriving more than 10 per cent of their electricity needs from natural heat sources.

Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE/ED (OPs)   

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