I am reminded of a story told by Professor Wangari Maathai of a hummingbird trying to save a burning forest with drops of water carried on its beak, as larger animal forests watched. Bewildered at the hummingbird’s clearly futile efforts, the other animals ask the hummingbird what she thought she was doing. Without stopping, the hummingbird says, “I am doing the best I can.”
And this is the way the Professor lived. She called herself a hummingbird, doing the best she could, to viciously protect the environment, to the chagrin of more powerful people in authority who stood by and watched, sometimes calling her a crazy woman.
Here’s a great blog post from our friends over at Opportunity International. They’re providing their loan officers in Africa with environmentally friendly electronic bikes. Read the original blog post here.
Opportunity International’s loan officers are going green. They are traveling to loan client locations with the assistance of electric bicycles. If electric cars are the epitome of a culture that is constantly trying to reduce its carbon footprint, then electric bicycles (e-bikes) rank in the same category. That’s why Daryl Skoog, Opportunity International’s SVP of technology, is so enthused about deploying e-bikes to the field.
According to Skoog, “With our rural expansions, we recognized that transportation would become a challenge in getting our loan officers to their customers. We were seeking a low-cost mode of transportation with a target of 5 cents per mile, versus the 50 cents per mile it costs us per officer today. Bicycles are a common mode of transport throughout the world, so finding a way to use bicycles that would transport our loan officers and leave them with energy to do their job all day long led us to this innovation.”
For the first time in history, Africa held its first All Africa Energy Week in Maputo, Mozambique last week. The African Union, the African Development Bank and the United Economic Commission for Africa joined forces to launch the conference, which focused on clean energy for sustainable development.
The fact that this event even happened shows tremendous progress. Electricity poverty is a huge problem in Africa, despite the fact that the continent has huge reserves of cheap fuels like coal and natural gas. Almost two-thirds of Africans do not have access to electricity, an unfortunate circumstance that impedes economic growth, slows down businesses and productivity and keeps the cycle of extreme poverty going ’round and ’round.
The solution? Amp up efforts to create a low-carbon infrastructure and encourage public-private partnerships to tap into Africa’s energy potential. Think strategically, using energy policy and regulations to help bridge the gap in the energy infrastructure. Consider biofuels, solar energy and hydropower.
Having a regular and affordable source of electricity can increase wealth and boost productivity. And investing a strong energy infrastructure can create jobs and attract investments. Either way, Africa’s energy sector is a priority and can help eradicate poverty for millions of Africans. In fact, it’s such a priority that it has made its way onto the agenda of this year’s G20 Summit in Seoul for the first time.
Concentrating on Africa’s energy sector is the right step in the right direction, and it’s great to see that African organizations are working to coordinate their efforts while staying environmentally conscious. Learn more about All Africa Energy Week on their website.
East Africa’s Lake Tanganyika is the warmest it’s been in approximately 1,500 years, which is spelling some big problems for the lake’s sardines– “an economic and nutritional mainstay for some 10 million people in neighboring Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.”
The scientists also found that the lake saw its biggest warm-up in the 20th century.
This unprecedented warm water could interfere with the lake’s unique ecosystem, which relies on nutrients churned up from the bottom of the lake to feed the algae that form the base of the lake’s food web. As Lake Tanganyika heats up, the mixing of waters is lessened and fewer nutrients get to the top level where algae and fish feed. More warming at the surface magnifies the difference between the two lake levels and even more wind is needed to churn the waters enough to get nutrients to the upper layer.
Some researchers believe declining fish stocks in Lake Tanganyika are due mainly to overfishing. However, climate change models show a general warming trend in the region, which would cause even greater warming of Lake Tanganyika’s surface. But in a statement from the U.S. National Science Foundation, which helped fund the research, scientists said that warming of the lake is making the decline in fish stocks worse, even if that is not the cause.
The BBC this morning has picked up an interesting story out of Uganda, where the ice cap on the country’s highest peak has split due to global warming:
The glacier is located at an altitude of 5,109m (16,763ft) in the Rwenzori mountain range, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The authorities say a crevasse has blocked access to the Margherita summit – the third-highest peak in Africa, and a popular destination with climbers.
Scientists say glaciers in the Rwenzori range could disappear within 20 years.
UWA officials said a team had been sent to the mountain to assess the extent of damage on the route to Margherita.
According to researchers, the ice cap covered 6 sq km (2 sq miles) 50 years ago. It is now less than 1 sq km.
Earlier today, I linked to this great piece by Elisa Lai on climate change and its impact on women. Now DipNote has a post– that went up a couple days ago, I confess– from Jared Banks. He reflects on a recent trip to Senegal and what he observed in the relationship between climate change, the environment, and migration in the region.
He writes:
The visit to Senegal provided me an opportunity to discuss this issue with policymakers in the national and local governments, nongovernmental organizations, academics who are studying the phenomenon, and leaders of local communities that have been affected by displacements. The team was also able to examine first-hand the impact of environmental and climate changes at very local levels, including among fishing, herding and agricultural communities. For example, we met with the leaders of a fishing community in Camberene (near Dakar), which has experienced both an inflow and outflow of migrants.
The local imam opened the meeting with a prayer and told us the story of the founding of the community by a religious man — a history that continues to influence the community’s generally welcoming attitude toward incoming migrants, including those leaving farming communities in northern Senegal because of desertification. The community members lamented the loss of their beaches to coastal erosion, the rising sea water temperatures, and the slow decline of fishing as a sustainable livelihood. Some of the women said that it is good for young men to migrate abroad, but others lamented that migration isn’t a long-term solution for the community and that the financial crisis has taught them that they cannot always count on remittances.
We also met with a community in Lebar Boye in northern Senegal where the land has become too salinated to farm because of the decreased amount of fresh water, accentuated by a dam that was built to prevent flooding. As a result, most of their children were now working in urban centers. Some farming continued in the Senegal River Valley despite the drought conditions because of a government-funded irrigation system. At one of the farms, we met two young men from Guinea Bissau who travel north to work during the dry season and then head back to Guinea Bissau during their community’s farming season. Climate change and the consequences are not bound by national boundaries.
Over at ThePeopleSpeak.org, Elisa Lai makes a really excellent argument that climate change disproportionately affects women. It’s a very clear and compelling point, and one that I frankly don’t see a ton of.
In most developing countries and most least-developed countries, women often have lower social statuses and have lower accessibility to social/political affairs participation than do men. The same is true in the context of international climate change negotiations, where women’s efforts are often downplayed, and women’s opinions are underweighted. Attention on international climate change negotiations and their agendas is not focused on climate-vulnerable women in the developing world. To reach gender equality and gender justice in terms of climate change issues, the harmonious role many women play in managing natural resources with minimal ecological footprint needs to be recognized and valued more. In order to mitigate and adapt to climate change impacts, it is critical for the international community, through women empowerment, to involve women’s participation and reinforce women’s capabilities in the face of climate change disasters.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
