New research has found that smallholder farmers in Malawi can grow bigger maize crops if they plant maize with legumes in deep beds with natural ditches to catch water alongside.
The remote Bassari community have to make difficult choices about how to adapt to many changes that are linked to climate change.
Courtesy Anna Porcuna Ferrer
The remote Bassari community, located between Senegal and Guinea, experiences climate change as one of many changes. They are best placed to come up with solutions that work for them.
Less than 10% of South African homes have installed solar power.
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Only 5% of South Africa’s energy comes from solar power while 85% is generated from coal. Loans, more subsidies and security for rooftop solar panels need to be put in place.
Akosombo Hydroelectric Power Station on the Volta River, Ghana.
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The carbon stored by forests can be bought by polluting companies to offset their emissions. This can displace communities who depend on natural forests for their livelihoods.
Deep groundwater bores could help people who now dig their own shallow wells.
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Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, South Sudan and Uganda are investigating whether deep groundwater bores could support drought stricken communities. Could a networked approach help?
Sweet sorghum ripening in Rwanda.
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Ehiaze Ehimen, Atlantic Technological University and Thomas Robin, Atlantic Technological University
Biogas systems that generate cooking gas from plant waste can be relatively low-cost to set up. They come with environmental and health benefits for rural people who have only firewood to cook with.
Countries in east Africa are facing the harsh realities of climate change.
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Planting millions of trees in natural grassland is largely ineffective in the battle against global warming because it adds little or no additional carbon storage.
Biowatch’s 2023 Agroecology Farmer Fair where smallholder farmers promoted ancient grains, including millet and sorghum.
Courtesy Biowatch South Africa
African governments must acknowledge the universal right to diverse and nutritious food if they are to end malnutrition. Five projects show how this can be done.
Renewable electricity in Africa needs to be shared across borders, this research found.
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If Africa built only all the renewable power plants it has already planned, this would be enough to generate 76% of all electricity needed on the continent by 2040.
A group of Enviro-Champs using a velocity plank to measure the depth and discharge of a river.
Courtesy DUCT and GroundTruth.
Jim Taylor, University of KwaZulu-Natal and Mark Graham, University of KwaZulu-Natal
In South Africa, a group of citizen scientists who test water quality and log the results on a specialised app have helped keep the water supply for 4.3 million people clean.
A group of farmers in Ghana discussing ways to adapt farming to climate change.
Courtesy AICCRA CGIAR
Frederick Dapilah, SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies
Smallholder contract farmers in Ghana have benefited from loans for fertiliser, drought resistant seeds, guaranteed markets and training in how to farm differently to meet changes in the climate.
More and more households in South Africa are opting to install their own solar power.
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Just three plant species – wheat, maize and rice – account for 60% of all food eaten globally. A crop science expert argues that many of Africa’s 30,000 edible plants must be revived.
An unregulated and uncontrolled landfill site next to the Roche Santiero market in Angola.
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Garbage is decomposing in landfill sites across sub-Saharan Africa, releasing methane gas. If governments harnessed this as clean energy, Africa would avoid environmental damage worth US$6.7 billion.
A change in policy means more Philly students are staying in school and out of the legal system.
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Drexel researchers evaluated a 2014 program implemented by Kevin Bethel when he was deputy police commissioner that led to fewer arrests of students in schools.