tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/botswana-11196/articlesBotswana – The Conversation2024-02-12T14:14:08Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2217672024-02-12T14:14:08Z2024-02-12T14:14:08ZThe San people of southern Africa: where ethics codes for researching indigenous people could fail them<p>There is a long and often complicated history of researchers studying Indigenous people. In 1999, the education scholar Linda Tuhiwai-Smith, in her book <a href="https://www.google.nl/books/edition/Decolonizing_Methodologies/Nad7afStdr8C?hl=en&gbpv=0">Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples</a>, emphasised the colonial character of much research. She warned that it</p>
<blockquote>
<p>brings with it a new wave of exploration, discovery, exploitation and appropriation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Well into the <a href="https://www.google.nl/books/edition/Anthropology_and_the_Bushman/bUUHEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0;%20https://www.google.nl/books/edition/The_Bushman_Myth/BPZKDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0;%20https://www.google.nl/books/edition/Ethnologists_in_Camouflage/qGhezwEACAAJ?hl=nl">20th century</a>, researchers depicted groups like the Indigenous San of southern Africa in a racist fashion, fixating on their physical characteristics and writing of their “savage” or “primitive” state. </p>
<p>Historically, many researchers did not care about their study participants’ consent or agency, or how they could benefit from the research, for instance through improving their position in society. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-im-righting-the-wrongs-of-my-early-research-and-sharing-my-scientific-data-with-local-communities-191713">Why I'm righting the wrongs of my early research and sharing my scientific data with local communities </a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This has gradually shifted over the past 50 years. Global organisations such as the Ethical Research Partnership <a href="https://trust-project.eu/">TRUST</a>, the <a href="https://americananthro.org/about/policies/statement-on-ethics/">American Anthropological Association</a> and most, if not all, credible academic institutions, have created ethical rules and guidelines to protect vulnerable populations from exploitation and promote their role in research.</p>
<p>But, as I and a group of fellow ethnographers, together with <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/San">San people</a> from all over southern Africa, show in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-02101-0">a recent paper</a>, such ethical guidelines have flaws. </p>
<p>Today there are <a href="https://peabody.harvard.edu/video-traces-and-tracks-journeys-san#:%7E:text=But%20just%20to%20give%20you,%2C%20Botswana%2C%20and%20South%20Africa.">about 130,000 San people</a> in Angola, Botswana, <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6096/">Namibia</a>, South Africa and Zimbabwe. They were historically nomadic hunter gatherers; in the past century or so their lives have become more settled, based on agriculture and wage labour.</p>
<p>The pitfalls we identified in the guidelines manifest mainly in three ways: by oppressing vulnerable groups; by being ambiguous about potential benefits to the participants; and by being difficult to follow in practice.</p>
<h2>Three issues</h2>
<p>There are several reasons why ethical conduct in scientific research is so important. Ethical rules are there to prevent what’s known as <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01423-6">“ethics dumping”</a>, in which unethical research practices are used in lower-income countries that would not normally be allowed elsewhere. They also guard against <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01423-6">“helicopter research”</a>, when scientists from high-income countries conduct their research without involving local scientists or communities.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/african-ubuntu-can-deepen-how-research-is-done-190076">African ubuntu can deepen how research is done</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In 2017 a <a href="https://trust-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/San-Code-of-RESEARCH-Ethics-Booklet-final.pdf">code of conduct</a> was created by academics and San leaders working with and for the South African San Institute, the South African San Council and TRUST. The <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-02101-0">paper</a> discussed in this article, as well as <a href="https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/hgr.2023.4">one other</a>, analysed problems with this code and similar instruments, and individual contracts unique to a particular piece of research.</p>
<p>These were:</p>
<p><strong>1. Oppression of opinions:</strong> Authorities (often NGOs) sometimes want to push their agenda by keeping unwelcome ideas out of the research. In South Africa, a colleague of mine encountered dubious gatekeepers who claimed to represent the community she hoped to study and who wanted to dictate whom she could interview.</p>
<p>An instrument intended to promote ethical research was used to exclude particular people, or their ideas. </p>
<p><strong>2. An over-emphasis on immediate benefits:</strong> Most codes of conduct and contracts include a clause that research must be “beneficial”. This ignores the essence of what most scientific research is: fundamental and not applied. Fundamental knowledge is not immediately practical but it is crucial to make research potentially beneficial. </p>
<p>I have worked on <a href="https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3197/np.2019.230104">research</a> about a land claim by the San in northern Namibia. Knowledge similar to the sort reflected in my research <a href="https://doi.org/10.3366/ajicl.2020.0339">has helped San groups</a> in other parts of southern Africa <a href="https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/BieseleJu/1000">regain or retain land</a>. Will my research do the same? I have no idea, because that takes time – the research doesn’t instantly benefit the participants.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-steps-every-researcher-should-take-to-ensure-participants-are-not-harmed-and-are-fully-heard-191430">Five steps every researcher should take to ensure participants are not harmed and are fully heard</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A focus on benefits also ignores different interests and perceptions within communities. A benefit for some may be detrimental to others. For instance, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280233612_Local_impacts_of_community-based_tourism_in_southern_Africa">research</a> can support wildlife management and the creation of tourism jobs for some. But these activities may constrain other livelihoods in the same community. In a <a href="https://journals.lww.com/coas/fulltext/2017/15020/ju__hoansi_lodging_in_a_namibian_conservancy_.2.aspx">Namibian case study</a>, some San complained about restrictions on hunting, small-scale farming, or keeping livestock. </p>
<p><strong>3. Practical limitations:</strong> In southern Africa it is often unclear in advance whom you need to contact to discuss and sign something, and what the legal status of codes and contracts is. In our experiences, e-mails often go unanswered. Many local San do not even know – or, in some cases, care – that these instruments exist. For most, researchers’ needs and aims are not a priority in their ordinary lives. </p>
<p>In such cases research codes and contracts mainly legitimise the researchers’ and gatekeepers’ role in research, but not necessarily that of the people being studied. </p>
<p>This is not an exhaustive list of potential issues. Others include the imposition of a red tape culture, illiteracy among participants and a lack of clear consequences if researchers behave unethically even after signing a contract.</p>
<h2>Paper is no panacea</h2>
<p>We are not opposed to instruments that can empower research participants, but they are not a panacea. Researchers need to scrutinise such codes’ inherent and complex challenges. They also need to put collaboration at the heart of their work.</p>
<p>Examples of such scrutiny and collaboration already exist. Some San groups, such as the <a href="https://anadjeh.wordpress.com/">||Ana-Djeh San Trust</a>, have created initiatives to increase their participation in research, including community training to raise awareness about research. In such cases they like to collaborate with researchers they trust, normally because they have been in contact with them for many years already. Such trust is at the heart of good collaborations and is, we would argue, much more important than paper agreements.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221767/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stasja Koot does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There are several reasons why ethical conduct in scientific research is so important.Stasja Koot, Assistant Professor, Wageningen UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2219982024-02-02T10:59:15Z2024-02-02T10:59:15ZSouth Africa needs to manage migrants better. That requires cleaning up the Department of Home Affairs<p>Legal grievances against the South African Department of Home Affairs, including contempt of court cases, are depressingly common. Too frequently the minister has to apologise to a court, or to ask for more time, on behalf of the department. Most of the court cases involve the operations of the department regarding visas and permits for foreign visitors, immigrants and prospective refugees.</p>
<p>Just a few months ago home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi said, <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-06-15-minister-motsoaledi-apologises-to-south-africa-for-the-mess-created-by-his-department/">in legal papers</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I would like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere apology to the Chief Justice, all judges of the high court and Constitutional Court, the President of South Africa, Minister of Finance, Lawyers for Human Rights and its legal representatives and the people of South Africa for the mess created by officials of the Department of Home Affairs.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This particular mess was triggered by the minister’s failure to amend an unconstitutional law which allowed for the detention of irregular migrants for 120 days. </p>
<p>The rotten state of the department is widely known. Two reports released in the last three years, commissioned by the minister and the presidency and led by senior and seasoned individuals, set out the problems in detail. One, released <a href="https://static.pmg.org.za/Review-Issuance_of_visas_permits.pdf">in 2022</a>, chronicled a backlog of visa, permit and status applications, evidence of fraudulent applications being first rejected, then accepted, and the system being used illegally. The other found multiple failures in the provision of visas to senior business managers and experts.</p>
<p>The issue of migration policy and its implementation has never been more pressing for South Africa. Immigration has grown relatively rapidly in the past 20 years. The proportion of migrants to local people more than doubled from a relatively low level of 2.1% in 2000 to a moderate level of 4.8% in 2020, according to a <a href="https://nsi.org.za/publications/analysis-trends-patterns-migration-africa/">study</a> drawing on UN data.</p>
<p>The global average immigrant population is around 3.5% but countries like the US (nearly 16% in 2019), Australia and New Zealand are much higher. Côte d'Ivoire is the only country on the continent with a considerably higher percentage of immigrants than South Africa.</p>
<p>Migration policy is likely to be a key issue in South Africa’s forthcoming elections. A <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/features/2023-11-16-is-south-africa-heading-for-an-immigration-election/">leading journalist</a> has argued that 2024 will be an “immigration election”. Populist parties are expected to mobilise around people’s fears, while the government will continue to use immigration as an excuse for poor service delivery and joblessness.</p>
<p>The reality is that the impact of migrants on the circumstances of poor South Africans is marginal, and far less important than the very poor performance of the economy and many governmental institutions. </p>
<p>In a paper <a href="https://nsi.org.za/publications/south-africa-migration-study-nsi-report/">just published</a> I examine the recent history of immigration policy in South Africa. I argue that the challenges would best be addressed by improvement in the operations of the Department of Home Affairs. This should be accompanied by some modernisation of migration law to encourage the use of regular migration channels and discourage irregularity. </p>
<h2>The problems</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://static.pmg.org.za/Review-Issuance_of_visas_permits.pdf">first</a> of the two investigations initiated by the minister was headed by Cassius Lubisi, former secretary of the cabinet. The <a href="http://www.dha.gov.za/images/PDFs/Report-of-the-Work-Visa-Review-2023.pdf">second</a> was headed by anti-apartheid struggle stalwart Mavuso Msimang. </p>
<p>Their main findings were as follows.</p>
<p>Fraudulent documentation was used in 36,647 applications for visas, permits or status over a 16-year period. Of these, 880 were approved and 288 were pending. 4,160 of the fraudulent applications were first rejected, and then accepted after reconsideration.</p>
<p>Systems that had been replaced were still being used illegally from time to time. The outcomes of such activities were suspicious. In some cases applications were processed in zero days. The investigation found visa expiry dates issued beyond the legal limit.</p>
<p>The department’s databases for naturalisation and population registration didn’t correlate with each other.</p>
<p>The list identifying undesirable immigrants was “fatally flawed due to incomplete and missing crucial data”. </p>
<p>In some cases, files had been inserted illegally into the information system. This process would require “a highly skilled IT user with administrator rights to execute”. </p>
<p>There were multiple cases of “forum-shopping” by applicants. This is when an applicant applies for a range of unrelated permits in the hope that one of them will get through.</p>
<p>The department did not have systems that could identify multiple applications by the same person.</p>
<h2>Possible fixes</h2>
<p>The Department of Home Affairs <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/202311/49690gon4061.pdf">recently issued</a> a draft white paper which it said was aimed at addressing the problems that had been identified.</p>
<p>It proposed severely curtailing the rights of prospective refugees, restricting paths to citizenship, and strengthening the Border Management Authority and supportive institutions. </p>
<p>But, based on my findings, it is clear that these changes won’t solve the problems. Experts <a href="https://www.guilford.com/books/The-Age-of-Migration/Haas-Castles-Miller/9781462542895">show</a> that tighter restrictions lead to greater illegality, not less migration.</p>
<p>The most disappointing element of the draft white paper is that it makes no reference to recommendations made in the two reports on the problems at the department. </p>
<p>Recommendations of the reports included:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>major investment in and reorganisation of information systems </p></li>
<li><p>the integration of the various population databases </p></li>
<li><p>further forensic investigations to root out corruption </p></li>
<li><p>hiring and training staff with skills and integrity.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The draft white paper also does not mention the need to modernise the colonial-style bilateral labour agreements which South Africa maintains with five regional neighbours – Mozambique, Lesotho, Eswatini, Malawi and Botswana. These countries, and Zimbabwe, are the greatest source of regular and irregular migration.</p>
<p>These agreements are no longer fit for purpose. Firstly, they impose tight restrictions on the rights of contracted migrants from other countries. Secondly, they are based on patterns of migrant labour developed during the colonial period to support farming and mining. Thirdly, they’re written up on the basis of an unequal relationship between countries of the southern African region.</p>
<p>Modern bilateral labour agreements have been developed. An example <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---migrant/documents/publication/wcms_837529.pdf">is the Canadian system</a>. It provides for long term arrangements with full labour and social rights for the duration of the multiyear contract, but no right to permanent residence for the workers or their families. </p>
<p>Modern Canadian-style migrant labour agreements would encourage more migrants to choose regular migration routes and fewer would try to evade or abuse the law.</p>
<p>The draft white paper gives the impression that the challenge of migration policy can be solved with tighter laws on refugees and citizenship. In fact the fundamental problem is the corruption and inefficiency in the permits and visa section of the department, which the white paper hardly mentions.</p>
<p>The unfortunate conclusion that can be drawn from a reading of the draft white paper is that it was designed primarily to give the ruling party a narrative for the upcoming election, rather than to reform the migration governance regime.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221998/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Hirsch is employed as a research fellow at the New South Institute under whose auspices he researched and wrote this article.</span></em></p>Problems identified include a backlog of visa, permit and status applications, fraudulent applications being first rejected, then accepted, and the system being used illegally.Alan Hirsch, Research Fellow New South Institute, Emeritus Professor at The Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2155552023-10-29T10:07:08Z2023-10-29T10:07:08ZShepherd Ndudzo’s celebrated sculptures tell an untold history of southern African art<p>The <a href="https://intethe.co.za/shepherd-ndudzo/">work</a> of award-winning Zimbabwe-born sculptor <a href="https://artafricamagazine.org/shepherd-ndudzo-2/">Shepherd Ndudzo</a> is instantly recognisable. Fluid, elongated black bodies and body parts flow from white rock in a typical work. The bodies are dancing or praying, holding hands or reaching out. </p>
<p>These figurative sculptures, carved out of stone (marble and granite) and wood (ironwood), were recently shown along with his abstract wooden sculptures (titled Seed) at the <a href="https://artjoburg.com/exhibitors/">FNB Joburg Art Fair</a> in South Africa by Botswana’s <a href="https://www.instagram.com/oraloapi_/?hl=en">Ora Laopi</a> contemporary art gallery and research project.</p>
<p>The work by the artist (born in 1978) was displayed as a celebration of the sculpture of Botswana, where he lives and works. The show was <a href="https://www.facebook.com/oraloapi">dedicated</a> to his father, <a href="https://www.mmegi.bw/artculture-review/ndudzo-a-patriarch-of-local-sculptors/news">Barnabas Ndudzo</a>, the famed creator of realistic, often life-size sculptures. In a <a href="https://vimeo.com/861254066?fbclid=IwAR1KfPY63fbSjGwOgg3BxVF0fwQ0e0LM7MC-68wtN54O6igXOSoMnQRCcNQ">documentary</a> produced by the gallery, Shepherd tells how he was taught to sculpt by his father. He says that his works speak about migration and help tell his family story.</p>
<p>It’s a tale that spans three neighbouring southern African nations, all known for their sculpture – Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa. It exposes a history of shared traditions and schools of teaching, of colonial-era gatekeeping and art world wars. It’s this history that informs the research for my <a href="https://www.ru.ac.za/artsofafrica/people/doctoralresearchers/barnabastichamuvhuti/">PhD thesis</a> on Zimbabwean art.</p>
<p>It’s my view that Shepherd Ndudzo’s work can only be fully appreciated by understanding his transnational story and how it has shaped his life and career, showing how art traditions are invented and reinvented across borders.</p>
<h2>Kekana school</h2>
<p>His father Barnabas was born in Zimbabwe and attended the Kekana School of Art and Craft in the late 1960s. Early art schools in Zimbabwe were founded and run by white missionaries and expatriates. But the Kekana School was founded by a black artist and teacher. The school was started at St Faith’s Mission near Rusape by South African sculptor <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/job-patja-kekana">Job Patja Kekana</a> in the early 1960s, long before Zimbabwe attained <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/zimbabawean-independence-day">independence</a> in 1980. </p>
<p>Kekana had trained at Grace Dieu Mission Diocesan Training College near Pietersburg (Polokwane). The same institution was attended by <a href="https://www.art.co.za/gerardsekoto/about.php">Gerard Sekoto</a> and <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/ernest-methuen-mancoba">Ernest Mancoba</a>, two of South Africa’s prominent black modernists. (<a href="https://uobrep.openrepository.com/handle/10547/621830">Modernism</a> was an era of experimentation in art from the late 1800s to the mid 1950s. It saw new ideas, new media and the uptake of socio-political concerns.)</p>
<p>Kekana had settled at St Faith’s in 1944 and stayed until he died in 1995, except for the three years (1960-1963) when he attended art college in the UK. When Shepherd enrolled at St Faith’s High School in Zimbabwe in the early 1990s, he briefly met his father’s ageing mentor. </p>
<p>Shepherd mostly learned from assisting and observing his father at work. Like Kekana and all his students, Barnabas mostly carved realistic statues and busts.</p>
<h2>Art war</h2>
<p>Zimbabwe is famous for its <a href="https://artuk.org/discover/curations/shona-sculpture">“Shona sculpture”</a> tradition in which artists use handmade tools, patiently carving human and animal forms from <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/serpentinite">serpentinite</a> rocks. UK-born artist, teacher and museum curator <a href="https://africanartists.blogspot.com/2015/04/remembering-frank-mcewen.html">Frank McEwen</a> pigeonholed artists from various ethnic backgrounds and different countries – and not just from the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shona">Shona people</a> – in a single <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3171633?typeAccessWorkflow=login">misnamed</a> cultural basket. Their individual creative styles did not matter. </p>
<p>McEwen was the founding director of the Rhodes National Gallery (<a href="http://www.nationalgallery.co.zw/">National Gallery of Zimbabwe</a>). Although he was celebrated for his efforts at promoting Zimbabwe’s abstract stone sculpture tradition, ensuring that the world accepted it as modern art, his presence was bad for artists who worked with media like wood and were making realistic works, as well as for those stationed at <a href="https://cyrenemission.com/2016/11/08/history/">missionary</a> <a href="https://zimnative.com/blogs/historical-sites-and-ancient-ruins/father-john-groeber-and-st-mary-s-church-at-serima-mission">workshops</a>. (Figurative art represents existing objects. Abstract art usually has no real-life visual reference. Realism refers to accurate depictions usually portraying a sitter or model.)</p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/861254066" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>McEwen preferred working with sculptors from the National Gallery School and the <a href="https://www.herald.co.zw/the-beauty-of-tengenenge-village/">Tengenenge</a> workshop until he had a fall-out with its founder, <a href="https://www.herald.co.zw/just-in-fare-thee-well-thomas-blomefield/">Tom Blomefield</a>. As reported in the press, Blomefield accused McEwen of stealing artists from his stable. Art historian <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315714465_Patron_and_Artist_in_the_Shaping_of_Zimbabwean_Art">Elizabeth Morton</a> highlighted that when Kekana visited the National Gallery School soon after his return from the UK he was chased away by McEwen, who didn’t want to see him near his students.</p>
<h2>Barnabas</h2>
<p>With McEwen holding the most powerful position at the nation’s central art institution, artists from Kekana’s school found themselves on the periphery of Zimbabwe’s mainstream art canon. They had to rely on church commissions and teaching jobs. This probably explains why Barnabas briefly found himself conducting “ecumenical workshops” for the Methodist Church in 1970 and 1971. Today the national gallery doesn’t have a single piece of his in its collection.</p>
<p>Barnabas headed south, finding a home at the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/place/federated-union-black-artists-arts-centre">Federated Union of Black Artists</a> (Fuba), an academy in Johannesburg. He settled in Botswana in the mid-1990s. He taught art at Gallery Ann and other institutions before moving to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thapong.centre">Thapong Visual Arts Centre</a> where he continued to mentor emerging artists. </p>
<p>He gained considerable recognition and respect in Botswana. And it’s in Botswana that his son Shepherd continues to sculpt, having moved to the country initially to assist his father.</p>
<h2>Shepherd</h2>
<p>The younger Ndudzo collects the <a href="https://www.herald.co.zw/ndafunga-dande-exhibition-opens-at-national-gallery/">hardwood</a> he uses from construction sites, especially from trees bulldozed for road construction. He prefers marble from Zambia and Namibia which comes not only in white, but also in various shades of grey and brown. He highlights how citizens of these countries walk across the countryside on this resource, hardly appreciating its importance. The black granite he combines them with is mostly from Zimbabwe.</p>
<p>Recently, Shepherd took me to his home in Oodi village in Kgatleng district. His vast open yard is his studio – where his artist neighbours tolerate the deafening noise of his sculpture making.</p>
<p>Though he <a href="https://vimeo.com/861254066?fbclid=IwAR1KfPY63fbSjGwOgg3BxVF0fwQ0e0LM7MC-68wtN54O6igXOSoMnQRCcNQ">talks</a> about moving away from his father’s realistic style, I still see strong elements of it in his work. The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/bas-relief">bas-relief</a> carving in the larger works of wood exhibited at the Joburg Art Fair is a good example. It’s a style inherited from Kekana, <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?hl=en&lr=&id=aXMHEwVL0bgC&oi=fnd&pg=PT44&dq=barnabas+ndudzo&ots=4S2f9dwvF3&sig=QxJZpGay1iqYFxULB93gbd7LuFE&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=barnabas%20ndudzo&f=false">who</a> “taught his students bas-relief carving, and realism and understanding of the wood grain”. </p>
<p>Thus I see Shepherd Ndudzo as an artist sustaining a legacy emanating from the Kekana school. However, his work oscillates between figuration and abstraction. It’s quite conceptual in that it is about ideas and quite experimental in that it blends different elements. The artist points to the likes of <a href="https://chapunguatcenterra.com/team/tapfuma-gutsa/">Tapfuma Gutsa</a> as his greatest inspiration. Gutsa transformed Zimbabwe’s stone sculpture tradition, blending stone with various other elements.</p>
<h2>Lineage</h2>
<p>Shepherd’s decision to dedicate his exhibition to his father and mentor is an important gesture. It highlights the story of a sidelined artist, mostly written out of history, like others from the Kekana school.</p>
<p>Artists do not make art in complete isolation. Highlighting the lineage Shepherd Ndudzo belongs to helps us understand his practice, choice of materials and aesthetic references.</p>
<p>It’s a lineage that’s transnational in outlook – linking Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe – and his materials are drawn from different countries. This helps us appreciate how artistic practice can feed off art ecosystems across southern African borders.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215555/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barnabas Ticha Muvhuti does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article. </span></em></p>His work can only be fully understood by observing the shared traditions of Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa.Barnabas Ticha Muvhuti, PhD in Art History, Rhodes UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2152702023-10-12T13:31:06Z2023-10-12T13:31:06ZMauritius is the latest nation to decriminalise same-sex relations in a divided continent<p>The Mauritius Supreme Court has <a href="https://www.humandignitytrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Judgment-AH-SEEK-.pdf">declared</a> unconstitutional a law that criminalises consensual same-sex acts between adult men. The decision boosts the trend in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region towards decriminalisation. Now, a slight majority – nine out of 16 member states – do not prohibit gay and lesbian sexual relations. </p>
<p>I have researched and taught human rights law in Africa, including the rights of sexual minorities, for over three decades, and closely follow the work of the <a href="https://achpr.au.int/">African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights</a>. </p>
<p>The African Commission, as the continent’s human rights custodian, should lend its unequivocal support to the decriminalisation trend. This is particularly significant as attempts are made to further criminalise and stigmatise sexual minorities in parts of Africa.</p>
<p>The commission has not yet expressed its view on the decision. Its <a href="https://achpr.au.int/en/events/2023-10-20/77os-public">77th ordinary session</a>, starting on 20 October 2023 in Arusha, Tanzania, is an opportunity to do so. It should build on its 2014 <a href="https://achpr.au.int/en/adopted-resolutions/275-resolution-protection-against-violence-and-other-human-rights-violations">guidance</a> to African states on eradicating violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity. </p>
<h2>Mauritius court ruling</h2>
<p>The Mauritian Supreme Court <a href="https://www.humandignitytrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Judgment-AH-SEEK-.pdf">found</a> that section 250 of the <a href="https://sherloc.unodc.org/cld/uploads/res/document/mus/criminal-code_html/Mauritius_Criminal_Code.pdf">1838 Mauritius Criminal Code</a>, which criminalises anal sex between two consenting adult men, violates the <a href="https://cdn.accf-francophonie.org/2019/03/maurice-constitution2016.pdf">1968 Mauritius constitution</a>. </p>
<p>The litigant, Ah Seek, a gay Mauritian man and board member of the Mauritian NGO <a href="https://www.actogether.mu/fr/trouver-une-ong/collectif-arc-en-ciel">Collectif-Arc-en-Ciel</a>, invoked a number of constitutional grounds. However, the court based its decision on the most directly relevant ground: the right not to be discriminated against.</p>
<p>In addressing two issues that could militate against a finding in Ah Seek’s favour, the court relied on the approach of other courts in the SADC region. The 2021 <a href="https://www.humandignitytrust.org/wp-content/uploads/resources/2021.11.29-AG-Botswana-v-Motshidiemang.pdf">judgment</a> by Botswana’s Court of Appeal was particularly relevant. This judgment held that the constitutionally protected ground of “sex” in the Botswana constitution encompassed “sexual orientation”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/botswana-court-ruling-is-a-ray-of-hope-for-lgbt-people-across-africa-118713">Botswana court ruling is a ray of hope for LGBT people across Africa</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The first issue was the contention that Mauritius’ constitution does not explicitly prohibit discrimination based on “sexual orientation”. The relevant provision (<a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Mauritius_2016">section 16</a>) forbids discrimination on the basis of seven specified grounds, including sex. </p>
<p>The Mauritian court concluded that the word “sex” in section 16 of the constitution includes “sexual orientation”. </p>
<p>The court also emphasised the country’s international human rights commitments. It said that, as a state party to the <a href="https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=IV-4&chapter=4&clang=_en">International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights</a>, Mauritius was expected to interpret its constitution in line with this <a href="https://juris.ohchr.org/casedetails/702/en-US">treaty</a>. </p>
<p>The second issue was whether the rarity of prosecutions removed the need for the court to decide. Referring to a <a href="https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZACC/1998/15.html">judgment</a> by the South African Constitutional Court, the Mauritius court held that the mere threat of arrest, prosecution and conviction</p>
<blockquote>
<p>hangs like the sword of Damocles over the heads of homosexual men.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The court therefore concluded that the constitution protected everyone from discrimination based on their sexual orientation, whatever it might be. </p>
<p>When it was given an opportunity to show any legitimate purpose for this form of discrimination, the state merely made reference to same-sex relations as a “highly sensitive issue” due to the “delicate socio-cultural and religious fabric of Mauritian society”. Rejecting these as justifications for discrimination, the court underlined that Mauritius was a secular state. </p>
<h2>Regional trend</h2>
<p>Greater societal acceptance of homosexuality can be both a catalyst for and a consequence of decriminalisation of same-sex relationships. </p>
<p>In a recent survey by the independent African surveys network <a href="https://www.afrobarometer.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/AD639-Uganda-a-continental-extreme-in-rejection-of-people-in-same-sex-relationships-Afrobarometer-9may23-.pdf">Afrobarometer</a>, Mauritius featured prominently as a country in which tolerance (towards an LGBT person as neighbour) had increased from 2014 to 2022. </p>
<p>Nine of the 11 African countries with an above-average tolerance percentage towards LGBT persons were from the SADC. All of these 11 states, except Eswatini, have decriminalised “sodomy laws”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lgbtiq-migrants-and-asylum-seekers-in-south-africa-major-new-study-identifies-a-diverse-wide-spread-community-199227">LGBTIQ+ migrants and asylum seekers in South Africa: major new study identifies a diverse, wide-spread community</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The conditions for decriminalisation seem to be converging in Eswatini. Its population displays a relatively high level of acceptance (of 42%) in the survey. Also, its Supreme Court has <a href="https://eswatinilii.org/akn/sz/judgment/szsc/2023/23/eng@2023-06-16/source.pdf">signalled</a> some openness to uphold LGBT persons’ rights. </p>
<p>Besides Eswatini, other SADC member states that still retain “sodomy” laws are Comoros, Malawi, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. With the exception of the Comoros, the laws of these states are relics from British colonial times, when “sodomy” laws were imposed as part of a colonial “civilising” mission. The Mauritius Supreme Court <a href="https://www.humandignitytrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Judgment-AH-SEEK-.pdf">noted</a> that, as a colonial import, section 250 did not reflect Mauritian values and was not the “expression of domestic democratic will”. </p>
<p>Today, just over half of the SADC states do not criminalise same-sex relationships between consenting adults. The Democratic Republic of Congo never legislated on this matter. In <a href="https://media.lesotholii.org/files/legislation/akn-ls-act-2012-6-eng-2012-03-09.pdf">Lesotho</a> (2012), the <a href="http://www.seychellesnewsagency.com/articles/5198/Seychelles+parliament+passes+bill+to+decriminalize+sodomy">Seychelles</a> (2016), <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2015-06-29-mozambique-scraps-colonial-era-homosexuality-and-abortion-bans/">Mozambique</a> (2015) and <a href="https://africlaw.com/2021/03/05/decriminalisation-of-consensual-same-sex-acts-in-angola-and-the-progress-of-lgbti-human-rights-in-lusophone-africa/">Angola</a> (2019), the legislature in the last decade or so adopted a new version of the penal code. These offences, stemming from the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2008/12/17/alien-legacy/origins-sodomy-laws-british-colonialism">English common law</a> or the <a href="https://www.ahry.up.ac.za/garrido-r#pgfId-1119589">1886 Portuguese Penal Code</a>, were omitted. In Madagascar, the <a href="http://www.vertic.org/media/National%20Legislation/Madagascar/MG_Code_Penal.pdf">penal code</a> criminalises consensual same-sex acts only with a person under 21 years old. </p>
<p>Still, the situation remains in flux. In <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/jul/14/religious-groups-march-in-malawi-before-court-case-on-lgbtq-rights">Malawi</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonblade.com/2023/03/13/namibian-supreme-court-hears-three-lgbtq-rights-cases/">Namibia</a>, litigation on related penal code provisions is pending. In Malawi, then President Joyce Banda in 2012 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/may/18/malawi-president-vows-legalise-homosexuality">committed to repealing these laws</a>. There was also a moratorium on arrests and prosecutions between 2012 and 2016, and a <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/10/26/let-posterity-judge/violence-and-discrimination-against-lgbt-people-malawi">court-ordered review</a> of the constitutionality of “sodomy laws”. </p>
<p>In Namibia, the Supreme Court <a href="https://namiblii.org/akn/na/judgment/nasc/2023/14/eng@2023-05-16">decided in 2023</a> that Namibia must recognise same-sex marriages validly concluded outside the country.</p>
<h2>Diverging trend</h2>
<p>In the rest of Africa, the position of sexual minorities is much more precarious. Thirty-one (almost 58%) of countries still <a href="https://76crimes.com/76-countries-where-homosexuality-is-illegal/">criminalise consensual same-sex acts between adults</a>. The trend is towards more restrictive laws and harsher punishment.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>In Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni has <a href="https://www.parliament.go.ug/news/6737/president-assents-anti-homosexuality-act">signed into law</a> the <a href="https://www.parliament.go.ug/sites/default/files/The%20Anti-Homosexuality%20Act%2C%202023.pdf">Anti-Homosexuality Act</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>In Ghana, the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill is <a href="https://www.parliament.gh/epanel/docs/bills/Promotion%20of%20Proper%20Human%20Sexual%20Rights%20and%20Ghanaian%20Family%20Values%20Bill,%202021.pdf#viewer.action=download">being considered</a>. </p></li>
<li><p>In Kenya, the anti-gay <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2023/09/20/kenyas-anti-gay-bill-proposes-50-year-jail-term//">Family Protection Bill</a> carries a 50-year jail term. But the Supreme Court decided in February 2023 to allow the NGO National Gay and Lesbian Rights Commission <a href="https://www.humandignitytrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/SC-Application-No.-E011-of-2023-George-Kaluma-v.-NGO-Others.pdf?pdf=George-Kaluma">to be registered</a>. </p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/being-queer-in-africa-the-state-of-lgbtiq-rights-across-the-continent-205306">Being queer in Africa: the state of LGBTIQ+ rights across the continent</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These laws were initiated as private members bills. They are driven by individuals rather than any political party’s agenda, and bolstered by an anti-LGBT solidarity <a href="https://glaad.org/rachel-maddow-traces-anti-lgbtq-legislation-uganda-activists-arizona/">conference</a> of African parliamentarians. </p>
<h2>African Commission’s role</h2>
<p>Against this background of opposing forces and divergent trends, the role of the African Commission is all the more important. The commission itself has sent mixed signals. It <a href="https://achpr.au.int/en/adopted-resolutions/resolution-promotion-and-protection-rights-intersex-persons">affirmed</a> the right to dignity and bodily integrity of sexual and gender minorities. But it also <a href="https://theconversation.com/lgbtq-rights-african-union-watchdog-goes-back-on-its-own-word-197555">refused</a> to grant observer status to NGOs working to promote these rights.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215270/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frans Viljoen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The trend towards decriminalising same sex relations in the SADC region contrasts with moves towards harsher punishment in other parts of Africa.Frans Viljoen, Director and Professor of International Human Rights Law, Centre for Human Rights, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2134022023-09-27T13:56:24Z2023-09-27T13:56:24ZMeteorite discovery: unusual finds by South African farmer add to space rock heritage<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549742/original/file-20230922-19-t7wiqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A digital composite of a meteor shower speeding towards Earth.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adastra</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Meteorites – fragments of rock that have fallen to Earth from space in spectacularly fiery meteors – have been the subject of public fascination, awe, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-ancient-cultures-explained-comets-and-meteors-100982">myths</a> and even <a href="https://owlcation.com/social-sciences/The-Worship-of-Meteorites-in-Ancient-Cultures">religious worship</a> for thousands of years. </p>
<p>In recent decades they’ve become a cosmic <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rosetta-Stone">Rosetta Stone</a> for scientists investigating the birth throes of our solar system and the organic life it hosts. Meteorites are therefore <a href="https://www.sahra.org.za/archaeology-palaeontology-and-meteorites/">rightly classified</a> by many countries as an integral part of communal natural heritage and are sought after by museums and private collectors.</p>
<p>South Africa, where I research meteorites, is one such country. In late 2021, my colleagues and I were alerted to an exceptional opportunity. Gideon Lombaard, a farmer in the Northern Cape province, reached out to us because he suspected that he had found two meteorite fragments. If proved true, these would be the first meteorite discoveries in South Africa in over 40 years. </p>
<p>After subjecting the fragments to a range of tests, we were able to show that the two fragments, despite being found only a kilometre apart, were unrelated – that is, they must have come from different meteor events.</p>
<p>In August, the <a href="https://meteoritical.org/">Meteoritical Society’s</a> nomenclature committee, which adjudicates all new meteorite submissions, formally accepted our proposal that the two fragments were different meteorites. They approved our suggested names – <a href="https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?sea=&sfor=names&ants=&nwas=&falls=&valids=&stype=contains&lrec=50&map=ge&browse=&country=South+Africa&srt=name&categ=All&mblist=All&rect=&phot=&strewn=&snew=0&pnt=Normal%20table&code=79964">Brierskop</a> and <a href="https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?sea=&sfor=names&ants=&nwas=&falls=&valids=&stype=contains&lrec=50&map=ge&browse=&country=South+Africa&srt=name&categ=All&mblist=All&rect=&phot=&strewn=&snew=0&pnt=Normal%20table&code=79963">Wolfkop</a> – after landmarks near their discovery sites. </p>
<p>Mr Lombaard’s double discovery raises South Africa’s tally of confirmed meteorites to 51 – the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. Namibia has 18 confirmed meteorites, <a href="https://theconversation.com/rare-meteorite-recovery-in-botswana-can-help-reveal-secrets-of-outer-space-99678">Botswana</a> 12, Zimbabwe four, and Lesotho and eSwatini one each. But, compared with the over 14,000 meteorites recovered from the Sahara desert, the number of recovered southern African meteorites is extremely small. A concerted national meteorite education awareness and search programme could thus reap great benefits. </p>
<h2>What is a meteorite?</h2>
<p>A meteorite is a piece of rocky space debris that survives collision with Earth. Meteorites are usually discovered by someone who notices an unusual rock while out walking (called a “find”). However, around 2% of meteorites are classified as “falls” because they are retrieved after witnessed meteor fireball events.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/secrets-revealed-of-dash-cam-meteorite-that-rocked-russia-19923">Secrets revealed of 'dash-cam' meteorite that rocked Russia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The meteorite family comprises several different types of rocks. A very small proportion of the <a href="https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/">approximately 72,000 meteorites recovered globally</a> to date are actually pieces blasted off the surfaces of the moon and Mars by giant impacts. The overwhelming majority appear to have originated in the asteroid belt that lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. They are the shrapnel from past collisions between some of these asteroids that were ejected into orbits that have ended up crossing Earth’s path.</p>
<h2>Discovery and forensics</h2>
<p>Finding meteorites is not easy, which makes Mr Lombaard’s twin discoveries all the more significant. Because they originate in outer space, meteorites commonly contain iron in either metal or sulphide forms, both of which begin to deteriorate rapidly when they come into contact with free oxygen and water. </p>
<p>It is thus not surprising that nearly 80% of all meteorites have been found where arid climates aid their preservation, namely Antarctica and the Sahara desert. Meteorites typically become coated in a dark fusion crust during their fiery passage through the atmosphere. That makes the white Antarctic ice and the pale-coloured Sahara bedrock and sand perfect backdrops for searchers.</p>
<p>Mr Lombaard discovered the two meteorites during routine farming activities. The Brierskop meteorite is a 21.19g chondrite which he found on 18 September 2018. Chondrites are the oldest rocks in our solar system, dating back 4.567 billion years. It was only after he found the Wolfkop stone (also a chondrite, weighing 90.26g) 1km away from the Brierskop site on 27 August 2021 that he reached out to determine whether these were, as he suspected, meteorites. Contacting an expert is the best approach if you think you’ve found a meteorite.</p>
<p>The initial pictures he sent were very promising; our primary task was then to establish whether they represented two pieces from a single fall or had originated from separate falls.</p>
<p>Our analysis, which involved slicing a small piece from each stone and grinding it down to produce an ultra-thin wafer through which light from a microscope could pass, was able to show that the meteorites have distinct differences.</p>
<p>Brierskop contains less iron metal and less iron in its main silicate minerals than Wolfkop. The chondrules (particles in the rock) are much better preserved in Brierskop, indicating that they experienced less heating in the parent asteroid before the impact collision that liberated it. We then used the greater oxidation (rust) of the Wolfkop stone to suggest that its fall predated that of the Brierskop meteorite.</p>
<h2>South Africa’s meteorite heritage</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.gov.za/documents/national-heritage-resources-act">South African Heritage Act</a> No. 25 of 1999 classifies South African meteorites as national heritage items that cannot be damaged, removed, exported or traded without a permit issued by the South African Heritage Agency. The Meteoritical Society also requires that meteorites are properly stored and conserved at accredited institutions such as museums and universities for future research. Wolfkop and Brierskop are now stored at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, which is an accredited repository.</p>
<p>An average of between 10 and 50 meteorites are estimated to hit Earth’s surface every day. Technology will help drive new discoveries. In recent years an increasing number of countries have installed camera networks (such as NASA’s <a href="https://www.seti.org/cams">CAMS</a>) designed to record the trajectories of meteor fireballs that can then be triangulated to try to locate the fall site. The power of citizen science is also being harnessed in many places in the form of volunteer ground searches for fallen meteorites. </p>
<p>Prior to the two recent discoveries, the <a href="https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/">Meteoritical Bulletin Database</a> listed 49 meteorites as having been satisfactorily proved to be from South African sites. Mr Lombaard’s double find takes the country’s meteorite inventory above 50. There’s no doubt that more are just waiting to be found.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213402/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roger Lawrence Gibson receives funding from the NRF. </span></em></p>Meteorites are usually discovered by someone who notices an unusual rock while out walking.Roger Lawrence Gibson, Professor of Structural Geology and Metamorphic Petrology, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2098872023-08-02T13:42:36Z2023-08-02T13:42:36ZOil drilling threatens the Okavango River Basin, putting water in Namibia and Botswana at risk<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539042/original/file-20230724-3109-lx9i2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=46%2C0%2C5130%2C3394&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Oil exploration could put the Okavango Delta at risk. Photo: Sergio Pitamitz/VWPics/Universal Images/
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/aerial-view-of-plains-zebras-grazing-in-the-okavango-delta-news-photo/1487610089?adppopup=true">Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Namibian and Botswana governments may be risking their water resources for oil and gas revenue. They have <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/us-concerns-grow-over-oil-exploration-in-the-okavango-region">licensed</a> a Canadian firm, <a href="https://reconafrica.com/">ReconAfrica</a>, to prospect for oil in the Cubango Okavango River Basin, in an area covering 34,000km². </p>
<p>In total, the river basin covers <a href="https://www.okacom.org/cubango-okavango-river-basin-corb">700,000km²</a>, encompassing a network of river systems across Angola, Namibia and Botswana. The Cubango and Cuito rivers, which originate from the Angolan highlands, join the Okavango River at the border between Angola and Namibia, and flow into the Okavango Delta in Botswana. </p>
<p>The Okavango River sustains over <a href="https://www.okacom.org/what-okavango-river-basin">half a million people</a> in Namibia and Botswana. The main <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022169406002496">livelihood activities</a> in the basin are arable farming, livestock farming, fishing and tourism. </p>
<p>The Okavango Delta, a <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1432/">World Heritage Site</a>, contributes significantly to tourism in Botswana. It is one of the largest freshwater wetlands in southern Africa and <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/projects/okavango/why/">home</a> to over 1,000 plant species. Over 480 bird species, 130 species of mammals, and numerous species of reptiles and fish can be found in the area. </p>
<p>Our team, with expertise in groundwater resource assessment and protection, has assessed the vulnerability of the Okavango River and Delta to oil and gas drilling. We <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1474706523000748?via%3Dihub">conclude</a> that possible impacts on water resources are of particular concern in this sensitive area. </p>
<h2>Reasons to worry</h2>
<p>It is worrying that oil and gas extraction is being considered in this area. The current exploration licence in Namibia allows the company to drill exploratory stratigraphic wells. Drilling near the Omatako River in Namibia already endangers the groundwater since the drilling waste fluids have been discarded in <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/test-drilling-oil-namibia-poses-water-risk">unlined pits</a>. Most people in this arid region rely on groundwater, which can easily be contaminated when the water table is shallow, as it is here.</p>
<p>ReconAfrica <a href="https://reconafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/ReconAfrica-Report.pdf">estimates</a> that the area has large volumes of oil and gas resources, though it has not yet fully assessed whether recovering them would be economical. The resources are in a site about the size of the <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/news/national-news-release/usgs-estimates-oil-and-gas-texas-eagle-ford-group">Eagle Ford shale field in Texas</a>, a very large oil and gas deposit. </p>
<p>Several geologists have <a href="https://earthsciencesociety.com/2021/08/05/canadian-company-recon_africa-drills-for-oil-in-the-okavango-delta/">noted</a>, however, that the resources are unlikely, in their view, to be economically viable, based on the geological information of the region. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Namibian government granted Recon exploration licences <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/oil-drilling-fracking-planned-okavango-wilderness">without following due procedure</a> for its environmental impact assessment. This is despite the fact that the lease area includes parts of the <a href="https://www.kavangozambezi.org/">Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Park</a> and the Okavango River. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539532/original/file-20230726-19-w9ssvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539532/original/file-20230726-19-w9ssvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539532/original/file-20230726-19-w9ssvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539532/original/file-20230726-19-w9ssvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539532/original/file-20230726-19-w9ssvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539532/original/file-20230726-19-w9ssvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539532/original/file-20230726-19-w9ssvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539532/original/file-20230726-19-w9ssvi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Okavango River and Delta, the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Park, and the Recon lease areas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anton Lukas</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1474706523000748?via%3Dihub">study</a> illustrates the possible grim impact of the potential oil and gas extraction operations. This includes possible contamination of:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the water resources around the Omatako River</p></li>
<li><p>the Okavango River</p></li>
<li><p>the Okavango Delta. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>We used publicly accessible borehole data from the Namibian Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, and the Botswana Department of Water Utilities. We obtained geological structure data from Namibia’s Geological Survey and the Botswana Geoscience Information Centre. </p>
<p>We found that contamination could infiltrate the aquifer system and contaminate the groundwater near the Omatako River. Contaminated groundwater could take three to 23.5 years to reach the Okavango River system via the shallow, sandy aquifer. </p>
<p>Contaminated groundwater from proposed drill sites could reach the Okavango Delta even faster along another route: certain geological structures underground. These structures – <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/graben">grabens</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/dike-igneous-rock">dykes</a> – have associated faulting and fractures respectively, along which groundwater can travel.</p>
<p>The geological structures in the area are associated with parts of the Earth’s crust that are tectonically active: they might change. This makes it more complicated to assess the Okavango Delta’s vulnerability. Existing permeable structures can serve as pathways for groundwater contamination. Tectonic stresses can create new permeable structures or modify ones that were previously impermeable. </p>
<p>Initial calculations, using publicly accessible data, indicate that contamination from drilling activities that travels via geological structures could reach the Okavango Delta within just four days.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539274/original/file-20230725-21-jcbua6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539274/original/file-20230725-21-jcbua6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539274/original/file-20230725-21-jcbua6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539274/original/file-20230725-21-jcbua6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539274/original/file-20230725-21-jcbua6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539274/original/file-20230725-21-jcbua6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539274/original/file-20230725-21-jcbua6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539274/original/file-20230725-21-jcbua6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Okavango Dyke Swarm fracture zone with groundwater flow towards the Okavango River system.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anton Lukas</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our results should be verified with localised field studies. </p>
<h2>Need to revisit clearance certificate</h2>
<p>A ReconAfrica <a href="http://the-eis.com/elibrary/sites/default/files/downloads/literature/459_EIA_Petroleum%20Exploration%20License_PEL_No%2073_Kavango%20East%20and%20West%20Regions.pdf">environmental impact assessment</a> did not identify any serious risks that could follow from oil drilling in the area. The Namibian government then awarded an updated <a href="https://reconafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/ReconAfrica-Receives-Environmental-Clearance-Certificate-to-Drill-12-New-Wells-in-the-Kavango-Basin-1.pdf">environmental clearance certificate</a> to the company.</p>
<p>Even though there wasn’t enough data to determine the possible groundwater impact, the environmental impact assessment <a href="http://the-eis.com/elibrary/sites/default/files/downloads/literature/459_EIA_Petroleum%20Exploration%20License_PEL_No%2073_Kavango%20East%20and%20West%20Regions.pdf">deemed</a> contamination to be negligible. </p>
<p>Our study highlights the possible dire consequences of allowing oil and gas extraction activities in the Cubango Okavango River Basin. </p>
<p>Based on our results, we recommend that all oil and gas extraction activities in the Okavango region be halted until there’s a proper understanding of the groundwater sources, pathways and receptors. </p>
<p>Future environmental impact assessments must make an honest effort to obtain all relevant information so that all possible risks to water resources are identified. This would allow for the proper protection of natural resources.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209887/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Surina Esterhuyse does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Oil and gas exploration pose a threat to the Okavango River Basin water resources. The Namibian and Botswana governments need to properly assess the risk of contamination.Surina Esterhuyse, Senior Lecturer Centre for Environmental Management, University of the Free StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2096382023-07-26T14:55:22Z2023-07-26T14:55:22ZEskom and South Africa’s energy crisis: De Ruyter book strikes a chord but falls flat on economic fixes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539018/original/file-20230724-25-jlzet7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The former chief executive of South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, has written a scathing critique of the ruling party’s practices that have seriously damaged the country’s economy. </p>
<p>Andre de Ruyter’s book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Truth-Power-Three-Years-Inside-ebook/dp/B0C577RTRQ">Truth to Power</a> is not the first exposé of the country’s <a href="https://www.statecapture.org.za/site/files/announcements/682/OCR_version_-_State_Capture_Commission_Report_Part_IV_Vol_III_-_Eskom.pdf">political and economic woes</a> under the African National Congress. But it strikes a sensitive chord because of the impact of recurring power cuts on the economy and <a href="https://theconversation.com/power-cuts-in-south-africa-are-playing-havoc-with-the-countrys-water-system-197952">daily life</a>, a crisis De Ruyter was hired to deal with.</p>
<p>Beyond his description of Eskom’s corruption and ineptitude is a subtler message that is equally disturbing. It’s De Ruyter’s prescription to end the state’s involvement in the economy, which he sees as a major obstacle to economic growth. In its place, he advocates a socially unhinged liberalisation of the economy (p231) in which the market is left to its devices. He observes that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Wherever governments have allocated resources, it has been an abysmal failure. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>What De Ruyter fails to grasp, though, is that what he advocates has been a core part of the ANC’s policies for over 25 years. </p>
<p>My view, based on 30 years of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/African-Miracle-Leadership-Colonial-Development/dp/0325000689#:%7E:text=Book%20details&text=The%20book%20examines%20the%20relationship,more%20resources%20and%20talent%20failed.">research</a>, writing and teaching the political economy of Africa, is that this would roll back whatever gains have been realised so far in redressing the segregated economy of colonial and apartheid eras. His version of neo-liberalism or unfettered market ideology and policy that emphasises the value of open markets with minimalist state regulations would worsen people’s living conditions. </p>
<p>My current research focuses on the relationship between democracy and development. States can and sometimes do use public policy to – in the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/asias-next-giant-9780195076035?cc=us&lang=en&">words</a> of the late American political economist and scholar Alice H. Amsden – “govern the market”. Botswana’s post-colonial experience, discussed in <a href="https://experts.umn.edu/en/publications/an-african-miracle-state-and-class-leadership-and-colonial-legacy">my 1999 book</a>, is most relevant to South Africa. At independence in 1966, Botswana had <a href="https://experts.umn.edu/en/publications/an-african-miracle-state-and-class-leadership-and-colonial-legacy">little infrastructure and few opportunities</a>. But thanks to its first two presidents, Botswana has achieved a middle income country status as it has grown significantly for the past 50 years.</p>
<p>If the government of South Africa made good use of the state in governing and disciplining the market, it is highly likely that unemployment in the country would not be <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1129481/unemployment-rate-by-population-group-in-south-africa/">what it is today</a>. Similarly, if the government of independent Botswana had followed De Ruyter’s prescription, the country would likely have become another basket case. </p>
<p>What South Africa needs is not neo-liberalism, but a new social contract between government, labour and business to create productive jobs and redress social injustices. Such a contract would include concrete milestones on targeted investments in productive sectors. It would demand that labour militancy and disruption meanwhile be kept at the minimum. </p>
<h2>De Ruyter’s key claims</h2>
<p>De Ruyter identifies four of the major causes of the country’s energy crisis. </p>
<p>First is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-ruling-party-has-favoured-loyalty-over-competence-now-cadre-deployment-has-come-back-to-bite-it-199208">deployment</a> of ANC party activists, or cadres, in state-owned enterprises. Many were not only ill-equipped for their jobs but sought to profit from their assignments through irregularities. This created criminal networks that destroyed some national enterprises.</p>
<p>Second is a coalition of actors he calls the “coal mafia” in control of coal supply to Eskom. They exported high quality coal and supplied low grade coal to Eskom. This led to regular collapses of Eskom’s power stations.</p>
<p>Third, he accuses the Minster of Minerals and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, a former leader of the National Union of Mineworkers, of blocking the transition to green energy.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/corruption-in-south-africa-former-ceos-explosive-book-exposes-how-state-power-utility-was-destroyed-206101">Corruption in South Africa: former CEO's explosive book exposes how state power utility was destroyed</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Fourth, De Ruyter claims the ANC government failed to retain experienced white engineers. The young white and black engineering graduates may be well trained but lack hands-on experience. Eskom was therefore left with a shortage of experienced engineers at a time when it needed them the most.</p>
<p>What is clear from both De Ruyter’s account and the findings of the Zondo Commission into <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/550966842/Judicial-Commission-of-Inquiry-Into-State-Capture-Report-Part-1#">state capture</a> is that the ANC leadership, particularly in the last two decades, sanctioned the abuse of public authority. In fact, some of the leaders flouted the ethical principles of the ANC itself by joining the ultra wealthy as inequality in the country deepened. </p>
<h2>Neo-liberalism will not deliver</h2>
<p>De Ruyter’s prescribed remedies amount to the repackaging of economic apartheid. The beneficiaries of racist policies and the ANC’s neo-liberalism would be put on steroids. His remedies are based on the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4005615">policies</a> the World Bank imposed on the rest of Africa in 1981, policies that devastated the continent. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539517/original/file-20230726-27-n0i7kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539517/original/file-20230726-27-n0i7kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539517/original/file-20230726-27-n0i7kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539517/original/file-20230726-27-n0i7kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539517/original/file-20230726-27-n0i7kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539517/original/file-20230726-27-n0i7kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539517/original/file-20230726-27-n0i7kq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He also blindly condemns the role of government in development (p112) and advocates the privatisation of the energy sector, knowing well that the white business establishment would be the biggest beneficiary of such reforms. </p>
<p>De Ruyter’s dismissal of the role of an activist state in the economy – one that governs the market– ignores the positive economic role of governments in such countries as <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/asias-next-giant-9780195076035?cc=us&lang=en&">South Korea</a>, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv346sp7">Taiwan</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Japan-Governs-Rise-Developmental-State/dp/0393314502">Japan</a>.</p>
<p>Then there is his view about the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-relief-grant-how-it-can-be-used-to-help-young-people-into-jobs-196512">basic income grant</a> for the poor, a policy which he says will entrench dependency on the state even further (p115). </p>
<p>He forgets that past segregationist policies gave nearly 87% of the land to white South Africans and heavily subsidised their education. They also subjected black workers to white exploitation, laying the foundations of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-needs-a-fresh-approach-to-its-stubbornly-high-levels-of-inequality-87215">income and wealth inequality</a> that persists today between whites and blacks. </p>
<h2>What went wrong with the ANC government?</h2>
<p>Regardless of the weaknesses in De Ruyter’s contentions, the South African government’s record during the past two decades has been dreadful. One of the most precious assets the ANC brought into power in 1994 was the trust of the majority of citizens. </p>
<p>To preserve and reinforce this vital asset required a three-pronged strategy.</p>
<p>First, the state should have been more productively involved in the economy and efforts to eliminate corruption in order to improve social services for the poor majority. </p>
<p>The second task was to revitalise the economy by protecting and reforming old productive industries and investing in new enterprises. </p>
<p>Third, the ANC and its appointees should have been models of integrity in public service.</p>
<p>But successive ANC administrations, particularly since 2004, betrayed the trust of the majority in three ways. </p>
<p>First, the aspiring black elite’s rush to mimic the lifestyle of the former “master” clearly signalled that the liberation mindset essential for reconstruction and development was no longer fashionable. </p>
<p>Second, the government’s unrealistic belief that it could navigate the dominant neo-liberal global economic policies that laid to waste old industries such as textiles, thus preempting the possibility of a developmental state. </p>
<p>Third, the moral decline of the ANC leadership most cruelly exposed by the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/marikana-massacre-16-august-2012">Marikana massacre</a> and <a href="https://witspress.co.za/page/detail/State-Capture-in-South-Africa/?k=9781776148318">state capture</a> underscored the party’s impotence.</p>
<h2>Seeing beyond the nightmare</h2>
<p>It is widely acknowledged that neo-liberal policies and corruption are companions in the contemporary developing world. Thus, what South Africa needs is not an extreme version of neo-liberalism, but a new social pact that creates productive jobs and achieves transformative social justice. Only then can South Africa hope for an African renaissance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209638/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abdi Ismail Samatar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>South Africa needs a new social contract whose core aim is the creation of dynamic economy.Abdi Ismail Samatar, Extraordinary Professor, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2098842023-07-21T07:13:53Z2023-07-21T07:13:53ZZimbabwean migrants: South Africa’s anti-immigrant sentiments are hindering policy reform<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538522/original/file-20230720-17-fba5cm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Effective African economic development depends on economic integration and free movement of people.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">GettyImages</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The South African Minister of Home Affairs, Aaron Motsoaledi, recently <a href="http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPPHC/2023/490.pdf">lost a court case</a> that anyone could have anticipated was unwinnable. He probably expected to lose it too. He lost it on humanitarian and technical grounds. It prevents him from terminating the South African government’s concession to refugees from neighbouring Zimbabwe nearly fifteen years ago.</p>
<p>In April 2009, South Africa provided legalised shelter for Zimbabweans hit by economic and political crisis in their country across the Limpopo River. The <a href="http://www.dha.gov.za/index.php/statements-speeches/506-remarks-by-minister-malusi-gigaba-on-the-announcement-of-the-zimbabwean-special-dispensation-permit-in-pretoria-12-august-2014">Zimbabwe Dispensation Project</a> was the first form of a policy to temporarily accommodate Zimbabwean refugees. It became the Zimbabwean Special permit in 2014 and after 2017 it was known as the <a href="http://www.dha.gov.za/index.php/immigration-services/gazetted-extension-of-zep">Zimbabwe Exemption Permit</a>. Zimbabweans who had arrived during the crisis period of 2008-09 had full freedoms, but no rights to citizenship even for their children, for as long as the permits allowed.</p>
<p>In 2021, Home Affairs decided to end the special dispensation after a period of grace lasting till the end of 2022 to allow Zimbabweans to regularize their circumstances. Some were expected to be able to obtain residence and work rights based on their skills and occupations, and others were to return to Zimbabwe. The number of people affected by the ruling is estimated at around 178 000 who remained on their ZE permits. Children born in South Africa were expected and allowed to obtain Zimbabwean citizenship and were not allowed South African citizenship.</p>
<p>178 000 is a relatively small number compared with the total number of immigrants in South Africa, <a href="https://africacheck.org/fact-checks/spotchecks/are-there-15-million-undocumented-immigrants-living-south-africa-no-another">estimated at 3.96 million by StatsSA</a>. Many of the registered Zimbabweans are educated and skilled. Most have been successfully living in South Africa for 15 years. Why not simply regularize all the law-abiding Zimbabweans living under the permit?</p>
<p>Elsewhere in Africa and <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/ejml16&div=4&g_sent=1&casa_token=&collection=journals">around the world </a> larger numbers of irregular migrants have been regularised. In South Africa, <a href="https://scholars.wlu.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1063&context=samp">Mozambican refugees</a> were regularized after the end of the Mozambican civil war. But the current <a href="https://issafrica.org/iss-today/anti-foreigner-sentiment-wont-solve-south-africas-labour-woes">anti-migrant sentiment</a> in South Africa made such a course difficult for the Minister of Home Affairs. This is why he opposed a court action he pretty much knew he would lose.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-free-movement-of-people-is-an-au-ambition-whats-standing-in-its-way-100409">The free movement of people is an AU ambition: what's standing in its way</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>I have been studying migration policy on the continent, including the African Union’s adoption of a protocol on the free movement of people in 2018 which <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-free-movement-of-people-is-an-au-ambition-whats-standing-in-its-way-100409">I have argued</a> could facilitate economic growth and the trade integration. </p>
<p>Migration policy in South Africa seems constantly in flux. Most of the <a href="http://www.dha.gov.za/WhitePaperonInternationalMigration-20170602.pdf">immigration policy white paper</a> passed by cabinet in 2017 has never been implemented. Policy documents and a <a href="https://pmg.org.za/call-for-comment/1138/">law amendment on labour migration</a> published a year and a half ago are still in limbo. A promised new white paper on immigration has not yet been published. Some of the proposals could have simplified migration rules such as a proposal to replace the critical skills list with a points system, while others such as the quota system proposed in the draft law would have added further complexities.</p>
<p>Will any reforms be implemented before the general election of 2024? Probably not. This is the fundamental problem. Immigration policy is so highly politicised that the government seems afraid to move. <a href="https://nsi.org.za/projects/migration-governance-reform/">Our programme of research </a> seeks to show how South Africa could learn positive lessons on migration reform from other African countries and elsewhere. </p>
<h2>Hostility to migration</h2>
<p>While politicians <a href="https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports98/sareport/Adv5a.htm">frequently voice sentiments </a> hostile to migration and migrants, sensible policies in practice and on the table are shrouded in camouflage and occasionally sneaked through. One example is the <a href="https://www.southafrica-usa.net/homeaffairs/permit_corporate.htm">corporate labour permit</a>, another is the rising number of <a href="http://www.dha.gov.za/index.php/immigration-services/exempt-countries">African countries with visa-free access to South Africa</a>. Access to skilled employees needed from beyond our borders is being simplified. Reforms will be hidden behind a veil of hostility to foreigners.</p>
<p>This is hardly unique to South Africa. In the UK, while the government threatens to deport illegal migrants to Rwanda and stakes its fate on “stopping the boats” in deference to its political base, “long-term immigration … <a href="https://blog.ons.gov.uk/2023/05/25/international-migration-hits-new-high-in-2022-but-there-are-signs-of-change/">rose to 1.2 million</a> for the year ending December 2022, an increase of 221,000 from the previous year”.</p>
<p>Similarly, Georgia Meloni who was elected Prime Minister of Italy at least in part for her anti-immigrant views, has set aside work permits for 425 000 non-EU migrants to immigrate into Italy up to 2025. Laura Boldrini, of the centre-left Democratic Party, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/07/08/italy-grants-work-permits-425k-non-eu-migrant-workers/">said the high quotas</a> were a surrender and </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a bitter dose of reality for those who have built their political careers by demonising immigration as a national security threat.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.guilford.com/books/The-Age-of-Migration/Haas-Castles-Miller/9781462542895">A textbook on migration</a> warns us, when it comes to migration policies, “not to equate political rhetoric with policy practice”. It is not surprising that in many countries migration policies seem confused or incomprehensible. Migration policy reform seems elusive in the context of such opacity.</p>
<p>And yet, effective African economic development depends on economic integration. Most countries are pretty small, especially economically, and effective integration entails the movement of persons across borders without excessive hindrances.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/free-movement-of-people-across-africa-regions-are-showing-how-it-can-work-197199">Free movement of people across Africa: regions are showing how it can work</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Not all African governments, even of richer countries, have been as hesitant as South Africa to reform migration policies. Members of both the East African Community and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have made greater progress than the regions at the southern and northern ends of the continent. Countries in Africa can learn not only from experiences in the EU or in South America, but also from other African countries and regions.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://nsi.org.za/about/">New South Institute</a> is running the <a href="https://nsi.org.za/projects/migration-governance-reform/">Migration Governance Reform in Africa</a> project, or MIGRA. The rationale and framework for the MIGRA project are set out in <a href="https://nsi.org.za/publications/migration-governance-reform-first-report/">our new working paper </a>.</p>
<p>We are studying migration policy and practice in four African countries, South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya and Nigeria, and in four regional organisations, <a href="https://www.sadc.int/">SADC</a>, <a href="https://www.eac.int/">the EAC</a>, <a href="https://ecowas.int/">ECOWAS</a> and the African Union. We believe that countries and regions in Africa can learn as much from each other as they can from experiences elsewhere. Papers on these eight cases will be published over the next year or so, as they are completed, and we will also be preparing other forms of media to engage in conversation with the wider public as well as with policymakers.</p>
<p><a href="https://nsi.org.za/publications/migration-governance-reform-first-report/">The work we have already done </a> shows us some exciting examples of reform on the African continent. In east and west Africa there are many ways to allow cross border migrants access for different periods and reasons. Even in southern Africa the recent <a href="https://www.tralac.org/blog/article/15940-botswana-and-namibia-concluded-an-agreement-on-the-movement-of-persons.html">agreement between Namibia and Botswana on travel</a> by citizens of the two countries across their common border with identity documents alone shows what progress is possible. Visa-free travel is proliferating in Africa, as the recent bilateral agreement between South Africa and Kenya shows. There are many more examples.</p>
<p>Our project grows as much out of optimism about recent developments on migration governance around the African continent, as from the frustration and confusion about migration policy in many places. Perhaps it will make a small contribution to improving the practice, and maybe even the political rhetoric. And perhaps the South African cabinet will decide to grant the Zimbabwean exemption permit holders and their children <a href="https://scholars.wlu.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1063&context=samp">the same kind of amnesty that was offered to 220 000 Mozambican refugees</a> in December 1996.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209884/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Hirsch is Leader of the Migration Governance Reform Program of the New South Institute; Emeritus Professor of Development Policy and Practice at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town; and Research Associate at School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.</span></em></p>Immigration policy is so highly politicised that the South African government seems afraid to move.Alan Hirsch, Research Fellow New South Institute, Emeritus Professor at The Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2071502023-06-25T11:11:29Z2023-06-25T11:11:29ZChildren’s movement affects health and development but research is lacking in Africa: here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531373/original/file-20230612-220077-jzsxfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Children’s health and development depend on how much time they spend doing physical activity, being sedentary and sleeping.</p>
<p>Research on movement behaviours in children is essential. It helps us to understand what influences these behaviours, and their contribution to health and development. </p>
<p>Most <a href="https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/10/e049267">evidence</a> on movement behaviours comes from high-income countries. Here children have different lifestyles, environments and cultures from those in low- and middle-income countries. For example, children in African countries face different challenges in achieving healthy levels of physical activity and sleep. Safety, transport, infrastructure, culture, climate, nutrition, and different levels and types of screen time exposure may all present challenges. </p>
<p>Africa, as a continent, contributes less than <a href="https://www.elsevier.com/connect/africa-generates-less-than-1-of-the-worlds-research-data-analytics-can-change-that">1% of research</a> worldwide. This means over <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/africa-population/">16%</a> of the world’s population has been excluded from the research. </p>
<p>The international <a href="https://sunrise-study.com/#about">SUNRISE study</a>, which we are part of, aims to bridge this gap. It conducts studies on movement behaviour in collaboration with researchers in several African countries, including Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa, where we are based. We bring a collective expertise across disciplines such as public health, physiotherapy and child development. </p>
<p>SUNRISE findings so far show that the proportion of children in low- and middle-income countries meeting recommendations for movement behaviours is low, compared to high-income countries. This highlights the need for research and intervention in Africa. </p>
<p>But since the beginning of this study we have faced a wide range of challenges. In each country, the target number of children for the study is around 1,000. Researching their movement behaviour requires technology.</p>
<p>The challenges include access to devices to track movement, the lack of awareness of such tools and what they do, difficulty in securing funds, and institutional challenges. </p>
<p>Solutions include local collaboration, reducing financial barriers, developing new low-cost devices, and using contextually relevant methods. The following sections describe the challenges and possible solutions in detail.</p>
<h2>Challenges</h2>
<p><strong>Access to devices</strong></p>
<p>Accelerometers are a type of digital wearable device, similar to Fitbits and smart watches. But they measure movement more accurately than commercially available devices. This is why they are more commonly used in research. These devices are generally more expensive because they are “research-grade”, and upwards of US$250 each (before software and delivery). This is a major challenge for those of us working in African countries, as at least 50 devices would be needed to conduct large scale studies like SUNRISE. There is no local manufacturer or distributor of accelerometer devices. Researchers need a legal licence to import or export them. </p>
<p>The SUNRISE study is able to loan devices. But exorbitant customs and shipping charges for moving this equipment to and between African countries makes sharing difficult – even when it’s only for research. This leads to unnecessary costs and delays, which means Africa gets left behind in this scientific field. </p>
<p><strong>Lack of awareness about the benefits of accelerometers</strong></p>
<p>These devices are often novel in African settings. Some parents and caregivers in our study areas have been sceptical about using them. For example, caregivers have asked whether the devices attract lightning, or whether they have some physical effect on the body. This may lead to another challenge in recruiting sufficient participants for the study. And data collection can take a long time when the shortage of devices is added to the time to get local buy-in. </p>
<p><strong>Difficulty in securing funds</strong></p>
<p>SUNRISE study researchers in Africa battle to get funding. They rely on highly competitive international funding, which seldom prioritises movement behaviour research in young children. It costs a lot to attend conferences internationally and to publish research in reputable academic journals. Open access journal fees can even exceed the monthly salary of a research assistant in an African country. </p>
<p><strong>Institutional challenges</strong></p>
<p>Within African research institutions, another challenge is how to build capacity. Few research institutes focus on movement behaviours in Africa. Accelerometer data is often complex to manage, and needs trained staff. High-income countries typically have access to support staff and students who can assist with this. This is not the case in many African countries. So it is difficult to conduct high-quality research and translate it into policy and practice. </p>
<h2>Possible solutions</h2>
<p>A possible solution is to collaborate with local partners and stakeholders to identify the most appropriate devices for each context and population. </p>
<p>All stakeholders, including local government and non-government organisations, ought to remove barriers so that the researchers can focus on the quality of evidence to inform policy and practice that is anchored to the local context. </p>
<p>Establishing some type of research equipment hub in Africa would go some way to help. But even moving equipment within Africa is not easy. Governments should consider waiving import and export charges for research equipment. The development of low-cost devices that can be produced and used efficiently in Africa is the best way forward. </p>
<p>Researchers in Africa could also examine other new data collection methods that are customised to the local context. Qualitative research (interviews and focus groups) can provide valuable insights into the factors that influence movement behaviours in different contexts. These insights are vital for the development of measurement tools and interventions that are culturally appropriate and effective. </p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>There are many other pressing needs in Africa. But the contribution of movement behaviours to population health and development is significant, particularly as there is growing evidence of the global economic costs of physical <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S2214-109X%2822%2900482-X">inactivity</a>. We need local research on these behaviours, starting in the early years, when patterns of behaviour are established. </p>
<p>Without addressing barriers to robust research, researchers in this region will continue to lag behind in this field. </p>
<p>This means that we lose opportunities to learn how to promote movement behaviours that support health and development, thus setting children on the best path for life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207150/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Draper receives or has received funding from the British Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the South African Medical Research Council, the Jacobs Foundation, and the European Commission.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Okely receives funding from NHMRC, Research Council of Norway, World Health Organization, and UNICEF.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aoko Oluwayomi receives funding from ISBNPA-PIONEER PROGRAM SCHOLARSHIP 2022</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chalchisa Abdeta receives funding through HDR Scholarship from the University of Wollongong, Australia.</span></em></p>Africa contributes less than 1% of research worldwide on movement behaviours in children. This means that research on movement behaviours has largely excluded over 16% of the world’s population.Catherine Draper, Associate Professor at MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, University of the WitwatersrandAnthony Okely, Distinguished Professor of Public Health, University of WollongongAoko Oluwayomi, PhD Candidate (Exercise Physiology), University of LagosChalchisa Abdeta, PhD candidate, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1960782023-01-29T18:34:37Z2023-01-29T18:34:37ZChildren and teens aren’t doing enough physical activity - new study sounds a health warning<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505850/original/file-20230123-14-iwjhhc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Regular physical activity helps to prevent and manage many chronic diseases.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Amorn Suriyan/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Physical inactivity is the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0140673612608988?via%3Dihub">fourth leading cause of death</a> worldwide. It’s also associated with chronic illness and disability. Recent <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(22)00464-8/fulltext">research</a> estimates that the world could see close to half a billion new cases of major chronic diseases by 2030 if people don’t get more active. Regular physical activity helps to prevent and manage many chronic diseases. Popular ways to be physically active include walking, cycling, and playing sports. </p>
<p>The World Health Organization (WHO) <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity">recommends</a> that children and adolescents (5-17 years old) get an average of at least 60 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity. This should incorporate vigorous aerobic activities, as well as those that strengthen muscle and bone, at least three days a week. It’s also recommended that children spend no more than two hours a day on recreational screen time. These recommendations aim to improve children’s physical and mental health, as well as cognitive outcomes. </p>
<p>Before the COVID-19 pandemic, physical activity among children and adolescents was already below the recommended levels. In 2016, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352464219303232?via%3Dihub">81%</a> of adolescents around the world aged 11-17 were considered physically inactive. Girls were less active than boys. </p>
<p>The pandemic has made matters worse. Physical inactivity in children and adolescents has become a global public health priority. It is now included in global action plans. </p>
<p>For example, using 2016 as baseline, the WHO through its Global Action Plan on Physical Activity <a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/272722/9789241514187-eng.pdf#page=21">targeted</a> a 15 percentage point reduction in prevalence of physical inactivity among adolescents by 2030. This call to action also implored other international organisations and governments to help track progress in physical activity promotion among children and adolescents. </p>
<p>In response to this global physical inactivity crisis, the international call to action, and the need to systematically collect comparable data, the <a href="https://www.activehealthykids.org">Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance</a> recently published a major <a href="https://doi.org/10.1123/JPAH.2022-0456">study</a>, the first to provide a comprehensive assessment of physical activity among children and adolescents. Published in October 2022, the study included data that were collected before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We were among the 682 experts who assessed 10 common physical activity indicators for children and adolescents around the world. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2022-0456">study</a> shows physical activity among children and adolescents has not gotten better. About one-third of children and adolescents globally were sufficiently physically active while a little over one-third met the recreational screen time recommendation for better health and well being. These findings indicate that a significant proportion of children and adolescent who do not meet recommended physical activity guidelines are at an increased risk of negative outcomes as well as developing related chronic diseases at a much earlier age. </p>
<h2>COVID effect</h2>
<p>Most of the experts involved in our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2022-0456">study</a> agree that the childhood physical inactivity crisis is an ongoing public health challenge and the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have made it worse. When surveyed, more than 90% of the experts reported that COVID-19 had a negative impact on children’s sedentary behaviours, organised sport and physical activity. Our findings are supported by numerous studies. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-much-kids-need-to-move-play-and-sleep-in-their-early-years-107024">Here's how much kids need to move, play and sleep in their early years</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Lockdowns imposed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic led to school shutdowns and closures of public parks, which hampered children’s levels of physical activity. Research <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2794075">suggests</a> that children’s moderate-to-vigorous physical activity decreased by 17 minutes per day during the pandemic. That represents a reduction of almost one-third of the recommended daily activity. Another <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214109X22003618?via%3Dihub">global study</a> representing 187 countries showed a collective 27.3% decrease in the daily step counts of individuals after 30 days of COVID-19 related restrictions.</p>
<h2>Our study</h2>
<p>Four African countries participated in our study –<a href="https://www.activehealthykids.org/botswana/">Botswana</a>, <a href="https://www.activehealthykids.org/ethiopia/">Ethiopia</a>, <a href="https://www.activehealthykids.org/south-africa/">South Africa</a> and <a href="https://www.activehealthykids.org/zimbabwe/">Zimbabwe</a>.</p>
<p>The grading ranged from as high as A+ (large majority, 94%-100% of children and adolescents achieving recommended levels) to as low as F (less than 20% achieving recommended levels). </p>
<p>Children and adolescents from the four African countries were marginally more physically active than children from the rest of the world. They received C- (47%–53% of them met recommendations) for overall physical activity compared to the D (27%–33% met recommendations) for the rest of the world. More children and adolescents from the African countries used active transport (B-; 60%–66%), were less sedentary (C-; 40%–46%) and were more physically fit (C+; 54%–59%), compared to the rest of the world (C-, D+ and C-) respectively. </p>
<p>An important success story from this global comparison of grades is that despite the lack of infrastructure, average grades for individual behaviours were generally better for the African countries. This could be reflecting necessity, rather than choice. For example, children might be forced to walk to school because there’s no affordable transport. Nonetheless it shows that it is still possible to promote healthy lifestyles even when resources are limited.</p>
<p>Factors such as having supportive family and friends, safer communities, positive school environments and adequate resources are often associated with better participation in physical activity. Average grades for these sources of influence were generally lower for the four African countries than those of the rest of the world. These findings demonstrate the challenges related to community safety, a general lack of infrastructure, and funding to support healthy behaviours for children and adolescents in African countries. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/young-women-in-soweto-say-healthy-living-is-hard-heres-why-118198">Young women in Soweto say healthy living is hard. Here's why</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Overall, there wasn’t enough data to accurately grade all the indicators for the African countries. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2022-0456">Botswana</a> was the only country for which we were able to assign grades for each of the 10 common indicators. The other three countries had at least one incomplete grade each. Lack of representative data is a common and often recurring problem in many low- and middle-income countries. It also means that our findings must be interpreted with caution. For example, we can’t say with certainty that these findings are representative of all the children and adolescents from these four countries or the region as a whole. </p>
<h2>Way forward</h2>
<p>In many parts of Africa, the prevalence of infectious and other diseases justifiably demands attention and resources. These needs can out compete the messages about physical inactivity, whose negative impact may be silent but still detrimental to population health. </p>
<p>We need to persistently advocate for policies and practices, anchored in the African context, and promote equitable opportunities for children to engage in physical activity. These can include active school recesses and extracurricular programmes. Countries need to ensure access to safe, free public spaces, green spaces, playgrounds and sporting facilities. </p>
<p>Finally, researchers and public health practitioners must track the progress towards meeting the WHO’s targets.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196078/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Factors such as having supportive family and friends, safer communities, positive school environments and adequate resources, are often associated with more physical activity.Taru Manyanga, Assistant Professor-Physical Therapy, University of Northern British ColumbiaChalchisa Abdeta, PhD candidate, University of WollongongDawn Tladi, Senior Lecturer of Exercise Physiology, University of BotswanaRowena Naidoo, Associate Professor in Sport Science, University of KwaZulu-NatalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1984552023-01-26T10:14:59Z2023-01-26T10:14:59ZHeat stress is rising in southern Africa – climate experts show where and when it’s worst<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506391/original/file-20230125-2999-tc5bml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Being too hot isn't just uncomfortable: it can be dangerous.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Angel DiBilio/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most of us have felt either too hot or too cold at some point in our lives. Depending on where we live, we may feel too cold quite often each winter, and too hot for a few days in summer. As we’re writing this in late January 2023 many southern Africans are probably feeling very hot and fatigued; a prolonged regional heatwave began around 9 January.</p>
<p>Being too hot isn’t just uncomfortable. Heat stress causes dehydration, headaches, nausea – and, when people are exposed to high temperatures for protracted periods, they risk <a href="https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/ehp.123-A275">severe health outcomes and could even die</a>. For instance, at least five people working on farms in South Africa’s Northern Cape province <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/we-were-struggling-to-breathe-five-farm-workers-died-of-heat-stroke-in-sweltering-northern-cape-20230122">have died from heat stroke</a> in January. At least <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/south-asias-intense-heat-wave-sign-things-come-rcna30239">90 people died in India and Pakistan</a> in May 2022 during a devastating heatwave.</p>
<p>The situation is only going to get worse. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/about/frequently-asked-questions/keyfaq3/">warns</a> that “globally, the percentage of the population exposed to deadly heat stress is projected to increase from today’s 30% to 48%-76% by the end of the century, depending on future warming levels and location”.</p>
<p>We wanted to create a detailed picture of when and where heat stress occurs in southern Africa. By applying a global gridded dataset of a human thermal comfort index, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.8009">we found</a> that there has been a consistent change in thermal comfort – the human body’s experience of the outdoor thermal environment – from the 1970s to today. Simply put, southern Africans are experiencing heat stress more often than in 1979.</p>
<p>Given that global temperatures are <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/about/frequently-asked-questions/keyfaq3/">set to rise</a> in the coming years and decades, these findings are worrying. Warmer temperatures will mean that regions that were classified as having “favourable” thermal comfort will more regularly be classified as regions of “thermal stress”. Heatwaves have been projected to occur more frequently, and to be more intense.</p>
<h2>Measuring thermal comfort (or stress)</h2>
<p>Over the past two decades, scientists from across the world have developed the <a href="https://utci.lobelia.earth/what-is-utci">Universal Thermal Climate Index</a>. It has advanced our ability to model human thermal comfort levels, ranging from cold stress to heat stress. Earlier thermal comfort indices typically only modelled heat stress because they mainly measured the combined effects of humidity and temperature to calculate an equivalent temperature. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506300/original/file-20230125-16-cpv882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506300/original/file-20230125-16-cpv882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506300/original/file-20230125-16-cpv882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506300/original/file-20230125-16-cpv882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506300/original/file-20230125-16-cpv882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506300/original/file-20230125-16-cpv882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506300/original/file-20230125-16-cpv882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Temperature extremes can put people’s health at risk. Authors supplied.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This equivalent temperature would essentially measure how we feel in relation to the surrounding environment. For example, at 5pm on 23 January, Johannesburg’s outdoor air temperature was 29˚C; relative humidity was 30%; the sky was clear and there was a gentle breeze of 16km/h. </p>
<p>For someone outside, the equivalent temperature would have been slightly higher than the outdoor temperature (<a href="https://utci.lobelia.earth/images/what-is-utci/global-diff.png">possibly as high as 32˚C</a>), largely due to the effect of relative humidity and limited wind chill.</p>
<p>The Universal Thermal Climate Index considers a wider range of factors that influence thermal comfort than its predecessors. In addition to air temperature, relative humidity and wind speed, it also includes radiant heat, a measure of how hot we feel when standing in the sun rather than in the shade. </p>
<p>The index is built for humans navigating the real world: it includes a clothing model and an exertion model. </p>
<p>During the current southern African heatwave, for instance, the model assumes that nobody is dressed in a fuzzy jersey. In winter, it assumes nobody in countries like Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Eswatini, Lesotho and South Africa is wearing shorts and a T-shirt.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the inclusion of all these factors means that the Universal Thermal Climate Index is a more accurate and realistic indicator of the level of thermal comfort (or discomfort) perceived by the human body.</p>
<h2>Southern African application</h2>
<p>To apply the Universal Thermal Climate Index to southern Africa, we drew data from the <a href="https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/cdsapp#!/dataset/derived-utci-historical?tab=overview">ERA5-HEAT</a> data collection, which provides an hourly dataset, of the equivalent temperature derived from the index, for 1940 to present; it is produced by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.</p>
<p>We zoomed into the time period 1979-2021 and considered thermal comfort at annual, seasonal and monthly scales. Over these scales, we calculated the average climatology, and investigated changes and year-to-year variability patterns in day-time, night-time and daily average equivalent temperatures across southern Africa.</p>
<p>We found that heat stress occurs most widely during the summer months (December to March); cold stress occurs mainly during the winter months (June to August). Heat stress was, as one would expect, most common during the day and cold stress more common at night.</p>
<p>Drilling further into the data, we discovered that, from September to March, more than 85% of the subcontinent experiences day-time heat stress. Over parts of the Northern Cape in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, day-time heat stress can reach very strong, and potentially dangerous, heat stress levels during these months. </p>
<p>From May to August, our results showed that more than 80% of southern Africa experiences night-time cold stress, and over much of South Africa night-time cold stress can reach moderate cold stress. In short, it’s unusual for people in the region to feel extremely cold and fairly common in certain months to feel extremely hot, especially outside.</p>
<h2>Going forward: why it’s bad news</h2>
<p>Everyone in southern Africa is at risk of heat stress. But children, the elderly, and those with underlying comorbidities are more vulnerable. </p>
<p>Those working outdoors, like farm and construction workers, are especially vulnerable because there’s little that can be done to adapt to and cope with heat stress while working outdoors during the day-time. <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2023-01-22-heat-stroke-deaths-department-suggests-working-early-late-hours/">Adjusting work hours</a> to avoid peak heat hours is one measure that could be applied.</p>
<p>There are also some coping mechanisms you could apply in your daily life. Limit your exposure to the sun by moving to shade or indoors to a well-ventilated or air-conditioned room. Keep hydrated (with water), avoid strenuous activities (like sports or excessive manual labour), wear lightweight protective clothing, a hat and sunblock, and, if you feel ill, seek medical attention.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198455/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Roffe works for the Agricultural Research Council. She receives funding from the National Research Foundation, South Africa. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Fitchett receives funding from the National Research Foundation</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adriaan Van Der Walt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Simply put, southern Africans are experiencing heat stress more often than in 1979.Sarah Roffe, Researcher, Agricultural Research CouncilAdriaan Van Der Walt, Senior Lecturer of Physical Geography and GIS, University of the Free StateJennifer Fitchett, Professor of Physical Geography, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1943532023-01-15T07:23:10Z2023-01-15T07:23:10ZSpotted hyenas all sound different when they call – they can tell friend from foe<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498231/original/file-20221130-26-4h93nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ryan Green/GettyImages</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On quiet nights across large swaths of the African bush, you may hear a series of whooping <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkCqAMT0AIA">calls</a> in the distance. This unique <a href="https://on.soundcloud.com/jUjH8">sound</a> is the long-distance vocalisation used by spotted hyenas (<em>Crocuta crocuta</em>) to communicate with each other.</p>
<p>For hyenas, it’s advantageous to know who is calling before deciding to respond. They don’t treat every member of their group the same – and the caller could even be an intruder in their territory.</p>
<p>In animal societies, identity signals are common. They mediate interactions within groups, and allow individuals to discriminate group-mates from out-group competitors. However, individual recognition becomes increasingly challenging as group size increases and as signals must be transmitted over greater distances.</p>
<p>We hypothesised that for hyenas long-distance calls could be used to determine the individual identity and the group membership of the caller. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2022.0548">research</a> sought to determine what information is in these calls, and how hyenas are able to determine whether they are hearing a group mate or an intruder. </p>
<p>We found these calls were individually distinct. Hyenas from the same clan did not sound similar enough to identify the caller’s group membership from voice alone. This means hyenas must be able to remember the voices of their group mates, an impressive feat of memorisation. It also has implications for how hyenas maintain contact with each other and coordinate their movements over long distances. </p>
<p>Our results suggest that individual identity of the caller is important enough and that a group signature is not enough information for a listening hyena to decide whether to respond or not. Furthermore, distinctive voices may more easily evolve and identifying the individual is enough for hyenas to remember what group the caller belongs to. </p>
<h2>Hyena social groups</h2>
<p>Spotted hyenas can be found in a range of habitats throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Their population is estimated to be between 20,000 and 50,000 individuals, with the highest known concentrations in Tanzania’s Serengeti ecosystem. They live in social groups, called clans, that range in size from only six in harsh semi-desert habitats in Namibia to over 125 individuals in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve. </p>
<p>Within these social groups, spotted hyenas have a strict dominance hierarchy that determines who gets to feed first at carcasses and kills. When a female hyena has new cubs, they enter the dominance ranking right below their mother, pushing their older siblings lower in the pecking order. Young hyenas learn their position, along with the positions of their clan mates. Eventually, they will know where they, and the rest of their clan mates, fit into this hierarchy. Females will remain in this hierarchy their whole lives. When males reach maturity, they usually emigrate, where they become the lowest ranking member of their new clan.</p>
<p>Spotted hyenas share and defend a territory as a group, but those groups can be large and individuals are often spread out across the landscape. This makes it difficult to coordinate movements and request help to expel lions and intruding hyenas. To communicate over these long distances, spotted hyenas use whoops, a loud, repetitive call that can be heard up to five kilometres away. </p>
<p>When hyenas hear fast whoops from their group mates they often respond by travelling long distances to the caller, where they might help fight off lions or other intruders in the territory. And spotted hyena mothers recognise the whoops of their young cubs. If hyenas hear voices they do not recognise, they will approach and attack the intruders and they can even assess how many new voices they hear.</p>
<p>The hyenas have complicated relationships with their group-mates; it might be advantageous to know who is calling before going to help. Additionally, over long distances, it may be difficult to hear the distinctive voice of a caller. And remembering the voices of over 100 group mates may become cognitively difficult. </p>
<p>We wanted to test whether the long-distance calls indicated the identity and group membership of the caller. </p>
<h2>Recording hyena calls</h2>
<p>We recorded a large number of whoop vocalisations from the spotted hyenas in our study population. The <a href="http://msuhyenas.blogspot.com/">Mara Hyena Project</a> has been studying groups of hyenas, called clans, in the <a href="https://national-parks.org/kenya/masai-mara">Maasai Mara National Reserve</a> in Kenya since 1988. As part of our routine monitoring of hyena demography and behaviour, we keep track of all individuals that immigrate or are born into our study clans. We keep track of their ages, ranks in the social hierarchy, where they spend their time, and with whom they socialise.</p>
<p>We took a variety of acoustic measures to characterise each of the recorded whoops – the frequency, or pitch, length, and how tonal the whoop was. Then we used a machine learning technique called “random forests” to test whether the whoops identified the individual or group. </p>
<p>The random forest was able to identify the caller of each whoop more often than expected by chance. This suggests there is variation in the calls that can be used to identify the caller. But the random forest was unable to identify the group membership of each whoop. </p>
<p>We also used our results from the machine learning to calculate how the repetitive nature of whoops might increase the likelihood of correctly identifying the caller.</p>
<p>Whoops are almost always repeated as a series called a bout. This repetition may make identifying the caller easier over long distances when the bout is difficult to hear. The need to memorise the voices of everyone within a group may also explain why spotted hyenas whoop so often. This whoop broadcasting may provide an opportunity for group mates to learn each other’s voices while also keeping track of individuals’ locations with the large territory.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194353/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kenna Lehmann receives funding from the National Science Foundation, Michigan State University, and University of Nebraska--Lincoln. </span></em></p>Machine learning techniques showed that individual identity is important to spotted hyenas.Kenna Lehmann, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Nebraska-LincolnLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1973492023-01-11T11:41:24Z2023-01-11T11:41:24ZElephant poaching rates vary across Africa: 19 years of data from 64 sites suggest why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503583/original/file-20230109-13-53i5vz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s a grim and all too common sight for rangers at some of Africa’s nature reserves: the bullet-riddled carcass of an elephant, its tusks removed by poachers. African elephant populations have <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/2354/#table-2">fallen by about 30% since 2006</a>. <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1403984111">Poaching</a> has driven the decline.</p>
<p>Some reserves, like Garamba in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Selous in Tanzania, have lost hundreds of elephants to poachers over the last decade. But others, like Etosha National Park in Namibia, have been targeted far less. What might explain this difference?</p>
<p>That’s what we set out to explore in our <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2022.2270">new paper</a>. We investigated why poaching rates vary so widely across Africa and what this might reveal about what drives, motivates and facilitates poaching. To do this, we used a statistical model to relate poaching levels from 64 African sites to various socio-economic factors. These included a country’s quality of governance and the level of human development in the area surrounding a park.</p>
<p>Our findings suggest that poaching rates are lower where there is strong national governance and where local levels of human development – especially wealth and health – are relatively high. Strong site-level law enforcement and reduced global ivory prices also keep poaching levels down.</p>
<p>Understanding these dynamics is crucial. The illegal wildlife trade is <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-environ-101718-033253">one of the highest value illicit trade sectors globally</a>, worth several billion dollars each year. It poses a major threat to biodiversity and ecosystems, which are <a href="https://www.unep.org/un-biodiversity-conference-cop-15">the bedrock of human well-being</a>. And elephants are more than just a culturally significant icon. They are “<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-019-0395-6">ecosystem engineers</a>” that can boost forest carbon stocks and <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecy.1557">diversify habitats</a> through their feeding. Their presence in national parks and reserves also has economic benefits, bringing in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13379">valuable tourism revenues</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://academic.oup.com/afraf/article-abstract/115/458/1/2195193">deaths of both poachers and rangers</a> in the continent’s violent biodiversity “war” also underscores our findings: when elephants lose, we all lose.</p>
<h2>Data collection</h2>
<p>We developed a statistical model using 19 years of data on 10,286 poached elephants at 64 sites in 30 African countries. These data were collected, mostly by wildlife rangers, as part of the global programme for <a href="https://citesmike.org/">Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE)</a>, administered by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503770/original/file-20230110-5012-50s7kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503770/original/file-20230110-5012-50s7kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503770/original/file-20230110-5012-50s7kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503770/original/file-20230110-5012-50s7kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=651&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503770/original/file-20230110-5012-50s7kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=819&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503770/original/file-20230110-5012-50s7kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=819&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503770/original/file-20230110-5012-50s7kz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=819&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rangers are the real champions of this research, working under difficult conditions to protect elephants and other biodiversity. Photo: Tim Kuiper.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We then linked the poaching data to key socio-economic data related to areas around the parks, individual countries and global markets.</p>
<p>Poaching of high-value species like elephants and rhinos is driven primarily by <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article-abstract/59/1/24/4967883">sophisticated criminal syndicates</a>. So we used criminology theory and evidence from the scientific literature to generate hypotheses about factors that might drive, facilitate or motivate the decisions of these syndicates and the local hunters they recruited. We then identified datasets representing these factors, such as the <a href="https://ucdp.uu.se/">Uppsala Armed Conflict Dataset</a> and the Global Data Lab’s <a href="https://globaldatalab.org/shdi/">Subnational Human Development index</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/statistical-models-and-ranger-insights-help-identify-patterns-in-elephant-poaching-137834">Statistical models and ranger insights help identify patterns in elephant poaching</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Our tailored statistical model allows us to test for the effect of one hypothesised driver of poaching while accounting for the others. It also means we can look at local, national, regional and global factors together.</p>
<h2>Key findings</h2>
<p>Parks with higher levels of human development (based on health and wealth metrics from household surveys) and stronger law enforcement suffered less poaching. Poaching was also lower in countries where there was strong national governance quality. We measured this using the <a href="https://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/">World Bank’s governance indicators</a>. </p>
<p>Socio-economic and political drivers were far more common than ecological ones. A park’s accessibility and size, the density of its vegetation and its elephant population did not affect its poaching levels. </p>
<p>The strong associations we found between poaching and factors like corruption and human development do not necessarily imply that these factors directly cause poaching. Correlation does not imply causation. Deeper research at particular sites will reveal what underlying processes are at play, and offer a better understanding of cause and effect. </p>
<p>But we do have some suggestions about what might lie behind the associations we found. These are rooted in <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12622">previous studies</a>.</p>
<h2>Solutions transcend biodiversity</h2>
<p>Why, for instance, would higher levels of local human well-being in an area be associated with lower poaching?</p>
<p>One explanation could be that, in areas of economic deprivation and in the absence of alternatives, local residents might participate in poaching to meet their basic needs or earn extra income.</p>
<p>Another interpretation might be that criminal ivory syndicates seeking to recruit local hunters target areas of lower human well-being because they can operate more effectively there.</p>
<p>A number of biodiversity conservation actors, like government wildlife departments or environmental NGOs, have already recognised the value in focusing on improving human well-being around parks and reserves. A stellar example is <a href="https://communityconservationnamibia.com/">Namibia’s conservancy model</a>. It achieves effective conservation through local communities governing and benefiting from wildlife. </p>
<p>Our study highlights that site-based conservation action alone cannot control illegal killing. A lot of what drives and facilitates elephant poaching is beyond conservationists’ remit or control.</p>
<p>Conservationists can’t be expected to solve local human development issues or hold governments accountable on their own. Wider societal action to address poverty is required. This could include empowering women, increasing access to basic education, and promoting resilience to climate change. Such action is valuable in its own right, but will likely deliver benefits for elephants too. </p>
<p>Finally, the positive relationship that we found between poaching and ivory prices suggests that tackling demand for illegal wildlife in end-markets is a key part of the puzzle.</p>
<p>We suggest that tackling elephant poaching, and indeed the broader illegal wildlife trade, requires dealing with the wider systemic challenges of human development, corruption and consumer demand. It is not enough to just focus on actions traditionally defined as “wildlife conservation”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197349/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy Kuiper receives funding from the South African National Research Foundation and the University of Cape Town Research Council. This work arises from a consultancy from the UN CITES Monitoring Illegal Killing of Elephants programme, to E.J. Milner-Gulland and Tim Kuiper (CITES project S-598), which was funded by the European Union. The consultancy brief was to identify and analyse covariates of illegal killing across MIKE sites, and a peer-reviewed paper was one of the planned outputs</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>This work arises from a consultancy from the UN CITES Monitoring Illegal Killing of Elephants programme, to E.J. Milner-Gulland and Tim Kuiper (CITES project S-598), which was funded by the European Union. The consultancy brief was to identify and analyse covariates of illegal killing across MIKE sites, and a peer-reviewed paper was one of the planned outputs. Potentially relevant group memberships: I am currently a Trustee of WWF-UK and a member of the IUCN-SSC Sustainable Use and Livelihoods specialist group.</span></em></p>The findings suggest that poaching rates are lower where there is strong national governance and levels of local human development are higher.Timothy Kuiper, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Cape TownEleanor Jane Milner-Gulland, Tasso Leventis Professor of Biodiversity, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1917132022-12-14T12:14:49Z2022-12-14T12:14:49ZWhy I’m righting the wrongs of my early research and sharing my scientific data with local communities <figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499601/original/file-20221207-4221-qvv83w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3522%2C1977&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dr Sarah Mothulatshipi and Topo Mpho Çhengeta in Gweta, Botswana exchanging knowledge with the local community about long term environmental change and stone age archaeology in the area.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sallie Burrough</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>“You know what’s wrong with scientific power? It’s a form of inherited wealth. And you know what assholes congenitally rich people are.”</em> That’s how filmmaker Michael Crichton put it in Jurassic Park nearly 30 years ago. The problem of scientific colonialism has not, however, gone away.</p>
<p>Researchers sometimes carry out fieldwork with minimum local engagement, dropping in and extracting their data like the well-trained crew of a military Chinook. So-called “<a href="https://theconversation.com/helicopter-research-who-benefits-from-international-studies-in-indonesia-102165">helicopter research</a>”, where research teams rarely enable local collaborators to steer research-design and often fail to involve local communities or provide local access to data, was a recent topic of debate at <a href="https://wcri2022.org/">a conference</a> on academic integrity. Scientists and ethicists <a href="https://osf.io/bf286/">agreed</a> that field research falls short when it comes to academics from high-income countries carrying out field research in places that lack resources. </p>
<p>The colonial footprint of exploration is deeply lodged into the identity of my own research field, which sits somewhere between the geosciences and archaeology. Amplified in Hollywood, the scientist in search of exotic discoveries has captured the public imagination. Neither booby-trapped temples nor rampaging dinosaurs have featured in my academic life, but the explorer mentality has been slow to leave the discipline.</p>
<h2>The status quo</h2>
<p>In my early career, field seasons in Africa were spent with colleagues from Europe at the helm of a battered Toyota Hilux, taking sediment samples from the lakes, dunes and peat-bogs of Botswana. There was enough food, water, spare parts and scientific equipment rammed into that vehicle that there was no need to engage with anyone.</p>
<p>That landscape, however, is not wilderness. It is peppered with communities rooted in their environment. Communities we largely ignored. We extracted what we needed and flew our cache of sand 8,000km away to a well-equipped laboratory behind the thick walls of one of the UK’s most prestigious universities. The paperwork stated the sand was “of no economic value” but that is not entirely true. The currency of scientific wealth is data, and we took it without sharing it with those who lived there. This was the status quo of geoscience when I started out my career more than a decade ago. It wasn’t deliberately discriminatory. It was just thoughtless.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Farmer researching plant in tobacco farm." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492959/original/file-20221102-24-eiopvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492959/original/file-20221102-24-eiopvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492959/original/file-20221102-24-eiopvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492959/original/file-20221102-24-eiopvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492959/original/file-20221102-24-eiopvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492959/original/file-20221102-24-eiopvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492959/original/file-20221102-24-eiopvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What will happen after the scientists are gone?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/farmer-researching-plant-tobacco-farm-agriculture-571764538">KOBE611/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the last few years, as the <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0163579">broader scientific community</a>, particularly in the health sciences, began to reflect on its profession and practice, the insular norms of fieldwork have felt increasingly uncomfortable to some of us. Very few of my research papers include African authors. </p>
<p>Even less have had any impact in the lives of local communities. In the lopsided-land of academic geoscience, those communities were never the intended audience. Career prestige is driven by grants and publications, the impact of which is <a href="https://beckerguides.wustl.edu/authors/hindex">measured by the number of citations</a> clocked up from other academics.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0012825220303081">2020 paper</a> which looked at publications over the last 40 years, researchers found 70% of geoscience articles with a study site in Africa did not involve any African authors. Researchers in poorer countries are often relegated to the role of fieldworkers or administrators, and excluded from the research design, data analysis or publications. As a 2017 study showed, local researchers are <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0186237">left feeling exploited</a>. </p>
<h2>Speaking out</h2>
<p>Sarah Mothulatshipi, a colleague and senior lecturer in archaeology at the University of Botswana, says she has seen this happen several times in her career. In some projects collaborators “were happy to share the responsibilities of fieldwork but were not so forthcoming when it came to analysing or sharing data. For local students in particular, involvement can feel like it is more about cheap labour than meaningful research apprenticeship.”</p>
<p>At one community meeting in Gweta, on the outskirts of the Makgadikgadi pans (Botswana) in 2019, a village elder told me: “There is a lot of mistrust. People come here with their research vehicles, but they do not talk to us. They do not involve us.”</p>
<p>In <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/201708170662.html">Botswana in 2017</a>, the government suspended the issue of environmental research permits out of concern that research was not benefiting the lives of ordinary Batswanans. In the same year, southern Africa’s indigenous San community issued their own <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-15745-6_7#:%7E:text=In%20recent%20years%20San%20leaders,harm%20%2C%20has%20been%20the%20result.">research ethics code</a>. San leaders felt “that most academic research on their communities was neither requested, nor useful, nor protected in any meaningful way”. </p>
<p>In recent years I’ve been trying to put right my own failures, reaching out to local communities and collaborators and together finding <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CcyZFOooj-M--5veu7plhC_4Of_Wp08Wtvw8Ss0/">tangible benefits</a> from our wealth of data. So rewarding was this experience that I returned to student life to study for a postgraduate degress in science communication. In 2022, after asking communities in Botswana what would be helpful to them, we produced and installed information boards on our archaeological findings in nearby villages. A simple gesture that provides local ownership of the knowledge we’ve extracted and generates new tourism opportunities. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499600/original/file-20221207-8673-e15pai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499600/original/file-20221207-8673-e15pai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499600/original/file-20221207-8673-e15pai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499600/original/file-20221207-8673-e15pai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499600/original/file-20221207-8673-e15pai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499600/original/file-20221207-8673-e15pai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499600/original/file-20221207-8673-e15pai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author with one of the information boards she worked on.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sallie Burrough</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Outside of the social sciences, taking the time to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21548455.2022.2049392?journalCode=rsed20">listen to local communities</a> is <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajhb.23699">still viewed as a low priority</a>. But things are beginning to change. </p>
<h2>It doesn’t have to be this way</h2>
<p>A plethora of research papers have <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001670612031716X">called for change</a> and in August 2022, Nature – and all Nature portfolio journals, including <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-022-01010-4">Nature Geoscience</a> – announced it had adopted guidelines laid out in The <a href="https://www.globalcodeofconduct.org/">Global Code of Conduct for Research in Resource-Poor Settings</a>. It will ask authors to provide disclosure statements about whether the research design involved local scientists, whether it is locally relevant and are there plans to share it. </p>
<p>The University of Oxford recently adopted a <a href="https://researchsupport.admin.ox.ac.uk/files/ethicalfieldworkcodeofconductpdf-1">Code of Conduct for Ethical Fieldwork</a> that prompts researchers to ask questions at the planning stage: who are you engaging? Could you conduct a scoping visit to explore the interests and needs of local communities?</p>
<p>The answer to the last question hinges on funders. These are the organisations that could really shift the balance of power within collaborative partnerships. Several, including the <a href="https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe_en">European Commission</a>, have adopted mandatory codes of conduct, but few have been so explicit. </p>
<p>Funding requirements to partner with local institutions are not enough. The partnership should be one driven by local priorities and equal participation. In 2022 it feels like there is real change in the air as institutions at all stages of the research cycle begin to scrutinise their systems. It is time to ensure the inherited wealth of science does not just belong to the privileged few.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191713/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sallie Burrough does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Scientists join their profession with the hope their research will benefit humanity. But many still inadvertently exploit local collaborators or communities as cheap labour.Sallie Burrough, Stipendiary Lecturer in Physical Geography, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1893372022-11-07T07:26:36Z2022-11-07T07:26:36ZClimate change is causing endangered African wild dogs to give birth later – threatening the survival of the pack<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481898/original/file-20220830-35846-zp39if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">African wild dog with pups.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Manoj Shah/GettyImages</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Wildlife are responding and adapting to climate change in various ways. Some adaptations are more obvious. Flowering plants, for example, are <a href="https://theconversation.com/plants-are-flowering-a-month-earlier-heres-what-it-could-mean-for-pollinating-insects-176324#:%7E:text=That's%20according%20to%20scientists%20at,days%20earlier%20in%20the%20year.">blooming sooner</a> each year in parts of the northern hemisphere as climate change draws the onset of spring progressively earlier in the calendar. </p>
<p>Other adaptations are more covert, as we’ve discovered in the case of the African wild dog. </p>
<p>The African wild dog is an endangered large carnivore with a global population of <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/12436/166502262#assessment-information">fewer than 700 packs</a> (fewer than 7000 individuals) dotted across the African continent in isolated subpopulations. They typically raise their pups in the cooler months each year. However, our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2121667119">new study</a> shows that they are adapting to warming temperatures by giving birth later each year as they track a shrinking cool period. </p>
<p>By following the fates of 60 packs of African wild dogs in Botswana’s Okavango delta – the largest remaining subpopulation of the species – we learned that the average birthing date now occurs more than three weeks later than it did three decades ago. This shift almost perfectly tracked an average daily temperature increase of 1.6°C over that same period. </p>
<p>On the face of it, our finding that wild dogs are keeping pace with the rate of warming suggests there is no cause for alarm. Pups born in cooler months <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2656.12719">are more likely to survive</a>, so isn’t this just an effective strategy to cope with a changing climate? Unfortunately not. </p>
<p>As the cooler period of the year is also getting shorter, the net effect of tracking these temperature shifts is that wild dogs are now inadvertently rearing their pups in warmer temperatures. </p>
<p>This is a problem because we’ve also <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.12719">shown previously</a> that higher temperatures following birth affect pup survival rates in Kenya, and our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2121667119">new study</a> shows the same in Botswana. </p>
<p>For the three months of the year, when vulnerable pups remain in the safety of the den, the pack has to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00265-021-03047-8">commute</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyv130">vast distances</a> between their hunting grounds and the den. It’s possible that the travel costs of these daily <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00296390">meat deliveries</a> explain why fewer pups tend to survive at hotter times of the year. It’s also possible that hotter temperatures affect the dogs’ hunting success. And higher temperatures are also related to lower <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ece3.7601">adult survival</a>. This may be because of factors including the energetic costs of hunting at high temperatures.</p>
<p>Increasing mortality is a big threat for a species like African wild dogs, whose survival relies on its numbers. Indeed pack size is inextricably tied to their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7601">survival and success</a>. Fewer pups surviving means fewer future helpers to find food, which results in fewer pups the next year, which in turn results in even fewer helpers – you get the picture.</p>
<h2>Moving on is not an option</h2>
<p>Unfortunately moving to more suitable environments isn’t an option. African wild dogs are notoriously wide ranging, with single packs occupying <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article/96/6/1214/1170623">home ranges</a> of several hundred to over a thousand square kilometres. Confined to just <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/12436/166502262#assessment-information">7% of their historic range</a>, there is not a lot of room, and people are understandably reluctant to share further space with <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/humanwildlife-conflict-in-northern-botswana-livestock-predation-by-endangered-african-wild-dog-lycaon-pictus-and-other-carnivores/129A71C94A492FE5A6B4EE77100F08F9">predators that threaten their livestock</a>. </p>
<p>Indeed people retaliate for stock losses by poisoning and shooting wild dogs, and <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0030099">exposure to disease from domestic dogs</a> contributes further to their <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/rates-and-causes-of-mortality-in-endangered-african-wild-dogs-lycaon-pictus-lessons-for-management-and-monitoring/E7C8F3C6F42C81A8EAD121477237A56A">decline</a>.</p>
<h2>Why this matters</h2>
<p>African wild dogs are stuck in a kind of trap. They are adapting to rising temperatures using a cue that, thanks to climate change, no longer accurately predicts the best conditions for reproduction. </p>
<p>While certainly not the only species to exhibit a climate-driven shift in behaviour, African wild dogs are – to the best of our knowledge – the only large mammalian carnivore where a shift has been documented. </p>
<p>Because monitoring large carnivore populations over several decades is challenging and expensive, such long-term data either don’t exist or have not been assessed for most large carnivores. </p>
<p>Every time we look for an impact of temperature on African wild dogs, however, we uncover something new and unexpected. Climate-driven impacts on large carnivore behaviour, populations and life histories may well be more widespread than previously thought. Because large carnivores play an important role in shaping ecosystems, such impacts have much broader implications.</p>
<p>With <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/">continued temperature rises projected across their range</a>, the effects of climate change on this already endangered species – and others like it – are of great concern.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189337/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil R Jordan has a conjoint position between in the Centre for Ecosystem Science at UNSW Sydney and Taronga Conservation Society Australia. He receives funding from National Parks and Wildlife Service NSW, MidCoast Council, the Hermon Slade Foundation, Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Australian Academy of Science, Royal Zoological Society of NSW, WWF-Australia, and the Morris Animal Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Briana Abrahms receives funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, and the University of Washington Royalty Research Fund. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniella Rabaiotti receives funding from the UK National Environment Research Council and the British Ecological Society.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kasim Rafiq receives funding from the University of Washington.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosie Woodroffe receives funding from the Natural Environment Research Council, Research England, Morris Animal Foundation, and the IUCN Save Our Species Programme</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Weldon McNutt receives funding from the UN FAO, Wild Entrust International, St Louis Zoo WildCare Institute, Cincinnati Zoo, Tusk Trust, and numerous private donors.</span></em></p>African wild dogs are adapting to rising temperatures using a cue that no longer accurately predicts the best conditions for reproduction.Neil R Jordan, Senior lecturer, UNSW SydneyBriana Abrahms, Assistant Professor of Biology, University of WashingtonDaniella Rabaiotti, Postdoctoral Researcher, Zoological Society of LondonKasim Rafiq, Postdoctoral Researcher in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of WashingtonRosie Woodroffe, Professor, Zoological Society of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1887642022-09-05T18:36:09Z2022-09-05T18:36:09ZHIV patients in Botswana get adequate treatment but not all of them – one group is slipping through the cracks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/481068/original/file-20220825-14-j8bh53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Franco Volpato/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>HIV remains a major public health challenge globally. Around <a href="https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/fact-sheet">38 million</a> people are estimated to be living with the infection. Sub-Saharan Africa bears the brunt of the HIV epidemic. Close to two thirds of the HIV cases are in the region. </p>
<p>But huge strides have been made in curbing the epidemic. One of the keys to this has been the introduction of antiretroviral therapy (ART). It’s resulted in people with HIV living long, productive lives and reducing the risks of HIV transmission. </p>
<p>HIV has a high mutation rate, however. As a result, there is evidence of HIV variants with resistance to almost all available antiretroviral drugs. The development of variants with drug resistant mutations is a major challenge to the success of ART – and therefore to efforts to achieve the UN goal of <a href="https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/campaigns/World-AIDS-Day-Report-2014">ending AIDS by 2030</a>.</p>
<p>In developing countries, screening for HIV drug resistant variants is done only when patients who are on treatment have high viral loads – over 1,000 copies/ml, as per the World Health Organization <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241507196">guidelines</a>. This means drug resistant HIV variants in patients with low viral loads aren’t detected. This is the case in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa – including Botswana.</p>
<p>We <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/358958674_HIV-1_drug_resistance_mutations_among_individuals_with_low-level_viraemia_while_taking_combination_ART_in_Botswana">set out to establish</a> three things.</p>
<p>Firstly, what percentage of patients on ART had low HIV viral loads. This is data that’s never been collected before. Secondly, we wanted to determine HIV drug resistant mutations in this cohort of patients. The third thing we set to establish is whether there’s a connection between patients with low viral loads and treatment failure. This is known as virologic failure.</p>
<p>Answering these three questions has given us a much deeper understanding of where a country like Botswana stands in its efforts to eliminate HIV. As a result of our research we have a better understanding of how many people with HIV have low viral loads, how serious a threat we face from drug resistant HIV variants and finally how many people with low viral levels are at risk of treatment failure. </p>
<p>We found that people with low viral loads were just as likely to harbour drug resistant HIV variants as people with high viral loads. This matters because it points to the need to change how people with HIV who are on ART are managed in developing countries. </p>
<p>We recommend that patients on ART with detectable viral loads above 50 copies/ml be further investigated to ensure that they don’t harbour drug resistant HIV variants. </p>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p><strong>Number of HIV patients on ART with low viral load:</strong> Our study looked at a cohort of 6,078 people with HIV from across Botswana who were receiving combination antiretroviral therapy. We narrowed this down to 4,443 people who had been on ART treatment for at least six months. </p>
<p>Only 8% had viral loads of more than 50 copies/ml. Testing for mutations only happens on patients with viral loads of over 1,000 copies/ml, which means that this group isn’t being screened.</p>
<p>The figure of 8% may seem low. But it means that this cohort either has a resistant variant, or their treatment isn’t working.</p>
<p><strong>Prevalence of drug resistant mutations:</strong> We sequenced the HIV in the patients with low viral loads as well as those with viral loads above 1,000 copies/ml. We found no difference in the prevalence of HIV drug resistant mutations between the two patient groups. This indicates that patients with low HIV viral loads are just as likely to harbour HIV variants with drug resistance mutations as those with high viral loads.</p>
<p><strong>Treatment failure:</strong> A select group of the patients with low HIV viral loads were followed up for at least a year. We found that there was a statistically significant association of low level HIV viral load with subsequent virological (or treatment) failure. Our results show that patients with a low HIV viral load are more likely to experience virological failure.</p>
<p>Current treatment guidelines describe virologic failure as viral loads above 1,000 copies/ml. Our results challenge this. </p>
<h2>Going forward</h2>
<p>Our results echo the views expressed by others who have <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2022.939261/full">looked at this issue</a>. Like them, we recommend that the HIV treatment guidelines in developing countries be improved to ensure that patients with low HIV viral load while on ART get the necessary attention. </p>
<p>In developed countries, screening for drug resistant HIV variants is done when people start ART. Drug resistance screening is also done whenever a patient on treatment has a detectable viral load. </p>
<p>The same approach should be applied in developing countries. </p>
<p>Patients should also have a follow-up viral load test which – if the virus is still detectable – should lead to sequencing of the HIV variants they harbour. If found to have a drug resistant variant, the patient should be switched to an appropriate ART regimen. </p>
<p>If they are found not to harbour HIV drug resistant variants, the patient should undergo intensive adherence counselling because this could point to treatment failure. </p>
<p>Scientists and funders must invest time and resources to develop more sensitive HIV drug resistant assays that can sequence HIV in samples with low viral loads. This is currently a limiting factor as most of the available assays don’t work well with samples with low viral loads.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188764/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simani Gaseitsiwe receives funding from : Wellcome Trust, NIH, EDCTP, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
</span></em></p>Patients with low HIV viral loads are just as likely to harbour HIV variants with drug resistance mutations as those with high viral loads.Simani Gaseitsiwe, Principal Investigator and Research Associate at Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership, Sub-Saharan African Network for TB/HIV Research Excellence (SANTHE)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1841892022-07-12T15:06:09Z2022-07-12T15:06:09ZAfrica is a treasure trove of medicinal plants: here are seven that are popular<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469755/original/file-20220620-16-wmjtqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The pink periwinkle is used as a tonic and emetic for the treatment of many health conditions. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Jekesai Njikizana/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Plants have directly contributed to the development of important drugs. The antimalarial treatment artemisinin, pain medication morphine, and cancer chemotherapy taxol are just three examples of drugs derived from plants. Africa is endowed with up to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25065751">45,000</a> plant species – about <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/548007a.pdf">25%</a> of the world’s plant genetic resources. More than 5,000 plant species from this enormous <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2019/02/14/biodiversity">African resource</a> are used in traditional medicines. Medicinal plant specialists Associate Professor Adeyemi Aremu and Professor Nox Makunga highlight some of these plants.</em> </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473393/original/file-20220711-14-ezom1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473393/original/file-20220711-14-ezom1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473393/original/file-20220711-14-ezom1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473393/original/file-20220711-14-ezom1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473393/original/file-20220711-14-ezom1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473393/original/file-20220711-14-ezom1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473393/original/file-20220711-14-ezom1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473393/original/file-20220711-14-ezom1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Artemisia afra.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dr Marietjie Stander</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2><em>Artemisia afra</em> Jacq. ex Willd. (African wormwood)</h2>
<p><em>Artemisia afra</em> is the only species in its genus that is indigenous to the African continent. It’s often regarded as a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0254629908003165">potential flagship</a> plant because of its high popularity and diverse uses in African traditional medicine.
African wormwood has been used for coughs, colds, influenza and malaria. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2019.112127">Scientific evidence</a> of its antimicrobial, anti-depressant, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects has been reported. African wormwood gained <a href="https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210216/Artemisia-plant-extracts-show-potential-anti-SARS-CoV-2-activity-in-vitro.aspx">global interest</a> when it was promoted as having <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53484298">potential</a> to treat COVID-19 and was tested in <a href="https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12985-021-01651-8">laboratory</a> <a href="https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12985-021-01651-8">studies</a>. The extracts had some degree of inhibitory activity against feline coronavirus and SARS-CoV-2. But this requires further clinical study to reach a valid conclusion. </p>
<p>The traditional uses and increasing popularity of African wormwood have resulted in a number of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378874119324560?via%3Dihub">commercial herbal products</a>. But with insufficient clinical data, it’s not yet known whether African wormwood is a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378874119324560?via%3Dihub">treasure chest</a> of new drugs.</p>
<h2><em>Catharanthus roseus</em> (L.) G.Don</h2>
<p>This plant is also known as bright eyes, Cape periwinkle, graveyard plant, Madagascar periwinkle, old maid, or pink periwinkle. It is native and endemic to Madagascar. The plant is <a href="https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/617459/">commonly used</a> as a tonic and emetic for the treatment of many health conditions including rheumatism, diabetes, and skin-related and venereal diseases.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469745/original/file-20220620-22-8hm7gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469745/original/file-20220620-22-8hm7gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469745/original/file-20220620-22-8hm7gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469745/original/file-20220620-22-8hm7gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469745/original/file-20220620-22-8hm7gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469745/original/file-20220620-22-8hm7gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469745/original/file-20220620-22-8hm7gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Catharanthus roseus, commonly known as bright eyes, Cape periwinkle, graveyard plant, Madagascar periwinkle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pink periwinkle has <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7080/8/4/80">several phytochemicals</a> which are associated with antioxidant, antimicrobial, antidiabetic and anticancer properties. Alkaloids remain <a href="https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/617459/">one of the signature</a>. Two of its <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00253-020-10592-1">alkaloids</a>, vincristine and vinblastine, have been extensively explored by the pharmaceutical industry. These two alkaloids were the first <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7080/8/4/80">plant-derived anticancer</a> agents deployed for clinical use.</p>
<h2><em>Griffonia simplicifolia</em> (DC.) Baill. (Griffonia, Atooto, gbogbotri, kajya, kanya, kwakuo-aboto)</h2>
<p><em>Griffonia simplicifolia</em> is a woody climbing shrub. It is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378874121004293?via%3Dihub">native</a> to west and central African countries including Benin, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Togo. In African traditional medicine, the seeds are reputed to exert several medicinal effects and have been explored as an aphrodisiac, and a remedy for diarrhoea, stomach ache and dysentery.</p>
<p>The plant’s chemical properties have been studied extensively. It has been found to contain <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187553641360059X?via%3Dihub">rich phytochemicals</a> with enormous pharmaceutical value. Particularly, the seeds are known as an excellent source of 5-hydroxy-L-tryptophan (commercially called <a href="https://go.drugbank.com/drugs/DB02959">oxitriptan</a>) which the body uses to produce serotonin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter which is known to affect sleep, appetite, pain and mood. It plays an important role in treating depression, insomnia, obesity and related health conditions, especially those associated with mental health.</p>
<p>The seed of <em>Griffonia simplicifolia</em> remains one of the most reliable and abundant sources. Commercial interest has increased over the years. Based on <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378874121004293?via%3Dihub">recent estimates</a>, the market value for annual bulk seed extract for the plant is between US$32 million and US$100 million and demand is expected to grow at 7% per year.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469747/original/file-20220620-12-unvc54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469747/original/file-20220620-12-unvc54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469747/original/file-20220620-12-unvc54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469747/original/file-20220620-12-unvc54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469747/original/file-20220620-12-unvc54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469747/original/file-20220620-12-unvc54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469747/original/file-20220620-12-unvc54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sceletium tortuosum or Kanna blooming.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2><em>Sceletium tortuosum</em> (L.) N.E.Br. (kanna, kougoed)</h2>
<p>Kanna is an endemic South African succulent. It is sparsely distributed in semi-arid areas and used for conditions relating to stress, depression, pain and anxiety. Mesembrine-<a href="https://gaiastore.eu/en/news/kanna-extracts-and-effective-alkaloids-their-properties-and-therapeutic-potential/">type alkaloids</a> are dominant and typically responsible for the pharmacological effects exerted by kanna as a psychoactive plant and mood stimulant. Zembrin® has been developed as a <a href="https://www.plthealth.com/product-catalog/zembrin">standardised extract</a> of the plant. It’s used as a dietary supplement with the potential to elevate mood, relieve stress and improve cognition. The use of this species stems from the traditions of the <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/26/9/2557/htm">Khoekhoe and San</a>. </p>
<p>Many other medicinal uses have been reported for this species as it can be used to treat headaches, abdominal pains and respiratory ailments. Trimesemine™ (a commercially available extract high in concentrations of mesembrine) has been shown to act as a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874115302348?via=ihub">monoamine releaser</a>, by increasing serotonin, a chemical messenger that is produced by the body that is also known to regulate the mood. It is potentially useful for attention deficit and other central nervous system disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.</p>
<h2><em>Strophanthus gratus</em> (Wall.and Hook.) Baill. (Climbing oleander)</h2>
<p><em>Strophanthus gratus</em>, a vigorous evergreen climbing shrub, occurs in tropical regions from Senegal to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In traditional medicine, climbing oleander has been used to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23312025.2019.1710431">treat</a> snake bites, sores, gonorrhoea, constipation and fever. The root is claimed to be an aphrodisiac.</p>
<p>Cardiac glycosides, which are organic compounds that increase the output force of the heart, are the signature compounds in the plant. Particularly, <a href="https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/html/10.1055/s-0037-1601207">ouabain</a> has been identified as the main glycoside which is dominant in the seed. </p>
<p>Ouabain, a cardio glycoside, was isolated because of the way climbing oleander is used in traditional medicine. It’s now used as a treatment for heart failure and arrhythmias or irregular heartbeat. Recent studies have also found a novel use that can prove relevant for <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4033509/">metastatic</a> prostate <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tox.22834">cancer</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469748/original/file-20220620-13-i39wxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469748/original/file-20220620-13-i39wxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469748/original/file-20220620-13-i39wxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469748/original/file-20220620-13-i39wxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469748/original/file-20220620-13-i39wxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469748/original/file-20220620-13-i39wxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469748/original/file-20220620-13-i39wxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pelargonium sidoides also known as African geranium or South African geranium.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2><em>Pelargonium sidoides</em> DC (African geranium, South African geranium)</h2>
<p>This <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874114000373">medicinal geranium</a> which is indigenous to South Africa and the Lesotho highlands has root tubers that are harvested for medicinal purposes. People use these tubers for diarrhoea, colic, gastritis, tuberculosis, cough, liver disorders, menstrual complaints, gonorrhoea, and many other medical conditions.</p>
<p>Clinical evidence suggests the effectiveness of extracts prepared from this species for the management of <a href="https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006323.pub3/full">acute respiratory</a> tract infections. These data support the use of this medicinal geranium especially for alleviating symptoms of acute inflammation of the nasal cavity and sinuses and the common cold in adults. Umckaloabo® (EPs® 7630), a standardised proprietary extract, is one of most successfully produced plant-derived pharmaceuticals from this species. A number of <a href="https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/617459/">clinical studies</a> have shown it can reduce the symptoms of acute bronchitis. </p>
<p>Over-the-counter medications (Kaloba and Umcka) made from extracts of this pelargonium are now sold all over the world. Linctagon® is a <a href="https://www.linctagon.co.za/why-linctagon/">pelargonium-inspired</a> medication that is prescribed to assist the body to fight colds and flu by stimulating the immune system.</p>
<h2><em>Siphonochilus aethiopicus</em> (Schweinf.) B.L. Burtt (African ginger, Wild ginger)</h2>
<p>African ginger is native to western and southern tropical Africa, where it <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378874120333456">occurs</a> in about 30 African countries. This wide range of distribution likely accounts for its use for a variety of health conditions. These include respiratory problems (like cough and influenza), pain, inflammation and malaria.</p>
<p>An analysis of the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0254629916304677">essential oil</a> of the root and rhizome of African ginger found about 70 compounds in the root and 60 compounds in the rhizomes. The bioactive compounds siphonochilone and eucalyptol found in the roots and rhizomes have demonstrated potential for treating asthma and allergic reactions. In a clinical trial, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0954611103914326">eucalyptol</a>, which is present in root and rhizome essential oil, has demonstrated anti-inflammatory activity in bronchial asthma.</p>
<p>In South Africa, this species is classified as <a href="http://redlist.sanbi.org/species.php?species=2061-1">critically endangered</a> because it has been over-harvested for traditional medicine. This species is fast headed towards extinction in South Africa in the wild. <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/14/3/192">Cultivation</a> is strongly encouraged for its conservation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184189/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adeyemi Oladapo Aremu receives funding from the National Research Foundation, Pretoria, South Africa. He is a member of the Global Young Academy (GYA), Young Affiliate of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) and South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nox Makunga receives funding from the South African National Research Foundation, Pretoria.
</span></em></p>Thousands of plant species are used in African traditional medicine. Extracts from some of these plants are part of important pharmaceutical drugs.Adeyemi Oladapo Aremu, Associate professor, North-West UniversityNox Makunga, Associate Professor: Medicinal plant biotechnology, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1829062022-05-26T13:22:12Z2022-05-26T13:22:12ZMy job is full of fossilised poop, but there’s nothing icky about ichnology<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464983/original/file-20220524-18-yvmvxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The author and a colleague on the hunt for fossil traces.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Morena Nava</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you had told 18-year-old me that I would, one day, be an ichnologist I wouldn’t have believed you – or even known what that was. But, more than 15 years later, I get to introduce <a href="https://www.jurassica.ch/fr/Recherche-Formation/Equipe-scientifique/Postdoctorants/Dr-Lara-Sciscio/Dr-Lara-Sciscio.html">myself as an ichnologist</a>.</p>
<p>Like my teenage self, many people outside the discipline don’t know, or have a limited understanding of, what ichnology is. It’s the study of the tracks and traces made by animals and plants in the fossil record, also called trace fossils. These can range from animal footprints (tracks/trackways), invertebrate trails, feeding traces on fossil leaves, fossilised faeces (coprolites), tooth traces (gnaw/bite marks) on bone/wood, to burrows and borings all preserved in the sedimentary rock record. When someone mentions seeing a “dinosaur footprint” they are talking about ichnology.</p>
<p>It may seem strange to spend so much time looking at fossils from the distant past. But doing so doesn’t just help scientists to understand animals and plants that existed long ago: it also informs our understanding of the environments they occupied and other aspects of the past world like extinction events or climate change. That can help us understand how things might shift in future.</p>
<h2>A rich information source</h2>
<p>Maybe this all sounds rather dry; fossil bones tend to grab people’s imagination far more. But ichnology is a very rich source of information about an animal that could not be deduced from the bones alone. A once living animal is leaving a clue about what it was doing, the way it was doing it, and the conditions around it. </p>
<p>Trace fossils even preserve moulds and casts of body parts – for instance, a fossil footprint can be thought of as a partial 3D mould of the animal’s foot, its flesh and bone. </p>
<p>My current work in ichnology deals with fossil footprints (tracks) of one of the largest animals to have walked the earth: <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2022.805442/full">the sauropod</a>. These dinosaurs of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods (~200 and 150 million years ago) are like nothing we know today.</p>
<p>Some, like the <a href="https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/orientation-center/the-titanosaur">Titanosaurs</a>, were colossal. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/Europasaurus">Others</a> were the size of a cow or smaller. Our knowledge about sauropods is collated from their body and trace fossil records. Sauropod tracks tell us the morphology of the feet, anatomical details such as toes and claws, and occasionally, with exceptional preservation, the texture of the skin via <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00241160410002162">skin impressions</a>. </p>
<p>Tracks can reveal how the animal gripped the substrate as it walked, how fast it was moving, or simply show that it was there, especially if no body fossils are available. In northern Zimbabwe, for example, sauropod body fossils are very rare but sauropod tracks have been found and indicate enormous animals with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00241160410002162">feet 94 cm long and 54 cm wide</a>. By comparison, an African elephant has a footprint length of between 30-40 cm. Collections of tracks and trackways can act as indirect evidence of sauropods moving together in a herd, something harder to deduce from their body fossils alone. </p>
<p>Where fossil footprints may indicate the movement of an animal and other associated behavioural characteristics, a fossil burrow is another type of trace fossil and provides evidence for the excavation of a dwelling, a refuge, or even a trap for prey (to name a few). South Africa’s Karoo Basin preserves some of the world’s <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130622154602.htm">finest and most unusual fossil burrows</a>. Burrows’ walls, lining and infill can preserve evidence of excavation with scratch marks from claws and teeth and even the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018212003811">animal’s butt imprint</a> being preserved. These are crucial in helping identify a possible burrow-maker and its behaviour. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464984/original/file-20220524-13-7ahlu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464984/original/file-20220524-13-7ahlu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464984/original/file-20220524-13-7ahlu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464984/original/file-20220524-13-7ahlu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464984/original/file-20220524-13-7ahlu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464984/original/file-20220524-13-7ahlu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464984/original/file-20220524-13-7ahlu0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ichnologists examining an area with trace fossils - a way to reconstruct ancient life even in the absence of body fossils.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jurassica Museum</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And while the idea of fossilised faeces might gross you out, coprolites reveal what that animal ate and may preserve in it fragments of fossil bone, insects, and plant matter. A coprolite might even show evidence of other trace fossils, like traces related to beetle’s borings – insects eating and digesting the coprolite while it was still fresh. It can even show that it was stepped on by another animal. One incredible example was <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1871174X22000105">recently discovered</a> in Vietnam. It shows evidence of being produced and stepped on by a crocodilian; a fossil footprint and fossil dung all wrapped up in one.</p>
<p>Collectively, this evidence helps to paint a picture of long-gone landscapes and the creatures and plants that populated those spaces.</p>
<p>Another branch of ichnology, neoichnology, studies the modern traces and tracks of animals. It’s a highly relevant field of study because knowing how and why modern animals move and interact with different substrates informs us about how extant animals may have done so. </p>
<p>For centuries, humans have examined the tracks and traces of animals and plants. Today, only a few people worldwide have this specialised knowledge and skill. In Botswana, trackers from the indigenous !Xo and /Gwi nations, for instance, use their superior tracking neoichnological knowledge as citizen-scientists in the management and conservation of wildlife. From tracks, scat (dung) and other evidence of animal behaviour, these neoichnologists know and interpret the movement, sex, species, timing, and speed of animals passing through an area.</p>
<h2>Carving out a career</h2>
<p>So, how do you go from high school to a career in ichnology like I did? There isn’t always one single, linear route.</p>
<p>Ichnology often requires a good understanding of biological and abiotic (related to the sedimentary processes that lead to preservation) processes in the spheres of geology, zoology (biology), and botany – as well as in chemistry, physics, and maths. There’s a wide scope of subjects you could study to pursue a career in ichnology and you certainly don’t need to be an expert in all of them. You just need to be curious!</p>
<p>As an example, I studied sedimentary geology, which is used in teasing apart trace fossil information as it is often preserved in sedimentary rocks. Sedimentary geology can help explain how sediment and animals interact and what processes were involved in the shaping and preservation of a trace like a footprint or burrow. Geology will assist in reading the rocks in which the trace fossils are preserved. Biology and zoology will assist in understanding the behaviour of animals making and leaving those traces in the sedimentary rock record.</p>
<p>Altogether, ichnology is an important area of study that helps us investigate our near or distant past to learn from it. A trace fossil is a little secret snapshot of an animal’s day: a private view into who it was and what it was up to.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182906/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lara Sciscio receives funding from Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).</span></em></p>Collectively, the evidence studied by ichnologists helps to paint a picture of long-gone landscapes and the creatures and plants that populated those spaces.Lara Sciscio, Postdoctoral research fellow, Jurassica MuseumLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1753932022-01-25T13:45:10Z2022-01-25T13:45:10ZWe created the first AI-powered solar electricity backup system for houses in sub-Saharan Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442529/original/file-20220125-23-1wly912.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C0%2C4208%2C2374&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In Lesotho, solar panels generate power for households.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.maxpixel.net/Rondavels-Lesotho-Bergdorf-Solar-Energy-927581">Max Pixel</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the <a href="https://www.newzimbabwe.com/total-blackout-as-zim-electricity-crisis-worsens/">collapse</a> of Zimbabwe’s electricity grid on December 14 2021 plunged most of the country into a blackout, Zimbabweans feared that they would have to spend Christmas in the dark. Much to their relief, two days later, the utility company restored a major power station and <a href="https://businesstimes.co.zw/minimal-loadshedding-during-festive-season-zesa/">announced</a> that there would be “minimal scheduled power cuts during the festive season”. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, due to weak and stressed power grids, outages are common in sub-Saharan African countries. Those who can afford it tend to invest in <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2019/10/02/figure-of-the-week-deployment-and-use-of-back-up-generators-in-sub-saharan-africa/">backup systems</a> to ensure access to electricity. </p>
<p>Despite their high operational and environmental costs, <a href="https://qz.com/africa/1718400/africas-noisy-generators-boost-electricity-but-bad-for-climate/">diesel generators</a> have proved the most popular choice. Unfortunately, the alternative – using <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-energy-revolution-is-possible-but-only-if-leaders-get-imaginative-about-how-to-fund-it-172427">renewable energy</a> sources as a backup – is often seen as unreliable, since wind and sunlight are inherently <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/oxfam-us/www/static/media/files/oxfam-RAEL-energySSA-pt1.pdf">intermittent</a>. </p>
<p>Yet sub-Saharan Africa is one of the regions with the most <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-southern-africas-interior-is-an-ideal-place-to-generate-solar-energy-161030">solar energy</a> generation potential in the world, thanks to its relatively low cloud cover and high sunlight <a href="https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/april-2016/harvesting-sun">intensity</a>. That means ways to reliably harvest this free, clean solar energy to power the grid without pollution are desperately needed.</p>
<p>Along with engineers from <a href="https://www.ulster.ac.uk/research/topic/built-environment/sustainable-technologies">Ulster University</a>, we’ve developed an intelligent <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221313882100312X">solar backup system</a> powered by <a href="https://theconversation.com/artificial-intelligence-is-now-part-of-our-everyday-lives-and-its-growing-power-is-a-double-edged-sword-169449">artificial intelligence</a> (AI) to support sub-Saharan Africa’s utility grids.</p>
<h2>What we made</h2>
<p>Our system is connected both to the grid and to a battery that can store electricity to back up the household where necessary. Since it’s designed for a region where individual electric water heaters are commonly used – in fact, they account for <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352484718301495">up to 40%</a> of total household electricity consumption – the system also includes a solar hot water device, which uses solar radiation to directly pre-heat water without needing electricity.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442222/original/file-20220124-23-ymdrlb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A world map of solar power potential" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442222/original/file-20220124-23-ymdrlb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442222/original/file-20220124-23-ymdrlb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442222/original/file-20220124-23-ymdrlb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442222/original/file-20220124-23-ymdrlb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442222/original/file-20220124-23-ymdrlb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442222/original/file-20220124-23-ymdrlb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442222/original/file-20220124-23-ymdrlb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This map shows the high solar power potential of sub-Saharan Africa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://solargis.com/maps-and-gis-data/download/world">The World Bank, Global Solar Atlas 2.0</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To ensure that the backup system reliably provides electricity, an autonomous AI-based <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352152X21013281">control system</a> takes charge of battery usage.</p>
<p>By analysing the expected amount of energy produced by the solar panels and electricity needed by the household alongside the typical frequency and duration of blackouts, the AI makes sure that enough backup electricity is available in the battery at any moment by storing more during periods of high solar intensity. When the battery is full, that surplus electricity can be used to heat water or can even be sold back to the grid.</p>
<p>Using data collected from households in both Zimbabwe and Botswana, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S221313882100312X">simulations</a> comparing our intelligent solar backup system with a standard diesel generator demonstrated the superiority of our solar solution.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A graph comparing solar and diesel electricity demand" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442221/original/file-20220124-25-1p2ht9o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442221/original/file-20220124-25-1p2ht9o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442221/original/file-20220124-25-1p2ht9o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442221/original/file-20220124-25-1p2ht9o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442221/original/file-20220124-25-1p2ht9o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442221/original/file-20220124-25-1p2ht9o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442221/original/file-20220124-25-1p2ht9o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Our research shows that using a solar backup system dramatically reduces electricity demand on the grid.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Masoud Salehiborujeni</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>First, our system meets strict electricity reliability and hot water temperature parameters: meaning it’s guaranteed to work well when needed. Second, the lifetime costs of its installation, maintenance and use are around 25% lower than those of its diesel counterpart. </p>
<p>Third, it’s able to cut reliance on the grid during <a href="https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10069826/8/Adeoye_Modelling%20and%20forecasting%20hourly%20electricity%20demand%20in%20West%20African%20countries_AAM.pdf">peak</a> electricity usage hours. Importantly, this reduces stress on the grid and makes power outages less frequent. And fourth, this environmentally friendly solution cuts harmful <a href="https://theconversation.com/countries-may-be-under-reporting-their-greenhouse-gas-emissions-thats-why-accurate-monitoring-is-crucial-171645">greenhouse gas emissions</a> from burning diesel. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, making solar-based backup systems in sub-Saharan Africa the norm faces a major obstacle. Their initial cost is six times higher than that of an equivalent diesel-based system: around £7,200 compared with £1,200.</p>
<p>The amount of this initial investment is likely to put many households off, especially those with lower incomes. Here’s where governments and utility companies will have to step in to provide <a href="https://www.africanpowerplatform.org/financing/grants.html">loans or grants</a>, helping everyone to access this technology.</p>
<p>Despite the disappointing outcome for many African nations of the recent UN climate change conference <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-african-countries-got-out-of-cop26-172096">COP26</a>, developed nations have promised to at least double their climate adaptation finance to developing countries by 2025. Hopefully, some of that money will be invested in solar-based backup systems, silencing the intense, familiar hum of diesel generators in <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-sub-saharan-africa-can-harness-its-big-electricity-opportunities-97391">sub-Saharan Africa</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175393/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Masoud Salehiborujeni’s research was funded by Innovate UK as part of the 'Energy catalyst round 7: early stage' competition.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eng Ofetotse’s research was funded by Innovate UK as part of the 'Energy catalyst round 7: early stage' competition in collaboration with Ulster University, SolaForm, Empowered Ltd Botswana and Onesun Solar Zimbabwe.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jean-Christophe Nebel received funding from Innovate UK as part of the 'Energy catalyst round 7: early stage' competition.</span></em></p>Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the world’s most sunlit regions. A prototype generator uses that sunlight in place of diesel to support unreliable electricity grids.Masoud Salehiborujeni, Senior Research Associate in Computing Science, University of East AngliaEng Ofetotse, Lecturer in Built Environment, Kingston UniversityJean-Christophe Nebel, Professor of Computer Science, Kingston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1726922021-11-26T10:17:34Z2021-11-26T10:17:34ZThe hunt for coronavirus variants: how the new one was found and what we know so far<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434126/original/file-20211126-17-1n37m8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Scientists find variants by sequencing samples from people that have tested positive for the virus. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lightspring/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Since early in the COVID pandemic, the <a href="https://www.ngs-sa.org/">Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa</a> has been monitoring changes in SARS-CoV-2. This was a valuable tool to understand better how the virus spread. In late 2020, the network detected a new virus lineage, <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-african-scientists-who-discovered-new-covid-19-variant-share-what-they-know-153313">501Y.V2</a>, which later became known as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-variants-have-new-names-we-can-finally-stop-stigmatising-countries-159652">beta variant</a>. Now a new SARS-CoV-2 variant has been identified – <a href="https://www.nicd.ac.za/new-covid-19-variant-detected-in-south-africa/">B.1.1.529</a>. The World Health Organisation has <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/26-11-2021-classification-of-omicron-(b.1.1.529)-sars-cov-2-variant-of-concern">declared</a> it a variant of concern, and assigned it the name Omicron. To help us understand more, The Conversation Africa’s Ozayr Patel asked scientists to share what they know.</em> </p>
<h2>What’s the science behind the search?</h2>
<p>Hunting for variants requires a concerted effort. South Africa and the UK were the first big countries to implement nationwide <a href="https://www.cogconsortium.uk/">genomic surveillance</a> <a href="https://www.ngs-sa.org/">efforts</a> for SARS-CoV-2 as early as April 2020. </p>
<p>Variant hunting, as exciting as that sounds, is performed through whole genome sequencing of samples that have tested positive for the virus. This process involves checking every sequence obtained for differences compared to what we know is circulating in South Africa and the world. When we see multiple differences, this immediately raises a red flag and we investigate further to confirm what we’ve noticed.</p>
<p>Fortunately South Africa is well set up for this. This is thanks to a central repository of public sector laboratory results at the <a href="https://www.nhls.ac.za/">National Health Laboratory Service</a>, (NGS-SA), good linkages to private laboratories, the <a href="https://ijpds.org/article/view/1143">Provincial Health Data Centre of the Western Cape Province</a>, and state-of-the-art <a href="https://sacmcepidemicexplorer.co.za/">modelling expertise</a>. </p>
<p>In addition, South Africa has several laboratories that can grow and study the actual virus and discover how far antibodies, formed in response to vaccination or previous infection, are able to neutralise the new virus. This data will allow us to characterise the new virus.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Viruses on a white background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434123/original/file-20211126-19-1wwqniz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434123/original/file-20211126-19-1wwqniz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434123/original/file-20211126-19-1wwqniz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434123/original/file-20211126-19-1wwqniz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434123/original/file-20211126-19-1wwqniz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434123/original/file-20211126-19-1wwqniz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434123/original/file-20211126-19-1wwqniz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">3d Variants of Covid-19 Virus (Sars-COV-2). Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta in white background.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The beta variant spread much more efficiently between people compared to the “wild type” or “ancestral” SARS-CoV-2 and caused South Africa’s second pandemic wave. It was therefore classified as a variant of concern. During 2021, yet another variant of concern called delta spread over much of the world, including South Africa, where it caused <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-african-health-experts-have-identified-a-new-lineage-of-sars-cov-2-whats-known-so-far-167057">a third pandemic wave</a>.</p>
<p>Very recently, routine sequencing by Network for Genomics Surveillance member laboratories detected a new virus lineage, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03552-w">called B.1.1.529</a>, in South Africa. Seventy-seven samples collected in mid-November 2021 in Gauteng province had this virus. It has also been reported in small numbers from neighbouring Botswana and Hong Kong. The Hong Kong case is reportedly <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/hong-kong-detects-new-covid-19-variant-in-traveller-who-had-been-to-south-africa">a traveller from South Africa</a>. </p>
<p>The World Health Organisation <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/26-11-2021-classification-of-omicron-(b.1.1.529)-sars-cov-2-variant-of-concern">has given</a> B.1.1.529 the name Omicron and classified it as a variant of concern, <a href="https://www.nicd.ac.za/frequently-asked-questions-for-the-b-1-1-529-mutated-sars-cov-2-lineage-in-south-africa/">like beta and delta</a>.</p>
<h2>Why is South Africa presenting variants of concern?</h2>
<p>We do not know for sure. It certainly seems to be more than just the result of concerted efforts to monitor the circulating virus. One theory is that people with highly compromised immune systems, and who experience prolonged active infection because they cannot clear the virus, may be the source of new viral variants. </p>
<p>The assumption is that some degree of “immune pressure” (which means an immune response which is not strong enough to eliminate the virus yet exerts some degree of selective pressure which “forces” the virus to evolve) creates the conditions for new variants to emerge. </p>
<p>Despite an advanced antiretroviral treatment programme for people living with HIV, numerous individuals in South Africa have advanced HIV disease and are not on effective treatment. Several clinical cases have been investigated that support <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.03.21258228v1.full">this hypothesis</a>, but much remains to be learnt.</p>
<h2>Why is this variant worrying?</h2>
<p>The short answer is, we don’t know. The long answer is, B.1.1.529 carries certain mutations that are concerning. They have not been observed in this combination before, and the spike protein alone has over 30 mutations. This is important, because the spike protein is what makes up most of the vaccines. </p>
<p>We can also say that B.1.1.529 has a genetic profile very different from other circulating variants of interest and concern. It does not seem to be a “daughter of delta” or “grandson of beta” but rather represents a new lineage of SARS-CoV-2.</p>
<p>Some of its genetic changes are known from other variants and we know they can affect transmissibility or allow immune evasion, but many are new and have not been studied as yet. While we can make some predictions, we are still studying how far the mutations will influence its behaviour. </p>
<p>We want to know about transmissibility, disease severity, and ability of the virus to “escape” the immune response in vaccinated or recovered people. We are studying this in two ways.</p>
<p>Firstly, careful epidemiological studies seek to find out whether the new lineage shows changes in transmissibility, ability to infect vaccinated or previously infected individuals, and so on. </p>
<p>At the same time, laboratory studies examine the properties of the virus. Its viral growth characteristics are compared with those of other virus variants and it is determined how well the virus can be neutralised by antibodies found in the blood of vaccinated or recovered individuals. </p>
<p>In the end, the full significance of the genetic changes observed in B.1.1.529 will become apparent when the results from all these different types of studies are considered. It is a complex, demanding and expensive undertaking, which will carry on for months, but indispensable to understand the virus better and devise the best strategies to combat it.</p>
<h2>Do early indications point to this variant causing different symptoms or more severe disease?</h2>
<p>There is no evidence for any clinical differences yet. What is known is that cases of B.1.1.529 infection have increased rapidly in Gauteng, where the country’s fourth pandemic wave <a href="https://sacmcepidemicexplorer.co.za/">seems to be commencing</a>. This suggests easy transmissibility, albeit on a background of much relaxed non-pharmaceutical interventions and low number of cases. So we cannot really tell yet whether B.1.1.529 is transmitted more efficiently than the previously prevailing variant of concern, delta.</p>
<p>COVID-19 is more likely to manifest as severe, often life-threatening disease in the elderly and chronically ill individuals. But the population groups often most exposed first to a new virus are younger, mobile and usually healthy people. If B.1.1.529 spreads further, it will take a while before its effects, in terms of disease severity, can be assessed.</p>
<p>Fortunately, it seems that all diagnostic tests that have been checked so far are able to identify the new virus. </p>
<p>Even better, it appears that some widely used commercial assays show a specific pattern: two of the three target genome sequences are positive but the third one is not. It’s like the new variant consistently ticks two out of three boxes in the existing test. This may serve as a marker for B.1.1.529, meaning we can quickly estimate the proportion of positive cases due to B.1.1.529 infection per day and per area. This is very useful for monitoring the virus’s spread almost in real time.</p>
<h2>Are current vaccines likely to protect against the new variant?</h2>
<p>Again, we do not know. The known cases include individuals who had been vaccinated. However we have learnt that the immune protection provided by vaccination wanes over time and does not protect as much against infection but rather against severe disease and death. One of the epidemiological analyses that have commenced is looking at how many vaccinated people become infected with B.1.1.529. </p>
<p>The possibility that B.1.1.529 may evade the immune response is disconcerting. The hopeful expectation is that the high seroprevalence rates, people who’ve been infected already, found by <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34477548">several studies</a> would provide a degree of “natural immunity” for at least a period of time.</p>
<p>Ultimately, everything known about B.1.1.529 so far highlights that universal vaccination is still our best bet against severe COVID-19 and, together with <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-south-africans-must-do-to-avoid-a-resurgence-of-covid-19-infections-148132">non-pharmaceutical interventions</a>, will go a long way towards helping the healthcare system cope during the coming wave.</p>
<p><em>This article was updated following the World Health Organisation’s announcement on the new variant.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172692/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Prof. Wolfgang Preiser receives funding from the South African Medical Research Council, the National Health Laboratory Service Research Trust and the Poliomyelitis Research Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jinal Bhiman receives funding from the South African National Department of Health as part of the emergency COVID-19 response; a cooperative agreement between the National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the African Society of Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) and Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through a sub-award from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Wellcome; the South African Medical Research Council and the South African Department of Science and Innovation; the UK Department of Health and Social Care, managed by the Fleming Fund and performed under the auspices of the SEQAFRICA project. She is affiliated with the National Institute for Communicable Diseases and the University of the Witwatersrand; and serves as an observer of the World Health Organization Technical Advisory Group on Viral Evolution.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marietjie Venter receives funding from the National Research Foundation of South Africa;The European Union (LEAP-Agri) program; The BMBF (the German Federal ministry for education and Research); and National Health Laboratory Services research foundation for unrelated research. She is currently employed by the University of Pretoria. She has acted as temporary advisor for the WHO. The views expressed here is that of the author and do not reflect those of the funders or employer.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tulio de Oliveira does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. It is supported by funding from the South African Medical Research Council and the Department of Science and Innovation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cathrine Scheepers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There’s a new COVID lineage called B.1.1.529. It has a genetic profile very different from other circulating variantsWolfgang Preiser, Head: Division of Medical Virology, Stellenbosch UniversityCathrine Scheepers, Senior Medical Scientist, University of the WitwatersrandJinal Bhiman, Principal Medical Scientist at National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), National Institute for Communicable DiseasesMarietjie Venter, Head: Zoonotic, Arbo and Respiratory Virus Programme, Professor, Department Medical Virology, University of PretoriaTulio de Oliveira, Director: KRISP - KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform, University of KwaZulu-NatalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1710312021-11-06T08:08:43Z2021-11-06T08:08:43ZMalaria elimination in southern Africa? Possibly, but these gaps need attention<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430472/original/file-20211105-17-1r1whoh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Blood feeding female malaria vector Anopheles arabiensis.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Pretoria Institute for Sustainable Malaria Control </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Malaria is a risk to <a href="https://www.health.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/media-statement-2020-sadc-malaria-day-commemoration.pdf">three quarters</a> of the population in the Southern African Development Community, a 16-member organisation that draws in countries across southern and eastern Africa.</p>
<p>Some countries in the region have set a target to eliminate the disease from as early as 2023 to 2030.</p>
<p>Though this won’t be simple, it can be done. It’s a race between changes in mosquitoes, the malaria parasite, and changes in what people can do when they work together.</p>
<p>This complex disease is still responsible for almost half a million deaths annually worldwide, including more than <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/06-10-2021-who-recommends-groundbreaking-malaria-vaccine-for-children-at-risk">260,000 African children</a> under five. The World Health Organization (WHO) <a href="https://www.health.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/media-statement-2020-sadc-malaria-day-commemoration.pdf">estimates</a> that 35 million children under five and about 8.5 million pregnant women in the region are at risk. </p>
<p>The Southern African Development Community (SADC) renewed its malaria control efforts in 2009 by establishing the <a href="https://malariaelimination8.org/sites/default/files/publications/raman_et_al_eliminating_malaria_from_the_margins_of_transmission_in_southern_africa_through_the_elimination_8_initiative_trssa_2021.pdf">Elimination 8</a> initiative. This is a coalition of eight countries working together to curb the spread of the disease. Four of them – eSwatini, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa – are reporting very <a href="https://malariaelimination8.org/sites/default/files/publications/e8_annual_report_2020.pdf">low transmission</a>. The other four – Angola, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe – are <a href="https://malariaelimination8.org/sites/default/files/publications/e8_annual_report_2020.pdf">high-burden</a> countries.</p>
<p>Current control strategies mostly target the mosquito vector, which transmits the malaria-causing parasites to humans when feeding. Vector controls include indoor residual spraying and insecticide-treated bed nets. Resistance to insecticides and changes in mosquito biting behaviour are slowing down gains made in malaria control over the past decade. </p>
<p>In the Southern African Development Community region, malaria transmission dynamics remain highly interconnected. This is because countries share related populations, economies, ecologies and epidemiologies. </p>
<p>This interconnectedness is leading to the identification of new gaps and challenges. But it is also allowing innovative alternative and complementary strategies to be developed through research across disciplines – and through collaboration. </p>
<p>Our experience over the <a href="https://www.up.ac.za/media/shared/236/ZP_Resources/up-ismc_2019_case-study_sd-report.zp203457.pdf">past 10 years</a> includes collaborations across the sciences and social sciences. Our work addresses anything from vector and parasite control to capacity building and education. It’s testament that an <a href="https://malariajournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2875-11-431">integrated approach</a> is needed to reach elimination. </p>
<h2>Latest breakthrough</h2>
<p>The most recent advance in the fight against malaria is the first ever vaccine (RTS,S/AS01). The WHO announced in <a href="https://www.who.int/news/item/06-10-2021-who-recommends-groundbreaking-malaria-vaccine-for-children-at-risk">October 2021</a> that it had approved the vaccine for use in children living in moderate to high malaria transmission areas. </p>
<p>The vaccine brings <a href="https://theconversation.com/breakthrough-malaria-vaccine-offers-to-reinvigorate-the-fight-against-the-disease-169500">hope</a> to affected communities. It is a step toward malaria elimination.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/malaria-vaccine-is-a-major-leap-forward-but-innovation-mustnt-stop-here-169639">Malaria vaccine is a major leap forward: but innovation mustn't stop here</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But it’s not a cure. And it has <a href="https://theconversation.com/malaria-vaccine-is-a-major-leap-forward-but-innovation-mustnt-stop-here-169639">limitations</a>: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>it is only effective in very young children (five to 17 months) </p></li>
<li><p>at least four doses (including a booster 18 months after the initial dose) are needed for optimal effect </p></li>
<li><p>it prevents severe disease but not necessarily infection </p></li>
<li><p>it is only effective against <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/21645515.2019.1669415?needAccess=true"><em>Plasmodium falciparum</em></a> – one of five human malaria parasites.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>In spite of these limitations, the vaccine can contribute to making gains in malaria control again. The danger is that the vaccine announcement may lead to countries taking their eyes off the ball. This can’t happen. </p>
<p>Even with a vaccine in hand, there are some big gaps that need to be filled for the region, and the globe, to reach malaria elimination. </p>
<h2>Some of the gaps</h2>
<p>One such a gap is in human resources. In particular, leadership and management skills in national malaria control programmes. <a href="https://malariajournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12936-018-2199-3#:%7E:text=Actions%20to%20expand%20training%20for,programs%20at%20the%20national%20level">Adequate training</a> is needed to address these capacity challenges. The Southern African Development Community region has not benefited from routine training offered to national malaria control programmes in west and east Africa. </p>
<p>To address this, the Gates Foundation is providing financial backing for a course to be developed and delivered by a <a href="https://www.up.ac.za/up-institute-for-sustainable-malaria-control/news/post_3029960-up-institute-for-sustainable-malaria-control-secures-a-gates-foundation-grant-to-build-capacity-in-africa">transdisciplinary team</a>. The course aims to provide people with the skills they need as leaders, managers, implementation scientists and facilitators that can develop and apply effective evidence-based elimination strategies. This is an exciting new collaboration that will involve the University of Pretoria’s <a href="https://www.gibs.co.za/Pages/default.aspx">Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)</a> and the <a href="https://www.up.ac.za/albert-luthuli-leadership-institute">Albert Luthuli Leadership Institute</a>.</p>
<p>The course will also aim to get women into more senior positions on national malaria control programmes.</p>
<p>A second worrying gap relates to fighting growing resistance to antimalarial drugs. Malaria treatment is dependent on drugs that either prevent disease onset or treat infected patients and prevent death. But there’s evidence of increasing <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20629-8">parasite resistance</a> to antimalarial drugs. </p>
<p>Continuous discovery and development of innovative antimalarial drugs that target all forms of the parasite are needed. We are doing ground-breaking work in this area. For example, a consortium approach has made a <a href="https://www.up.ac.za/up-institute-for-sustainable-malaria-control/news/post_2945911-up-researchers-team-discovers-new-compounds-with-the-potential-to-eliminate-malaria">breakthrough discovery</a> and has led to exciting developments in the areas of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20629-8">parasite transmission blocking</a>, where two potent chemical compounds showed activity against all parasite forms in a laboratory setting. Both compounds show potential as drug candidates for malaria treatment and transmission blocking. </p>
<p>Future antimalarial drugs like this will ultimately mean that the region can move from malaria control to elimination.</p>
<p>In addition, more sustainable vector control methods need to be developed to overcome insecticide resistance. </p>
<p>Our work across disciplines has shown how collaboration can produce tools and strategies to address this. For example, ongoing research have looked at innovative product development, including <a href="https://malariajournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12936-015-1005-8">polyethylene wall linings</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/scientists-design-a-novel-formula-that-repels-and-kills-mosquitoes-95323">new repellent formulations</a>. </p>
<p>There are also still gaps on the ground in how control strategies are rolled out. Many don’t have enough community buy-in. This is key to success. Communities must be aware of malaria research taking place to understand its purpose and benefits. And people need knowledge about the disease so they have the power to take responsibility for their own health. </p>
<p>A major – and important – gap is funding. The <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/4afac5629.pdf">malaria budget must increase</a> substantially to incorporate the human resources, technology and other resources needed to effectively reduce transmission and to reach elimination.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171031/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The countries share related populations, economies, ecologies and epidemiologies. This interconnectedness highlights challenges and opportunities for more effective malaria control across the region.Taneshka Kruger, UP ISMC: Project Manager and Coordinator, University of PretoriaTiaan de Jager, Dean: Faculty of Health Sciences and Director: UP Institute for Sustainable Malaria Control, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1641592021-07-09T06:01:55Z2021-07-09T06:01:55ZThird-largest diamond found in June, then a bigger one days later. What’s behind the monster gem boom?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410511/original/file-20210709-23-1k4xuyv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C383%2C2607%2C1289&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lucara Diamond Corp</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A mega diamond of a staggering 1,174 carats was recently <a href="https://lucaradiamond.com/newsroom/news-releases/lucara-recovers-1-174-carat-diamond-from-the-karow-122821/">recovered</a> from the Karowe mine in Botswana, making it one of the largest natural diamonds ever recovered. </p>
<p>More remarkably, the stone was found alongside several other similar diamonds weighing <a href="https://twitter.com/LucaraDiamond/status/1407469979994259456?s=20">471, 218 and 159 carats</a> — suggesting the original diamond could have had a weight of more than 2,000 carats when it first formed.</p>
<p>The latest discovery is hot on the heels of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-18/botswana-diamond-third-largest/100226840">another mega diamond</a> of more than 1,000 carats which was recovered from the Jwaneng mine, also in Botswana, only a few weeks ago. </p>
<p>Why are we seeing a sudden rush in the recovery of these mammoth gems?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410512/original/file-20210709-15-10mwy8m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410512/original/file-20210709-15-10mwy8m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410512/original/file-20210709-15-10mwy8m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410512/original/file-20210709-15-10mwy8m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410512/original/file-20210709-15-10mwy8m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410512/original/file-20210709-15-10mwy8m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410512/original/file-20210709-15-10mwy8m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410512/original/file-20210709-15-10mwy8m.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Botswana Vice President Slumber Tsogwane, on the left, holds the 1098 carat diamond unearthed in Botswana in June. This one has now been replaced by a larger one.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Are diamonds really ‘rare’ as they’re said to be?</h2>
<p>In 2020, global diamond production amounted to <a href="https://www.bain.com/insights/global-diamond-industry-2020-21/">111 million carats</a> or just over 20 tonnes of diamond. However, a small proportion of this production is of high-quality gemstones. The vast majority of diamonds are small, at less than one carat.</p>
<p>Australia’s Argyle mine, famous for its pink diamonds (and once the world’s largest diamond mine by volume) ceased its operations <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2020-11-03/wa-argyle-pink-diamond-mine-closure/12840466">late last year since it was no longer economically viable</a>. This is because most of the diamonds extracted were small, and therefore only useful for industrial applications.</p>
<p>These small diamonds are so common that a <a href="https://www.tdiinternational.com/product/straight-super-hard-surface-diamond-scribe/">diamond-tipped scribe tool</a> can be purchased for less than the price of a tank of petrol.</p>
<p>Large gemstone-quality diamonds, on the other hand, are extremely rare. To understand why, we need to look at how diamonds are formed, as well as how they are mined.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-created-diamonds-in-mere-minutes-without-heat-by-mimicking-the-force-of-an-asteroid-collision-150369">We created diamonds in mere minutes, without heat — by mimicking the force of an asteroid collision</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How are natural diamonds formed?</h2>
<p>Natural diamonds are billions of years old. They’re formed deep in the Earth where temperatures and pressures are high enough to squash carbon atoms into a dense, crystalline structure. </p>
<p><a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2018GC007534">Some scientists have suggested</a> there are vast quantities of diamonds hundreds of kilometres deep. But as the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190503-the-deepest-hole-we-have-ever-dug">deepest hole ever drilled is about 12km</a>, we will never be able to mine these deep-earth diamonds. </p>
<p>So we have to make do with the relatively tiny fraction that make it to the surface. Diamonds near the ground’s surface are typically thought to have hitched a ride via a deep-source volcanic eruption. </p>
<p>These violent events need to be fast enough to deliver the diamonds to the surface and, at the same time, the diamonds can’t be exposed to extreme heat, shock or oxygen. It’s a narrow Goldilocks scenario.</p>
<p>Most diamonds are found within igneous rocks called Kimberlite. Kimberlite “pipes” are carrot-shaped columns of rock, often just tens of metres across, at the very top of deep-source volcanoes. </p>
<p>But only a small percentage of all known Kimberlite deposits contain diamonds. And only a handful of these are rich enough with diamonds to warrant being mined. </p>
<p>The ideal conditions are very <a href="https://physicsworld.com/a/geologists-map-likely-location-of-diamonds/">difficult to find</a>. Only particular regions of a continent can host diamonds as the crust has to be thick enough to have hosted a deep volcanic event. It also needs to be stable and ancient — characteristics which are common in parts of Australia and Africa.</p>
<p>Moreover, despite its reputation for being indestructible, diamond is a brittle material. This is a property that must be taken into account when polishing diamonds into gems. At regular atmospheric pressures, diamond is not even <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/media/diamonds-arent-forever-wbt/">the most stable arrangement</a> of carbon atoms. </p>
<h2>A crushing task</h2>
<p>Large natural diamonds that manage to survive the tortuous path to the surface often get destroyed by the very process of us finding them. In most diamond mines, ore is blasted with explosives and then crushed into fragments to search for diamonds. </p>
<p>But new technologies are allowing mines to process ore with the aid of X-ray ore-sorting technology. This is specifically targeted for “mega diamond recovery”. </p>
<p>Although the diamond world is notoriously secretive about specifics, we do know the latest diamond from the Karowe mine was recovered using these newer <a href="https://lucaradiamond.com/newsroom/news-releases/lucara-recovers-1-174-carat-diamond-from-the-karow-122821/">techniques</a>. And it’s likely more of these mega stones will be discovered in the future.</p>
<p>Advances in diamond mining techniques, coupled with the inherent rarity of mega diamonds, is a boon for Botswana, where diamonds constitute a significant portion of the country’s GDP.</p>
<h2>Diamonds in the lab</h2>
<p>Diamonds are getting bigger in the laboratory too. For decades, artificial diamonds were manufactured using high-pressure equipment that mimics the extreme physical conditions deep in the earth. </p>
<p>Now, new technology employing low-pressure conditions and carefully controlled chemistry can make perfect diamond discs as large as a dinner plate. </p>
<p>This chemical approach is being used commercially to manufacture gem-quality stones for jewellery. But making diamonds in this way requires patience. To grow one millimetre of diamond takes <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925963508005888">the best part of a day</a>, meaning mining will likely play a key role in the diamond industry for some time.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/more-than-just-a-sparkling-gem-what-you-didnt-know-about-diamonds-101115">More than just a sparkling gem: what you didn't know about diamonds</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164159/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jodie Bradby receives funding from The Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nigel Marks receives funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p>Smaller diamonds are so common that some can be purchased for cheaper than a tank of petrol. Larger diamonds are an entirely different story.Jodie Bradby, Professor of Physics, Australian National UniversityNigel Marks, Associate Professor of Physics, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1614322021-06-30T15:16:34Z2021-06-30T15:16:34ZThe fight against economic fraud: how African countries are tackling the challenge<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404182/original/file-20210603-27-2nv14z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Technology has been key in tackling fraud</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mpedigree</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID-19 pandemic has stifled many sectors of the global economy. But it has apparently <a href="https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/criminal-contagion/">boosted the business of fraudsters</a>. Experts <a href="https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/system/files/Fraud%20The%20Facts%202021-%20FINAL.pdf">note</a> that some fraudsters have taken advantage of the new opportunities of the <a href="https://www.teiss.co.uk/covid-19-phishing-scams-sophisticated/">pandemic economy</a> and that they seem to become ever <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/online-scams-go-viral-as-pandemic-gives-fraudsters-new-opportunities-1.4549085">more sophisticated in their methods</a>.</p>
<p>At the same time anti-fraud measures are becoming more sophisticated too, with technology <a href="https://www.unbs.go.ug/news-highlights.php?news=2&read">playing a big part</a>, and more increasingly <a href="https://www.expresscomputer.in/exclusives/neurotags-anti-counterfeiting-ai-solution-is-helping-crack-down-on-fake-products/71649/">artificial intelligence</a>.</p>
<p>In recent years many initiatives have been put forward in the name of fighting and reducing various forms of fraud and other crimes in the economy. But have these measures actually been effective in containing fraud? Will the typical package of anti-fraud measures stop the fraud pandemic? </p>
<p>We did <a href="https://roape.net/2015/12/07/researching-anti-fraud-measures-in-the-global-south/">research</a> into major characteristics of anti-fraud measures in several African countries. In the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03056244.2019.1660156">south</a> we looked at Malawi, Botswana, South Africa and Zambia. In the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03056244.2020.1866524">east</a> we covered Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Madagascar and in the west Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.</p>
<p>We looked at the various fraud responses to identify major dynamics and themes. We used online data from news outlets and reports on websites of private companies and governmental agencies to analyse the characteristics of anti-fraud measures across 11 countries. </p>
<p>We found a diverse set of measures had been introduced. We were able to identify 10 particular characteristics. </p>
<h2>The landscape</h2>
<p>The first notable feature was a remarkable proliferation of anti-fraud agencies and cross-agency alliances and cooperation. This was between government agencies, the government and the private sector, and at times civil society actors such as <a href="https://twitter.com/ucc_official/status/1111564692500164608">consumer protection agencies</a> too.</p>
<p>Agreements, memorandums of understanding and partnerships had been signed to encourage data collection and sharing and knowledge exchange within and across borders as different actors were brought together <a href="https://www.sabric.co.za/media-and-news/press-releases/saps-and-sabric-recommit-to-intensify-fight-against-bank-robberies/">to fight the “common enemy”</a>. </p>
<p>At the state level, new anti-fraud agencies, taskforces, squads and networks were set up regularly. One example was the <a href="https://www.cid.go.ke/index.php/sections/investigationunits/insurance-fraud-investigations-unit-ifiu.html">Kenya Police Insurance Fraud Investigations Unit</a>. We also found that a number of regulatory agencies had been established. These included competition and consumer protection authorities <a href="https://www.ccpc.org.zm/">at</a> <a href="https://www.cak.go.ke/">national</a> and <a href="https://www.arcc-erca.org/">regional</a> <a href="https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/business/eac-competition-authority-to-start-operations-in-july--1351478">level</a>.</p>
<p>Second, outreach, engagement and “empowerment” of consumers played a major role. Here, education, sensitisation and awareness raising – also among business actors – <a href="https://www.genghis-capital.com/newsfeed/kba-launches-the-annual-kaa-chonjo-awareness-campaign-to-boost-security-of-payments-platforms/">emerged strongly</a> as a way to popularise <a href="https://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?aid=64659&dir=2016/november/16">the anti-fraud fight</a>. This was promoted by a range of actors. Among them were banks, insurance providers, private consultancies, international organisations such as the International Monetary Fund and aid agencies, as well as NGOs. Regional organisations such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa were also included. </p>
<p>Third, large-scale technology was used extensively in anti-fraud measures. This was particularly the case in financial services and banking. </p>
<p>Anti-fraud software in various forms featured strongly. One example was detecting fraudulent transactions. Additional technological solutions included PIN protection techniques, enhanced chip technology for payment cards and authentication technology. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.securingindustry.com/pharmaceuticals/nigeria-insists-on-mobile-authentication-of-medicines/s40/a2083/#.YJA9m2ZKj9E">Technology</a> was <a href="https://medium.com/innovate4health/mpedigree-battles-counterfeit-drugs-through-innovative-verification-system-50de6f4a4bea">also used</a> to uncover counterfeit or substandard products. </p>
<p>Fourth, anti-fraud measures regularly came with rhetoric and language that was strong in giving a sense of alarm and urgency. The vices of fraud (and corruption) were presented as “weeds” needing to be “rooted out”. They were also referred to as a virus or a disease that needed “eradication”. </p>
<p>At times, warfare-type language was used, that is, fraud needed to be “combated” like an enemy. </p>
<p>Fifth, anti-fraud measures were regularly political in nature. Pledges to counter fraud featured in election campaigns. The rising or falling of fraud was used as a metric to determine whether politicians and public servants were effective in their roles. At times, political or business opponents of the government were allegedly targeted by the measures. And some powerful business actors reportedly got around regulations. </p>
<p>Sixth, corruption, as well as in-fights, conflicts, tensions and power struggles within and between state agencies charged with anti-fraud measures, featured too. One example was <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/nairobi/article/2001387385/kebs-staff-in-sh26m-fraud-case">Kenya Bureau of Standards</a>. In recent years, several managing directors of the bureau <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/news/article/2001377377/kebs-boss-arrested-over-graft-allegations">were accused of graft</a>. </p>
<p>The seventh feature was that many anti-fraud measures were carried out by specialised for-profit private actors. They were therefore arguably shaped by business interests, competition for anti-fraud measure contracts, and the dynamics of industries and markets.</p>
<p>We also found that international companies specialising in regulations and standards often played a role. Such commercially oriented actors were particularly active <a href="https://www.sgs.co.uk/en-gb/public-sector/product-conformity-assessment-pca/kenya-pvoc-program">in promoting the proliferation of anti-fraud measures</a>. </p>
<p>Eight, <a href="https://www.nyasatimes.com/malawi-revenue-authority-arrests-8-businesspersons-over-vat-offences/">arrests</a>, <a href="https://www.enca.com/south-africa/fake-goods-worth-r5m-seized-joburg">confiscation</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kenya-corruption/kenya-authoritiesarrest-standards-bureau-head-over-fertilizer-imports-idUSKBN1JJ0AO">destruction of items</a> were widespread in reports about anti-fraud activity. </p>
<p>Ninth, we noticed a prevalence of anti-fraud measures in efforts to increase tax revenue and inhibit illicit financial flows. Various initiatives emphasised the need to increase compliance. At times we detected tensions in moves to create an “enabling” business environment to attract foreign investment – such as low taxes – and calls to protect the national tax bases.</p>
<p>We found there was international cooperation and the involvement of civil society actors in efforts to address tax evasion and transnational money laundering. One example was the <a href="https://www.taxjustice.net/">Tax Justice Network</a>. </p>
<p>Tenth, civil society actors seemed to have a limited role – or no role at all – in various anti-fraud measure coalitions. In some cases, however, they seemed to play a larger role. One example was consumer protection agencies.</p>
<h2>Challenges</h2>
<p>A challenge we identified was that anti-fraud measures could be launched and sustained for reasons that went beyond an interest in simply fighting fraud. This included commercial interests of specialised anti-fraud firms. These were often companies that operated globally. Other interests at play included governments that used anti-fraud platforms to seek legitimacy or state agencies that sought government funding as well as new areas of operations and streams of revenues. </p>
<p>We also came across criticisms in some cases of the measures’ design, costs, bureaucracy and impracticality. There were also concerns about the heavy handed way in which some <a href="http://www.psfuganda.org/new/images/downloads/Trade/position%20paper%20on%20pre-inspection.pdf">measures were implemented</a>. There were allegations about:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>bias (for example, against small-scale actors such as traders and against poor sections of costumers) in favour of foreign, large scale multinationals; </p></li>
<li><p>opaqueness and <a href="https://ugandaradionetwork.com/story/kacita-calls-for-a-two-months-import-boycott-to-protest-pvoc">irregularities</a>; </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.observer.ug/component/content/article?id=31498:a-year-later-has-pvoc-locked-out-fake-goods">effectiveness problems</a>.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Currently, anti-fraud measures seem largely an affair between state and corporates (including business associations), and consumers. Consumers are mostly on the “receiving” end of anti-fraud measures. They are regularly encouraged to play their role by, for example, calling an anti-fraud hotline, verifying the goods they buy and not contributing to the facilitation of fraud. Aid agencies played a decisive role in some anti-fraud measure cases too.</p>
<p>Anti-fraud measures are mostly initiated and shaped by powerful actors. This includes big business, particularly transnational companies, rather than grassroots or activist organisations. They are uneven across sectors (for example, the financial sector gets significant attention), and they seem to have become a business and revenue generation vehicle in itself. </p>
<p>It is important to acknowledge that some measures certainly <a href="https://www.unbs.go.ug/">make a positive impact</a> and that efforts are made by various agencies to address internal and other shortcomings, thereby improving the effectiveness of measures. But the question remains: how can countries substantially contain “irregularities” in situations where the irregular has become widespread, routine and institutionalised? And the dominant agendas and pressures of the day – such as economic growth, profit and commercialisation – are highly conducive to fraud. </p>
<p><em>Nataliya Mykhalchenko is serving as an intern at the United Nations Population Fund. The views expressed in the article are her own.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161432/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nataliya Mykhalchenko has received funding from the University of Leeds ESSL Summer Research Internships Scheme, and the Review of African Political Economy.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jörg Wiegratz has received funding from the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust, the Sir Ernest Cassel Educational Trust Fund, the University of Leeds ESSL Summer Research Internships Scheme, and the Review of African Political Economy.</span></em></p>Countries have adopted a wide array of measures involving a proliferation of fraud agencies.Nataliya Mykhalchenko, Research Associate, University of LeedsJörg Wiegratz, Lecturer in Political Economy of Global Development, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1615492021-05-27T16:42:38Z2021-05-27T16:42:38ZRegional military intervention in Mozambique is a bad idea. Here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403140/original/file-20210527-21-mrjc1d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Displaced people arrive in Pemba, Mozambique, after fleeing Palma following a brutal attack by Islamist insurgents in March.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Wessels/AFF via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The heads of state of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have endorsed plans to deploy troops to Mozambique to help it fight <a href="https://www.sadc.int/news-events/news/communique-extraordinary-summit-sadc-heads-state-and-government/">extremists in the Cabo Delgado province in the north of the country</a>. Regional leaders also urged members states to continue working with humanitarian agencies to continue providing humanitarian support.</p>
<p>The insurgency, led by an Islamist group known as the Sunnar (popularly known locally as Al-Shabaab), has destabilised the region <a href="https://theconversation.com/mozambiques-own-version-of-boko-haram-is-tightening-its-deadly-grip-98087">since October 2017</a>. Its strength has grown tremendously since last year. In October <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53756692">it made a daring raid</a> on one of the major towns in the north, Mocimbao da Praia. And then in <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-mozambique-insurgency-pemba-idUSKBN2BS0R4">March this year</a> it targeted foreign contract workers, including South Africans.</p>
<p>This rang alarm bells in the region.</p>
<p>But is an intervention by the regional body a good idea? And will it help?</p>
<p>Past experiences suggest it’s not. And that it won’t help. </p>
<p>I suggest that the SADC does not have a remarkable record of military interventions in civil conflicts in the region. It would therefore be misguided to attempt an intervention without adequate understanding of the political dynamics at play in northern Mozambique. </p>
<p>Interventions that are hastily prepared by military leaders without deep contextual knowledge of the drivers of conflict are not likely to end well.</p>
<h2>Mixed legacy of intervention</h2>
<p>SADC interventions in internal conflicts in its neighbourhood haven’t worked out well. </p>
<p>In <a href="http://wis.orasecom.org/content/study/UNDP-GEF/NAP-SAP/Documents/References/tda.nap.sap/SA-%20Lesotho%201998.pdf">1998</a> Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe took the lead on behalf of the regional body to restore order and constitutional legality in Lesotho. The haste in which the SADC conceived the operation guaranteed that it would not produce clear outcomes. South African troops <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2018-09-19-mandela-and-military-force-its-use-is-determined-by-the-situation/">lost their lives</a> and SADC troops had to withdraw in ignominy. </p>
<p>The SADC has since had to <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-efforts-to-stabilise-lesotho-have-failed-less-intervention-may-be-more-effective-137499">continually intervene</a> as a peacemaker in the fractious terrain of Lesotho politics.</p>
<p>The other major experience in intervention was through the <a href="https://www.ipinst.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/ipi_e_pub_un_intervention_brigade_rev.pdf">Force Intervention Brigade</a> composed of Malawi, Tanzania and South Africa. This was put together to defeat the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2013/11/5/qa-who-are-dr-congos-m23-rebels">M23 Movement</a> in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2013. It was deployed under a United Nations Security Council <a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2013/sc10964.doc.htm">resolution</a> to assist the United Nations <a href="https://monusco.unmissions.org/en">Mission</a> for the Stabilisation of the DRC. </p>
<p>Initially, the Force Intervention Brigade made a difference. It <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20131105-drc-congo-m23-rebels-announce-end-of-rebellion-insurgency">routed the M23</a> and contributed to a return to some form of stability. But the militia menace in the region has continued unabated, raising questions about the long term <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/democratic-republic-congo/b150-averting-proxy-wars-eastern-dr-congo-and-great-lakes">efficacy of the brigade’s work.</a>. </p>
<p>The brigade remains in place, though countries contributing troops have lost enthusiasm for managing the multiple problems in the region.</p>
<h2>Lessons learnt from past forays</h2>
<p>What can we learn from these military experiences to inform the envisaged Mozambique intervention? </p>
<p>First, military interventions in complex internal conflicts are fraught with profound obstacles. The biggest are inadequate knowledge about the parties to the conflict and what drives the conflict, and uncertainties about the outcomes. </p>
<p>In Mozambique, the insurgents have grown because of preexisting grievances. This includes the <a href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Policy-Brief-The-rise-and-root-causes-of-Islamic-insurgency-in-Mozambique-1.pdf">political marginalisation</a> of the largely poor and rural Muslim-dominated region. This has coincided with the discovery of one of the world’s largest natural gas deposits, which has <a href="https://theconversation.com/offshore-gas-finds-offered-major-promise-for-mozambique-what-went-wrong-158079">attracted French, Italian and American companies</a>.</p>
<p>The rich gas finds have turned Mozambique into a typical resource-cursed nation, where natural resource abundance in marginalised communities predictably <a href="https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/125773/ARI172-2010_DiJohn_Resource_Course_Theory_Evidence_Africa_LatinAmerica.pdf">fuels dissent and rebellion</a>. </p>
<p>Second, it is dangerous for regional actors to pick a fight with a group they believe they can easily subdue. The insurgents started low level guerrilla attacks targeted at government installations and gradually <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17531055.2020.1789271?journalCode=rjea20;%20https://reliefweb.int/report/mozambique/growing-insurgency-mozambique-poses-danger-southern-africa;https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-56411157">escalated</a> to widespread massacre of civilians and the acquisition of territory. </p>
<p>This escalation, in part, follows the government’s response to the crisis. Rather than engaging with the communities on stemming the crisis, the immediate response was to <a href="https://sofrep.com/news/wagner-group-russian-mercenaries-still-foundering-in-africa/">hire Russian mercenaries</a> to fight the rebellion. </p>
<p>But the rebels launched a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/scorched-earth-policy">scorched-earth</a> counteroffensive that led to the <a href="https://globalriskinsights.com/2021/02/too-many-mercenaries-in-mozambique/">defeat and withdrawal</a> of the mercenaries. The consequences were obvious: militarising the conflict inflamed local passions and expanded the recruitment of people into the rebellion. </p>
<p>The deployment of the mercenaries also showed the government wasn’t confident in the capabilities of its own security forces. </p>
<h2>Intervention in a quagmire</h2>
<p>The SADC is now being asked to intervene in a conflict that it has neither resources nor the political will to manage. When the body bags begin to come home, there will be tremendous pressure on SADC forces to withdraw.</p>
<p>Rather than the folly of an intervention, the region should be encouraging the Mozambican state to address the grievances of the communities in Cabo Delgado. </p>
<p>Throughout Africa, military approaches to grievances over resources have often ended in disaster. For many years, the discovery of oil in South Sudan encouraged the government in Khartoum to militarise a conflict that was, at heart, <a href="https://www.africaportal.org/features/nexus-between-oil-and-conflict-south-sudan/">about self-determination and dignity for Southerners</a>. South Sudan did attain independence in 2011, but after tremendous loss of lives. </p>
<p>Similarly, a low-level insurgency in Angola’s Cabinda oil-rich region has persisted because of Luanda’s <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/fr/node/213484">indifference to the plight of the local population</a>.</p>
<p>Since the early 2000s, Nigerian governments have learnt to use political approaches in meeting the demands of the Niger Delta oil-producing communities. In a conflict that has festered for decades, the minorities in the region have <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/nigeria/towards-ending-conflict-and-insecurity-niger-delta-region">contested the exploitation of oil resources</a> by multinational companies, in collaboration with the federal government, to the detriment of their livelihoods and welfare.</p>
<p>Mozambique can learn from these and many other experiences. </p>
<h2>What’s needed</h2>
<p>It took years for the Mozambican government to address the need to decentralise power and resources to the provinces. This had been a long-standing demand by the former rebel movement, Renamo.</p>
<p>But Frelimo, the dominant ruling party, continued to depend on a heavily centralised form of governance where provinces were mere outposts of the central government. Alternative actors and voices were prevented from participation in major decisions. </p>
<p>In the negotiations to resolve the resumption of the Renamo insurgency in 2013, Renamo prioritised decentralisation. Frelimo reluctantly gave in to this demand. But <a href="https://constitutionnet.org/news/conflict-and-decentralization-mozambique-challenges-implementation">implementation has remained sluggish</a>.</p>
<p>The resource curse is not inevitable. Many countries have avoided it through prudent natural resource governance and improving the access of local communities to the resources generated in their communities. </p>
<p>Botswana is an example. It has used creative institutions and political will to <a href="https://www.afdb.org/sites/default/files/documents/publications/could_oil_shine_like_diamonds_-_how_botswana_avoided_the_resource_curse_and_its_implications_for_a_new_libya.pdf">manage its mineral wealth</a>. Ghana has also put in place robust mechanisms to ensure that its oil resources are used <a href="https://theconversation.com/ghana-has-tried-to-be-responsible-with-its-oil-wealth-this-is-how-136887">for the common good and not to enrich elites</a>.</p>
<p>It should not take decades for the government to build credible and transparent natural resource governance institutions that meet the yearnings of impoverished communities in Cabo Delgado. </p>
<p>The SADC’s military intervention will only embolden die-hards in Frelimo who are reluctant to find peaceful and political solutions to the crisis. And the intervention will postpone a problem that is not going to go way any time soon. </p>
<p><em>Updated opening paragraph to reflect latest developments.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161549/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gilbert M. Khadiagala does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Southern African Development Community does not have a remarkable record of military interventions in civil conflicts in the region.Gilbert M. Khadiagala, Jan Smuts Professor of International Relations and Director of the African Centre for the Study of the United States (ACSUS), University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1562162021-04-20T12:32:08Z2021-04-20T12:32:08ZWhy African countries need reliable local data on sugary drinks taxes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388205/original/file-20210308-18-779b17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Appropriately designed taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages would result in proportional reductions in consumption.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Diets in sub-Saharan Africa are <a href="https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.12433">changing</a> as more countries advance from low-income to middle-income status. People’s eating habits are shifting from food rich in starchy staples, vegetables and fruits to a more <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-driving-sub-saharan-africas-malnutrition-problem-55579">westernised diet</a> high in sugar, saturated fats and oils. This shift to unhealthy foods is <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/healthy-diet">fuelling</a> obesity related chronic, noncommunicable conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.</p>
<p>Preventive measures are more critical than ever to curtail this tsunami that is overwhelming health systems.</p>
<p>One area that must adjust is the food and beverage sector in sub-Saharan Africa. The processed food industry is promoting the region as a <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/16/4306/htm">growth market</a> for its products. </p>
<p>To discourage consumption and reduce health risks, an increasing number of low- and middle-income countries have imposed <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/33969/Support-for-Sugary-Drinks-Taxes-Taxes-on-Sugar-Sweetened-Beverages-Summary-of-International-Evidence-and-Experiences.pdf?sequence=6">taxes on sugar-sweetened drinks</a>. Across the globe and especially in <a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2016.1231">Latin America</a> and the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091743517302608?via%3Dihub">Caribbean</a>, taxing sugary drinks to reduce consumption has been effective.</p>
<p>The World Health Organisation (WHO) has <a href="https://africa-health.com/news/world-health-organization-wants-sugar-taxes/">called on</a> African governments to follow this example, and to ease the burden of noncommunicable diseases. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/fiscal-policies-diet-prevention/en/">2015</a>, a WHO panel of public health experts found that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>appropriately designed taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages would result in proportional reductions in consumption, especially if aimed at raising the retail price by 20% or more. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some African countries such as South Africa, Botswana and Zambia already tax sugary drinks. But others have been slow to act. The <a href="https://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/fiscal-policies-diet-prevention/en/">WHO</a> attributes this, in part, to evidence gaps. </p>
<p>Credible local data are essential to determine what taxes can and cannot achieve. </p>
<p>We wanted to get an understanding of what data are available to support the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of a sugary drinks tax. We focused on seven sub-Saharan African countries: Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. These economies are growing and their marketing industries are low-cost. Regulation of unhealthy commodities is also weak. </p>
<p>In combination, these factors represent a growth opportunity for the industry. They will also fuel diet-related noncommunicable diseases.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16549716.2020.1871189">research</a> highlighted the urgent need for new indicators on unhealthy diets, including sugary drinks consumption and purchase patterns. Without this evidence, countries might underestimate the consumption figures. They might then miss the potential of sugar-sweetened drinks taxation as a public health intervention.</p>
<h2>Our research</h2>
<p>We interviewed stakeholders such as representatives from government agencies, including those in health, commerce, development, agriculture, education and academia. All individuals underscored the importance of local evidence on sugary drinks consumption and purchasing behaviours, as well as fiscal evidence to compare the cost and benefits of a tax. This is because policymakers need to take into account evidence for coherent economic arguments to discuss sugar-sweetened drinks taxes in policy circles.</p>
<p>The potential health benefits, the revenue of such a tax, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of its implementation, requires appropriate baseline data at the outset particularly across income levels, and age groups. </p>
<p>Our study highlights that such information is missing in all seven countries.</p>
<p>We looked at a range of publicly available data sources to establish the rate of sugary drinks consumption and the impact on people’s health. </p>
<p>We found that national survey data does not adequately track either the intake of sugar-sweetened drinks, or household spending. Fiscal data is lacking regarding sugary drinks tax revenue, value added tax from sugary beverage sales, and the corporate income tax and customs duty revenue.</p>
<p>Accurate information on the soft drinks industry was not easily accessed either. Unlike in countries such as Mexico, it was difficult to find information on a number of fronts. The number of companies in industry sectors, beverage industry forecasts, drinks prices, package sizes, number of low- or no-calorie beverages, and sugar content were unavailable. </p>
<p>Kenya, Zambia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda had taxes on non-alcoholic beverages. But only Zambia had a differential sugar-sweetened beverages tax – 3% on imported beverages and 0.5% on local drinks. Botswana recently introduced a tax that is very similar to the health promotion levy in South Africa.</p>
<h2>Going forward</h2>
<p>Timely, easily understood, concise, and locally relevant evidence is needed to inform policy development on sugary drinks. The relevant data are drawn from multiple sectors. Cross-sector collaboration is, therefore, needed. </p>
<p>Indicators to measure sugar-sweetened drinks and added sugar consumption should be developed. These must be included in current data collection tools such as national income dynamics studies. This would ensure monitoring and evaluation of taxation. </p>
<p>There’s no consensus on how best to capture data for new indicators. But a useful point of departure would be to complement existing data sources. These include population-based surveys that ask questions related to sugary drinks taxation. This would lead to improvement in tracking the intake of sweet drinks, and the effectiveness of taxation.</p>
<p>Establishing robust, accurate baseline data to inform evidence could enable governments to accelerate political and public support for sugar-sweetened beverage taxation and related policies. Finally, greater transparency of industry data is essential.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156216/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Agnes Erzse receives funding from the South African Medical Research Council/Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science PRICELESS SA, University of Witwatersrand School of Public Health, Faculty of Health
Sciences, Johannesburg South Africa (D1305910-03). The research was supported by the International Development Research Center grant (#108648-001)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Hofman is supported by the South African Medical Research Council Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science - PRICELESS SA. The research referenced in this article was supported by the International Development Research Centre, Canada.</span></em></p>Without reliable, local and timely data, countries will miss the potential of sugar-sweetened beverage taxation as a public health intervention.Agnes Erzse, Researcher, SAMRC/Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science- PRICELESS SA, University of the WitwatersrandKaren Hofman, Professor and Programme Director, SA MRC Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science - PRICELESS SA (Priority Cost Effective Lessons in Systems Strengthening South Africa), University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.