Water and environmental change in Africa

GM Crops - Burgeoning issue In 2018, 35% of Kenya's GDP came from the agriculture sector. In  Kenya, over 70% of the working age rural population works in the agricultural sector .  90% of Sub-Saharan Africa's is reliant on rain-fed agriculture . Africa and Kenya's over-reliance on this type of agriculture means that droughts can cause huge financial problems and reduce food security massively. In 2016, small holder farmers in eastern Kenya lost more than 80% of their crops. Kenya recently took the steps to lift bans on genetically modified crops to help ease some of the pressure .  Benefits of GM Africa's population is predicted to increase by over 1 billion by 2050.   Compared to Africa's population, the share of genetically engineered crop acreage is very small and only commercially cultivated in four countries .  The growing population will need to sustain itself with both food crops and cash crops to continue economic development. Studies have also shown t...

So far, I have been blogging about flooding, drought and the effects on Africa. As I type, discussions at COP27 are shifting from prevention of climate change to adaptation and mitigation. Part of this was on the monitoring and how best to work together in response to climate disasters. As a response, I want to spend the next two blogs talking about mitigation strategies. In our previous lecture, we were shown data from monitoring stations in Nigeria. There were some unusual trends within the data so Julian began investigating. He found that the maintenance of the monitoring stations had declined over the years, resulting in unreliable data. Things like this might not be flashy, but they are such a basic element of monitoring and early flood detect. Large conferences like the COP sessions always involve people wanting to make inspiring speeches and making bold promises. Damaged hydrometers being repaired or replaced doesn't result in the headline grabbing news they want so this alm...

Backbone of Society Kenya's agricultural sector has been described as   "a crucial backbone of Kenya' economy" , employs  75% of the working population and 65% of total exports . Most of the farming in Sub-Saharan Africa in general is dominated by smallholder farms. Whilst estimates of 70-80% have been proposed by the media, there is little evidence to suggest this is true .  What is true is  98% of these smallholder farms are rain-fed  instead of being irrigated, and erratic weather patterns is one of the biggest challenges facing these farmers.  A 2018 study found that that understanding patterns of weather in Kenya is key to economic stability.   Historically, farmers in these regions have been able to tolerate Kenya's rather erratic weather but with an increasing levels of inconsistency, can these smallholder farms survive? Most research in the impacts of climate change point towards an overall decrease in rainfall patterns  as well ...