Tuesday, October 01, 2024

Growth in industry, increased energy consumption put pressure on sustainability initiatives

 

Ochieng' Ogodo - Science Journalist

[NAIROBI] – With the increasing demand for hardware, network services, data storage, and emerging technologies worldwide, the digital technology industry's carbon footprint is expanding, says a report co-authored by the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) that was released yesterday.

In addition to industry pledges to support environmental sustainability and digital growth, the report shows a general slowdown in the advancement of climate goals.

“An effective green transition needs digital companies to drive progress and lead by example,” said ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin.

He adds that: “This report is an important tool for understanding where to focus efforts to maximize digital technology’s immense potential to advance sustainability in the face of climate change for the digital future we want."

The global tech sector has seen a rise in energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but accountability and transparency are still issues.

The Greening Digital Companies 2024 provides information and best practices to assist global tech companies in reducing their emissions more quickly, achieving low-carbon operations, and enhancing their climate reporting.

Out of the 200 businesses the report examined, 148 stated that their combined electricity use in 2022 amounted to 518 terawatt-hours (TWh), or roughly 1.9 per cent of the global total. The ten corporations with the greatest levels of consumption, all having their main offices in the US or East Asia, accounted for 51 per cent of the total, which represents a nine per cent increase from 2021.

Balancing act

According to the report, digital technologies can expedite the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and provide a plethora of socio-economic advantages.

Weather forecasting and climate change monitoring can be enhanced by technology, and it can also help integrate low-emission technologies and optimize energy use.

However, in order to promote sustainable development, industry needs to keep an eye on and deal with its own environmental problems, such as carbon emissions, water and energy consumption, e-waste, and the depletion of raw materials.

Evaluating the value chain of corporations

The report’s 2024 edition provides the first comprehensive overview of corporate value-chain emissions, include everything from material suppliers and outsourced device production to the use of a company’s end-products by consumers. Such end-products range from cell phones and computers to search engines and AI chatbots.

“Digital companies need to do their part in the fight against climate change,” said Lourdes O. Montenegro, Director of Research and Digitisation at the World Benchmarking Alliance.

“This report uniquely offers evidence-based insights on the sector’s state of play. We are bringing these data and insights to the attention of the international community to help ensure that the impact on people and planet is consequential to success in business,” Montenegro added.

Dealing with emissions from emerging technologies

The report makes clear that the exponential growth of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies will continue to increase emissions and put additional strain on energy resources.

It also mentions how artificial intelligence (AI) and other revolutionary technologies can help promote sustainable development.

The Greening Digital Companies 2024 emphasizes the role of governments in putting monitoring frameworks in place and speeding up the availability of green energy in order to assist digital companies in meeting sustainability goals.

“From the development point of view, it is increasingly important for industry players to more closely monitor their own greenhouse gas emissions and act to reduce emissions and energy use,” said Cosmas Zavazava, Director of the ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau.

Governments can assist industry sustainability efforts by liberalizing energy markets, modernizing power grids, lowering red tape for permits, and liberalizing the energy markets. Investment in renewable energy is also essential.

Friday, September 27, 2024

Investing in the future of livestock amid climate crisis

 Ochieng’ Ogodo - Science Journalist

 [NAIROBI] Global South countries will receive a new US$10 million grant to support climate-smart innovations in livestock development that target 300 million lives, it was announced Wednesday during Climate Week in New York.

The grant from the Ballmer Group adds to recent support received by the Nairobi-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) from the Bezos Earth Fund, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Global Methane Hub.

With this sizeable investment, ILRI and its partners will be able to implement scalable interventions that offer a triple win: reducing greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing livelihoods and nutrition, and assisting in the adaptation of climate challenges including heat stress, drought, and flooding.

The Global Methane Hub, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Bezos Earth Fund will also match additional grants made possible by the investment. According to Professor Appolinaire Djikeng, Director General of ILRI, this collaboration highlights the confidence placed in ILRI's expertise, its robust partner network, and its strategic direction.

"This grant will enable us to scale our proven innovations that reduce livestock production emissions and enhance adaptation to climate change," said Djikeng. "In low- and middle-income countries, ILRI research has shown that mitigation and adaptation are two sides of the same coin, addressing both the climate crisis and broader environmental challenges."

According to Ismahane Elouafi, the Executive Managing Director of CGIAR, "This support from the Ballmer Group reflects the growing recognition of livestock's critical role in enhancing resilience for smallholder farmers and pastoralists facing climate impacts. While we recognize the environmental challenges associated with livestock production, such as greenhouse gas emissions, this investment will help accelerate CGIAR’s ability to deliver science that supports greater livestock productivity while reducing its environmental footprint."

Two of the most pressing issues facing humanity are food security and climate change, which are closely related. A large portion of the 500 million small-scale farmers who work on 83 per cent of the world's farms and produce a third of the food produced worldwide reside in areas that are negatively impacted by climate change, according to the press release on the grant.

This endangers not just their lives and means of subsistence but also the food and nutrition security of millions of people worldwide who rely on them for sustenance.

Adaptive livestock breeds, better feeding techniques, better manure management, and better rangeland management are just a few examples of climate-smart solutions that can be used in well-managed livestock systems to yield several advantages. These consist of higher biodiversity, better soil health, storage of carbon, and ecosystem services. According to climate modelling, these kinds of measures might together cut animal production emissions by as much as 30 per cent.

ILRI is one of 13 research centers within CGIAR, the world's largest publicly-funded agrifood systems research network. CGIAR is a global partnership dedicated to transforming food, land, and water systems to secure a sustainable future in the face of climate challenges.

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

African solutions among 15 organisations in five £1 Million Prizes race

 Ochieng’ Ogodo – Science Journalist

 

[NAIROBI] Three exceptional African solutions are among 15 organizations in the Prince William’s Earthshot Prize race, competing for one of the five Catalytic £1 million prizes to scale up their solutions for climate change, it was announced at the third-annual Earthshot Innovation Summit yesterday in New York.

Founded by William and incubated in the Royal Foundation in 2020, the Earthshot Prize is a global environmental prize and platform designed to discover, accelerate and scale ground-breaking solutions to repair and regenerate the planet.

Among the 15 finalists is Gayo, a Ghanaian youth-led organization that promotes behavioural change in waste management techniques throughout Africa by using its "zero waste model," which lowers greenhouse gas emissions and particle pollution while generating extra revenue for local communities. Their plan would cut air pollution by 70 per cent and establish them as the continent's preeminent waste management model.

Also shortlisted is a Kenyan company known as Keep It Cool that is addressing issues with efficient refrigeration and cold-chain logistics in Africa by providing solar-powered refrigeration options that reduce post-harvest waste by 25 per cent and linking small-scale farmers and fishermen to an online marketplace.

The other finalist from Africa is d.light, a Pan-African company that is seeking to transform the lives of one billion people by providing affordable and clean solar home systems that provide electricity and replace polluting kerosene lamps and dirty stoves.

“Today, we celebrate the incredible achievement, unwavering dedication and urgent optimism that drives our fourth class of Earthshot innovators,” said Prince William, the President of The Earthshot Prize, in a press release.

The Ghanaian, Kenyan, and multinational initiatives' solutions offer a different take on the problem of air pollution and the creation of a waste-free planet. See the news release attached for more information.

The winners of this fourth cohort of prize finalists will be announced in Cape Town in November after having been selected by The Earthshot Prize Council.

“The passion of these Finalists is a testament to what can be achieved when we tap into the enormous creativity, ingenuity, and optimism of communities around the world,” Prince William said.

This year’s Finalists were selected from nearly 2,500 nominees submitted by the Prize’s network of more than 430 nominators from 75 countries.

The Earthshot Prize selected the 15 Finalists based on evaluations completed by its selection partners and the Expert Advisory Panel, an international consortium of over 100 subject-matter experts with extensive backgrounds in science, technology, business, finance, academia, and policy.

Over the year-long search process, the Earthshot Prize, its selection partners, and members of the Expert Advisory Panel assessed each finalist's proposal for its ability to address environmental issues and have a beneficial effect on people, communities, and the environment. selection process.

Thursday, September 05, 2024

Why African varsities should work closely with Hong Kong

 

By Ochieng' Ogodo, Journalist-Kenya


[NAIROBI] African universities need to forge closer linkages with institutions of higher learning in Hong Kong for mutual academic benefits.

According to Professor Dennis Lo, President of Hong Academy of Sciences, there is the need to pick approaches suitable to institutions and centers of higher learning that get involved in collaborations.

Lo who is also an associate dean for research at the Faculty of Medicine at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, says that such collaborations could be realized in areas such as students exchange programmes and joint research and development activities.

“That is a reasonable situation and in Hong Kong there is a studentship scheme which encourages students from abroad to join us. For instance, in my laboratory I have a student from Pakistan and I don’t see any reason why we would not extend that to our Africa colleagues,” said Lo.

According to Lo, it is also important to explore research collaborations between universities to allow access to the best scientific and engineering technologies in specific domains.

“With technology, it becomes cheaper as it goes. For instance, like in my area of DNA sequencing computers processes [using] slots and every eighteen months the processing power doubles at the same cost and actually DNA sequencing is faster than more slot for many years."

Africa HigherEducation Collaboration HongKong

Africa Not Engaged in Biotechnology, Why?


By Ochieng’ Ogodo, Journalist – Kenya

Crop biotechnology has been around for nearly 14 years now and has been much embraced by the farming community in some countries of the global economic North, such as the US, as well as in some developing countries, like Argentina and Brazil among a few others. But Africa is still very slow in embracing this technology. According to the conclusions of a meeting held in May 2009 by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Entebbe, Uganda, various factors account for this.

Precautionary Approach

Mark W. Rosegrant, director of the IFPRI Environment and Production Technology division, says that one of the major impediments is the precautionary (protective) approach of the regulatory frameworks (the rules and regulations set by national biotechnology committees to guide the use of biotechnology in agriculture). Whereas, according to him, there have been no health problems with foods derived from genetically modified organisms (GMOs), these frameworks are packed with some strong protective measures against them.

"Once GMOs have been approved, things should move, but regulatory frameworks have been more precautionary of promoting the safe use of biotechnology in Africa," Rosegrant said.

"Africa is still missing out to a large extent on GM [genetic modification] technology. This is not a silver bullet but [a tool] that could have great positive impacts, especially with climate change," he added.

According to Rosegrant, the absence of modern scientific platforms for homegrown biotechnology is yet another major impediment in Africa. He believes the developed world should help African nations train scientists and help them acquire the technologies needed for crop biotechnology to enhance improved agricultural production.

The public sector, Rosegrant points out, should be open to the private sector instead of being a barrier. There are too many bureaucratic processes hindering private investments in the development and commercialization of this technology.

Proper information on crop biotechnology has also been lacking. Rosegrant says it is high time for access to copyrighted crop traits to be made available to developing countries, so that their scientists can gain knowledge of the biological makeup of some of the most important crops in the developing world, such as cassava and teff.

Africa can make up for some of the chances lost during the green revolution if African scientists begin to localize engineered plant characteristics and introduce them into traditional crops to fortify them against adverse agricultural conditions, such as drought.

Whereas fellowship programs for African scientists have helped build Africa’s human capacity, many African scientists are left on their own once they leave the Western academic institutions and state-of-the-art laboratories.

Once back home, these scientists face a number of problems, such as the lack of well-equipped laboratories, poor pay packages, and general apathy. "There are fellowship programs in the West, but it is good to help maintain them [African scientists] once back in their countries in terms of salaries, supporting their laboratories, and allowing them to work in close collaboration with the laboratories [in the West] that have advanced scientific platforms."

Lack of Capacity

Robert Paarlberg of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University says that Africa still lacks the capacity of advancement of biotechnology, both human and technological, when compared to India and China:

There are also many hurdles in the way of crop biotechnology [placed] by bodies like the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the Global Environment Facility.

Paarlberg explains that the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which sets rules on GMOs, was drafted under great influence from these two bodies, so it did not take into consideration the need for new sciences addressing the rapidly declining agricultural production, especially in the developing world.

He opines that the UNEP emphasizes the protection of the environment and stands in the way of agriculture. "But most GM crops are Maize and Cotton where the use of insecticides is minimal," he explained.

The preventive approach in the rules and guidelines followed by national biosafety committees in Africa hardly supports the difficulties encountered in crop biotechnology. For instance, it takes an agronomist at least a year to get approval for a confined field trial of a cartian variety of seeds. Further, after the field trials, an agronomist cannot obtain permission to sell the seeds in the market. "Kenya has examined GM crops for 10 years but has not approved any. Only Burkina Faso and South Africa have approved GM cotton," Paarlberg said.

The many regulatory requirements determined by several ministries are another cause for concern. "Once the law has been passed, every relevant ministry must have a say, and this leads to delays," he added.

External Influences

Furthermore, Paarlberg argues that there are external factors that act as obstacles to the use of GM: For example, foreign aid from Europe has been a major hindrance as the European Union has a very precautionary regulatory model.

As the majority of African countries were colonized by European countries, "their first point of reference is [still] London or Brussels, and they do not want to keep out of step with the practices coming out of metropolitan Europe," according to Paarlberg.

Paarlberg further explains that many African countries look to European institutions and authorities for technical assistance: "The European Union is not helping build scientific capacity but regulatory capacity that will keep out GMOs, like in Zambia where Norway has helped build a good laboratory for the detection of GMOs."

Aid dependency has also, to a large extent, been a hurdle in the way of GMOs. "The average country in Sub-Saharan Africa is four times as aid-dependent as [any other country in] the rest of the developing world," said Paarlberg.

According to Paarlberg, the UNEP and the Global Environment Facility, under the Global Project for Development of National Biosafety Frameworks, were very reluctant to support GM farming. Nongovernmental organizations such as Greenpeace International are another reason for the failure of adoption of biotechnology in Africa, as they run spirited campaigns on the continent against GMOs.

Those against the new technology argue that the use of GMOs in agriculture could have potential negative effects on the environment and human health, as well as potential socioeconomic effects. The EU, which has adopted a precautionary approach to GMOs, purchases five times more farm commodities from Africa each year than does the US.

"In 2000, private European buyers stopped importing beef from Namibia. In Zambia, in 2002, opposition to accepting GMO maize came from export companies (Agriflora Ltd.) and from export-oriented farmers," Paarlberg said. The farmers are therefore not certain about what will happen if they adopt GM crops.

Margaret Karembu, interim director of AfriCenter at the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications, emphasizes that information about biotechnology has not been communicated effectively. "Science communication should make people understand that it contributes to development so that they can appreciate it. It should make people understand research results for informed decisions," she told the meeting attendees.

She added, "Just like any other new development or product, to any society there will be concerns, questions, and myths, and all these can be countered with a proper campaign and promotion. The products of biotechnology science always undergo rigorous scientific testing."

 

 *This article was originally posted by the now defunct Islamonline.net on  July 16, 2009. It was reproduced at https://globalfarmernetwork.org/africa-not-engaged-in-biotechnology-why/?login=failed&reason=empty_username

 

Ochieng’ Ogodo is a Nairobi-based science  journalist whose works have been published in various parts of the world including in Africa, the US and Europe. He is the English-speaking Africa and Middle East region winner for the 2008 Reuters-IUCN Media Awards for Excellence in Environmental Reporting. He was the founding chairman of Kenya Environment and Science Journalists Association (Kensja). He can be reached at ochiengogodo@yahoo.com or ochiengogodo@hotmail.com.

Monday, June 24, 2024

Africa triples health workforce in 10 years, but demand still outstrips supply

By Ochieng' Ogodo

 

[NAIROBI] African countries increased their health workforce from 1.6 million in 2013 to 5.1 million in 2022, alongside significant improvements in training and data use, a recent report by the World Health Organization (WHO) Africa Region Office reveals.

The report released on 6 May provides a detailed examination of the dramatic shifts and continuous difficulties in the health workforce in Africa over the past ten years. It also highlights important patterns and future predictions critical to the continent's public health policies and economic stability.

The report indicates that national health workforce strategies increased by 44%, from 27 countries in 2018 to 39 countries in 2022.

Dr. James Avoka Asamani, a health economist working with WHO as a team leader for the health workforce, says that African countries now have better data and insights about their health workforce than before.

“Many countries can now track their health workforce and are using data evidence to develop their strategies. More than 80 percent of the countries now have workforce strategies and policies to address their workforce challenges,” Asamani said.

The report says: “In 2013, countries could track and report data for 26% of occupations across all 47 countries. This improved significantly to 75% in 2019 and 81% in 2022, [due] to all countries in the region adopting to implement the national health workforce account.”

It highlights that countries have invested in training health workers through over 4000 training institutions and programmes, increasing the capacity to train health workers by 70% from 150,000 graduates in 2018 to more than 255,000 in 2022. Of this capacity, the private sector contributes at least 40%.

Also, the report says that the number of doctors being trained in Africa each year has increased to over 39,850 from 6,000 in 2005, and the number of nurses and midwives trained annually has increased to over 151,300 from 26,000 in 2005.

According to the report, the average number of physicians, nurses, midwives, dentists, and pharmacists in the African region was 27 per 10,000 inhabitants as of 2022, a rise of more than double from 11 per cent in 2013 and a 14% gain from 2018.

“This highlights the improved availability of qualified and skilled health workers to provide much-needed health services to the population in need,” the report says.

However, looking at each country’s disease burden and comparing it to the workforce available, Asamani said, there is still a shortage of doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists and pharmacists.

“We have also seen that only six countries control more than 70 percent of our capacity to produce health workers. That means having many countries that cannot produce enough health workers,” Asamani said.

Lack of absorption of trained medical personnel is another of the many challenges highlighted in the report.

According to Asamani, on average, 27 percent of trained medical personnel are unemployed across the continent and are looking for jobs.

Since 2018, he says, at least 14 nations have had at least four health worker strikes annually due to dissatisfaction with working conditions, which is another critical issue affecting the continent's health sector.

Asamani added: “The combined effect of inadequate working conditions and unemployment is pushing health workers to look for better jobs elsewhere, particularly in high-income countries.”

Of the 80 percent of countries with plans and strategies to address their workforce situations, more than half have no financial commitment to help address the needs.

The report recommends some actions and according to Asamani, these include, continuous expansion of training programmes in line with population health needs and the creation of more employment opportunities for health workers, especially in rural and underserved areas.

Also, there is a need to work with stakeholders in health, education, labour, financial and the private sectors and development partners to align efforts so that there is no duplication of energies so that they can bring in more resources.

 

Wednesday, October 04, 2023

To Avert a “Lost Decade,” Africa Must Urgently Achieve Stability, Increase Growth, and Create Jobs

WASHINGTON, October 4, 2023 — Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic outlook remains bleak amid an elusive growth recovery. According to the latest World Bank Africa’s Pulse report, rising instability, weak growth in the region’s largest economies, and lingering uncertainty in the global economy are dragging down growth prospects in the region.

 

Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is forecast to decelerate to 2.5% in 2023, from 3.6% in 2022. South Africa’s GDP is expected to only grow by 0.5% in 2023 as energy and transportation bottlenecks continue to bite. Nigeria and Angola are projected to grow at 2.9% and 1.3%, respectively, due to lower international prices and currency pressures affecting oil and non-oil activity. Increased conflict and violence in the region weigh on economic activity, and this rising fragility may be exacerbated by climatic shocks. In Sudan, economic activity is expected to contract by 12% because of the internal conflict halting production, destroying human capital, and crippling state capacity. 

 

In per capita terms, growth in Sub-Saharan Africa has not increased since 2015. In fact, the region is projected to contract at an annual average rate per capita of 0.1% over 2015-2025, thus potentially marking a lost decade of growth in the aftermath of the 2014-15 plunge in commodity prices.

 

“The region’s poorest and most vulnerable people continue to bear the economic brunt of this slowdown, as weak growth translates into slow poverty reduction and poor job growth,” said Andrew Dabalen, World Bank Chief Economist for Africa. “With up to 12 million young Africans entering the labor market across the region each year, it has never been more urgent for policymakers to transform their economies and deliver growth to people through better jobs.”

 

Despite the gloomy outlook, there are few bright spots. Inflation is expected to decline from 9.3% in 2022 to 7.3% in 2023 and fiscal balances are improving in African countries that are pursuing prudent and coordinated macroeconomic policies. In 2023, the Eastern African community (EAC) is expected to grow by 4.9% while the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) is set to growth by 5.1%. However, debt distress remains widespread with 21 countries at high risk of external debt distress or in debt distress as of June 2023.

 

Overall, current growth rates in the region are inadequate to create enough high-quality jobs to meet increases in the working-age population. Current growth patterns generate only 3 million formal jobs annually, thus leaving many young people underemployed and engaged in casual, piecemeal, and unstable work that does not make full use of their skills. Creating job opportunities for the youth will drive inclusive growth and turn the continent’s demographic wealth into an economic dividend.

 

“The urgency of the jobs challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa is underscored by the huge opportunity from demographic transitions that we have seen in other regions,” said Nicholas Woolley, World Bank Economist and contributor to the report. “This will require an ecosystem that facilitates private-sector development and firm growth, as well as skill development that matches business demand.”

 

The development of labor-intensive manufacturing seems to be missing in Africa, limiting further effects for the indirect job creation in support services and international trade. This may be partly due to a lack of capital, which continues to hamper the structural transformation required for good quality jobs: while the region contributes 12% of the global working age population, Sub-Saharan Africa owns only 2% of the global capital stock. This means people have fewer assets with which to be productive in Sub-Saharan Africa, compared to other regions.

 

The report identifies a set of policies to overcome hurdles and unleash job creation in Sub-Saharan Africa, including:

 

    Cost-effective private sector reforms, focused on increasing competition, uniform policy enforcement across firm sizes, and regulatory alignment with regional trading partners. Governments can also help identify and support early-stage growth businesses through more inclusive procurement practices and promotion of local businesses abroad.

    Investment in education is necessary to boost semi-skilled occupations for the region.  Interventions that improve learning in school are more effective than those increasing school attendance alone, while vocational education can be useful for addressing the underemployed and those who have missed out on education as children.

    Education of girls and access to jobs for women can reduce potential productivity loss from the misallocation of female labor. Cash transfers have proven effective in increasing girls' school enrollment and attendance, as well as in curbing pregnancies among school-age girls.

 

 Contacts:

In Washington:

Daniella van Leggelo-Padilla, (202) 473-4989, dvanleggelo@worldbank.org

Caitlin Berczik, 202-458-935, cberczik@worldbankgroup.org

For more information on World Bank programs in Africa, go to: https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr