Cost to survive CLIMATE CHANGE
43 African countries have prepared national adaptation plans. While they target to raise 20 per cent of the funds on their own, the remaining needs to be funded by the international community, which has in the past defaulted on aid commitments
of soil organic matter, which is important for sequestration of carbon in soil. Carbon is derived from the atmospheric CO2 taken up by the plant and added to the organic matter when the plant dies. In a world concerned with the buildup of atmospheric greenhouses gases (ghg), CA presents an opportunity for reversing the ghg buildup, says a 2009 fao report titled, “Scaling up conservation agriculture in Africa: strategy and approaches”.
The practice is not limited to Malawi. At a recent caadp Africa Forum, a platform of exchange for people working in agriculture, held in Johannesburg in South Africa, various speakers backed CA as key to sustain agriculture in Africa.
SOUTH AFRICA: Industries take the lead
As the impact of drought continues to unfold, water shortage is compelling industries to innovate to stay in business. Globally, South Africa is the 30th driest country, and climate change is going to hit it hard. This became evident recently when Cape Town, the country’s second-most populous metropolis, was in the throes of recurrent droughts, with the severity of water scarcity peaking by the year. The message that water shortage is the new normal hit home, and prompted both the industry and communities to act.
Ian Neilson, the city’s executive deputy mayor, says Capetonians are now using less water for daily needs and recycling grey water. The city authority has also diversified its supply system by sourcing water from groundwater, desalinated plants and recycling units. This changing culture is also influencing the business community. In June 2017, the city proposed water reduction measures after clouds failed to precipitate and analysts said that the city would run dry in weeks. Responding to the situation, Calgro M3, a real estate company, scaled down the developments of its 1,750 residential units.
“While the water shortages have presented hurdles and have delayed our projects in the Western Cape, they have not come to a complete standstill and where possible we are completing dry work on our developments,” says Wikus Lategan, chief executive officer of Calgro M3, adding that the company recoups the 8,500 litres of water used to build each housing unit in three months by various initiatives including rainwater harvesting. “Rain harvesting is the easiest way to gather ‘free’ water and to conserve water usage in the construction phase,” he says. “Unfortunately for this to be successful we do need rain in the Western Cape.”
Located in the water-scarce region of Epping, industrial suburb of Cape Town, pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (gsk) is reaping the rewards of water conservation measures. It demonstrated a 42 per cent reduction in water usage from 2010 to 2016, a figure that has reduced by another 8.04 per cent in the past two years. “The success can be attributed to gsk’s water reduction targets for all factories in water-scarce regions of the world. This encourages constant improvements in our ways of working with water,” says Brighton Ochieng, Cape Town site director, adding that gsk has a team dedicated to reduce water footprint of the factories. In fact, Ochieng says, their site plans for 2018 include the recovery of certain wastewater streams for treatment and re-use. A large cooling tower will be decommissioned and a rainwater harvesting and treatment system will be installed. “The site is targeting a 20 per cent water reduction in 2018 and a further reduction of 20 per cent in 2019,” he says.
Industries are hesitant to invest in water efficiency improvements just based on the resource cost as often pay backs are not there, says Kevin Cilliers, senior project manager at National Cleaner Production Centre in KwaZulu Natal, a division of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. “However, we have seen a shift in thinking. Some organisations are now looking at investment payback more from a risk perspective of not having water at all and not being able to operate,” he adds.
RAINWATER HARVESTING IS THE EASIEST WAY TO GATHER “FREE” WATER AND TO CONSERVE WATER USAGE IN THE CONSTRUCTION PHASE OF BUILDINGS
UGANDA: FAO steps in
At the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference, dubbed cop21, the Uganda government committed to reduce carbon emissions by 22 per cent in a bid to transit to a low-carbon climate resilient economy. Today, the country has both adaptation and mitigation strategies in place as part of its climate change policy. As part of the mitigation strategy, the country plans to improve its forest cover, which has declined from 35 per cent to 15 per cent of the land surface between 1890 and 2005, with an estimated annual forest cover loss of approximately 88,000 ha a year. Recently, Mary Goretti Kitutu, the state minister for environment, presidential directive to give out tree seedlings to all Uganda’s legislators for planting in their constituencies. The plan is to bring some 400 ha under green cover, with a focus on Sango bay areas in central Uganda which have been affected severely, Kitutu adds. Since firewood harvesting and charcoal production have been major drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Uganda, the government is also promoting renewable energy. The government estimates that Uganda would need $2.9 billion to implement mitigation strategies, which involve increasing renewable electricity generation by 3,200 MW by 2030 and improving forest cover by 21 per cent and wetland coverage by 12 per cent.
At the same time, Uganda’s climate change policy has laid out strategies to make communities resilient to climate change. Consider the seminomadic herders of Karamoja. The community believes that their god, Akuj, had given them all the cattle in their known world. To them, cattle are royalty and the number of cattle one owns measure the value and recognition of an individual. And they would go the extra mile to find new pastures and water spots for their cattle in this arid region of Uganda. But dry spells and erratic weather have further pushed them to the brink. Lokonoia is one such Karamojong who lives in Laboktom village of Amudat district. Till a few years ago, he was notorious for causing road-side ambushes using AK rifle ammunition and killing people to raid cattle. Today, he is a farmer.
Surrounded by dry grassland, his lush green sugarcane field appears like a mirage in the desert. He irrigates the farm using solar-powered pump. On part of the farm, he grows vegetables, such as amaranth, cowpea, cabbage, onion and tomato, using drip irrigation. Along with the other farmers, he sells the produce in a ready-market in Kenya, across the border. “We sell the vegetable as a group and the money goes to the village saving scheme where the profit gets shared among the residents by the end of the year. This helps us in paying our children’s school fees,” says Lokonoia. Such income from farming was not heard of in the region till about eight years ago when fao set up farmer field schools to change the community’s mindset and
UGANDA NEEDS $2.9 BILLION TOWARDS MITIGATION, WHICH INVOLVES INCREASING RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY GENERATION, IMPROVING FOREST COVER
help them market their produce. “The dry, harsh weather is not new to us. But we are glad that development partners have drilled water facilities for us. Previously we couldn’t grow anything as we would rely on rainwater which is so scarce,” narrates Lokonoia. Animals are also kept at water collection points. He has also been able to purchase solar power system which he uses for lighting his house. “I can now avoid bush fires which are so rampant in Karamoja during the dry season,” he says.
ZAMBIA: Finds solace in renewables
“Climate change affects not only the environment but also agriculture, energy generation and infrastructure development among several other sectors, and hence the prioritisation of interventions,” says Alexander Chiteme, Zambia’s Minister of National Development and Planning. Chiteme’s views are particularly true for his country, where agriculture is primarily rain-fed and 84.5 per cent of the electricity is generated through hydropower plants that are rain-dependent. In 2016, acute water shortage had hit its power plants. “The average load-shedding is eight hours a day and out power imports have increased by 178.26 per cent,” says Chiteme. The country is now investing in renewable energy both on and off-grid. This, it believes, will also improve rural electrification which currently stands at just 4 per cent. “We are taking measures to invest in renewable energy sources and enhance our technology to invest in agricultural production that can circumvent climate change variabilities, however, the rate at which we are being affected by climate change is faster than our capacity to cope,” he adds.
The country has started a project to help farmers switch to drought-resistant crops and reduce their vulnerability due to climate change, he says. The government says a resilient agriculture sector will contribute to food security and job creation. Agriculture and electricity generation are now the priority sectors under the Seventh National Development Plan, which utilises the Green Climate Fund. In 2008, Zambia became one of the first three African countries whose climate adaptation plans was funded by the Climate Investment Fund, the world’s oldest and largest global climate finance mechanism.