KM & the Environment

Pakistan Relief Toolkit: Providing Essential Knowledge and Resources for Relief Efforts

K4Health — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 11:00:42 -0600

As the flood waters begin to recede across Pakistan, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani says the government is now “seriously concerned” about the potential spread of epidemic diseases.

The flooding has left more than 1,600 people dead and approximately six million homeless. According to the BBC, about 17 million of Pakistan’s 166 million people have been affected by the disaster. In addition, the United Nations warns that without enough doctors or proper facilities, over 100,000 pregnant women are now at risk of infection and disease.

“As human misery continues to mount, we are seriously concerned with the spread of epidemic diseases,” Yousuf Raza Gilani said, adding, “There is a likelihood of water-borne diseases such as cholera, diarrhea and dysentery, especially in children who are already weak and vulnerable.”

In an effort to assist the relief efforts in Pakistan, K4Health has published the Pakistan Relief Toolkit (www.k4health.org/toolkits/pakistan-relief) which provides practical and technical health-related information to those on the ground.

The toolkit is a one-stop source for information that will help health workers respond to the flood relief efforts underway in the country. The toolkit covers the vital sectors in emergencies, including health, water and sanitation, food security, and shelter. It also covers key field activities supporting the operations, such as logistics.

The toolkit is accessible online, but K4Health will also be uploading it to flash drives so that those on the front line can access the information where Internet connectivity is lacking.

The devastation in Pakistan is severe and those providing relief need as much support as possible. Please join us to bring the essential knowledge and resources needed on the ground to alleviate some of the burden.

If you have any questions concerning the toolkit, please contact the team at toolkits@k4health.org or leave a comment on the discussion board.

Chris Rottler, Senior Communication Manager

KM & the Environment

ICT for Youth empowerment

Farai Mutindindi — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 04:08:33 -0600

The world today is faced with several challenges like the economic recession, climatic change, disease outbreaks, increased organized crime, information explosion, and uncontrolled migration. Like any other calamity, the harsh effects are mostly felt by the vulnerable third world states. Zimbabwe, coming out of an economic crisis characterized by record inflation, high unemployment, heavy brain drain and a large reduction in the Gross Domestic Product, has plenty to do with regards to enhancing the recovery path and rejuvenating the economy. With the Unity government having managed to tame the legendary inflation and the economy expected to grow, focus is now on which sectors of development should be prioritized over others given a background of an economy thriving on limited resources.

Most governments concur and recognize the fact that Information Communication Technologies (ICT’s) are central to social and economic development. On the other end of the continuum, the youth are perceived as the highest potential users of ICT. In addition, the UN population division has revealed the following statistics about youth:

The world population in the range of 12 – 24 years of age is 1.5 billion of which 1.3 billion are in developing countries.
The African median age is 19 years.
The African youth population has multiplied 4 times since 1950 and in projected to be 8 times more by 2050.

It, therefore, would not only be fair but wise to recommend that the bulk of resources and opportunities should be directed towards developing this sector.

The African Union acknowledges this thought and has established the African Regional Action Plan on a Knowledge Economy (ARPKE) as a promising pan-African initiative that will establish a platform for launching regional and sub-regional ICT projects for the benefit of the African youth. The Government of Zimbabwe, through the relevant ministries of ICT and Youth empowerment, should compliment this gesture and give preference to projects that give special attention to youth developing their ICT capabilities since the youth represent the most valuable asset and hope for the future.

While addressing Youth and ICT, emphasis on critical issues such as access, integration, empowerment, learning and employment is essential. The youth should be able to apply various ICT strategies to improve gathering, collation, evaluation and dissemination of information regardless of their areas of expertise. Below are some essential areas:

Education and Training

E-Learning is set to surpass traditional face to face education because it has proven to be a more effective method of instruction. The consensus of research shows that online instruction is better than traditional methods because of the numerous advantages attached to it. The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education has adopted “Moodle” as the recommended Learning Management System or platform (LMS) for colleges and universities in Zimbabwe. This poses several questions regarding these institutions’ capacity to fully implement E-Learning, ability of lecturers to upload learning materials on the LMS and capability of students to navigate it. There is need for harmonized policy guidelines on mainstreaming ICT’s in the education system.

Commerce

There is a need to facilitate and grow E-Commerce locally. The Wikipedia defines E – Commerce as buying and selling products and services over electronic systems such as the internet and other computer networks. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily with widespread internet usage. The use of commerce is conducted in this way, spurring and drawing on innovations in electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at some point in the transaction's lifecycle, although it can encompass a wider range of technologies such as e-mail as well.

Agriculture

With agriculture being the mainstay of the economy, there is need for transformation to accommodate modernization in order to utelise ICT in land management, crop and animal production and output processing. ICT promotes information sharing for forecasting and sustainable agricultural development. It is imperative that agrometeorological services should harness ICT’S in order to ensure that the mass populace makes maximum use of online agricultural information services to improve productivity and promote sustainable development

Mining and Manufacturing

ICT use for both small and large scale mining industries can aid in prospecting and modeling deposits. It can also improve the quality of controls, marketing, production data and management in trade.

Health

Research, data gathering and processing information for dissemination within the health sector will be achieved by developing and promoting the use of ICT to efficiently deliver health services. This will result in integration of health services with an interactive national and international ICT information sharing system.ICT’S can also be used to improve health Information services and also to facilitate the realization of the Millennium Development Goals.

Tourism

The tourism industry would benefit from electronic reservations, payment systems and travel technology. Countries like Malaysia have benefitted immensely from innovative E – Tourism projects.

Having highlighted some of the areas that would benefit from ICT’s, it is imperative to capacitate the youth in order to enable them to pioneer proceedings in these areas. ICT training for the youth should be extended to grassroots levels and remote areas. Opportunities for research should be availed and best practice projects on ICT that have been implemented in some areas should be replicated. Social networking sites available on the internet provide an opportunity for youth to showcase their capabilities, share accomplishments, and reveal challenges. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and hi5 are some of the modern platforms that the youth can use to create personal, project or event profiles in order to market themselves. These networking forum are becoming so influential that Personnel Recruitment companies have hinted that potential employers are consulting these during candidate selection.

Whilst the government should be commended for waiving customs duty on ICT products, more should be done to encourage the youth to venture into projects related to ICT. Incentives for those carrying out research and development in this sector, for instance, would go a long way in promoting creativity in the local industry. The youth, undoubtedly, has brilliant ideas and such incentives would encourage creation of small scale enterprises and establishment of public private partnerships. Such incentives may include tax exemption, tax reduction on equipment and software, special ICT investment funds, subsidies and micro-credit.

KM & Communications

Will Knowledge ‘R’ us (not “Knowlege 'R' ours”) shape the future of knowledge and KM?

Md Santo — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:04:48 -0600

Will Knowledge ‘R’ us (not “Knowlege 'R' ours”) shape the future of knowledge and KM?

By : Dr Md Santo – http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com

The nature of Homo Sapiens comprising three knowing tools components. The first is Peripheral Nerve System or Human Senses including our Autonomic Nerve System representing Human Knowledge with Lower Consciousness (KLC). The second is Central Nerve System or Mind Brain representing Human Knowledge with Medium Consciousness (KMC). The third is Human Consciousness DNA representing Human Knowledge with Higher Consciousness (KHC). If it is postulated that nature of Knowledge Management (KM) derived from the nature of Human or we could say Human System Biology (HSB)-based KM, then we will observe that KM Tools mainly generated from KLC, KM Process Framework generated from KMC as well as KM Standards (culture and value management) generated from KHC respectively ( http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/brief-description-of-our )
Consequently Knowledge which is located at the domain of DIKW continuum model as commonly believed has a narrow meaning. Hence, I suggested to separate DI with KW considering each is an entity into DI – KW model to give emphasize the paradigm I’ve just mentioned above (http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/blooms-taxonomy-knowledge-an... )
Therefore, Knowledge Management (KM) essentially is not management technique but behaving more as an access mechanisms that can be used across any management tool type such as Total Quality Management, Learning Organization, Benchmarking, Process Classification Framework, Business Process Reengineering, Balanced Scorecard, Business Intelligence including Social Media platforms etc. wherein each with their specific functions to be orchestrated under KM’s consciousness. So, here we put KM in incredibly broad meaning as subject with higher level than any other management tool type which is treated only as object ( http://www.scribd.com/doc/28696847/How-to-re-postulating-the-paradigm-of... ) From eastern concept, Knowledge with broad meaning also known as Noor or “Light”
I use the phrase “KNOWLEDGE ‘R’ US”, not “KNOWLEDGE ‘R’ OURS” as the expression of the paradigm of K as well as KM just mentioned above wherein human knowledge from beginning of our life represent human consciousness as well as our personality functioning to lead us in our journey through the path of Physical Realities – Data – Information – Knowledge (narrow meaning) – Wisdom and above . In eastern people beyond Wisdom frequently called as “Ma’rifat”
The overall description in schematic as well as in presentation forms could be accessed through the list of the links below. To get explanation more in details you could visit our gateway links by choosing relevant article(s) or topic(s) at http://delicious.com/mobeeknowledge and/or http://delicious.com/tags/mobeeknowledge?view=all& . And last but not least, just to emphasize from my point of view I’ve recognized at least 10 “symptoms and signs” toward the future of next gen KM – visit http://www.scribd.com/doc/27484344/Ten-Landmarks-Toward-Next-Generation-Knowledge-Management

List of the “KNOWLEDGE ‘R’ US” related links are as follow : (Source Link : http://www.scribd.com/doc/29259487/KNOWLEDGE-R-US )

Human Body Knowing Tools as Human Consciousness Related to Knowledge Management - http://www.scribd.com/doc/28959294/Human-Body-Knowing-Tools-as-Human-Con...
How to re-postulating the paradigm of Knowledge and Knowledge Management - http://www.scribd.com/doc/28696847/How-to-re-postulating-the-paradigm-of...
Road to Next Gen Knowledge Management : “Mobee Knowledge Top Four Articles of the Month” - http://www.scribd.com/doc/28435600/Road-to-Next-Gen-Knowledge-Management-“Mobee-Knowledge-Top-Four-Articles-of-the-Month”
Bloom's Taxonomy (Learning Domains)* related with Knowledge and Knowledge Management (KM)** - http://www.scribd.com/doc/28370204/Bloom-s-Taxonomy-Learning-Domains-rel...
How to convert Knowledge Into Knowledge Management - http://www.scribd.com/doc/28177748/How-to-convert-Knowledge-Into-Knowled...
Ten Landmarks Toward Next Generation Knowledge Management - http://www.scribd.com/doc/27484344/Ten-Landmarks-Toward-Next-Generation-...
The Origin of Knowledge and Knowledge Management derived from DI-KW separated entities model - http://www.scribd.com/doc/26869572/The-Origin-of-Knowledge-and-Knowledge...
Towards Human System Biology-based Next Gen KM - http://www.scribd.com/doc/25765257/Towards-Human-System-Biology-based-Ne...
Knowledge Management System Development Derived From Human System Biology - http://www.scribd.com/doc/25613526/Knowledge-Management-System-Developme...
Explaining Step by Step the Process of Knowledge Management 2.0 Map - http://www.scribd.com/doc/25036410/Explaining-Step-by-Step-the-Process-o...
KM Metrics to Locate Your Achievements in the Universe - http://www.scribd.com/doc/24808191/KM-Metrics-to-Locate-Your-Achievement...
You Are the Knowledge - Hybrid Definition of Knowledge - http://www.scribd.com/doc/24439826/You-Are-the-Knowledge-Hybrid-Definiti...
The Physics of Knowledge - http://www.scribd.com/doc/24339159/The-Physics-of-Knowledge
WEB-BASED KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT 2.0 MAP - http://www.scribd.com/doc/24331515/WEB-BASED-KNOWLEDGE-MANAGEMENT-2-0-MAP

@2010 Md Santo

KM & Communications

KMAfrica.com KnowledgeHub Greetings

KMAadmin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:16:07 -0700

Zulu culture, language & traditions

GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE TOWARDS 2012

Md Santo — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:40:15 -0700

GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE TOWARDS 2012 or “CONTINUUM OF PHYSICAL REALITY WITH KNOWLEDGE AND BEYOND : GREAT TURNING FROM MIND BRAIN TO CONSCIOUSNESS DNA” (see the Attachment) showing global trends towards 2012 in which the domain of Knowledge evolved in continuum universe as emergent behavior within human body as complex (adpative) system, having consciousness and free will (mind and value) as well as behaving dynamically as subject

A brief description about the sentence ..."After Singularity between Human Mind and Technology reaching its peak (in 2012 ?)"... :
"Singularity" here means the phenomenon of the race between smartness of Human and Technology (Machine) which is at present occured exponentially and exponentially at very tremendous speed and will reaching its peak around the year 2012. To cope this situation, Human as Complex Adaptive System will migrate or making "great turning" from Brain as "center of play making in science or scientific knowledge" (locus of Mind) to the DNA as "new center" (locus of Consciousness). This migration or "great turning" will give impressive impact on how Human manage the Science and Technology. In this circumstances, it will appropriate if we put or coin a new term called as "Knowledgeable Science" which is entirely different with Scientific Knowledge as commonly used. (Consciousness) DNA as new vital locus will certainly has a higher level than the (Mind) Brain as former human vital locus.

To get more comprehensive insight, should you visit also :

http://isivivane.com/kmafrica/forum.hybrid.definition.of.knowledge - "We are the knowledge: a hybrid definition of knowledge"
http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/next-generation-of-knowledge - "NEXT GENERATION OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT (KM)"
http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/five-basic-implications-of-n... - "FIVE BASIC IMPLICATIONS OF NEW PARADIGM OF KNOWLEDGE"
http://mobeeknowledge.ning.com/forum/topics/knowledge-towards-2012-great - "KNOWLEDGE TOWARDS 2012 : GREAT TURNING FROM MIND BRAIN TO CONSCIOUSNESS DNA"

Tourism Knowledge SIG

Restoring lives and landscapes

carol — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:18:25 -0600

This booklet tells the story of a project that has had a profound influence on the management of four large forest areas in Guinea. The Landscape Management for Improved Livelihoods (LAMIL) project has also done much to improve the welfare of local people. Indeed, the two - better forest management and improved livelihoods - are inextricably linked.

The World Agroforestry Centre, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and their partners in the LAMIL project have developed a system of co-management, involving local communities and government agencies, which is generating considerable interest in Guinea and throughout the region.

Not long ago, these forests were managed by government agencies. Local people were forbidden from using them. As a result, the forests were widely abused, and the authorities were able to do little to stem the tide of illegal logging, poaching and land
clearance. Under co-management, in contrast, local people derive real benefits from the forests, and in return they have shown their willingness, and ability, to manage them sustainably.

Author Charlie Pye-Smith

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Social Challenges

The water debate

storytelling — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:03:06 -0600

Water is vital to life. It is the essential component in all aspects and activities related to our well-being and existence – including food and energy production and manufacturing in general. It’s clear that if our water supply continues to dwindle, and/or, if water became unaffordable, our lives would be detrimentally transformed. Billions of people are already experiencing and suffering from the mismanagement and unequal allocation of water. Between 1.1 and 1.5 billion people in the world lack access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion people lack access to basic sanitation. 2.2 million people die each year due to low quality drinking water and/or lack of sanitation – that is 42,000 people per week, 90 percent of whom are children (WHO/UNICET:2005). Exclusion to socially necessary goods and services such as fresh water has horrific consequences that are catastrophic, yet entirely preventable.

The struggle over fresh water goods and services has taken the form of a conflict over increasing commercialisation, privatisation and liberalisation. This struggle takes place in an era of economic globalisation where neoliberal policies transform all forms of social reproduction so that all goods and services that were once held in common (things such as fresh water, education and healthcare etc.) are increasingly exposed to the free market and in many cases transformed into a form of private property. This regulatory shift – from public to private – is by no means inevitable. The processes that facilitate this shift are a direct result of political and corporate elites exercising their power and will, through an organised network of connections, in order to achieve the free market conditions that are necessary to expand the reach of capital.

Fireside Chat

GM Crop Information

KMAadmin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:52:24 -0600

When GM crops and foods were first introduced in the late 1990s, some scientists raised concerns that genetic modification was imprecise and unpredictable and could result in harm to health and the environment. They warned that:

GM could create foods that are toxic, allergenic and less nutritious than their non-GM counterparts
GM crops could damage vulnerable wild plant and animal populations
GM plants cannot be recalled, but as living organisms will propagate, transmitting any damaging properties from generation to generation
GM crops could cause irreversible alterations to the food supply, with serious consequences for the environment and human and animal health.

Subsequent events and a growing body of scientific evidence have shown each of these concerns to be valid but the biotech industry and its supporters have engaged in a global PR, marketing and lobbying campaign to promote this technology in order to undermine the concerns and attack those raising them.

GM information

GMWatch sends out regular bulletins that provide news and comment on GM foods and crops, with particular emphasis on exposing the PR behind the global push for GM technology.
Spinprofiles documents the PR and propaganda activities of PR firms engaged in managing and manipulating public perception, opinion and policy. SpinProfiles also includes profiles on think tanks, front groups funded by industry and "industry-friendly experts" who work to influence public opinion and public policy on behalf of corporations or other special interests.
Greenpeace International Genetic Engineering Campaign has details on the latest campaigns with easy and quick-to-do email actions to help keep food supplies free from GM contamination.
Friends of the Earth International is the place to find details on the latest FoE global campaigns and downloadable reports on GM food and crops.
Biosafety Information Centre, run by the Third World Network, has information and downloadable briefing papers on biosafety problems with GM crops and foods worldwide.
Bioscience Resource Project has science stories on GM crops and food. Includes critiques of corporate 'junk' science, exposures of conflicts of interest, and news on the persecution of whistleblowers.
Ban GM Food is a campaign-oriented website geared to Europe. It has details of how to take action and downloadable leaflets that people can print out at home and distribute. Emphasis is on scientifically accurate and well-referenced information.
GM Contamination RegisterBecause no official body is keeping track of GM contamination events worldwide, GeneWatch UK and Greenpeace have stepped into the gap with this up-to-date register.
Physicians and Scientists for Responsible Application of Science and Technology is a group of scientists and medics who campaign for a ban on GM foods.
Will GM crops deliver benefits to farmers? is an informative web page on farmers' experiences and agronomic research on GM crops.
EcoNexus "offers a rigorous scientific critique of genetic engineering (GE) and genetically modified organisms, and more recently of agrofuels (biofuels), synthetic biology and other new technological applications".
ISIS – Institute of Science in Society is the place to go for science in the service of social and environmental sustainability. This website and the associated print magazine, Science in Society, frequently break news about new insights and developments that take years to become widely accepted knowledge.
Ban Terminator Terminator Technology is an unpopular development in GM that makes GM crops produce sterile seeds. This website has news about the research and worldwide campaigns against Terminator.

KM & Communications

Risk analysis of genetically engineered plants

storytelling — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:19:46 -0600

A report by Testbiotech e.V. Institute for Independent Impact Assessment in Biotechnology
Authors: Christoph Then, Christof Potthof October 2009

Summary points compiled by GMWatch

GM food safety testing

European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) concept of risk assessment of genetically modified (GM) plants is essentially based upon guidelines that were developed by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) as early as 1993 on the assumption that the risks posed by GM plants are the same as those posed by conventional plants.
But the differences between conventional breeding and genetic engineering of plants are becoming clearer in the light of current genome research. Experience gained from conventional breeding cannot be applied to GM plants.
Changes in the activity of plant genes in the genetic engineering process are not an expression of natural gene regulation but an indication of disruption.
The outdated risk assessment methods for GM plants mean that their safety, predictability and controllability are not examined properly in the approvals procedure.
GM plants are tested much more superficially than irradiated food, pesticides, chemicals and medicines. To prove the safety of radiated food, for example, feeding trials were conducted on mice, rats, dogs, monkeys and even humans. Feeding trials were performed over several years to investigate growth, carcinogenicity and effects on reproduction. GM plants have undergone no such investigations.
Overall the risk assessment process for GM plants as defined by the EFSA does not even meet the requirements of the EU for comprehensive testing. It replaces actual risk testing by a system of assumptions.
More and more cases are being documented showing that independent risk research is being hampered. In many cases it is not even possible to access necessary testing materials. Even the publication of findings is being obstructed.
Society, politicians, and approval boards should no longer close their eyes to the fact that GM technology uses methods that are largely outdated and riskier than was originally thought. It is not the fear of new products that make a critical appraisal of GM technology necessary, but rather the fact that its scientific principles have been called more and more into question by new findings.
More than ten years after the first commercial cultivation of GM plants, there is no generally agreed perception about the risks posed by those plants or about how to conduct proper risk assessment.
The concept of 'substantial equivalence' (the assumption that a GM plant is substantially equivalent to its non-GM counterpart) was introduced by the OECD in 1993 and has come under harsh criticism from scientists. However, it is still seen as the starting point for the EFSA's risk assessment, thereby influencing its outcome.
Even in cases when significant differences between transgenic plants and their counterparts are observed, they are mostly dismissed by the EFSA as being not of "biological significance" – without attempts to verify or further investigate these differences to detect unintended effects.
The EFSA does not think that feeding trials with GM plants (or derived food and feed) are necessary.
GM plants of complex makeup cannot be assessed by analysing some of their isolated components, as is habitually done by industry in its own testing of its GM plants. Testing of whole GM plants is especially necessary on the new generation of GM crops, which have several 'stacked' GM traits. But feeding trials using whole transgenic plants are not required by EFSA.
Scientists point out that testing should be extended to include whole-plant/whole-food testing in both toxicity and allergenicity studies in order to more reliably detect unintended and detrimental effects of genetic modification.
These arguments are not followed by the EFSA. EFSA only suggests more detailed investigations in connection with products such as Golden Rice (where market authorization has not yet been applied for). According to the EFSA the metabolism of these plants can be regarded as being changed on several levels, so feeding trials with whole plants should be performed in order to avoid negative health effects. In this argument, EFSA contradicts the position of the Golden Rice team. But EFSA at the same time assumes that transgenic plants where approval for commercialisation is currently being applied for should be seen as harbouring only minor risks. EFSA does not consider feeding trials to be necessary even in the case of stacked events.
EFSA states, incorrectly, that one introduced gene produces one gene product, with no other knock-on effects on the plant: "The current generation of GM plants cultivated for commercial purposes has been modified through the introduction of one or a few genes coding for herbicide tolerance, insect resistance or a combination of these traits. In these plants the genetic insert leads to the production of a gene product, which does not interfere with the overall metabolism of the plant cell, and does not alter the composition of the GM plant except for the introduced trait." The truth is that genes interact with each other in complex ways and their function is defined by the environment.
Risks to human health of products such as radiated food, pesticides and pharmaceuticals have to be investigated to prove their safety without anything being presumed. But in the case of GM plants the risks first have to be proven before detailed investigations are made. The approach chosen by the EFSA turns around the burden of proof: GM plants are assumed to be safe until the opposite is proven.
Just how much the science of GM has moved on from the outdated assumptions made by EFSA is clear from the patent applications of companies such as Monsanto. Here's Monsanto's patent application WO2004053055, which claims unintended effects(!) in GM plants: "Nonetheless, the frequency of success of enhancing the transgenic plant is low due to a number of factors including the low predictability of the effects of a specific gene on the plant's growth, development and environmental response, the low frequency of maize transformation, the lack of highly predictable control of the gene once introduced into the genome, and other undesirable effects of the transformation event and tissue culture process."

KM, Emerging Technologies and Innovative Schemes

Generic guidelines for mainstreaming drylands issues into National Development Frameworks

carol — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:59:43 -0600

The Generic Drylands Mainstreaming Guidelines have been developed by the UNDP-DDC in close collaboration with the UNEP and UNDP/Global Environment Facility (GEF) Global Support Unit. This document provides broad generic steps for mainstreaming environment and drylands issues into national development frameworks, as well lessons drawn from various countries on environment and drylands mainstreaming.

It is important for the implementation of poverty reduction strategies and the achievement of the MDGs to take into account drylands issues and challenges, especially how they impact the poorest communities. These communities have the lowest per capita GDP and the highest infant mortality rates. The combination of high variability in environmental conditions and relatively high levels of poverty leads to situations where human populations can be extremely sensitive to changes in the ecosystem. If drylands are not mainstreamed, they will lose out in resource allocation. These guidelines have been developed with the aim of influencing action at several levels of planning and policy engagement, because it is necessary to make drylands visible at all levels.

The guidelines have been informed by lessons drawn from 21 countries on mainstreaming environment into development frameworks with a particular focus on drylands issues, and by a review made of other international organizations’ guidelines on the same subject. This concerted action will create the synergistic and critical pressure needed to put and keep drylands issues at a place of importance on the developmental agenda.

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & the Environment

Institutionalizing Evaluation - review of international experience

carol — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:44:33 -0600

Policy-makers are experimenting with billion’s of people’s lives on a daily basis without informed consent, and without rigorous evidence that what they do works, has no substantive adverse effects, and could not be achieved more efficiently through other means. In this context, carefully designed and implemented evaluations have the potential to save lives and improve people’s welfare. However, to date evaluations have tended to be selected based on the availability of data, the interest of researchers and donors, and the availability of funds rather than on their potential contribution to broader development strategies. For this reason, the institutionalization of quality evaluation is necessary in order to turn it into an optimal tool for policy-making. This report looks at the experiences of institutionalizing government evaluation efforts and considers the lessons learnt for countries starting down that road.

This report compares experiences of institutionalizing government evaluation efforts through a discussion of the three leading models in Latin America – Mexico, Colombia and Chile - the non-centralized system of monitoring and evaluation adopted in South Africa, and the policylearning approach taken in China. Some developed country and international experiences are also
briefly presented.

The case of Mexico: the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Policy, CONEVAL
The case of Colombia: the National System for Evaluation and Management for Results, SINERGIA
The case of Chile: the Management Control Division at DIPRES
The Case of South Africa: the Government-Wide Monitoring and Evaluation System
The case of China: the state of current evaluation efforts

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Social Challenges

UNFPA Toolkit Focuses on Women, Population and Climate Change

carol — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:11:18 -0600

© UNFPA, WEDO14 October 2009: The UN Population Fund (UNFPA), together with the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), has launched a resource kit on climate change connections, focusing on gender and population and advocating that women are uniquely positioned as innovators, educators, caretakers, leaders and agents of change to address the risks of a changing climate.

The resource kit provides policy guidance, finance and adaptation plans, advocacy tools and best practices related to increasing educational opportunities for girls, economic opportunities for women, and access to reproductive health and family planning, recognizing their role in reducing vulnerability to climate change. Women, population and climate change are the focus of the UNFPA's flagship report, State of World Population, to be released on 18 November 2009. UNFPA Resource Kit: Climate Change Connections - Gender and Population https://www.unfpa.org/public/site/global/lang/en/pid/4028

Climate Change Connections

UNFPA and WEDO have developed a comprehensive resource kit on gender, population and climate change. Learn how gender equality can reduce vulnerability to climate change impacts and how women are uniquely positioned to help curb the harmful consequences of a changing climate.

Climate change is already impacting populations and ecosystems around the globe. Exacerbating poverty and leading to infrastructural breakdown, it threatens to set back development efforts by decades, profoundly affecting all of us.

But the impact won't be felt equally. Those with the fewest resources will be most susceptible to its negative effects - particularly women, the majority of the world's poor. At the same time, women's vulnerability can obscure the fact that they are an untapped resource in efforts to cope with the effects of climate change and reduce the emissions that cause it. As innovators, organizers, leaders, educators and caregivers, women are uniquely positioned to help curb the harmful consequences of a changing climate. Incorporating a gender perspective into climate change policies, projects and funds is crucial in ensuring that women contribute to and benefit from equitable climate solutions.

Overview: Women at the Forefront https://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/documents/publications/2...
Policy that Supports Gender Equality https://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/documents/publications/2...
Common Ground: In Bangladesh, Ghana, Nepal, Senegal and Trinidad and Tobago https://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/documents/publications/2...
Making NAPAs Work for Women https://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/documents/publications/2...
Financing that Makes a Difference https://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/documents/publications/2...
Educate and Advocate https://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/documents/publications/2009/climateconnections_6_advocacy.pdf

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & the Environment

Leading the way: A role for regional institutions

carol — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:49:27 -0600

LEAD Africa, supported by the Royal Danish Embassy and COP 15, has just released a new report “Leading the way: A role for regional institutions” around African leadership on climate change that can be downloaded at the LeadInAfrica.org Website

Leadership is critical to addressing the challenges and opportunities posed by climate change. The onset of climate impacts combined with new policy frameworks and funding mechanisms require the building of institutional and human capacity, the strengthening of governance and provision of an enabling environment for climate action. This is especially true for Africa, because of its unique vulnerability to climate impacts, its low resilience and its climate-dependent economic sectors. Whilst Africa is ‘clearly in peril, climate change also provides a unique opportunity to forge a new more sustainable and socially equitable developmental pathway. But this will need strong and visionary leadership, and particularly African leadership as opposed to our historic reliance on external agencies and bi-lateral partners to set the development agenda.

In recognition of this, LEAD Africa and ENDA Energy have begun to look at leadership on climate issues in Africa as part of our wider environment and development agenda. We are especially concerned with looking at the regional and sub-regional levels, as climatic responses by their very nature are trans-national and highly complex. Although this level of leadership in Africa has also historically been the weakest, we believe it can become a critical leverage point for leadership on climate issues in particular.

The potential of African institutions to provide leadership on climate issues, their unique responsibilities and their ability to act as climate response catalysts was the subject of a recent workshop on ‘African Leadership on Climate Change: Challenges and Opportunities for Regional Institutions”, held in Tunis in January 2009.

This paper is based on the discussions at the workshop and aims to highlight to a wider audience the urgent need for African Leadership on Climate Change, particularly at the regional level. It begins with an overview of the current situation vis a vis leadership on climate issues in Africa, then highlights opportunities to show leadership on climate issues, before finally summarizing recommendations from the workshop on how regional institutions can become climate leaders.

KM & the Environment

Population and reproductive health in National Adaptation Programmes of Action

carol — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 06:56:23 -0600

By : Clive Mutunga and Karen Hardee

This paper reviews 41 National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) submitted by Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and identifies the range of interventions included in countries’ priority adaptation actions. The review found near-universal recognition among the NAPAs of the importance of population considerations as a central pillar in climate change adaptation.

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & the Environment

Dryland opportunities - A new paradigm for people, ecosystems and development

carol — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:55:06 -0600

Drylands cover 41 percent of the earth’s terrestrial surface. The urgency of and international response to climate change have given a new place to drylands in terms both of their vulnerability to predicted climate change impacts and their potential contribution to climate change mitigation. This book aims to apply the new scientific insights on complex dryland systems to practical options for development. A new dryland paradigm is built on the resources and capacities of dryland peoples, on new and emergent economic opportunities, on inward investment, and on the best support that dryland science can offer.

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & the Environment

Managing waters across boundaries, wetland assessment & reforming water governance

carol — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:49:12 -0600

1. Share: Managing waters across boundaries

This publication provides an overview of the world’s shared water resources and insights for managing these resources. Using case studies from around the world, it describes the benefits to be gained from cooperation and the challenges of constructing legal frameworks, institutions, management processes and financing and partnership strategies to govern transboundary waters equitably and sustainably.

2. Assess : Integrated Wetland Assessment Toolkit

For billions of people throughout the world, especially the rural poor, wetlands are critical for livelihoods, providing vital supplies of water, food and materials as well as ecological services. Wetlands are, however, suffering from extreme levels of degradation with estimates putting wetland loss and drainage in some parts of the world at more than 50%. Such a high level of wetland degradation not only results in a tragic loss of the wetland species but is also impacting heavily on those people whose livelihoods depend upon wetlands. There are also significant losses to national and regional economies resulting from the loss of hydrological services, such as flood control and water purification, and of material goods such as those provided through fisheries.

3. Rule: reforming water governance

This toolkit will introduce readers to the central role played by policy, law and institutions in designing and implementing good governance for water resources. It will guide users through approaches to reforming water governance, including useful mechanisms for incorporating environmental considerations into water laws and policies. It is intended for use by water professionals, working in water management, who do not have a law background.

4. Conserve: Conservation for a new era

Conversation alone cannot deliver conservation on the ground. Not even good conversation. Good conservation outcomes need hard work, mainly in the field. A conservationist’s life is long hours of travelling to get there, longer hours of observation, even longer hours of analysis, deep thought and synthesis – and then more hours in the laboratory and the library, documenting and communicating. This does not mean that a life in conservation is tedious; on the contrary, its very nature is fun – but its primary fun is in nature.

Nevertheless, as for all professions, advancement of knowledge in conservation depends on sharing, critiquing, questioning, refining and honing ideas from research and for action through interaction with colleagues and peers from related and other disciplines. Modern communications have revolutionized the possibilities for such sharing but ultimately there is no substitute for physical encounters where researchers and practitioners can meet and exchange information on what they are doing.

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Social Challenges

The Codex Alimentarius Commission - who decides what food we eat?

KMAadmin — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:53:53 -0600

"The Codex Alimentarius Commission envisages a world afforded the highest attainable levels of consumer protection including food safety and quality. To this end, the Commission will develop internationally agreed standards and related texts for use in domestic regulation and international trade in food that are based on scientific principles and fulfil the objectives of consumer health protection and fair practices in food trade.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission is an intergovernmental body with over 170 members, within the framework of the Joint Food Standards Programme established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), with the purpose of protecting the health of consumers and ensuring fair practices in the food trade. The Commission also promotes coordination of all food standards work undertaken by international governmental and non governmental organizations.

The Codex Alimentarius (Latin, meaning Food Law or Code) is the result of the Commission’s work: a collection of internationally adopted food standards, guidelines, codes of practice and other recommendations."

STRATEGIC PLAN 2008–2013

This document sets out the Strategic Plan 2008–2013 for the Codex Alimentarius Commission, stating strategic goals of the Commission (Part1) and incorporating a list of programme areas and planned activities with a clearly defined timetable (Part 2). The strategic vision and goals for the Commission underpin the high priority attached to food safety by its parent organizations FAO and WHO.

Further information on these texts, or any other aspect of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, may be obtained from:

The Secretary
Codex Alimentarius Commission
Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla
00153 Rome, Italy
Fax: +39 06 57054593
E-mail: codex@fao.org
http://www.codexalimentarius.net

Programme areas and planned activities2008–2013

Goal 1: Promoting sound regulatory frameworks
Goal 2: Promoting widest and consistent application of scientific principles and risk analysis
Goal 3: Strengthening Codex work-management capabilities
Goal 4: Promoting cooperation between Codex and other relevant international organizations
Goal 5: Promoting maximum and effective participation of members

full strategic plan available for download hereunder.

Fireside Chat

Africa's Development in a Changing Climate

carol — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:18:19 -0600

Key policy advice from World Development Report 2010 and Making Development Climate Resilient: A World Bank Strategy for
Sub-Saharan Africa - Act Now, Act Together, Act Differently

"Over the past ten years, Sub-Saharan Africa has made a great deal of progress in terms of economic growth. In fact, Africa has the potential to emerge as an exciting new center of growth in the evolving global economy. However, to continue on an accelerated growth path, the region needs to tackle climate variability and climate change, which now pose a daunting risk to growth, development, and poverty reduction. Climate is hardly a new factor in the region's history, but with global warming, Africa's vulnerability is deepening, making it the most exposed region in the world to the impacts of climate change. The hard-won progress of recent years could be reversed with extreme weather, crop failures, and outbreaks of hunger and disease."

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & the Environment

Running a junior farmer field and life school - Empowering orphans and vulnerable children

carol — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:34:20 -0600

Getting started! : running a junior farmer field and life school, Empowering orphans and vulnerable children living in a world with HIV and AIDS

WIEGERS, Esther HILL, Catherine COLBERT,Patricia 2007

Country focus: Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

In response to the growing number of children orphaned by AIDS, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Food Programme and other partners have implemented Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools in some African countries. These are designed to empower orphans and other vulnerable children aged 12 to 18 years who live in communities where HIV/AIDS has had a strong impact on food security.A JFFLS seeks to improve the livelihoods of vulnerable boys and girls and provide them with opportunities for the future, while minimizing the risk of adopting negative coping behaviours. To increase these children's self esteem and livelihood prospects, a JFFLS imparts agricultural knowledge and life skills to orphaned and other vulnerable girls and boys. The knowledge and skills not only empower the children economically, but also help them to become responsible citizens with positive values regarding gender and human rights. The JFFLS contribute to the MDGs of combating HIV/AIDS and improving the lives of children, particularly in rural areas.

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Social Challenges

Climate change, population pressure and conflict in South Africa

carol — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 05:27:23 -0600

Climate change presents humanity with its largest challenge in recorded history. Its predicted eff ects over the coming decades include extreme weather events, droughts, fl ooding, rising sea levels that could affect countries such as Nigeria and Mozambique, retreating glaciers (although not in Africa, but with global impact), changes in habitats and increased spread of life-threatening diseases such as malaria.

Little concrete analysis has been published on the relationship between climate change and conflict, however, and even less on the potential role that population growth plays in intensifying that pressure.

Today Africa is home to the most rapid levels of population growth and of urbanisation in the world and will shortly have more people than China. Already it is inhabited by 14 per cent of the world’s human population – a proportion that will rise to 25 per cent by 2050. Africa will inevitably face greater challenges owing to climate change than any other region."

Climate change, population pressure and conflict in South Africa

Author: Cilliers, Jakkie
Institute for Security Studies (South Africa)
Pretoria: ISS 2009

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Social Challenges

Weathering the Storm: Options for Framing Adaptation and Development Share

carol — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:53:40 -0600

Attempts to clarify the relationship between adaptation and development by analyzing 135 projects, policies, and other initiatives from the developing world that have been labeled by implementers or researchers as "adaptation to climate change." Confusion about the relationship between adaptation and development has meant that funding mechanisms may create redundancies or leave gaps in the landscape of critical adaptation and development activities.

Drawing on Internet resources, Weathering the Storm attempts to clarify this relationship by analyzing 135 projects, policies, and other initiatives from the developing world that have been labeled by implementers or researchers as "adaptation to climate change."

The report analyzes the objectives of initiatives and the strategies utilized in implementation to characterize some of the ways that adaptation and development overlap. A continuum of activities from "pure" development to "pure" climate change is proposed as a conceptual framework to understand when different "development" activities may play an "adaptation" function. Recommendations address governance challenges, funding implications, and next steps in analysis and policy development.

Author: Heather McGray, Anne Hammill, Rob Bradley, with E. Lisa Schipper and Jo-Ellen Parry
November, 2007 ISBN: 978-1-56973-672-2

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Social Challenges

Call for Projects: the climate crisis

carol — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:24:18 -0600

Planet Action provides satellite imagery, geographic information and technology support to local projects that investigate and assess climate change issues focusing on human issues, drought & desertification, water resources, forestry, biodiversity,
oceans, ice, and awareness. This year, Planet Action will support additional projects while following up on current projects
and their results on the ground. Planet Action supports projects involved at least in one of the following domains:

Awareness
Biodiversity & Conservation
Drought & Desertification
Human Issues
Forest & Deforestation
Ice & Snow
Oceans & Coastlines
Water Resources

Projects are submitted online at the Planet Action Website , where you will need to create an account, log in and click on "Submit your project!" and complete the online form. Participation to special events organized by Planet Action partners is also kindly requested.

To be eligible for support from Planet Action, projects must:

Deal with a climate change related issue and propose a course of actions.
Deal with at least one of the Planet Action "domains".
Have a member of the organization who resides in the country where the project takes place or at least during the duration of the projects
Be proposed by a non-profit organization such as NGO's, a public laboratory or a university.
Confirm that the project has no commercial, religious or ideological content or objective.

Additional criteria:

The importance and usefulness of the project for local populations.
A focus on raising awareness, information, training or outreach programmes that will result from the project.
The solid methodologies supported by staff members or associated teams with an appropriate background for the work proposed.

User's Manual available for download from Planet Action Website

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & the Environment

FAO Water Communications

KMAadmin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:42:03 -0600

This resource includes a number of posters from the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) that help conscientise communities about water, water scarcity, water in food production etc. The FAO site is available here . The FAO also has a dedicated youtube channel available on FAO YouTube Website

KM & Communications

Climate change and AIDS: A joint working paper

carol — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 23:40:05 -0600

AIDS and climate change (CC) are two of the most important "long wave" global issues of the recent past, the present and the future. They share similarities, interactions, and present possibilities for a more united response. Yet these links have received little analysis. This paper seeks to address that gap. It first focuses on scientific issues, identifying major, minor, and speculative pathways by which AIDS and CC are likely to interact. These interactions are, here, called the HIV and Climate Change Complex (HACC).

The maximum impact of CC is in the future, likely to occur decades after the peak incidence of HIV. The severity of the HACC will largely be determined by the temporal overlap of these ranges. The HACC will also have an uneven spatial distribution, modified by the regional impact of CC and the regional epidemiology of AIDS, each of which varies by physical and social elements. Populations with currently high rates of HIV are the most vulnerable to a worsening or prolongation of the epidemic due to CC.

This places the people of SSA at the greatest risk of the HACC, though outside Africa populations in north east India and New Guinea may also be significantly impacted.

There is agreement that the most important pathway in the HACC will be further deterioration of regional and global food security. At the individual level, nutrition is vital for good immune function, to reduce the risk of acquiring HIV if viral exposure does occur, and to slow the progression of HIV to AIDS and of AIDS to death. At larger scales, population nutrition is important for good governance, by helping to nurture and stimulate the "effective" demand populations need to reduce corruption and to more evenly distribute available resources. Any substantial decline in the availability and intake of calories or micronutrients brought about by CC is likely to increase poverty, impair learning and expand the number of migrants. The current decline in global food security, partly attributable to CC, is already causing disproportionate nutritional harm to migrants and otherwise impoverished populations, some of whom experience AIDS.

There is agreement that the second major pathway of the HACC is the CC-related alteration in the distribution of infectious diseases, which interact with AIDS. Of these, malaria is the most important, due to its high burden of disease (BOD). CC is projected to reduce malaria transmission in some regions, which experience a comparatively low rate of HIV, both now and in the future. This will reduce the beneficial impact to the BOD of AIDS for these populations. On the other hand, a large population with a high rate of HIV lives on the plateaus of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), an area as yet little affected by malaria. If the climatic, eco-systemic and other factors for malaria transmission alter sufficiently in these plateau cities then the HIV burden of this population is likely to be substantially higher, and will also be worsened by increased poverty and greater food insecurity.

There are several other plausible biological pathways in the HACC. Of these, the relationship between CC, air pollution and immunity, and CC, heat stress and immunity are likely to be the most important. More speculative is the possibility that that CC will harm infrastructure and governance on a scale sufficient to aggravate and prolong the BOD of AIDS. Again, the population of SSA is judged to be at the highest risk. This mechanism is plausible by interlinked pathways including more extreme weather events and "natural" disasters, increased mobility and additional migrants and refugees. These factors are also likely to aggravate gender inequalities, increasing the frequency of transactional and coercive sex - pathways likely to increase the BOD of AIDS among women and girls, via increased viral transmission and reduced access to treatment and prevention. At the global level, CC may exert an immense opportunity cost, diverting resources of the international community away from public health, including from HIV, poverty alleviation, and the other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Suggestions for a future research agenda include the more accurate assessment of the pathways within the HACC, and an improved conceptual understanding of the linkages between conflict, behaviour, governance and values, environmental factors including climate, and food production, and between each of these macro-elements and sea level rise. This would be best done by an interdisciplinary working group.

Another research gap is the effect of CC on human behaviour, including behavior related directly to HIV risk. From science, the paper moves to strategies and policies. The struggle to address AIDS and CC has generated two vigorous global social movements, with, as yet, little formal interaction or collaboration. We suggest this gap is a microcosm of a separation between two even larger communities - those concerned with the environment and those concerned with social justice. Of course, this is a simplification, but on the whole our perception is that the environmental movement is insufficiently aware of poverty, while the social justice movement is still poorly informed about the environment. The work, advocacy and activism of the leaders and actors within each community who do recognise these linkages will be strengthened by this report.

AIDS has already killed tens of millions of people, while CC may dwarf this number. Those concerned to reduce CC can apply many lessons learned by the AIDS community. These include the need to challenge conventions and to seek benefit for the poorest and most marginalised - and to widen the CC movement's emerging engagement with entrepreneurs, philanthropists and prominent personalities: tools instrumental in the growth of support for those with HIV. The AIDS constituency can benefit from the experience of humanitarian programmes, some of which already see AIDS and CC as cross-cutting issues.

Several actions to reduce the impact of CC on AIDS are proposed. These include the integration of HIV prevention and management into disaster management plans, particularly for populations in SSA, some of whom have already experienced extreme weather events. Means to enhance global and regional food security, especially in SSA, are vital, and much more can be done. A quarter of the world's population is over-nourished, and a more equitable distribution of global food production will go far to defusing any future food crisis, and is likely to improve health for both over and under-fed people. Malaria treatment and prevention in SSA can also be improved. The CC community might also consider strengthening the UNFCCC including with formal links with agriculture, health and security.

Finally, a risk is perceived whereby a relatively privileged stratum of people and interests argue that issues of global health and global social justice must be put aside in the effort to pursue partial CC adaptation. This approach is highly dangerous for global health and global social cohesion. It would also likely generate profound longer-term risks for currently privileged populations pursuing this strategy. A stronger alliance between the AIDS and CC communities will help thwart the emergence of such a policy. A focus on the interconnections between CC, food security, AIDS, health in general and the links between these and the MDGs is key to breaking out of this "either or" myopia."

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Social Challenges

How boosting smallholder farming can ease hunger and reduce poverty at the household level in southern Africa

KMAadmin — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:40:48 -0600

This policy brief looks at the factors constraining the productivity of smallholder farmers to achieve food security for poor households and communities, as a contribution to poverty eradication in southern Africa. The brief examines the characteristics of the region in terms of poverty, the state of food security in the region, and current factors that limit smallholder farmers’ capacity to produce more food in a sustainable way. It also identifies key policy areas for attention and makes recommendations to address policy gaps.

Information Provided by the Southern Africa Trust Website

KM & Social Challenges

Farm ponds for water, fish and livelihoods

carol — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:23:52 -0600

Aquaculture has been recognized as an important component of rural development, aimed at improving food supply and generating more income for poor farming households. Ponds add value to farming activities: water from ponds can serve
domestic and livestock water supplies as well as irrigation for crops. Raising fish is an obvious use for a farm pond; it adds value to the water and provides improved nutrition for farm families. Smallholder farms ponds can be viable and sustainable
enterprises with appropriate targeted assistance. Planned and implemented interventions can facilitate assistance that makes farmers self-reliant rather than dependent on the public sector, NGOs and donors. The benefits can be:

organised and better informed farmers
progressive farms that are self-sustaining
higher and sustained productivity
marketable surpluses
higher family earnings

The multiple use of water from ponds needs to be understood so that it can be used to produce farm products and meet domestic needs. Farmers also need advice on effective use of resources and input of nutrients as well as training
and institutional support.

The booklet suggests ways in which smallholder farmers can participate in the market economy and work with the private sector. Diversification of livelihoods for smallholders that includes farm ponds involves, among others: integration
of water supply to the farm, understanding local knowledge of integrated farming with several farm enterprises, and understanding the farmer's circumstances and capabilities so they can get the highest possible benefit while minimizing risks.

Authors: Miller,J. Produced by: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2009)

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Social Challenges

Rainwater harvesting: a lifeline for human well-being

carol — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:20:52 -0600

The aim of this report is to compile a synthesis of experiences that can provide insight into the multiple opportunities rainwater harvesting can have when addressing human well-being, while continuing to sustain a range of ecosystem services. This synthesis of linkages between ecosystem services, human well-being and rainwater harvesting interventions examines 29 cases from diverse economic and environmental settings.

Water supply of the right quality and quantity is essential for productive ecosystems and human well-being. The increasing demand on water resources for development whilst maintaining healthy ecosystems puts water resources under pressure.

Rainwater harvesting is an intervention that enables development and human well-being without undermining ecosystem services. Rainwater harvesting is a local intervention that improves equity, gender balance and strengthens social capital in
a community.

Rainwater harvesting is discussed from an ecosystem perspective and has positive benefits in both rural and urban areas. It employs a variety of methods to better manage water resources for many purposes including more water for domestic supply and for increased crop production. It also regulates and supports the ecosystem by reducing soil erosion, improving groundwater and spring supplies and increasing diversity among flora and fauna. In urban areas, pressure for ground and surface water is reduced.

Nevertheless, the implementation of rainwater harvesting should be limited in areas subject to water stress. Additional rainwater harvesting may affect other uses of water so assessment of impacts on ecosystem services and human well-being is needed.

In all cases studied, positive effects were mentioned in at least one of the four categories of poverty, income, health and gender. Negative impacts were mentioned in relation to heath, gender, and equity of labour. An additional positive effect for rainwater harvesting interventions was for rural domestic and agricultural uses as it built human and social capital.

Rainwater harvesting gives increased opportunities to manage all water resources and is a coping strategy in areas with variable rainfall. It should be seen as an important component in water management strategies and plans and as a complementary and viable alternative to large scale water use in emerging water-stressed basins.

Produced by: United Nations [UN] Environment Programme (2009)

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Social Challenges

Water resources, climate change and human vulnerability

carol — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:12:52 -0600

This paper focuses on the impact of climate change on water resources and the affect it has on human society. Millions of people are at risk from the impacts of climate change associated with the socio-political dimensions of global change and demographic changes.

A model to link the climate and social sciences is developed in a policy-oriented approach to make a holistic assessment of human vulnerability to climate and other drivers of social change. The Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI) uses water as a focus as it is a key factor of human and ecological well-being. Though it is not a new concept, it has been developed to encompass variations within countries and it is not limited to specific communities.

By linking outputs from global climate modeling to the components which make up CVI, possible areas where vulnerability of water resources is likely to impact livelihoods and ecosystem services were identified. In order to examine those most at risk from the impact of climate and global change it is important to look beyond national assessments. On the other end of the scale, by using data at the sub-national level, it is possible to refine the CVI assessment to identify specific risks within a country which is useful for policy making.

The objective of this paper is to show how an intermediate scale of application - between national and community levels- could lead the way to finding an approach that can be applied over wide areas while taking into account spatial variations reflecting different aspects of vulnerability. How can the impacts of climate and other global changes be assessed so that the impacts on people can be understood and appropriate policies therefore developed? The assessment of vulnerability at the appropriate scale is a key step in developing effective adaptation responses and can be focused on development issues and the needs of the poor. This approach can also be extended to other areas affected by climate change such as disease incidence and
agro-ecological changes.

Authors: C.A. Sullivan; C. Huntingford
Publisher: National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, University of Canberra, 2009

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Social Challenges

Operational Guidance: Engagement of Indigenous Peoples and Other Forest Dependent Communities

carol — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 03:36:47 -0600

This Operational Guidance on the Engagement of Indigenous Peoples and Other Forest Dependent Communities is intended to inform the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN REDD Programme) activities at the global and national level.

The Guidance provides background and context on the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples in UN programmes and activities, identifies the guiding principles in order to respect and support the rights of Indigenous Peoples and other forest dependent
communities, and outlines the operational guidelines for the design and implementation of UN REDD Programme activities at the global and national scale.

The Guidance also provides best practice advice on how to consult with Indigenous Peoples and other forest dependent communities and links to resources for further information. The Guidance is intended to be used by UN REDD Programme staff, UN Country Team staff, and national government and civil society counterparts who are involved in any UN REDD Programme activities that may impact upon the rights and livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples or other forest dependent communities.

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Social Challenges

Assessing the costs of adaptation to climate change: A review of the UNFCCC and other recent estimates

carol — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:35:56 -0600

The publication warns that the UN negotiations aimed at tackling climate change are based on substantial underestimates of what it will cost to adapt to its impacts. The real costs of adaptation are likely to be 2-3 times greater than estimates made by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Professor Martin Parry, a former co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and his co-authors look at the estimates from a range of perspectives, and conclude that:

the current cost assessments do not include some key sectors, such as ecosystems, energy, manufacturing, retailing, and tourism
some of the sectors included have been only partially covered in cost estimates
the additional costs of adaptation have sometimes been calculated as ‘climate mark-ups’ against low levels of assumed investment.

In some parts of the world, low levels of investment have led to an adaptation deficit, and this deficit will need to be made good by full funding of development, without which the funding for adaptation will be insufficient. Residual damages also need to be evaluated and reported because not all damages from climate change can be avoided. There is an urgent need for more detailed assessments of these costs, including case studies of costs of adaptation in specific places and sectors.

This report aims to demonstrate the need for the further and transparent refinement of cost estimates for responding to climate change.

By: Martin Parry, Nigel Arnell, Pam Berry, David Dodman, Samuel Fankhauser, Chris Hope, Sari Kovats, Robert Nicholls, David Sattherwaite, Richard Tiffin, Tim Wheeler

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Social Challenges

Climate change and water

carol — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:01:04 -0600

"Climate change challenges the traditional assumption that past hydrological experience provides a good guide to future conditions. The consequences of climate change may alter the reliability of current water management systems and
water-related infrastructure. While quantitative projections of changes in precipitation, river flows and water levels at the
river-basin scale are uncertain, it is very likely that hydrological characteristics will change in the future. Adaptation procedures
and risk management practices that incorporate projected hydrological changes with related uncertainties are being developed in some countries and regions."

Climate Change and Water - Technical Paper VI - ENGLISH

Bates, B.C., Z.W. Kundzewicz, S. Wu and J.P. Palutikof, Eds. IPCC Secretariat, Geneva, 210 pp. June 2008

Executive Summary
Chapter 1 Introduction to climate change and water
Chapter 2 Observed and projected changes in climate as they relate to water
Chapter 3 Linking climate change and water resources: impacts and responses
Chapter 4 Climate change and water resources in systems and sectors
Chapter 5 Analyzing regional aspects of climate change and water resources
Chapter 6 Climate change mitigation measures and water
Chapter 7 Implications for policy and sustainable development
Chapter 8 Gaps in knowledge and suggestions for further work

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & the Environment

Green Jobs for the Poor: A Public Employment Approach

carol — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:05:36 -0600

This paper explores the potential for governments to create 'green jobs' in developing countries by funding public employment activities to preserve biodiversity, restore degraded land, combat erosion, and conserve water. The paper draws on the experiences of the Working for Water programme in South Africa and the National Rural Employment Guarantee in India.

By :Maikel R. Lieuw-Kie-Song Discussion Paper, April 2009

UNDP Poverty Resources UNDP Website
Wet-Africa.org Waterway Transformation Africa Wet-Africa Website

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & the Environment

Securing water resources for Water Scarce Ecosystems

carol — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:13:12 -0600

"Desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD) in addition to the loss of biodiversity in ecosystems, the disappearance of animals and plants from many habitats, the climate change resulting in melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and increase of extreme events have negative impact on the availability, quantity and quality of water resources resulting in changed conditions for humanity’s sustainable access to water. The challenges and threats of water scarcity to drylands populations are real and set to increase in magnitude and scope in the coming years, with severe and widespread consequences.

This paper considers, illustrates and advocates for an integrated, synergy-building approach amongst all the policies dealing with water shortages with the aim of establishing a policy for addressing water issues in Water Scarce Ecosystems for the UNCCD as well as achieving a long-term multilateral agreement on water scarcity at global scale."

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Social Challenges

Flexible Water Storage Options and Adaptation to Climate Change

carol — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 01:46:53 -0600

The International Water Management Institute IWMI Website has released a Water Policy Brief addressing "Flexible Water Storage Options and Adaptation to Climate Change." Key findings in this Water Policy Brief include: water storage should be one component of a multi-pronged approach to adapting agriculture to climate change; attention must be given to the full continuum of physical water storage from ground water; and appropriate water storage for agriculture can contribute to poverty alleviation and climate change adaptation. (c) IWMI August 2009:

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Social Challenges

Ecosystem-based Approaches to Climate Change

carol — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:26:06 -0600

"The World Bank’s mission is to alleviate poverty and support sustainable development. Climate change is a serious environmental challenge that could undermine these goals. Since the Industrial Revolution, the mean surface temperature of Earth has increased an average 2° Celsius due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Most of this change has occurred in the past 30 to 40 years, and the rate of increase is accelerating. These rising temperatures will have significant impacts at a global scale and at local and regional levels. While it remains important to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reverse climate change in the long run, many of the impacts of climate change are already in evidence. As a result, governments, communities, and civil society are increasingly concerned with anticipating the future effects of climate change while searching for strategies to mitigate, and adapt to, its current and future effects."

The World Bank, 2009, From the Executive Summary

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & the Environment

FAO Diversification Booklets

carol — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:47:43 -0600

Produced by: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2009)

What opportunities are there at farm and local community level to increase the incomes of small-scale farmers? This series of booklets aims to raise awareness and provide decision support information about opportunities for increasing the incomes of small-scale farmers. Each booklet focuses on a farm or non farm enterprise that can be integrated into small farms to increase incomes and enhance livelihoods.

The booklets are primarily aimed at people and organisations providing advisory, business and technical support to resource-poor small-scale farmers and local communities in low- and middle-income countries. They are also intended for policymakers and programme managers in government and non-governmental organisations.

The enterprises selected are considered suitable for smallholder farmers in terms of resource requirements, additional costs, exposure to risk and complexity. The booklets cover:

Beekeeping and sustainable livelihoods (2004)
Livelihoods grow in gardens (2004)
Poultry for profit and pleasure (2004)
High hopes for post harvest (2004)
Processed food for improved livelihoods (2004)
Milk for health and wealth (2009)
Make money by growing mushrooms (2009)
Higher value addition through hides and skin (2009)
Sheep and goats for diverse products and profits (2009)
Rural transport and traction enterprises for improved livelihoods (2009)
Growing vegetables for home and market (2009)
Non-farm income from non-wood forest products (2009)
Farm ponds for water, fish and livelihoods (2009)

Products and services generated by these enterprises are suitable for meeting demand on a growing or already strong local market and are not dependent on an export market.

Available online at: FAO Website des brochures disponibles en français

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Social Challenges

Knowledge Sharing Toolkit

carol — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:35:20 -0600

Authors: White,N.; Lamoureux,L.; Staiger-Rivas,S.
Produced by: Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (2009)

The Institutional Knowledge Sharing (KS) Project together with CGIAR Center partners has been experimenting with a range of KS tools and methods over the past five years and has recently been assembling these and many others into this toolkit. It is an evolving resource, continually updated, edited, expanded, and critiqued and it's aimed at scientists, research support teams, and administrators working in international development agencies, with a special emphasis on those engaged in agriculture and agricultural research.

The Knowledge Sharing Toolkit has been designed as a wiki - a highly interactive and collaborative website - where registered users can add tools and methods, edit existing pages, insert comments and anecdotes, or even list themselves as contacts if they have had experience with a particular tool or method.

The toolkit is based on first identifying a knowledge sharing need first and then finding the most appropriate tools and methods to meet this need. These needs are divided as follows:

Relationship building needs For example, improving relations between regional offices, managing
networks, opening up spaces for open dialogue with stakeholders
Planning, monitoring and evaluation needs For example, developing a strategic planning process, providing evidence of the difference made by a project or organisation, reflecting on processes and sharing lessons learnt
Delivery - For example, enhancing demand driven research initiatives, facilitation the adaptation and adoption of research outputs by beneficiaries and stakeholders
Collaboration For example, facilitating effective collaborative practices, supporting collaboration between wide-spread teams, different approaches to meetings
Knowledge capture and dissemination For example, how to point to and share digital materials available on
the internet, dealing with large volumes of materials produced and found on the internet, getting people to share their knowledge face to face and online Users can also search the toolkit or find the best tool or method for them using the key words (tags).

The toolkit is available online on KSToolkit.org Website

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Governance

Better forestry, less poverty : A practitioner's guide

carol — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:57:51 -0600

This guide offers suggestions to practitioners and the rural communities they serve on ways to prevent, mitigate and reduce poverty through forest-based interventions. Those who may find it of interest include district forestry officials, forestry and rural development extension workers, local administrators and planners, and people involved in small-scale enterprises, including their partners.

The document highlights the importance of tailoring activities to local circumstances and of using participatory approaches to design and implement interventions. Emphasis is on making and responding to changes for the benefit of people living in or near forests, and on helping users gain a better understanding of:

the forms of rural poverty and priorities for rural poverty reduction;
how local decisions both inside and outside the forest sector affect segments of poor rural communities in different ways – women, children and the elderly being the most vulnerable;
the vital roles that forestry and agroforestry systems play in sustaining livelihoods and preventing poverty;
the ways in which changes in forest management can cause poverty or worsen it;
how forestry practices can better contribute to poverty reduction and better protect the livelihood functions of forests.

The suggestions for practical actions draw on current literature on the subject, and from field studies and experiences.

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & the Environment

Community-driven development for water and sanitation in urban areas

carol — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 03:38:10 -0600

Authors: D. Satterthwaite; G. McGranahan; D. Mitlin
Publisher: Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council , 2005

This booklet presents a number of community-led initiatives to improve and extend provision for water and sanitation to low-income urban households and discusses their relevance for meeting the Millennium Development Goal (MDG)
target for water and sanitation.At the core of most initiatives described in this booklet is the possibility for urban poor groups and their organizations to influence what is done and to be involved in doing it. An analysis of these initiatives demonstrates that:

a great number of development projects are designed and implemented by professionals which permit urban poor groups no influence and which rarely produce the hoped for improvements in water and sanitation
the community-driven examples given in this booklet usually have much lower unit costs than professionally driven approaches and require much less external finance, also they are usually far more successful at ensuring benefits
reach the poorest groups
any professionals object to community-driven projects because their own role and importance is diminished - and because their professional training did not equip them to know how to work with urban poor groups and to support their initiatives
almost all the official development assistance agencies find it difficult to support community-driven development because their structures and procedures were never designed to do so
most of the discussion on how to meet the MDGs is about national and international changes, but it is largely local governments that will determine whether most of the MDGs and their associated targets are met in urban areas - including those relating to water and sanitation
much emphasis is placed within the MDGs on the need for better monitoring of progress towards the targets. For water and sanitation provision, the emphasis is on more accurate and detailed national sample surveys. Yet while these surveys
may serve global and national monitoring they do not identify where inadequacies in provision actually are and who suffers from them
more attention should be given to the role of local 'non-profit' organisations supplying water and sanitation services that work within market frameworks either within systems managed by private water utilities or as 'private water utilities' themselves.

This study was commissioned by the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) as an input to the 13th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, April 2005, New York. It is the result of a collaboration between the
WSSCC and the Human Settlements Programme at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

http://www.wsscc.org/pdf/publication/Community_driven_development.pdf

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Social Challenges

AfricaAdapt - Climate Change adapatation knowledge for sustainable livelihoods

KMAadmin — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:20:18 -0600

AfricaAdapt is an independent bilingual French/English network focused exclusively on Africa. The Network’s aim is to facilitate the flow of climate change adaptation knowledge for sustainable livelihoods between researchers, policy makers, civil society organisations and communities who are vulnerable to climate variability and change across the continent.

AfricaAdapt is available on AfricaAdapt Website

KM & the Environment

Sustainable Forest Management in Latin America

carol — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 06:59:14 -0600

The working paper focuses on finance for sustainable forest management (SFM), including strategies at both international and national levels for diversification and enhancement of the quantity and effectiveness of SFM financing. Drawing from
experiences in Latin America, the paper recommends that countries undertake national forest financing strategies when designing their national forest programmes.

With regard to climate change, the paper discusses the potential financing opportunities that addressing climate change brings to SFM. The paper addresses both voluntary and regulatory carbon markets, including those related to reducing emissions from
deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD).

The original paper located at FTP Site of the FAO or you can download it here.

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & the Environment

Resource Guide on Gender and Climate Change

carol — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 23:37:09 -0600

Poor women's limited access to resources, restricted rights, limited mobility and muted voices in shaping decisions make them highly vulnerable to climate change. This resource guide aims to inform practitioners and policy makers of the linkages between gender equality and climate change.

UNDP Website - Women's publications

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & Social Challenges

Negotiating And Implementing Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs): A Manual For NGOs

carol — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 05:47:05 -0600

This Manual attempts to link these two areas of MEA formulation and civil society participation. Its goal is to both strengthen multi-stakeholder participation and Introduction ix increase political momentum for effective MEA development, implementation and enforcement. The two are interdependent and equally essential: by strengthening the effectiveness of stakeholders' involvement, MEAs themselves become more relevant, more resilient and more resolute.

The format of the Manual follows the sequence of governments' and NGOs' actual work on conferences and treaties. It provides step-by-step background information, 'inside the process' guidance, and expert advice on how stakeholders can effectively engage in developing and implementing MEAs. It contains essential information for activists working in a wide range of issues and arenas of action, and it provides access to additional academic, institutional and web-based resources that analyze and promote civil society participation.

Published in May 2007 (c) 2007, UNEP ISBN: 978-92-807-2808-8
Job Number: DEL/0933/NA
Produced by the UNEP Division of Environmental Law and Conventions (DELC)

ICLEL.org website

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

KM & the Environment

The planet's future: Climate change 'will cause civilisation to collapse' - the millennium project

KMAadmin — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:42:27 -0600

An effort on the scale of the Apollo mission that sent men to the Moon is needed if humanity is to have a fighting chance of surviving the ravages of climate change. The stakes are high, as, without sustainable growth, "billions of people will be condemned to poverty and much of civilisation will collapse".

This is the stark warning from the biggest single report to look at the future of the planet – obtained by The Independent on Sunday ahead of its official publication next month. Backed by a diverse range of leading organisations such as Unesco, the World Bank, the US army and the Rockefeller Foundation, the 2009 State of the Future report runs to 6,700 pages and draws on contributions from 2,700 experts around the globe. Its findings are described by Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the UN, as providing "invaluable insights into the future for the United Nations, its member states, and civil society".

The impact of the global recession is a key theme, with researchers warning that global clean energy, food availability, poverty and the growth of democracy around the world are at "risk of getting worse due to the recession". The report adds: "Too many greedy and deceitful decisions led to a world recession and demonstrated the international interdependence of economics and ethics."

Original article in the independant.co.uk Website

Millennium Project

KM & the Environment

Launch of the AfricaAdapt Knowledge Sharing Innovation Fund for Climate Change

Binetou Diagne — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:47:49 -0600

Hello All,

Please find below an invitation to submit proposals to the AfricaAdapt knowledge sharing innovation fund. We hope to received expressions of interest from practitioners who would like to engage local communities in knowledge sharing about climate change. More details below.

> For English see below the french overview

Lancement du Fond d'Innovation AfricaAdapt pour le Partage de Connaissances

Vous êtes intéressés par l’adaptation aux changements climatiques en Afrique? Sachez que le réseau AfricaAdapt vient d’être lancé et nous vous invitons à devenir membre de notre communauté via le site : Africa-adapt.net. Le réseau AfricaAdapt vous permet de :

Partager de l’information à propos de vous, et de votre organisation, et créer gratuitement une page web pour vos projets
Savoir ce que font les autres acteurs du climat font dans votre région
Discuter avec les membres du réseau qui partagent vos intérêts
Recevoir les dernières nouvelles et les informations sur l’adaptation en Afrique

Postulez au Fond d’Innovation pour le Partage de Connaissances

AfricaAdapt cherche à encourager le partage des connaissances entre chercheurs, décideurs, praticiens et communautés par le biais de son site web et de rencontres entre les acteurs. Le réseau soutient les initiatives de partage de connaissances des communautés marginalisées qui font face aux impacts des changements climatiques en Afrique. Le Fond d’Innovation AfricaAdapt lance un appel à manifestation d’intérêt jusqu’à la date le 1er aout 2009 pour des financements à hauteur de 10.000 dollars US maximum. Pour plus d’informations, consultez le site : Africa-adapt.net. Les initiatives des médias communautaires sont encouragées.

A propos du réseau

AfricaAdapt est un réseau bilingue qui facilite le partage de connaissances sur l’adaptation au changement climatique sur le continent. Il veut améliorer les conditions de subsistance des communautés les plus vulnérables en favorisant la collaboration entre les chercheurs, les décideurs politiques, la société civile et communautés locales.

AfricaAdapt est coordonné par :

ENDA (Environnement et Développement du Tiers-Monde) au Sénégal,
FARA (Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa) au Ghana,
ICPAC (IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre) au Kenya et
IDS (Institute of Development Studies) au Royaume-Uni

Le réseau est financé par le Département International du Royaume-Uni (DFID) et le programme Adaptation aux Changements Climatiques en Afrique du Centre de Recherches pour le Développement International (CRDI).

Devenez membre du réseau AfricaAdapt

Vous pouvez facilement vous inscrire et créer des profils de vos projets sur le site www.africa-adapt.net. Si vous avez des questions ou des commentaires, contactez-nous à cette adresse : info@africa-adapt.net et notre équipe vous répondra dès possible.

Au plaisir de vous retrouver sur le réseau AfricaAdapt !

__________________________________________________________________________

Launch of the AfricaAdapt Network and Knowledge Sharing Innovation Fund

Are you interested in climate change adaptation in Africa? If so, an exciting new network called AfricaAdapt has just been launched and we invite you to join by registering on our website – www.africa-adapt.net. AfricaAdapt helps you to:

share information about yourself, your organisation, and easily create your own project website for free
learn about what others are doing in your region,
exchange perspectives with people interested in the same topics as you, and
access news and information on adaptation in Africa.

Apply to the Knowledge Sharing Innovation Fund

AfricaAdapt aims to help researchers, policymakers, practitioners and communities share knowledge about adaptation both through our website and through face-to-face meetings. To help achieve this, we offer innovation grants to African-based initiatives that seek to address the barriers to knowledge sharing faced by marginalised or “hard to reach” communities affected by climate change. The AfricaAdapt Knowledge Sharing Innovation Fund is accepting expressions of interest (deadline August 1st 2009) for grants of up to US$10,000. Full details are available on the AfricaAdapt website at: : Africa-adapt.net. Community media initiatives are encouraged to submit proposals.

About the network

AfricaAdapt is an independent bilingual network (French/English) focused exclusively on Africa. The Network’s aim is to facilitate the flow of climate change adaptation knowledge for sustainable livelihoods between researchers, policy makers, civil society organisations and communities, who are vulnerable to climate variability and change across Africa.

AfricaAdapt is collaboratively hosted by:

Environment and Development in the Third World (ENDA-TM, Senegal);
the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA, Ghana);
IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC, Kenya); and
Institute of Development Studies (IDS, UK).

The network is funded through the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Climate Change Adaptation in Africa programme.

Registering with the network is easy

Registering and creating project pages is easy on Africa-adapt.net Should you need any help or have any comments, please send an e-mail to info@africa-adapt.net and an AfricaAdapt Knowledge Sharing Officer will respond quickly.

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you soon!

KM & the Environment

4 steps to exploring social media

KMAadmin — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:09:05 -0600

If you are new to social media and are still exploring the area, here are 4 steps to help you get the best out of it:

Step 1: Explore - search & browse for content that interests you. Find out where your friends, colleagues and peers spend their time on the web. Particularly look for notable commentators and figures in the area in which you are interested, subscribe to their personal blogs and follow the comments and conversations.
Step 2: Understand the space. The social media space has its own set of informal rules often termed 'netiquette' (the etiquette of the 'net). The fundamental idea is to treat others in the way that you would like to be treated - be polite, firm, honour your commitments and be consistent across all the networks that you choose to belong to. Also, commit to prompt feedback-there is nothing stranger in an electronic world than people who takes weeks to respond to an email. Also remind yourself anything you do on the 'net that can be directly traced back to you will speak volumes about 'who you are'; this image will either attract of repel potential contacts.
Step 3: Ask intelligent knowledge creation questions and give prompt feedback - you can do this by voting on content and by adding your own comments or even feeding back on other comments thus further stimulating a conversation. Also, while you can explore ideas, never attack (or 'flame' in internet language) people or groups.
Step 4: Contribute - start creating, editing and enhancing the KMAfrica.com knowledgebase. All our content is fed to a variety of knowledge-related sites and newsfeeds and so it creates awareness and interest. Use your personal blog and the SIGS to highlight your projects and interests and get feedback from other members. Find ways to tell your own story in creative ways using diverse media.

Fireside Chat

Climate and Cultural Change in West Central Africa (Cameroon and Gabon) over the last 5,000 years - Dr. OSLISLY Richard

KMAadmin — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:06:23 -0600

The current distribution of tropical rain forest in Central Africa corresponds to a single point in a long history of climate change covering several millennia. Since 3,000 BC the region has been strongly influenced by humid and dry climatic phases and shifts in human demography (Bantu migrations) and technology. Through this period West Central Africa has seen three major climatic phases:

A humid episode characterized by forest expansion from 9,000 to 1,500 BC
A warm, dry episode from 1,500 BC to 600 AD during which the forest block was fragmented with important spaces opened of savanna
The return of humid conditions since 600 AD resulting in a new phase of forest expansion
During this period Stone Age hunter gatherers were replaced around 2,000 BC by sedentary Neolithic peoples who were, in turn, replaced by iron working peoples around 500 BC.

Furthermore, a population crash occurred in the 7th century AD lasting until around 1,000 AD when new Iron Age peoples arrived. Understanding the history of interactions between climate, man and vegetation allows us to better document the processes that drive these changes and to assess to what extent what we see today is a reflection of the past. It also enables us to better define conservation objectives and strategies.