Tag: Green Economy

Biomethane, the Energy that Cleans Garbage in Brazil — Global Issues

Thales Motta, director of GNR Fortaleza, stands in front of the biomethane plant located in northeastern Brazil, the development of which required overcoming prejudices, mistrust and misinformation to open up the market for gas generated from garbage. Now biomethane is expanding, making use of landfills and agricultural biomass. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS
  • by Mario Osava (fortaleza, brazil)
  • Inter Press Service

FORTALEZA, Brazil, Sep 05 (IPS) – The increasing productivity with which humankind generates waste has gained at least one sustainable counterpart: the extraction of biogas from landfills, a growing activity in Brazil.

Two small plateaus stand out in the landscape on the outskirts of Caucaia, one of the 19 municipalities that make up the metropolitan region of Fortaleza, capital of the state of Ceará in the Northeast of the country.

Although they look similar, one of the hills receives about 5,000 tons per day of solid waste collected in the metropolitan region of 4.2 million inhabitants. The other, the old sanitary landfill which began to operate in 1991, is already closed, but it is the one that generates more gas.

“We are pioneers in the production of biomethane from garbage,” said Thales Motta, director of Fortaleza Renewable Natural Gas (GNR), a partnership between the private companies Ecometano, of the MDC renewable energy and natural gas group, and Marquise Ambiental, of Fortaleza, which manages the Caucaia landfills.

Biomethane is the by-product of biogas refining that removes other gases, such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide.

GNR Fortaleza produces about 100,000 cubic meters per day of this gas, which is sold to the state-owned Ceará Gas Company (Cegás), which mixes it with natural gas in its pipelines.

“We supply 15 percent of the gas distributed by Cegás, which trusted the quality of our biomethane,” Motta said during IPS’s visit to the GNR plant, inaugurated in December 2017.

This labyrinth of pipes collect biogas from the landfill and refine it to produce biomethane with 95 percent purity. The renewable gas is mixed with natural gas for industrial use, in vehicles and thermoelectric plants, as well as in homes and businesses in the metropolitan region of Fortaleza, in northeastern Brazil. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS
This labyrinth of pipes collect biogas from the landfill and refine it to produce biomethane with 95 percent purity. The renewable gas is mixed with natural gas for industrial use, in vehicles and thermoelectric plants, as well as in homes and businesses in the metropolitan region of Fortaleza, in northeastern Brazil. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS

Initial difficulties

Ecometano’s pioneering activity is due to another plant, Dos Arcos, established in 2014 in São Pedro da Aldeia, a coastal city of 108,000 inhabitants, 140 kilometers from Rio de Janeiro. Its capacity is limited to 14,000 cubic meters per day.

“There was no regulation for biomethane then and the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels denied us authorization to sell it,” said Motta, an electrical engineer. There were losses; the sales were made directly to a limited number of customers, such as supermarkets.

But the company persevered and the regulation came out in 2017, shortly before the start of GNR Fortaleza’s operations.

“There was a great deal of prejudice even among engineers, skepticism in the gas companies. We had to present analyses and quality tests that were more rigorous than the ones required for fossil fuel gas,” said the plant manager.

“But we broke down the barrier of discredit and opened a new market, proving that it is a safe, stable gas with predictable prices,” he added.

A view of the new Caucaia landfill, near Fortaleza, capital of the state of Ceará in northeastern Brazil, which receives about 5,000 tons of garbage a day. It already produces biogas, but will do so on a larger scale in a few years. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS

Advantageous costs

At the beginning, biomethane cost 30 percent more, but today it is 30 percent cheaper than natural gas, in view of the rise in fossil fuels, he pointed out. Its price depends on internal factors, such as inflation, and is not subject to unpredictable oil prices on the international market or exchange rate fluctuations, he stressed.

“Biomethane competes with fossil gas on an advantageous footing today. But even if oil becomes cheaper, the market is predisposed to betting on biomethane” because of environmental issues, he said.

“Cegás decided to distribute biomethane because it considers it strategic to diversify its mix with a cleaner, renewable and sustainable gas, thus contributing to reducing pollution and improving the environment,” the company’s president, Hugo de Figueiredo Junior, told IPS.

“It is also an opportunity to expand suppliers, competition and conditions to offer better prices to the end consumer,” he added.

Cegás, in which the state of Ceará is a majority shareholder, was a pioneer within Brazil in the injection of biomethane into its network, starting in May 2018.

The nearly 15 percent proportion of biomethane in the total volume constitutes “one of the highest percentages of renewable gas injected into the grid by a distributor in the world,” Figueiredo said.

That proportion may expand in the future, but biomethane faces several challenges, he added.

There is a need to disseminate existing technological solutions and facilitate access to them, expand knowledge about potential uses of green gases, and improve regulation and processes for the collection and disposal of solid waste and wastewater, he said.

The old landfill, now covered, still generates biogas that is converted to biomethane by refining, in Caucaia in northeastern Brazil. The dark lake is leachate, a highly polluting waste liquid that is treated before being discarded by sprinkling it on the soil. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS

Expansion

In terms of production, GNR Fortaleza is now the second largest biomethane plant in Brazil. It is surpassed by Gas Verde, from Seropédica, a town near Rio de Janeiro, which has been producing 120,000 cubic meters per day since 2019.

Many interested parties visit GNR, which has become a reference point for gas generated from waste because it has developed process technologies that make it possible to integrate equipment from different national and international suppliers, “with its own codes that are open” to anyone, said Motta.

Currently, many companies that extract biogas from landfills for electricity generation are preparing to convert their plants to biomethane production, he said.

“We receive visits here from universities and groups of interested parties. We have to build an auditorium for lectures. There was no laboratory for biomethane analysis in the Northeast. Now we have one and research on this gas is mushrooming,” Motta said.

But it is necessary to take a broader view, he acknowledged. Landfills are limited. A minimum of 2,000 tons of waste per day is needed to make a biomethane plant viable, he estimated. Only large cities with at least one million inhabitants generate that much solid waste.

“We have to look for other kinds of biomass,” he said.

Hundreds of trucks travel the roads transporting garbage to the Caucaia landfill, some 20 kilometers from Fortaleza, the capital of the state of Ceará in Brazil’s Northeast region.About 5,000 tons of garbage are produced daily from the metropolitan region, which has 4.2 million inhabitants. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS

This process is already underway, especially in the South and Southeast regions of Brazil, where largescale agricultural production offers a large volume of waste. Sugarcane is the main source of biomass, as it is also planted to produce ethanol, whose consumption in vehicles is on par with that of gasoline.

Livestock manure, especially from pigs, drives the production of biogas for electricity generation, and a growing proportion goes towards conversion into biomethane, especially for use in vehicles.

“Biomethane is a suitable fuel for the energy transition, has more predictable prices (than fossil fuels) and can be produced in regions far from the existing natural gas network,” which in Brazil is concentrated along the eastern coast, Figueiredo, the president of Cegás, said from the company’s headquarters in Fortaleza.

But not having a pipeline nearby can frustrate large projects, Motta said. He gave the example of a sugar agribusiness company that could produce 30,000 cubic meters of methane a day. As this is double its own consumption and the nearest big city is 90 kilometers away, the project was unfeasible.

Harnessing gas from garbage, and from biomass in general, has become an urgent necessity in the face of the climate emergency. Methane contributes more intensely to the greenhouse effect than carbon dioxide, the most prevalent greenhouse gas, which is used to gauge threats to the climate.

Brazil and other countries pledged to reduce methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030, as a crucial step towards keeping global warming to a maximum of two degrees Celsius by 2050.

GNR Fortaleza, located in Caucaia, a city of some 370,000 inhabitants 15 kilometers from Fortaleza, plays an environmental role. But in terms of employment, it generates only 32 direct jobs and an uncertain number of indirect jobs, including outsourced services, temporary consultants and suppliers of certain equipment.

Cegás serves only 24,000 gas consumers in Greater Fortaleza. According to its data, industry accounts for 46.26 percent of consumption, thermoelectric plants for 30 percent and motor vehicles for 22.71 percent. There is little left – just 0.73 percent for households and 1.22 percent for commerce.

© Inter Press Service (2022) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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Africa Should Trade its Carbon Credits to Fund Renewable Energy

Africa needs to transit away from fossil fuels to renewables to boost energy security. Pictured here is a coal production plant in Hwange, Zimbabwe. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS
  • by Busani Bafana (bulawayo)
  • Inter Press Service

Bulawayo, Aug 31 (IPS) – Africa needs to trade in carbon credits to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, finance the transition to renewable energy, and boost economic development, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) says.

Carbon credits present an opportunity for African countries – many dependent on fossil fuels for energy – to protect themselves against climate change while raising much-needed finance for the transition to renewable energy transition, said Jean-Paul Adam, Director for Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resources Management Division at UNECA.

Jean-Paul Adam, Director for Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resources Management Division at UNECA.

Carbon credits are globally traded commodities or permits that allow the emission of one tonne of CO2 or one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent gases to be traded on national or international carbon markets. These credits, which can be used to boost economic growth and attract financing for various projects, are traded on the carbon offset markets.

By selling carbon credits, African countries can also tackle climate change by protecting their forests which absorb and store a measured amount of carbon. Besides, the carbon credits can also be sold as ‘offsets’ to companies unable to cut pollution to reduce emissions elsewhere.

Lack of finance and capacity to trade on the global carbon markets are hurdles for African countries have to overcome in the growing global carbon markets, where the carbon pricing revenue increased by almost 60 percent last year to about $84 billion, according to the World Bank.

Cashing in on carbon credits

Africa suffers energy insecurity, as seen in chronic power load shedding and blackouts that have a huge cost on people’s livelihoods and economic growth.

Fossil fuels dominate Africa’s energy mix, which comprises crude oil, coal, natural gas, hydropower, wind, and solar power. Africa is an untapped market for carbon trading. About two percent of global investments in renewable energy in the last two decades were made in Africa,  according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) report.

But letting go of fossil fuels is a catch-22 situation for African countries. Many could lose essential revenue and risk stranded natural resources as the world demand for fossil fuels declines in favour of renewable energy.

According to the African Development Bank, more than 600 million people in Africa have no access to energy, and the continent has some of the world’s lowest electricity access rates for African countries at just over 40 percent.

The UNECA is supporting African countries to raise their resources reliably and transparently through carbon trading, said Adam, noting the need for an appropriate supervisory body for transparent carbon credit trading.

He said that African countries are the guardians of some of the world’s important carbon removing assets. Large-scale natural and land-based assets can enable African countries to meet  30 percent of the world’s sequestration needs by 2050.

“We know that the rate of deforestation in Africa is the highest in all regions of the world, and therefore a well-structured carbon credit system can allow African countries to protect at-risk resources and generate income from the protection of those resources,” said Adam.

UNECA projects that through nature-based carbon removal, Africa can generate between $15 and $82 billion annually, depending on the price of carbon. For example, at  $50 per tonne, the revenue potential from natural carbon sequestration removal would be $15 billion. Adam said the average price for carbon credit in Africa was currently about $10 per tonne, which could be raised with the creation of high-integrity registries.

Africa’s carbon market was not as well developed as many countries did not have a registry to measure carbon emissions and trade them.

Adam argued that a predictive carbon market would benefit African countries with long-term access to affordable energy.

Africa accounts for only three percent of cumulative global CO2 emissions and less than five percent of the world’s annual CO2 emissions. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) highlights that Africa has made the smallest historical contribution to the greenhouse gases causing global warming but bears the brunt of the negative impacts of climate change.

“African countries on average are spending nine percent of their budgets, that means for every $100 that governments are spending, $9 is being removed right at the onset just for paying for climate change,” Adam told IPS. “Essentially, climate change is putting a tax on African countries that is higher relative to incomes in other countries.”

Adam says Africa has crafted an energy transition plan to boost energy security using natural gas as a transition fuel, given that many countries did not have access to geothermal and hydropower that could also be used for baseload generation.

African countries, through the African Union, have adopted a common position for energy transition recognising natural gas as a temporary energy need with oil and coal being phased out and allowing for more investment in renewable energy, particularly solar, wind and geothermal.

No to gas

The African Common Position on Energy Access and Transition proposed for adoption by African Heads of State and to be launched at COP27 in Egypt this year comes on the back of the European Union’s recent vote in favour of a new rule that will consider fossil gas and nuclear projects as “green”.

The African Group of Negotiators (AGN) and the African civil society have opposed the plan. They worry it would detract from Africa’s energy access and transition goals while locking the continent into fossil fuels for decades.

“Africa is blessed with abundant wind, solar, and other clean, renewable energies. African leaders should be maximising this potential and harnessing the abundant wind and sun, which will help boost energy access and tackle climate change,” said Mohamed Adow, Director of Power Shift Africa.

Lorraine Chiponda, Africa Coal Network Coordinator, said the acceleration of gas projects in Africa was another colonial and modern ‘Scramble and Partition of Africa’ among energy corporations and rich countries.

While Omar Elmawi, coordinator of #StopEACOP, commented, “Africa needs to wake up and stop behaving like (it’s) Europe’s petrol station and always looking at resolving their (developed nation’s) energy problems. It is time to think collectively about what’s best for the continent and its people. This is a continent ripe with renewable energy potential.”

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Theres no Stopping Renewable Power in Chile, but Community Energy Is Not Taking Off — Global Issues

The Nueva Zelandia school is leading a pioneering experience of community electricity generation with solar panels that will reduce the cost of consumption for the school and 20 local families taking part in the project in the poor municipality of Independencia to the north of Santiago. To this initiative, the school will add another one to recycle gray water to irrigate the gardens. CREDIT: Orlando Milesi/IPS
  • by Orlando Milesi (santiago)
  • Inter Press Service

SANTIAGO, Aug 25 (IPS) – Renewable energies, especially solar and wind power, are growing inexorably in Chile, driven by large companies. But community generation of alternative energy is not taking off, despite a law promoting it.

This long, narrow country of 19.5 million people, rich in solar energy due to the northern Atacama Desert as well as wind thanks to its location between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes Mountains, can accelerate the transition to carbon neutrality, thanks to non-conventional renewable energies (NCRE), which also include hydroelectricity.

On Jul. 28 at 15:00 hours, NCRE broke the record for hourly participation in electricity generation in the country, accounting for 62.3 percent of the total. In 2021, renewable generation accounted for 44.8 percent of all electricity generated, equivalent to 35,892 gigawatt hours (GWh). The total generated that year was 80,116 GWh.

Ana Lía Rojas, executive director of the Chilean Association of Renewable Energies and Storage (Acera), which brings together companies in the field, said that all sectors are making progress in NCRE, especially energy and mining.

Acera estimated that 2022 could end with 13,000 to 14,000 megawatts (MW) of NCRE installed, and in fact there were already more than 12,370 MW in May.

“It’s been a long while since we represented 10 percent, we surpassed 20 percent five years before the date set by law and NCRE are currently above 35 percent of the total. This is a worldwide milestone,” said Rojas.

The target is now 50 percent in the next few years and 70 percent by 2030.

Andrés Díaz, director of the Center for Sustainable Energy and Development at the private Diego Portales University, said “the increase in the share of NCRE in the energy mix, as well as the promotion of storage systems, is fundamental as part of the energy transition we are facing.

“When it comes to meeting the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets resulting from the retirement of coal-fired plants, NCRE must be able to ensure stability in the electric power system,” he told IPS.

Díaz added that this implies providing the capacity to act in the event of possible failures in the transmission systems.

“There is a pedagogical aspect, the solar panels teach children how elements of nature can contribute technologically to making available a resource essential for human life that does not harm the environment,” says Rita Méndez, principal of the Nueva Zelandia school, in the municipality of Independencia on the northern outskirts of Santiago, Chile. CREDIT: Orlando Milesi/IPS

Community generation lacks momentum

These enormous advances in NCRE have not gone hand in hand with the meager development of community generation projects, the distributed or decentralized generation modality focused on self-consumption, mostly solar and collectively owned.

Nicolás O’Ryan, an electrical civil engineer and founding partner of Red Genera, promoted a community NCRE project at the Nueva Zelandia school in the low-income municipality of Independencia, on the northern outskirts of Santiago, by installing solar panels on the roof of the gymnasium.

The initiative is one of the very few promoted using Law 21118, which has been in force for two years, to encourage community electricity generation, also known as citizen generation.

The government’s Energy Sustainability Agency financed 50 percent of the 21,000-dollar investment. A further 3,158 dollars were contributed by Red Genera and the remaining 7,368 dollars were raised by five individuals and a campaign of donations from individuals and companies.

The panels will provide 26,703 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year. Of that total, 29.67 percent will go to the school and 3.52 percent to each of the beneficiaries and investors.

The connection process with Enel Chile, the subsidiary of the Italian transnational electricity group Enel, “is well advanced and only the last step remains – notifying the connection,” O’Ryan told IPS.

The energy will serve the school’s consumption and that of 20 neighboring families. The rest will be managed through a process known locally as Net Billing, the simultaneous measurement of consumption and injection of energy into the grid, which enables any user to self-generate electricity and inject the surplus into the grid, receiving a payment for it.

“By the end of the year I hope we will be ready…we need institutional support to channel the process and resolve difficulties such as the change of administration of the school, that will be transferred to the Local Education Service,” he said.

The school’s principal, Rita Méndez, told IPS that the plant contributes to the education of the 393 children (more than 50 percent of them sons and daughters of immigrants, mostly Venezuelans) who are in the 10 grades in the school in this underprivileged neighborhood, starting in kindergarten.

“The plant helps us to train new citizens in environmental awareness, who help care for the environment and think about how to use clean energy to contribute to the development of life,” she said in an interview at the center.

Part of the 33,600 solar panels installed in August 2020 in the vicinity of Til Til, in northern Santiago, with an investment of 15 million dollars and a useful life of about 30 years. In this municipality, one of the poorest in Chile, the project covers 23 hectares and will generate nine megawatts of electric power. CREDIT: Orlando Milesi/IPS

Pioneer project, five years on

Environmental lawyer Cristian Mires, co-founder of the non-governmental Energía Colectiva, presides over Buin Solar, the first initiative in Chile aimed at generating electricity on a community basis, founded in 2017.

At the time 100 people contributed upwards of 52 dollars each to finance a 10 KW solar panel plant installed at the energy laboratory of the Environment Institute (Idma) in Buin, a town 47 kilometers south of Santiago.

The energy is consumed by the Institute and any surplus is injected into the grid. After 10 years of operation, the plant will be transferred to Idma.

Idma pays about 215 dollars a month for the energy, but without panels the cost would have been twice as much. And it consumes clean energy, an important aspect for an Institute that trains professionals to combat climate change.

“Buin Solar was a pioneer collective project to build the first community plant. It is a successful project that has been a great learning experience and has highlighted the importance of working in associative projects,” said Mires.

He added that “community energy is an urgent solution to address the climate crisis. Buin Solar has social, environmental and economic benefits.”

However, the environmentalist regrets the slow progress made in community generation despite the existence of a legal framework that promotes its development.

“The promotion of community energy is very weak, the democratization of energy is very low,” he argued.

According to Mires, trust must be built to work collectively, but incentives are also needed to overcome the financing barrier and the lack of technical capabilities.

“It would be very important to have instruments for promotion. There is a commitment in the government program of President Gabriel Boric (in power since March), which mentions community generation. We are committed to greater development of this kind of energy generation. Up to now, most of them are individual projects,” he said.

The Los Cururos wind farm, inaugurated in 2014, is located in the middle of the desert of the Coquimbo region, facing the Pacific Ocean. The plant contributes 109.6 megawatts of power to Chile’s Central Interconnected System. It belongs to the private EPM Group and has 57 wind turbines of 1.8 and 2.0 megawatts. CREDIT: Orlando Milesi/IPS

Distributed generation – a minimal contribution to the energy mix

Distributed generation is characterized by small power plants that do not exceed 300 kilowatts (kW), as opposed to centralized generation, with large plants that inject all their production into the transmission grid. And while it has grown in terms of the number of individual actors, their contribution to the system is very small.

Felipe Gallardo, a research engineer at Acera, told IPS that as of June there were 12,365 distributed or decentralized NCRE generation facilities in private hands, totaling 125 MW, equivalent to 0.4 percent of the country’s installed capacity.

“Of the Net Billing installations, over 98 percent involve solar photovoltaic technology,” he said. The largest number are in the central regions of Chile.

Diaz, meanwhile, stressed the importance of increasing the number of individuals who generate energy for their own consumption and contribute their surpluses to the grid.

“Energy self-management allows customers not only to receive income for the energy injected into the grid, but also to avoid contingencies in the national electricity system,” he said.

A view of the sunrise amid the steam from the geysers of El Tatio, in the Antofagasta region, where geothermal energy, a non-conventional, clean, infinite source of energy from the earth’s internal heat that abounds in northern Chile, has begun to be harnessed. CREDIT: Marianela Jarroud/IPS

Obstacles to NCRE

A worrying figure is the explosive growth in the dumping of non-conventional renewable energy, due to difficulties in transporting it because of the lack of transmission lines to large consumption centers.

This year 290 GWh of wind and solar energy could not be used.

“Future development depends on storage systems to ensure the stability of NCRE while we move forward in fulfilling the agreements for the retirement of coal-fired plants,” said Diaz.

Gallardo regretted the impact of dumping energy at the country level “because as long as there are these types of limitations, thermal power plants are necessary, which have a higher variable cost and generate polluting emissions.”

“As renewables expand and, on the other hand, coal-fired plants are retired, it will be necessary to adopt additional measures to increase the levels of maximum NCRE participation,” he said.

The Acera advisor believes that in the medium term, storage systems should be implemented to avoid NCRE dumping.

He also says it will be necessary to continue improving the regulatory framework for storage systems.

© Inter Press Service (2022) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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Researchers Embrace Artificial Intelligence to Tackle Banana Disease in Burundi — Global Issues

Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT (ABC) are using artificial intelligence to help eradicate Banana Bunchy Top Disease (BBTD). The disease threatens the livelihoods of farmers and impacts food security. Credit: Aimable Twahirwa/IPS
  • by Aimable Twahirwa (kigali)
  • Inter Press Service

KIGALI, Aug 05 (IPS) – A group of scientists involved in finding solutions to minimize the impact of a devastating banana virus in Burundi have developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool for monitoring the disease.

United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) research shows that the Banana Bunchy Top Disease (BBTD), caused by the Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV), is endemic in many banana-producing countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

The virus was first reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the 1950s and has become invasive and spread into 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

The disease has been reported in Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, DRC, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, and Zambia. The latest findings, however, show that BBTD is currently a major threat to banana cultivation and a threat to over 100 million people for whom the banana is a staple food.

The AI development team, led jointly by Dr Guy Blomme and his colleague Dr Michael Gomez Selvaraj from the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT (ABC), tested the detection of banana plants and their major diseases through aerial images and machine learning methods.

This project aimed to develop an AI-based banana disease and pest detection system using a Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN) to support banana farmers.

A graphic shows the impact of Banana Bunchy Top Disease (BBTD). Credit: Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT (ABC)

While farmers struggle to defend their crops from pests, scientists from ABC have created an easy-to-use tool to detect banana pests and diseases.

The tool, which has proven to provide a 90 percent success in detection in some countries, such as the DRC and Uganda, is an important step towards creating a satellite-powered, globally connected network to control disease and pest outbreaks, say the researchers.

During the testing phase, in collaboration with a team from the national agricultural research organization of Burundi – ISABU, two sites where the banana bunchy top disease is endemic in Cibitoke Province were compared with an area free of the disease in Gitega Province (Central).

Cibitoke Province is BBTD endemic and lies in a frontier zone bordering Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Performance and validation metrics were also computed to measure the accuracy of different models in automated disease detection methods by applying state-of-the-art deep learning techniques to detect visible banana disease and pest symptoms on di?erent parts of the plant.

Researchers set out the reasons detecting disease in bananas is so vital.

“In East and Central Africa, it is a substantial dietary component, accounting for over 50% of daily total food intake in parts of Uganda and Rwanda.”

Bananas are also the dominant crop in Burundi. The surface area under cultivation is estimated at 200,000 to 300,000 ha, representing 20 to 30% of the agricultural land.

Data from Burundi’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock indicate food security and nutrition continue to worsen, with 21 percent of the population food insecure. They say this could be exacerbated by various plant diseases such as BBTD.

While banana is crucial to people’s food security and livelihoods, experts also argue that BBTD could potentially have a devastating economic and social impact on the continent.

“Based on the fact that when BBTD comes in, it is initially a very cryptic disease and does not display spectacular symptoms,” Bonaventure Omondi, a CGIAR researcher who collaborated on this project and who works on related banana diseases and seed systems projects, told IPS in an interview. While it was crucial to stop the disease early, it was also challenging, which is why the AI solution was vital.

Agriculture experts say that the East African Highlands is the zone of secondary diversity of a type of bananas called the AAA-EA types. These bananas are genetically close to the dessert banana types but have been selected for use as beer, cooking, and dessert bananas.

Banana cultivation in Burundi is grouped into three different categories. Banana for beer/wine in which juice is extracted and fermented accounts for around 77 percent of the national production by volume. Fourteen percent of bananas are grown for cooking, and finally, about five percent are dessert bananas which are ripened and directly consumed.

With recent advances in machine learning, researchers were convinced that new disease diagnosis based on automated image recognition was technically feasible.

“Minimizing the effects of disease threats and keeping a matrix mixed landscaped of banana and non-banana canopy is a key step in managing a large number of diseases and pests,” Omondi said.

As an example of how this emerging technology works, researchers focus on data sets depicted on banana crops with disease symptoms and established algorithms to help identify plantations where the disease is present.

Prosper Ntirampeba, a banana grower from Cibitoke Province in north-western Burundi, told IPS that he harvested fewer bunches of bananas in the latest season because of BBTD that spread through his farmlands.

“We have been forced to uproot infected plants since this disease reached our main production area. This resulted in a huge extra cost burden,” he said.

In another case, with the detection of BBTD, agricultural officials under instruction from researchers advised farmers to remove all infected ‘mats’ where several hectares of diseased plants had been destroyed. This is the key to eliminating the disease in Busoni, a remote rural village in Northern Burundi.

Although some farmers often resist uprooting their banana plants, Ntirampeba said it was vital to eliminating the disease.

“The disease is likely threatening livelihoods of most farmers who are dependent on the crop,” he told IPS.

Currently, other novel disease surveillance methods are also being developed by ABC researchers in Burundi, including drone-based surveillance to determine local disease risk and delimit recovery areas.

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Slow food, Accelerating Biodiversity in the Field and On Our Plates — Global Issues

Edward Mukiibi first worked the fields as punishment. Now he is a firm believer that the slow food movement can save the planet. He was recently named as the President of Slow Food International. Credit: Slow Food International
  • by Busani Bafana (bulawayo)
  • Inter Press Service

BULAWAYO, Aug 02 (IPS) – Edward Mukiibi was forced to do agriculture at school as punishment for misbehaviour.

Instead of hating the punishment, he loved it, especially when he realised farming was the future of good food, health and wealth.

Mukiibi is a farmer and social entrepreneur from Uganda on a mission to prove that sustainable farming is the foundation of all fortune and a solution to overcoming hunger, unemployment, and biodiversity loss. He is an advocate for food production based on using local resources,   knowledge and traditions to promote diverse farming systems.

Mukiibi is a member of Slow Food International, a global movement advocating for local food production and traditional cooking.

In July 2022, Mukiibi (36) was named as the new President of Slow Food International at its 8th International Congress in Pollenzo, Italy.

“I feel good and happy about this appointment and also happy on behalf of Slow Food, which is a strong international food movement that has become more established not only in the founding continent of Europe but across the world, which is why it was now possible for the network for finding more able and enthusiastic leaders like me,” Mukiibi told IPS during an online interview.

Founded in 1986 by Carlo Petrini, Slow Food International works to cultivate a worldwide network of local communities and activists who defend cultural and biological diversity. They promote food education and the transfer of traditional knowledge and skills.

Convinced of the untapped potential of farming and the need to make agriculture attractive for the youth, Mukiibi founded the Developing Innovations in School Cultivation (DISC). The project works with students and communities to cultivate a positive attitude in young people towards agriculture and locally produced food.

Citing that 70 percent of the population in Africa is below the age of 40, Mukiibi said Africa has a large young generation that can be involved in agriculture. Mukiibi deplored the practice in schools where farming was used as a punishment in the same manner prisons have young offenders working on large-scale farms to provide labour as part of corporal punishment.

“This prevents many young people from loving agriculture and food production,” said Mukiibi. “I am a victim of this kind of practice. When I was in school, I always wanted to change this by working with schools in a participatory way and introducing children to farming in a more interest-oriented manner.”

Mukiibi has also championed the development of Slow Food Gardens, a global project that has created thousands of green spaces to preserve African food biodiversity and help communities access nutritious food. Mukiibi has created gardens in more than 1000 schools in Uganda.

“Slow Food gives you a 360-degree view of food systems because it covers everything that transforms the way we grow, eat, market, process and save food,” said Mukiibi, explaining that slow food is a movement and philosophy about clean, good and fair food.

Interview excerpts:

The slow food movement promotes biodiversity on the land and our plates. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

IPS: What is slow food? Is it the opposite of fast food?

Edward Mukiibi: The concept of slow food carries more of a responsibility than just literal meaning and the direct opposite of fast food. It carries more sense when combined with our philosophy of good, clean, and fair food for everyone. The concept means being responsible in everything we do when it comes to food, agriculture, and the planet. In being responsible for your food choices, you need to eat food and produce food that is good for the environment and good for the culture and the traditions of the people that safeguard it.

Another aspect of slow food is fairness. We need to ensure fairness when it comes to transactions. Openness and transparency when it comes to negotiations and working deals between the producers and consumers but also a declaration of information and the true identity of the producers of the food we eat. Sometimes people are not fair, especially big food chains, when they sell food produced by small-scale producers but brand it as their own production. We also need to ensure justice for smallholder farmers, justice for indigenous people and justice for the environment.

Slow Food is also a movement of actors and activists. We are a movement that involves everyone who thinks we need to urgently slow down climate change and the destruction food production is bringing to this planet. We need to slow down on policies that are against environmental equilibrium.

IPS: Is clean, good and fair food achievable, and are slow fooders meeting this goal?

Historically there have been a lot of ruthless, careless food production activities and cruel ways of production to the environment and to the people who are going to eat the food. A good, clean, and fair food system exists and is achievable. With all the challenges we are seeing, the conflicts, climate crisis and food insecurity created by the global food system can be reversed if everyone understands the concept of slow food, whose goal is to solve global challenges using local actions and activities done by the local communities.

We have many examples. So many communities in 160 countries are taking positive actions to regenerate the planet … It is not too late to regenerate the planet and rethink how food is produced, how food is handled and how food is consumed.

IPS: Climate change is impacting our food production. How do you see the Slow Food movement addressing this?

EM: Slow Food is promoting regenerative approaches to food production, including promoting agri-ecology, building traditional farming systems based on agroforestry, and preserving and protecting local food biodiversity and fragile ecosystems.

We are not only talking about climate change by going out to conferences. We are taking action through the thousands of communities taking practical work to promote agroecology, permaculture and traditional farming systems. In Africa, we count 3 500 agro-ecological gardens that have been created and managed in schools.

IPS: You mention Slow food in biodiversity protection. How and why?

EM: We have the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity because we are concerned about the rate at which we are losing biodiversity not only in the field but also biodiversity on our plates which makes our nutrition and diets dependent on a few highly controlled products.

We are working with cooks to bring back biodiversity on the plate. It is not enough to talk. We have to bring back what we are losing on the table and open the discussion from the dinner table about the wealth we are losing.

Slow Food has worked to create community value chains in different communities to protect food products at the risk of extinction. It means sharing knowledge about these products and that the community sits together to devise ways to protect and promote these food products.

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Biogas Production Awaits Greater Incentives in Cuba — Global Issues

Farmer Mayra Rojas says that the Chinese-type fixed-dome biodigester built in back of her home in Carambola, in the municipality of Candelaria in western Cuba, has become part of her daily life and a key factor in improving her family’s quality of life. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS
  • by Luis Brizuela (havana)
  • Inter Press Service

HAVANA, Aug 02 (IPS) – Standing in front of a blue flame on her stove, getting ready to brew coffee, Mayra Rojas says the biodigester built in the backyard of her home in western Cuba has become a key part of her daily life and a pillar of her family’s well-being.

“Biogas is a blessing,” says Rojas, a farmer who lives in the rural community of Carambola, in the municipality of Candelaria, located about 80 kilometers from Havana in the western province of Artemisa.

A pioneer in the use of this form of renewable energy in her town, she explains that with biogas “I spend less time cooking and pay less for electricity,” while the savings have enabled the gradual upgrade of her old wooden house to a more solid cinderblock structure.

In addition, “it doesn’t blacken the pots, like when I used firewood. And now I get my nails done and they last, as does my hair after I wash it,” says the environmental activist who raises awareness about caring for nature among elementary school children, in an interview with IPS at her farm.

She also specifies that greater support from her husband and two children in household chores, cleaning the yard and taking care of the animals on the family farm, “and greater awareness of environmental care,” are other benefits brought about by the use of this alternative energy.

In fact, it was her husband, Edegni Puche, who built the biodigester, for which the family put up part of the cost, while receiving contributions from the municipal government and the local pig farm company.

At the back of the house are the pigsties where they raise pigs, as well as fruit and ornamental trees, while on an adjoining lot Rojas is setting up an organoponic garden, where she will grow different vegetables.

As she pours the freshly brewed coffee, she says that “before, when the pens were cleaned, the manure, urine and waste from the pigs’ food accumulated in the open air, in a corner of the yard. It stank and there were a lot of flies.”

But in 2011 she learned about the potential of biodigesters, where organic matter is decomposed anaerobically by bacteria, but in a closed, non-polluting environment that provides gas as an energy resource.

Training workshops and advice from specialists from the Cuban Society for the Promotion of Renewable Energy Sources and Respect for the Environment (Cubasolar) and the Movement of Biogas Users (MUB) encouraged people to build biodigesters, Rojas said.

Founded in 1983, MUB brings together some 3,000 farmers who use the technology in this Caribbean island nation of 11.1 million inhabitants.

An incentive to expand biogas in Cuba was provided by the international Biomas-Cuba project, which began in 2009 and is due to finish this year, focused on helping to understand the importance of renewable energy sources in rural environments, the role of biodigesters on farms and in waste treatment systems on pig farms, among other objectives.

With funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (Cosude), the initiative is coordinated by the Indio Hatuey Experimental Station, a research center attached to the University of Matanzas in western Cuba, and involves related institutions in several of the country’s 15 provinces.

Mayra Rojas, her husband Edegni Puche and the couple’s youngest son stand in the backyard of their home. Family support for household chores, cleaning the yard and caring for the family’s animales, along with increased awareness of environmental care are other benefits that the biodigester has brought to the life of this rural Cuban woman. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS

Methane, from enemy to ally

Experts agree that the proper management of biological methane resulting from the decomposition of agricultural waste and livestock manure can generate value and be a cost-effective solution to prevent water and soil contamination.

As a potent greenhouse gas, methane has 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide, according to studies.

Therefore, its extraction and use as energy, especially in rural and peri-urban environments, can be a solution for reducing electricity consumption and for helping to combat climate change.

More than 90 percent of Cuba’s electricity generation is obtained by burning fossil fuels in aging thermoelectric plants and diesel and fuel oil engines, which pollute the air and contribute to global warming.

There are an estimated 5,000 biodigesters in Cuba, in a nation where a significant percentage of the 3.9 million homes use electricity as the main energy source for cooking and heating water for bathing.

“We have to make people more aware that the biodigester not only protects the environment and provides energy, but also brings savings, because the manure that is not used is money that is thrown away,” says Rojas.

It also provides biol and biosol, liquid effluent and sludge, respectively – end products of biogas technology that are rich in nutrients, ideal for fertilizing and restoring soils, “as well as watering and keeping plants green,” says Rojas as she proudly shows the varieties of orchids in her leafy yard.

Her biodigester has also proven its usefulness to the community, because when there are blackouts due to tropical cyclones that frequently affect the island, “neighbors have come to heat up water and cook their food,” she adds.

Mayra Rojas turns on biogas on her small stove to brew coffee in her home in the rural community of Carambola, in the municipality of Candelaria, in the western Cuban province of Artemisa. She says that with this clean energy source she spends less time cooking and saves electricity. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS

Obstacles

Rojas says that a major impediment to the spread of biodigesters in local communities and the country is the island’s economy, whose three-decade crisis was aggravated by the COVID pandemic and the tightening of the U.S. embargo.

The decapitalization of the main industries and financial problems are major factors in the low levels of production of cement, steel bars, sand and other elements used to make biodigesters, which are also necessary to reduce the high housing deficit and fix the portion of homes that are in poor condition.

The availability of manure is another stumbling block with a deficient pig and cattle herd, which will have to wait for the most recent government measures aimed at stimulating their growth and balancing it with domestic demand for meat to take effect.

“I received the support of the municipal government, the local pig company, plus the technical advice from Cubasolar” to build the six-cubic-meter Chinese-type fixed dome biodigester, explains Rojas. “But not all families have enough animals or can afford to build one.”

Perhaps that is why in Carambola it is only possible to find five biodigesters in a community of about 120 homes and 400 local residents, she added.

“Building a biodigester has become too expensive,” acknowledged Lázaro Vázquez, coordinator of Cubasolar in San Cristóbal, a municipality adjacent to Candelaria, who provided advice for the construction of the one on the Rojas farm, which is considered small-scale (up to 24 cubic meters per day).

Although costs depend on factors such as the size, type and thickness of the material, and even the characteristics of the site, specialists estimate that the average minimum cost for the construction of a small-scale biodigester cooker for household use is around 1,000 dollars, in a country with an average monthly salary of about 160 dollars at the official exchange rate.

Vázquez told IPS that low-interest loans should be made available, because “it will always be more economical to make biodigesters using domestic products.”

He pointed out that in Cuba “there is potential” to expand the network of biodigesters, which could reach 20,000 units, at least small-scale ones, according to conservative estimates by experts.

Two pigs stand in a pen built next to the biodigester in the backyard of the home of farmer Mayra Rojas. Experts agree that proper management of the biomethane resulting from the decomposition of agricultural waste and livestock manure can generate value and be a profitable solution to prevent water and soil contamination in Cuba. CREDIT: Jorge Luis Baños/IPS

Biogas, circular economy and local development

During a Jul. 21 session of Cuba’s single-chamber parliament, economic stimulus measures were announced, including an aim to increase the production and use of biofuels and biogas.

“Although it can be used in transportation…the main benefit of the biodigester is environmental and the efficiency of biogas lies in its final use,” José Antonio Guardado, a member of Cubasolar’s National Board of Directors and coordinator of MUB, explained to IPS.

In this regard, Guardado reflected that the direct use of biogas for cooking is much more efficient than if it is transformed into electrical energy or used to power a vehicle.

The head of MUB recommended “understanding the value of biogas technology in a comprehensive manner, taking advantage of all of its end products. This includes the supply of basic nutrients for soil fertilization that has a direct impact on food production.”

This would contribute to the closing of cycles of the circular economy, based on the principles of reduce, recycle, reuse, which promotes the use of green energies and diversification of production to achieve resilience.

“Evidently this final product, from biogas technology, will only be achievable locally, with the participation of all the actors of the Cuban economy, and social inclusion,” Guardado said.

Ministerial Order 395, issued in 2021 by the Ministry of Energy and Mines, stipulated that each of Cuba’s 168 municipalities must have a biogas development program and strategy, and must coordinate their management and implementation with their respective provinces.

The appointment of a government official to head the commission, to prioritize the allocation of materials to build biodigesters, seems to confirm the authorities’ decision to promote sustainable energy development from the local level.

© Inter Press Service (2022) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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Unleashing Mangrove Superpower Through Soft Coastal Engineering — Global Issues

Community-led restoration of mangroves along Kenya’s coastal shorelines is ongoing. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS
  • by Joyce Chimbi (nairobi)
  • Inter Press Service

Nairobi, Jul 25 (IPS) – The swish of calm waters followed by unexpectedly high tides and violent waves is now too familiar for the fisher community along Kenya’s 1,420-kilometer Indian Ocean coastline.

“When a very dark cloud hovers around the ocean, it is a signal that it is very angry, releasing very strong waves from its very depth. When this happens, the ocean will only calm down by taking a life. Fishermen are killed by sudden strong waves every year,” Aisha Mumina, a resident of Makongeni village in Kilifi County, tells IPS.

Kassim Zara says the fish population is on the rise in tandem with mangrove conservation and restoration efforts in Jimbo village, Kwale County. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

But even during such high tides, Mwanamvua Kassim Zara, a local fish trader, says the stock has significantly declined. Before, high tides meant more fish because they would run to the safety of thick mangrove roots for shelter, feeding and breeding.

Today, she says, fishers can no longer cast their net beyond the coral reef and expect a harvest. Even the popular Dagaa, a tiny silver fish and a most preferred delicacy in Vanga Bay in Kwale County with a population of over 8,700 households, has all but disappeared.

“I buy a bucket of fish from the fishermen at 40 to 45 US dollars, up from 20 to 25 US dollars. The high prices are then transferred to our customers who buy one kilogram of boiled, dried and salted fish at 3 US dollars up from 2 US dollars,” she tells IPS.

Kassim considered diversifying into rice farming, but even that presents a new set of challenges. While the tides are not sweeping fish to the shores and into the fishers’ nets, the high tides flood adjacent rice farms. This makes it impossible to access the farms, leading to the destruction of crops.

In Jimbo village, she says parents were afraid to send their children to Jimbo Early Childhood Education (ECD). In high tides, water from the adjacent Indian Ocean would flood the school, putting the lives of children at risk.

The ongoing soft engineering efforts to restore mangroves on the shorelines of Kwale’s Vanga Bay area. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

But Kassim says a promising community-led, community-driven initiative is progressively addressing their most pressing climate change-related concerns. This hope is to restore mangroves and unleash their hidden superpowers to store three to five times more carbon than terrestrial forests.

Once dismissed as dirty and swampy wetlands, the maze of lush green mangroves lining meandering water channels along Kenya’s coastline were extensively encroached upon, degraded and mangrove trees felled at a rate of 0.5 % per year from 1991 to 2016, according to the Kenya Forest Services (KFS).

Relying on indigenous knowledge, indigenous ethnic groups along Kenya’s coastline, including the Digo, Duruma, Shirazi, Wapemba and Wagunga people, discovered that the more they cut down mangroves for firewood, building material, fishing equipment and trade, the more fish disappeared. With these changes came higher and more powerful waves and floods.

“Even as various fish species such as milkfish, mullet fish and octopus slowly disappeared and fishermen could no longer cast their nets past the coral reef and catch a prawn, crab or other shellfish, it took time to see the connection,” Harith Mohamed Suleiman, a member of Kwale’s Vanga Bay indigenous communities tells IPS.

Ongoing soft engineering efforts to restore mangroves on the shorelines of Kwale’s Vanga Bay area. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

Mangroves are the first line of defence against Indian Ocean-related catastrophes. Mangrove roots provide fish with feeding and breeding grounds. They enable close to all fishing activities to be carried out along shallow inshore areas within and adjacent to the mangroves, according to the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI).

“It took us many years to understand that mangroves are the breeding and nursery grounds for many fish species around here. By losing mangroves, we were losing our lifeline. We make money from fishing, tourism, bird watching, beekeeping and honey from mangrove forests is unique and valuable,” Suleiman expounds.

Oscar Kiptoo, a conservationist and researcher at KFS, says mangroves are government reserve forests under KFS either singly or in partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Service when mangroves grow in marine parks and reserves. The total mangrove cover in this East African nation, he says, is approximately 61,271 hectares.

Lamu County has 37,350 hectares, Kilifi 8,536 hectares, Kwale 8,354 hectares and 3,260 hectares in Tana River. Mombasa has 3,771 hectares of mangroves distributed along Port Reitz and Tudor Creeks.

An estimated 1,850 hectares of Mombasa County’s mangrove cover are degraded, with more than 1,480 hectares destruction reported in Tudor Creek, mainly because mangrove wood is resistant to rot and insects and therefore highly valuable for building material.

Suleiman explains how three adjacent villages in Kwale County formed the Vanga Jimbo Kiwengu (VAJIKI) Community Forest Association to restore, conserve and protect mangroves voluntarily.

Suleiman, the chair of VAJIKI, says the initiative was inspired by Gazi and Makongeni villages in Kilifi County. These communities pioneered the first of its kind carbon offset project in the world to successfully traded mangrove carbon credits. They worked under the Mikoko Pamoja Community group with support from the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI).

Kassim, from the VAJIKI community, says the community initially did not succeed because they lacked knowledge about mangrove species and zoning. There are mangroves for the shoreline and those that do best on the mainland.

“Since 2016, educated people from the government have been teaching us how to plant and protect mangroves. They tell us mangroves are the roots of the ocean, the same way that a tree cannot grow without trees, so it is with the ocean. We cannot benefit from the ocean if we destroy mangroves. We learn how to use mangroves as a wall around the ocean to protect us from high tides, and we see the fruits of our work,” Kassim says.

Suleiman agrees, adding that the VAJIKI project is a 460 hectares mangrove initiative officially launched in 2019. He says 450 hectares (1,112 acres) will be conserved, protected, and allowed to rejuvenate naturally. The remaining 10 (25 acres) will be reforested over two decades.

Out of the 450 hectares (1,112 acres), he says 250 hectares (618 acres) are on the mainland and at significant risk of continued over-exploitation, and another 200 hectares (494 acres) are on the uninhabited Sii Island. Although unexploited, mangroves on Sii Island are at significant risk from loggers.

Suleiman says the VAJIKI community is committed to ensuring that the island remains free from all human activity, including illegal fishing and dynamite use. According to KFS, approximately 250 fish and 124 coral species are protected by the Sii Island mangroves.

“The VAJIKI community is in talks with government representatives to pioneer a transboundary mangrove conservation and restoration initiative that will start from Mombasa, through Kwale County and into Tanzania. We are in close proximity with other indigenous communities on the Tanzania side of the border. We have no language or cultural barriers,” he says.

Suleiman says they have learnt mangrove seedlings have a higher survival rate when prepared for planting in a seed nursery. Mangrove seedlings will have been collected in the expansive mangrove forest, packed in sacks, soaked in salty or marine water and stored for planting for six months. At least 100 community members volunteer for the exercise on seed planting days.

Mangrove seeds are seasonal, and their availability throughout the year varies from species to species. For instance, Ceriops Tagal seeds are available in February and March, Rhizophora mucronata seeds are available in March and June, and Avicennia marina seeds are available in April and May.

The VAJIKI community plants at least 3,000 seedlings of mangroves annually and targets to sell carbon credit worth 48,713 US dollars per year by accumulating 5,023 tons of carbon above ground. Their records show that the 2020/21 period brought carbon credits worth 44,433 US dollars.

This is where a private developer had once built a hotel on the shores of Vanga Bay in Kwale County, leading to significant deforestation of mangroves. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

Suleiman says the VAJIKI Community sells above-ground carbon calculated using direct measurements of mangrove biomass. Kiptoo says these measurements are taken using traditionally established forest inventory techniques.

He says the process entails collecting tree measurements, including height, crown area or wood density, and diameter at breast height within the designated plots. These measurements, he says, are then used “as an input to the allometric equation, also known as biomass estimation equations, to provide biomass estimates.”

Suleiman says these calculations require technical know-how. The VAJIKI community relies on the Association for Coastal Ecosystem Services (ACES), a charity registered in Scotland, to coordinate the entire process, including the actual carbon trading, because they have access to viable international markets.

“Women in Kiwengu village delivered at home or in other villages because Kiwengu Dispensary did not have a maternity (ward). But we bought a bed using the money, and women are safe to deliver at the dispensary. Our children can go to nursery school because we built a barrier to prevent floods from entering the school. Rice farming is possible now because the floods have reduced in the last two years,” Kassim says.

In Makongeni Kilifi County, Naima Juma says her nine-year-old daughter was accosted and nearly assaulted on her way to fetch water; “we used to walk for two kilometres looking for freshwater because our waters are too salty. But now everyone in the village has water close to their homes through communal taps or own household taps.”

Providing clean water to the community, improved health care, sanitation, education and infrastructure to the benefit of Juma and 4,500 community members was made possible through the Mikoko Pamoja (mangroves together) initiative.

Records show the Mikoko Pamoja community-based group has 117 acres of mangrove plantation, restoring the degraded shorelines of Gazi bay by planting approximately 2,000 seedlings annually and another 2,000 on the mainland. The project captures an estimated 2,000 tons of carbon below and above ground. Records show the project currently earns at least 25,000 US dollars annually from carbon trading.

“Our community leaders and chiefs usually invite us to a meeting to discuss how the money should be spent. We usually choose projects that benefit all of us,” Juma tells IPS.

Community initiatives, Suleiman says, are so strong that a private developer who once destroyed acres of mangroves to build a beach hotel and restaurant just meters away from the shoreline demolished the facility due to community resistance. Other developers similarly deforested large chunks of mangroves to build salt pans – the projects have since been terminated.

Kiptoo says ongoing community-led initiatives are hitting all the right targets as they are a win for climate, biodiversity and communities.

Due to ongoing community-based and community-led initiatives, he says the country is successfully halting the degradation and deforestation of mangroves.

The dense mangrove forested area on the Tanzania side of the border. On the Kenyan side, communities are leading mangrove restoration efforts. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

Keeping with the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to adopt the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem proclamation marked annually on July 26, between 2019 and 2022, KFS says over 16.7 million mangroves seedlings have been planted.

Suleiman says community-led initiatives are not without their fair share of challenges. “A lack of understanding of various mangrove species available and where they grow best is the main problem as there are species that thrive on the mainland and others along the shoreline.

“A lack of knowledge on planting methods, either through a nursery or simply picking a seedling and directly sticking it in the ground, issues of seedling spacing, and all these factors affect the survival rate. VAJIKI started planting seedlings years ago, but until recently, when we started interacting with scientists, the survival rate was only 10 percent.”

He encourages coastal communities to partner with scientists and the government because with an increased understanding of mangroves, the survival rate will improve. Other benefits will follow – like increased carbon dioxide trapped in mangroves and money earned from carbon trading that can be used to support community projects. All these significantly improve lives.

Kassim says her beloved Dagaa, a staple in the Vanga bay community, is slowly returning to the shores and within reach of fishers. She says business is booming and that fish prices would have already gone down if it were not for ongoing inflation and the fuel cost.

This feature was reported with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.

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The Africa We Want is Still Within Reach & a Priority for the United Nations — Global Issues

  • Opinion by Amina Mohammed (united nations)
  • Inter Press Service

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 21 (IPS) – Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United nations, in an address to the Joint High Level Dialogue on Africa, 20 July 2022.The “Africa We Want” – as outlined in Agenda 2063 – embodies the African Union’s bold vision of an integrated, prosperous, and peaceful continent.

An Africa shaped by its own narrative, informed by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force on the world stage. The United Nations shares this vision and its realization through the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Today’s event provides a global platform for African Member States and the United Nations and partners to share progress and reaffirm that giving light to this vision remains our shared priority. Sadly, Africa’s development gains are at risk, as a consequence of the current three ongoing crises.

First, the COVID-19 pandemic.

The effects of the pandemic have reversed progress made over the past two decades, and further shrank an already limited fiscal space.

Social inequalities have been exposed and exacerbated in nearly every sphere: in vaccine distribution, in economic growth, in access to education and health care, and in terms of job and income losses.

For the first time in over 20 years poverty has increased. Women and informal workers have been disproportionately affected.

Second, climate change continues to threaten Africa’s future. Droughts, floods and hurricanes are growing in number and severity and African countries are on the front line. Even though this week, we are witnessing record hight temperatures in Europe and UK, where forest fires and homes burring have taken lives.

COP27 in Egypt will be the African COP. It will be the opportunity to build on the outcomes of Glasgow and to signal the ambition of the stock take COP28.

There is a unique opportunity to lift the ambition and keep the promise of the 2030 Agenda, including the Paris agreement and the promise of the Agenda 2063.

To scale-up and speed-up investments in climate adaptation solutions that that protect people and ecosystems, building resilience for the crises to come.

Third, the war in Ukraine.

The war is not only causing immense human suffering — it is now precipitating a global food, energy, and finance crisis. 71 million people in developing countries have fallen into poverty in the space of just 3 months, as a direct consequence of global food and energy price surges.

People living in regions like the Sahel and the Horn of Africa are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity. As the Secretary-General has warned, “there is a real risk that multiple famines will be declared in 2022. And 2023 could be even worse.”

The Africa we want is still within reach. To get there, we need to change our mindsets and turn the triple crisis into an opportunity. To do so, we must focus on five, amongst many of our key issues:

First, building effective and reliable policy frameworks and institutions.

To be clear: policy choices have the capacity to make or break this world. Without a forceful policy response to today’s challenges, there is a risk that inequality will become entrenched.

For an inclusive economic recovery, policy responses need to put human capital and future resilience at the centre of policy making. We need to promote the complementarity between formal and informal social protection networks as tools to achieve income distribution.

Second, we must future-proof Africa’s infrastructure by investing in connectivity and digital technologies.

The launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area provides an exciting opportunity for African countries to industrialize, diversify and digitize their economies, and enhance regional cooperation and resilience.

Third, education and skills-development are enablers of Africa’s industrialization.

Digital skills, science, technology, engineering and mathematics need to be integrated into the curricula of African schools and education institutions. This is the only way that the continent will be able to build a skilled workforce that is able to realize the fourth industrial revolution.

The Transforming Education Summit that the Secretary-General will convene in September will help to radically redesign our education systems for the world of tomorrow, today.

Fourth, achieving sustainable energy for all across the continent.

The global rise in energy prices that we are witnessing should prompt African countries to accelerate energy access and a just transition, including through scaled-up domestic renewable energy production and energy efficiency. But this is an opportunity for foreign direct investment in many of these economies that will pave a way for that industrialization that we speak to.

Finally, we need an overall of our approach to financing.

In the short term, African countries need immediate relief to ensure they can survive the immediate next years — through the re-channeling of unused Special Drawing Rights, increased concessional grants, and the renewal of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative.

In the long term, we will need to re-prioritize where and how investments get made. This requires massively scaling up investments in the sectors that remain critical to bolstering resilience and inclusive growth.

And this requires redistributing funds away from sectors that undermine these efforts—while supporting a just transition for all in the process.

The Africa We Want is not only good for the Continent — it is good for the world.

Building the Africa We Want means delivering the urgent scale in the support that Africa needs, it also means putting at the centre our youth and women.

Now is the time to urgently rescue the SDGs in Africa and lay the foundation for the ambition of the 2063 Agenda – and in the world at large.

Today, let us recommit to our ambitious vision and to continue to work alongside African countries to realise a greener, more sustainable, and more inclusive future for all.

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Smallholder Farmers in Uganda Recruit Black Soldier Fly for Green Fertiliser — Global Issues

Abbey Lubega inside the larvae hatchery unit. Simple tools are used to harvest the larvae and frass. Credit: Wambi Michael/IPS
  • by Wambi Michael (kampala & kayunga)
  • Inter Press Service

Kampala & Kayunga, Jul 19 (IPS) – The conflict in Ukraine has led to an increase in fertiliser prices in Uganda and neighbouring Kenya. Amidst the shortages, some farmers are shifting to a more sustainable way of enriching their soils using frass from the Black Soldier Fly.

Before Russia invaded Ukraine, Marula Proteen Hub, based in Kayunga in central Uganda, mobilised farmers to produce Black Soldier Fly larvae (BSF). But many, especially the elderly, were hesitant.

“I wondered what they will think of me keeping maggots? Some, however, accepted. So, they have been keeping those maggots from which we make animal feed and now, quality fertiliser too,” said Abbey Lubega, the overseer of Marula Proteen Hub in Kangulumira sub-county.

About one thousand farmers in Kayunga have been mobilised to rear the maggots, which they sell to the hub either in cash or in exchange for organic fertiliser.

“Farmers have waste on their farms. So, we give them BSF systems for rearing the larvae. We also give them five-day-old larvae. The larvae eat through waste collected from homes. After eight days, they sell us the mature larvae or feed their livestock. There is also that option. Then they retain fertiliser for their garden,” said Lubega in an interview with IPS

“What the farmers are looking for, besides this income from the larvae, is the fertiliser produced on their farms. They can produce whatever quantities they want. It is quick, it is reliable,” explained Lubega

Marula Proteen Hub is situated below a pineapple and jackfruit processing plant to tap into the waste generated as feedstock for the larvae rearing. A pungent smell of ammonia fills the air as one enters the larvae hatchery section, where five-day-old larvae eat through waste.

“These larvae are eating. They are defecating. The ammonia that you are smelling is emanating from frass,” explained Lubega

Harriet Nakayi harvests BSF Larvae in Kangulumira Kayunga District.

Harriet Nakayi lives in Namakandwa Parish, close to 75 kilometres east of Uganda’s capital Kampala. She is one of the women in this area trained to sustainably produce BSF larvae for animal proteins and frass fertiliser for their crops.

With her three-year-old daughter standing by, Nakayi scoops larvae from black containers and pours them onto a metallic net to separate them from the decomposed brown substances that look like loam soil. The larvae are about to be taken to the hub for sale. The frass and compost material are ready to be applied in her coffee, vanilla, and banana gardens.

She told IPS that frass from BSF is much easier to apply when compared with farmyard manure.

“This fertiliser does not burn the plants. So unlike manure which you have to wait for some time, you can take this one immediately to the garden,” said Nakayi

Like Nakayi, Solomon Timbiti Wagidoso, a pineapple farmer, said he applied BSF fertiliser to one of his gardens and that their growth seems to point to a better harvest.

“The government said it would manufacture our fertiliser, but I’m told that project is on a standstill. We now depend on imported fertiliser whose cost keeps on increasing,” said Timbiti

According to Timbiti, the price of fertiliser has increased since late 2020. The war in Ukraine now exacerbates the high prices.

By early April, fertiliser prices had more than doubled in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. The three countries and the rest of East Africa depend on imports from Russia and Belarus.

Researchers in Uganda and Kenya found that ‘the composting process of black soldier fly frass fertiliser takes five weeks compared to the 8–24 weeks for conventional organic fertiliser.

Frass, a by-product of BSF rearing, has been found to contain substantial amounts of nutrients that can fertilise the soil. Lubega scoops frass from one of the containers with his hands. Tiny maggots are still crushing the waste that now looks like fine loam soil.

“It’s almost powder, as you can see. It is very fine,”  said Lubega. “Manure from cow dung is good, but that from goat manure is better. That from chicken is better than that of a goat. So how about the larvae that are the smallest. So, we see that the smaller the animal, the better the manure.”

Lubega explains to IPS that Black Soldier Fly larvae can break the substrates to make the nutrients available to the plant.

“Inorganic fertilisers give you the nutrient the plant needs, but organic fertilisers improve the soil health. They reduce that dependency. If I buy inorganic fertiliser for this season, I have to go back and buy more for the next season. You will need to apply inorganic fertiliser throughout your entire life,” he added.

He said organic fertilisers are better suited for smallholder farmers, like those in Kangulumira, who cannot afford to buy inorganic fertilisers.

“And if you look at the cost-benefit analysis, why would I buy inorganic fertiliser if I’m going to need it all the time? It not different from teaching me how to fish and giving me fish,” added Lubega.

Rucci Tripathi, the global Practice Lead Resilient Livelihoods at international development charity VSO with an office in Uganda and several other countries, told IPS that there is a need for a strategy for farmers and developing countries to shield farmers from the current fertiliser, fuel and food prices crisis.

Tripathi said there was a need to invest in supporting community initiatives on the production of natural manure, including feeding the soils through having a crop cover such as hay and planting nitrogen-fixing plants.

“This reduces farmers’ dependence on imports of chemical fertilisers, which is good for farmers’ incomes and soil health. We see many such small-scale initiatives across Zimbabwe to Uganda to Kenya,” she said

Researchers at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (Icipe) have revealed that adopting insect bioconversion technology can recycle between two and 18 million tonnes of waste into organic fertiliser worth approximately 9–85 million US dollars per year.

The researchers, who include Dr Sevgan Subramanian, Dr Chrysantus Mbi Tanga and Denis Besigamukama, recently published an article titled “Nutrient quality and maturity status of frass fertiliser from nine edible insects”.

They observed that although the use of organic fertiliser is acceptable and affordable to farmers, there has been limited uptake in Sub-Saharan Africa due to poor quality, long production time, and limited sources of organic matter on the farm.

“Thus, there is a need to explore alternative sources of organic fertilisers that are readily available, affordable and of good quality, such as insect frass fertiliser,” they wrote.

Dr Debora Ruth Amulen, the founder of the Centre for Insect Research and Development, based in Kampala, told IPS that there is a need to sensitise farmers about the animal proteins and fertiliser generated from BSF.

“It is useful on our farms. It’s also a useful tool for our environment. We have a lot of manure from cattle and livestock. They are producing a lot of greenhouse gases. The Black Soldier fly has been found useful in compositing urban waste,” explained Amulen, also a lecturer at Makerere University

“It is a very simple technology that even those that have not gone to school can apply. And it’s very cost-effective.”

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Narrow Valuation of Nature is Widening Biodiversity Loss — Global Issues

The launch of the IPBES Assessment Report on the Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature. The report argues that because nature is poorly valued, this is driving biodiversity loss. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS
  • by Busani Bafana (bulawayo)
  • Inter Press Service

Bulawayo, Jul 11 (IPS) – Nature has diverse values for different people, but it is poorly evaluated, and this is driving the global biodiversity crisis, top scientists say in a new report.

Cover of IPBES Summary for Policymakers of Values Assessment. Credit: IPBES

The Assessment Report on the Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature found that the way nature is valued in political and economic decisions is a key driver of the global biodiversity crisis and, simultaneously, a vital opportunity to address this loss. Nature is valued for its contribution to food, medicines, energy, and cultural significance, among other benefits. Representatives of the 139-member states of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) approved the report on Saturday, July 9, 2022.

IPBES is a global science-policy body tasked with providing scientific evidence to decision-makers for people and nature.

Widening the values of nature

Conducted over four years, the Values Assessment by 82 top scientists and experts highlights a dominant global focus on short-term profits and economic growth, and nature’s often multiple values are ignored in policy decisions. The Values Assessment sought to improve the value of nature, the quality of life, and justice.

“Biodiversity is being lost, and nature’s contributions to people are being degraded faster now than at any other point in human history,” said Ana María Hernández Salgar, Chair of IPBES. “This is largely because our current approach to political and economic decisions does not sufficiently account for the diversity of nature’s values.

The authors note that the release of the IPBES Values Assessment was strategic ahead of the expected agreement in December 2022 by the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on a new global biodiversity framework for the next decade. The Values Assessment is also expected to contribute to achieving the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the future post-2020 global biodiversity framework, towards just and sustainable futures.

“Effective policy decisions about nature must be informed by the wide range of values and valuation methods, which makes the IPBES Values Assessment a vital scientific resource for policy and action for nature and human well-being,” Salgar said.

The Values Assessment provides decision-makers with tools and methods to understand the values individuals and communities hold about nature. Credit: IPBES

The Values Assessment flagged unsustainable use of nature, including persistent inequalities between and within countries, as a key driver of the global decline of biodiversity. This resulted from predominant political and economic decisions based on a narrow set of values, such as prioritizing nature’s values as traded in markets and macroeconomic indicators like Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The specific values of nature include nature as instrumental, intrinsic, and relational. The valuation was applied to habitats, mainly forests, cultivated areas, inland water bodies, and coastal areas.

Embedding values of nature into policymaking

The report notes that nature’s values and valuation approaches can be leveraged in policymaking, which presents opportunities to tackle the global biodiversity crisis.

The authors identified four values-centered ‘leverage points’ that can help create the conditions for the transformative change necessary for more sustainable development. These include recognizing the diverse values of nature, embedding valuation into decision-making, reforming policies and regulations to internalize nature’s values, and shifting underlying societal norms and goals to align with global sustainability and justice objectives.

Baptiste said values are behind our daily decisions and business opportunities and that assessment is helping locate the relations between those values and actions that the different actors in society can develop.

The report said that economic and political decisions have predominantly prioritized certain values of nature, particularly market-based instrumental values of nature, such as those associated with intensive food production.

“With more than 50 valuation methods and approaches, there is no shortage of ways and tools to make visible the values of nature,” said Professor Unai Pascual, Assessment Co-chair. For instance, only two percent of the more than 1,000 studies reviewed consulted stakeholders on valuation findings, and only one percent involved stakeholders in every step of the process of valuing nature.

“What is in short supply is the use of valuation methods to tackle power asymmetries among stakeholders and to transparently embed the diverse values of nature into policymaking,” Pascual urged.

The Value Assessment, which drew on more than 13,000 references – including scientific papers and information sources from indigenous and local knowledge – builds on the 2019 IPBES Global Assessment, which identified economic growth as a key driver of nature loss. More than 1 million plants and animals are at risk of extinction.

The report finds that the number of studies that value nature has increased on average by more than 10 percent per year over the last four decades, with the recent valuation studies focusing largely on improving the condition of nature and on improving people’s quality of life.

Co-chair Patricia Balvanera said the Values Assessment provides decision-makers with tools and methods to understand the values individuals and communities hold about nature.

The quality of valuation can be enhanced by considering the relevance, robustness, and resource requirements of different valuation methods. For example, a development project can yield economic benefits and jobs, for which instrumental values of nature can be assessed. However, the same project can also lead to the loss of species associated with intrinsic values of nature, and the destruction of heritage sites important for cultural identity, thus affecting relational values of nature.

Raising the quality of valuing nature

Another Co-chair of the Value Assessment, Mike Christi, said the valuation of nature is intentional. As a result, the type and quality of information that valuation studies can produce largely depends on how, why, and by whom valuation is designed and applied.

“Recognizing and respecting the worldviews, values, and traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples and local communities allows policies to be more inclusive, which also translates into better outcomes for people and nature,” said Brigitte Baptiste, Co-chair.

“Also, recognizing the role of women in the stewardship of nature and overcoming power asymmetries frequently related to gender status can advance the inclusion of the diversity of values in decisions about nature.”

The report finds that a number of deeply held values can be aligned with sustainability, emphasizing principles like unity, responsibility, stewardship, and justice, both towards other people and towards nature.

“Shifting decision-making towards the multiple values of nature is a really important part of the system-wide transformative change needed to address the current global biodiversity crisis,” said Balvanera. “This entails redefining ‘development’ and ‘good quality of life’ and recognizing the multiple ways people relate to each other and to the natural world.”

The analysis shows that various pathways can contribute to just and sustainable futures through a green economy, degrowth, earth stewardship, and nature protection.

Commending the IPBES Assessment Report on the Values and Valuation of Nature, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Convention on Biological Diversity, Executive Secretary, noted that implementing the goals and targets in the Global Biodiversity Framework, which will complement the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, underpins the knowledge in different types of values of nature as demonstrated by the Values Assessment.

Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme (UNEP), described the Values Assessment report as crucial because valuing nature was central to the successful post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework currently under negotiation.

“Nature, in all its diversity, is the greatest asset that humanity could ever ask for,” said Andersen. “Yet, its true value is often left out of decision making. Nature’s life support system has become an externality that doesn’t even make it onto the ledger sheet.”

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