Rwanda fills climate data gap to protect against storms

Paula Park in SciDev.net: Rwanda’s weather service is now better able to forecast floods and other natural disasters after scientists bridged climate-data gaps left by the 1994 genocide.  The collection of national rainfall and temperature records lapsed for after the genocide, and the absence of reliable records had hampered the Rwanda Meteorology Agency’s ability to forecast threats such as torrential rain or flooding that damaged homes and crops, and caused fatalities.

But researchers have now combined Rwandan weather station observations from before and after the 15 year gap with satellite data on rainfall patterns over the past 30 years. It has enabled the Rwanda Meteorology Agency to fill hole in its observations, says Marcellin Habimana, a climate processing officer at the agency.

Rwanda’s data gap is typical of many Sub-Saharan African countries. “Africa is very sparsely sampled,” Elfatih Eltahir, a civil engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States, tells SciDev.Net.

There are just 1,152 stations in Africa within the World Weather Watch programme that reports to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), so each covers 27,347 square kilometres, according to German NGO the Institute Water for Africa.  In comparison, it says, the 287 WMO weather stations in Germany each cover an area about 20 times smaller than that....

Mt. Katsimbi in Rwanda, shot by Micah Zarnke, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

African Development Bank meeting calls for equity in water use

AllAfrica.com via the New Times (Rwanda): Experts from the just concluded African Development Bank (AfDB) annual meetings have said that even with declining rainfall and unpredictable climate, African governments can still effectively manage and provide clean water.

The observation was made during a session dubbed 'Building Water Resilience,' where experts and government officials reflected on water-related challenges that Africa faces today and how they can be dealt with. Key issues ranged from cooperation between countries that share same water bodies to water security.

"We can't ignore the fact that water contributes highly to national economy. There are many public goods embedded in water, but the question here is how effective can it be allocated? The answer to this is devising a way in which the public sector can work with the private sector in water resource management and exploitation," said Prof Mike Muller, the Infrastructure Advisor, Development Bank of Southern Africa.

Muller cited the construction of Rusumo hydro power plant as one of the few examples where the private sector has been involved in water management through involvement of local people in the construction of the plant.

The high rate of urbanization is another challenge. Latest reports indicate that over 400 million Africans live in urban areas - close to 40% of Africa's population. In 50 years, about 65% of Africans will be living in urban areas...

Lake Mhindi in Rwanda, shot by Abhishek Singh, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under Creative Commons 2.0 license 

Technology praised for assisting land tenure reform

Arthur Allen  SciDev.net: Rapid technological changes are opening new frontiers in land tenure reform, a recent World Bank conference has heard, but some land tenure experts and community activists are sceptical about how much these technologies will help development.

Geographic information, obtained from satellites, drones, databases and other sources such as traditional surveys and presented in computerised form, enables governments, companies and communities to rapidly access information about land ownership, boundaries and value that may help expand socioeconomic development, some speakers said.

“If property rights are not clearly defined, you have no basis for sustainable development,” Rexford Ahene, a World Bank consultant and an economist at Lafayette College, United States, told SciDev.Net, reflecting on the bank’s interest in land administration. The 2014 Land and Poverty Conference, organised by the bank, was held in Washington DC, United States, last month (24-27 March).

Several countries presented reports about their progress in registering land and creating title deeds and land ownership maps. Rwanda demarcated 10.4 million plots — its entire landmass — in a three-year project that ended in 2012. In Indonesia, a US$333 million project, using drones and satellite data, began last year to demarcate and list the land titles for a pilot area. Land registrations also help expand market-based economies and give governments a clearer picture of their tax base, Ahene told SciDev.Net.

Rwanda, for example, expanded its annual land tax income from two to ten billion Rwandan francs (around US$2.9 million to US$14.4 million) between 2011 and 2013. About one per cent of Rwandan land is now bought and sold each year, and title registration is facilitating economic activity, said Thierry Hoza Ngoga, manager of the Land Technical Operations Division within the Rwanda Natural Resources Authority....

A NASA image of Rwanda (with yellow boundary added)

Huye families in Rwanda given relocation deadline

Jean Pierre Bucyensenge in AllAfrica.com via the New Times (Rwanda): Authorities in Huye District have issued a directive to 44 households and business owners in Rwabuye neighbourhood on the outskirts of Huye town to relocate to safer areas.

The decision, which has been backed by the District Advisory Council, gives residents until the end of the month to relocate. The area, adjacent Rwabuye marshland, is prone to floods, Mayor Eugene Muzuka said.

He said the district has ruled out the possibility of compensating the residents, saying it's for their safety from disasters that they are being asked to move. "They have settled in a marshland, which is naturally not suitable for habitation," Muzuka said. "In addition, some businesses that use electricity, such us grinding mills, expose the locals to extreme risks of accidents in case of floods." However, he said the district will assist the most vulnerable residents to get new homes, while those in the 'middle class' will be given plots to start afresh. The rest are on their own.

Sources said concerned individuals in the area have been given relocation notices and that the affected and most vulnerable are likely to be moved to Tonga, in Ngoma Sector.

However, some residents said they will not relocate without compensation. Joas Rutangana, a resident, said he is worried of relocating without consideration of his property. "If they decide to enforce the directive, it means they will have decided to ignore our rights [to these properties] and we will then become homeless," Rutangana said....

Developing countries warned over food insecurity

Eric Kabeera in AllAfrica.com via New Times (Rwanda): Developing countries have been criticized for focusing much on increasing food production in rural areas and forgetting to come up with policies to ensure food accessibility in urban areas. According to a report released by International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), this has increased food insecurity in urban areas and poverty among citizens.

IIED is a global and international development and environment policy research organisation that deals in research, advice and advocacy. It warns that climate change would only make this policy gap worse because the impact of climate change would affect not only harvests but also systems that are used to transport, store, buy and sell food.

"Food security is back on the agenda thanks to rising prices and the threat that climate change poses to agricultural production," says the report's author Dr Cecilia Tacoli. "But policies that focus on rural food production alone will not tackle the rising food insecurity in urban areas. We also need policies that improve poor people's ability to access and afford food, especially in urban areas."

Most people in urban areas, unlike their counterparts in rural communities, buy their food. And any climate-induced disruption to food production, transport and storage - either in the urban area itself or in distant farmlands - could affect food supply and prices in urban areas," it says....

On the street in Huye/Butare in Rwanda, shot by Rytc, Wikimedia Commons,  under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license

Bioscience should underpin African agriculture, meeting hears

Mekonnen Teshome in SciDev.net: Bioscience projects including ones that turn tannery waste into manure can improve crop productivity and food security, and boost agricultural resilience to climate change-related impacts in East Africa, according to scientists.

Agricultural and biosciences scientists who met at the 1st Bio-Innovate Regional Scientific Research Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, last month (25-27 February), say that using bioscience in East Africa could bring about socioeconomic transformation.

For instance, in Uganda, tannery and slaughter wastes are being turned into manure for crop production and clean water. Other innovations include the production of drought-resistant seed varieties that are suitable to specific agriecological areas.

The Bio-resources Innovations Network for Eastern Africa Development (Bio-Innovate) Program was established in 2010 to support multidisciplinary biosciences and product-based innovation activities in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. It currently supports nine biosciences innovation and policy consortium projects, bringin

Seyoum Leta, Bio-Innovate programme manager and an environmental biotechnology expert, says that modern biosciences must be harnessed to improve crop productivity. He tells SciDev.Net that Bio-Innovate is implementing programmes in four areas aimed at:  addressing climate change adaptability; food and nutrition security; energy production from industrial waste; and securing freshwater resources....

A farm compound in Ethiopia, shot by A. Davey, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Rwanda flood disruptions

AllAfrica.com via the Rwanda Express (Kigali): Following floods in Gisaya swamp, Ngoma District Administration closed Gisaya road and stopped a boat that people had started using for transportation, expert say it is due to fluctuating climate.

Gisaya swamp that is located between Karembo and Rurenge sectors was flooded due to waters from Lake Mugesera that covered the road 2metres above the ground. However, nothing more than waiting for water to dry could be done. Although Karembo local leadership revealed that water is going down, people are not yet allowed to use that path.

Over flooding closed Gisaya swamp route leading to over 10 students and pupils to attend classes in schools of Karembo sector, waiting for water to go down and the road to become passable again. ...When asked on whether the disaster will be fought with community work, Mathias Ngenda revealed that it is a big problem because water comes from Lake Mugesera...

Rwanda experts predict long droughts, call to increase food storage

Kenneth Agutamba in AllAfrica.com via Rwanda Focus: Weather experts at Rwanda's Metrological Centre are warning of possible long droughts that may affect agricultural harvests and lead to a food crisis. According to Anthony Twahirwa, the head of the weather forecast unit at the centre, the first rainy season of the year which runs from March to May has shown serious unpredictability presenting a rare case to forecasts for the first time in recent years.

"Normally, the country should have started receiving rains at a regular intervals from March this year but we are still waiting for it to start," Twahirwa explains.

Now in the second week of April, the forecasters contend the rains should be reaching their highest levels manifested in the form of heavy down pours but there are no signs of that yet. "What we are experiencing now is an overstayed La Niña period which is when there's too much cooling in the equatorial Pacific Ocean so we don't expect any rains during such a period," he says.

He adds that the La Niña period was supposed to have ended back in February to give way for rain at the start of March which never happened. What all Rwandans should be praying for is El Niño which is the direct opposite of La Niña. During El Niño, there's too much warming at sea which increases rising vapor in the atmosphere which in turn condenses to result into heavy rains.

Simply put, the seas are too cold to produce any moisture into the atmosphere and the forecasters are saying they have noticed no signs of this improving. The worst scenario would therefore be a long drought or fewer rains that will not support good food harvests....

Nile Basin states appeal to UN over failure to access climate funds

Walter Menya in the East African: Ten African countries have appealed to the United Nations, funding agencies and the developed nations to eliminate bottlenecks to access to climate change adaptation funds. Convening in Kigali, Rwanda for the 3rd Nile Basin Development Forum from October 26 to 28, ministers in charge of water resources from the Nile Basin countries underscored the need to remove the bureaucracy that has slowed down access to the billions of dollars in the Climate Change Fund for developing nations.

The forum, attended by ministers, lawmakers, researchers and water experts under the theme “Climate Change and its Implications for Sustainable Development and Cooperation in the Nile Basin” also called on the African governments to establish national policies and initiatives for climate change adaptation that would not rely on donor funds.

The 16th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Cancun, Mexico, last year established a yearly fund, potentially worth up to $100 billion to help countries adapt to climate change. However, the participants from the Nile riparian states of Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, complained about inability to access the funds...

Map of the White Nile and the Blue Nile by Roke, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License

Political motivation in sub-Saharan Africa essential for reaching sanitation goals

Maroussia Klep in Official Wire: Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest coverage for access to sanitation services worldwide, with more than 70 percent of the population still lacking access to toilets and hand-washing facilities. In 2000, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set the target of reducing by half the number of people without access to adequate sanitation by 2015. If current rates of progress do not increase in the region, it is not expected to meet its sanitation target for another 200 years, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

“The UN system is trying to push, but if national government leaders are not interested it means that funding will not come forward and that the women, men, and children in those countries will not get safe water and decent sanitation,” Dick de Jong, Advocacy and Communication Officer at the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, told MediaGlobal.

However, some countries in the region demonstrated good results in recent years, spreading optimism about progress toward the MDGs. Rwanda stands as a frontrunner, being the sole sub-Saharan country to achieve its goals so far with 58 percent of the population now possessing access to basic sanitation services.

One essential lesson: strong political motivation more than economic development, is the key for fostering improvements in the delivery of sanitation services. Countries in the region that witness improving political stability, like Rwanda, have seen significant improvement in recent years, compared to countries in which the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was increasing but unaccompanied by political reforms....

Bridge over the Kagera River in Rwanda, shot by Abdallah Majid Nassor, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Malaria threat looms large in Rwanda as rainfall diminishes

Aimable Twahirwa in Reuters AlertNet: Low rainfall, extended dry spells and warmer weather in parts of Rwanda are creating ideal breeding conditions for mosquitoes, raising the prospect of severe outbreaks of malaria. Rwanda has drastically reduced malaria cases in past years through the use of treated mosquito nets, widespread distribution of anti-malarial medicines and improved services to expectant mothers, including improved medical check-ups, but medical practitioners fear a season of low rainfall could undo much of the progress.

When rainfall is low, lakes and rivers dry up, forming smaller pools of standing water - a fertile breeding ground for mosquitoes. Rwanda's southeast is particularly hard hit by malaria and dryer weather - linked to climate change - is expected for the region.

The southeast is forecast to receive little rainfall between now and December, according to the central African country's meteorological service. Rainfall in the region could drop to as low as 10 millimetres a year, compared to a national average of 700 mm. Temperatures are also rising, another factor that encourages mosquitoes to breed….

Scientists urged to help Rwanda deal with climate impacts

Stevenson Mugisha in AllAfrica.com via New Times (Rwanda): The Minister of Environment and Lands, Stanislas Kamanzi, has called upon experts in the region to endeavour putting in place strategies aimed at fighting climate change. Kamanzi made the call in Kigali yesterday while officially opening a two-day workshop on Rwanda Science-Policy Dialogue on Climate Change.

The seminar with a theme; "Integrating climate change, mitigation and adaptation in development planning," was organized by Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) in partnership with the University of Dar es Salaam and other stakeholders on climate change. "I advise you as experts in your respective capacities, to lay down serious strategies meant to support initiatives geared towards addressing climate change challenges in Africa," Kamanzi said.

He added that any considerable changes in climate patterns are bound to generate undesirable impacts on the welfare of the African people. The minister revealed that in the case of Rwanda, impacts of climate change have been clearly evident in ecosystems such as Lake Cyohoha in Bugesera District and Rugezi wetland where a combination of environmental degradation and climate change led to a decline in water levels for lakes Burera and Ruhondo. He said that as a result, there was a decline in hydroelectricity power generation from the lakes….

Egypt warns that new Nile agreement could prove a 'death sentence'

Daniel Howden in the Independent (UK): … Two treaties signed more than half a century ago gave Egypt the lion's share of the water from the Nile. But those deals, so crucial to one country, also set up an epic imbalance of resources that has led analysts to look to this river system as the likely theatre for the first of the long-heralded water wars. Now a fresh crisis has emerged to threaten Cairo's hegemony of this most political of rivers as five of the 10 Nile basin countries have signed up to a new agreement that would give them a greater share of the waters and has been greeted in the Egyptian press as a "death sentence".

…Countries like Ethiopia, which accounts for 85 per cent of the river's flow, never recognised the "colonial relic" treaties and are now seeking to right what they see as a historical wrong. "Some people in Egypt have old-fashioned ideas based on the assumption that the Nile water belongs to Egypt," Ethiopia's premier Meles Zenawi said recently. "But the circumstances have changed and changed forever."

Under pressure from upstream countries, Egypt agreed to take part in the Nile Basin initiative set up in Uganda's Entebbe on the shore of Lake Victoria in 1999. While Cairo saw it as a talking shop with a mandate to share scientific data, the other states saw it as an opportunity to renegotiate the use of the Nile.

…Behind the heated rhetoric of death sentences and lifeblood most observers believe that the current crisis will be resolved politically rather than militarily. The era in which Egyptian foreign policy was based on backing insurgencies and destabilising its southern neighbours may have past. David Grey, a visiting professor at Oxford University and senior water advisor to the World Bank, says the Nile Basin initiative for all its failures suggests a future in which shared water resources could yoke together former adversaries rather than divide them.

…The bigger question is not whether a more equitable sharing of the Nile can avert a war, but whether the overexploited river can continue to meet the growing demands placed on it…..

Papyrus growing wild along the banks of the Nile River in Uganda, taken by Michael Shade in the fall of 2006

Four African countries sign new Nile treaty

Terra Daily via Agence France-Presse: Four African countries on Friday signed a new treaty on the equitable sharing of the Nile waters despite strong opposition from Egypt and Sudan who have the lion's share of the river waters. Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania signed the new framework while Kenya issued a support statement, an AFP correspondent reported.

Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo were not represented at the meeting in the Ugandan town of Entebbe. "This agreement benefits all of us and harms none of us," Ethiopia's Water Resources Minister Asfaw Dingamo said. "I strongly believe all Nile Basin countries will sign the agreement."

The upstream countries want to be able to implement irrigation and hydropower projects in consultation with Egypt and Sudan, but without Egypt being able to exercise the veto power it was given by a 1929 colonial-era treaty with Britain.

"We regret the intentional and announced absence of our dear brothers from Egypt and Sudan," said Stanislas Kamanzi, Rwanda's water and lands minister. Kenya's ambassador to Uganda, Geoffrey Okanga, said his country's water minister "signalled to me her readiness to sign this agreement as soon as possible because the Kenyan position on this matter has not changed..."

The new agreement, the Nile Basin Cooperative Framework, is to replace a 1959 accord between Egypt and Sudan that gives them control of more than 90 percent of the water flow. The two countries have expressed fears that their water supply would be severely reduced if the seven other Nile users divert the river with domestic irrigation and hydropower projects….

The Nile from orbit, via NASA

The high cost of climate change in Rwanda

Moses Gahigi in AllAfrica.com via the New Times (Rwanda): A report by Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) on the economics of climate change in Rwanda has revealed that climate change has had a significant setback on the economy, especially in the past four years. The research which was funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) assessed the impact of the various climate change conditions such as carbon emissions, droughts and floods.

The report indicates that in 2007 alone, it is estimated that the measurable economic costs for floods were US$ 4 to 22m which is equivalent to around 0.1 to 0.6 of GDP for two districts alone, excluding the wider economic costs like infrastructure damage. "The climate change impacts are reducing GDP and generally affecting economic growth, however the steps Rwanda is taking to combat this phenomenon are worth commending," pointed Paul Watkiss the Project Director.

Speaking to The New Times, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Mines and Natural Resources, Caroline Kayonga, said they are taking the research recommendations seriously and its findings are going to significantly help them in strengthening mechanisms of combating impacts of climate change in a broader perspective. "We are taking the recommendations and findings of this report, there are already things we have done and others are underway in line with combating climate change and we believe this report is going to help us strengthen our efforts and strategies."

The impacts of climate change are cross-cutting and have been felt by various sectors including agriculture, health, energy and a significant effect on the existing eco-systems. It is estimated that climate change could increase the rural population at risk from malaria by 150 percent by 2050, and the disease burden could lead to full economic risks that are over US$50m per year….

The road leading to Ndera, Kigali province, Rwanda. Shot by SteveRwanda, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License