Program & Activities Capacity Building |
> home > programs & activities > African Small Grants > 2007 Nsikak Udom BENSON of Covenant University, NIGERIA Jared BOSIRE of Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, KENYA Aliou DIA of Cheikh Anta Diop University, SENEGAL Roseanne D. DIAB of University of KwaZulu-Natal, SOUTH AFRICA Olufunke Olubusayo FABOYE of University of Ibadan, NIGERIA Juliet HERMES of University of Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA J.G. MAJALIWA Mwanjalolo of University of GHANA Farai MAPANDA of University of Zimbabwe, ZIMBABWE Ferdinand Delali MAWUNYA of University of GHANA Yolande MUNZIMI of University of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the CONGO Carl PALMER of University of Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA Stephen Mathai RUCINA of National Museums of Kenya, KENYA Abdelmounaime SAFIA of National Center for Space Techniques, ALGERIA Abdoulaye SARR of Direction Meteorologie Nationale du Senegal, SENEGAL Jane OLWOCH of University of Pretoria, SOUTH AFRICA |
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The Bight of Bonny is a permanently well-mixed coastal zone that receives high inputs of nutrients and organic and inorganic carbon from the Cross River, Qua Iboe, Imo River Estuaries and the Niger Delta in Nigeria. There have been no previous studies on measurements of CO2 fluxes at seasonal or annual scales in this area, and there is limited information on: inorganic carbon sources, temporal and spatial distribution, and air-water CO2 dynamics in the tropical ocean ecosystems within the Niger Delta and Bight of Bonny. This research will provide baseline data on the spatial distribution and temporal variability of surface water Partial Pressure of Carbon Dioxide (pCO2) in the Bight of Bonny between July 2007 and March 2008. The project: 1) contributes to the understanding of the air-sea fluxes in the coastal surface water of the region, 2) provides better strategies for the management and prediction of carbon budget cycles, and 3) provides data to determine if daily influences of anthropogenic and terrestrial carbon inputs are sources or sinks for CO2 in the coastal estuarine ecosystems of Niger Delta. This research also highlights the potential importance of the near-shore coastal water bodies in the global carbon budget. This effort relates to USCCSP goals to improve quantification of the forces bringing about changes in the Earth’s climate and related systems.
The aim of this research project is to investigate the resilience of a peri-urban mangrove ecosystem that has been damaged due to the impacts of El Nino, and to assess land-use practices that intensify the impact of the El Nino weather patterns. Shoreline mangrove forests help to control soil erosion and protect farmlands against sea storms. By serving as a sink for carbon and landbased pollutants, the mangroves provide protection to the flora and fauna of adjacent ecosystems. The indirect effects of climate change, e.g. flooding and massive sedimentation, can cause mangrove dieback. This has been observed in many areas along the Kenyan coast during episodic periods of abnormally high precipitation, some of which may have been the result of changes in El Nino patterns. Natural regeneration of affected mangroves is being documented, as is: 1) the impact of sedimentation on mangrove-associated biodiversity, 2) the changes in hydrological regimes due the changed topography, and 3) the impacts on the livelihoods of mangrove-dependent communities in the area. Did land-use patterns adjacent to the mangrove forests in the area aggravate soil erosion and trigger massive sedimentation downstream? Collected data can be used to influence policy changes to encourage the adoption of appropriate husbandry practices by subsistence farmers upstream, and the data will help to obtain support for reforestation of the mangrove if it can be shown that natural regeneration has failed. This effort relates to USCCSP goals to understand the sensitivity and adaptability of different natural and managed ecosystems and human systems to climate and related global changes.
The inhabitants of the old river town of Saint Louis in Senegal have been adapting and coping with periodic flooding during its entire several hundred year existence. Although Saint Louis has always reaped substantial benefits from the river flooding, a recent combination of factors including: 1) increasing population density, 2) subsidence of the old city structures into the river sediments, and 3) a decade of below-average rainfall has left the residents in the area extremely vulnerable to damage due to increasing flood levels. In addition, changes in the local sea level during the past two decades threaten to contaminate drinking water and irrigation water resources with saltwater intrusion during high tide and low flow periods. This research will implement a stream flow model of the Senegal River basin and couple it with an extremely detailed model of the Saint Louis area to estimate the effects of changing rainfall regimes and local sea level on the flood risk in the city. A flood early warning system will be established in collaboration with local institutions for short term monitoring of flooding and as a risk reduction activity. The model will be used to predict long-term flood and salt intrusion vulnerability by using global climate model rainfall changes and sea level rise in order to enable decision making and adaptation that will lead to a reduction in vulnerability. This effort relates to USCCSP goals to explore the uses and identify the limits of evolving knowledge to manage risks and opportunities related to climate variability and change.
The aim of this project is to integrate climate change management into local air quality management planning in South Africa. By addressing air pollution and climate change issues simultaneously, it is possible to capture the synergistic relationship between the two issues, allowing for: 1) a reduction in mitigation costs, and 2) more effective monitoring and integration of local, regional and international policies. South Africa legislated the Air Quality Act No. 39 in 2004 (AQA), which is aimed principally at managing ambient air quality levels. The management tool prescribed by AQA is an Air Quality Management Plan (AQMP) that is compiled by each municipality in the country and incorporated into development planning. The intention of this project is to investigate how CO2 management can be integrated into local AQMPs for long-term monitoring and management. The end result of this project will be a proposed framework for integration of both issues that will be tested in a follow-up study for a metropolitan area (such as Durban). It will serve as a useful model for policy makers because it will provide the scientific basis for exploring the option of integrating climate change into their local policy decisions within an African context. This project forms part of the PhD studies of Ms. Tirusha Thambiran. This effort relates to USCCSP goals to explore the uses and identify the limits of evolving knowledge to manage risks and opportunities related to climate variability and change.
The process of deforestation releases CO2 to the atmosphere. Once the forest is gone, the lost trees no longer serve as a carbon sink. The potential for anthropegenic climate change increases as more of Africa’s forests are removed to serve the needs of a growing human population. This study will document carbon stock in the study areas and will correlate carbon stock with different land use methods. Land use and land cover change is being documented in each study area to determine the effect on the carbon cycle and ecosystems, and on the impact on local climate in South-Western Nigeria. Meteorological data will be collected. Historical land use changes are being documented to note the changes that have occurred in the management of each forest reserve. Current land use is being documented as observations are made and data is collected. Field experiments are in progress to determine the impact of land cover on the soil and to also obtain carbon stock in the study areas. Future projection for a period of 5 years and 10 years will be done to evaluate the potential impacts of land use through the data generated. This study will contribute to a growing database of information about the impact of land use and land cover changes on climate change and climate variability in Africa, which until recently have been rather scarce. The collected data from this study will be used in the PhD dissertation for the principal investigator. This effort relates to USCCSP goals to improve quantification of the forces bringing about changes in the Earth’s climate and related systems.
Poor coastal communities suffer environmental problems such as pollution, coastal erosion, droughts and flooding. Many of these problems can be better understood with a better comprehension of the impacts of the large-scale environment, which in turn can lead to an improvement in monitoring and forecasting. This project will implement a high-resolution coastal ocean model (ROMS), nested within a global model for climate impact studies and ocean state estimation in coastal communities of Kenya and Tanzania that border on the western Indian Ocean. Sustained efforts will be made to transfer the outcomes of the project to regional policy makers and operational agencies with responsibility for the ocean coastal areas in Tanzania and Kenya. Since the equipment will remain in Tanzania and Kenya, it is anticipated that the project will be long-term sustainable. An East African coastal modeling community will come into existence. This will lead to an increase in the number of African people skilled in using ocean models. Efforts will be made to transfer the outcomes of the project to regional policy makers and operational agencies with responsibility for the coastal ocean ecosystems and coastlines. This effort relates to USCCSP goals to reduce uncertainty in projections of how the Earth’s climate and related systems may change in the future.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as in other African countries, there is a shortage of information on global climate-related feedbacks of C stocks and fluxes from different ecological systems due to a lack of reliable field measurements. The massive tropical forest in D.R.C., strategically located around the equator, is a key element in the regulation of local, regional and global C stocks and fluxes. But as a result of decades of political instability and poor governance, coupled with an exponential population growth, there has been a significant trend of deforestation that has the potential to trigger regional and global climatic impacts and could negatively impact the livelihoods of people in the area. This project is providing the opportunity to train two MSc students about Carbon, land use and climate change studies by using recent and long-term images generated by Landsat and GIS databases, and by documenting an estimation of nutrient stocks, total C, and soil C fluxes. Data collected will be integrated into the regional database, and will provide a true picture of the carbon, N and P flux trends and loading into Lake Tanganyika to advance knowledge of the complex biogeochemical changes that link climate change to environmental impact in the Lake Tanganyika region. This will enable policy makers to address climate-induced changes as related to the management of the Lake Tanganyika for biodiversity conservation. This effort relates to USCCSP goals to improve quantification of the forces bringing about changes in the Earth’s climate and related systems and to understand the sensitivity and adaptability of different natural and managed ecosystems and human systems to climate and related global changes.
Agricultural encroachment of forestlands, as a result of the rapidly evolving agrarian reforms in Southern Africa, is an important but poorly understood external driver in soil emission of greenhouse gases. The objectives of this proposed project are to quantify emissions of nitrous oxide, methane and carbon dioxide, from plots on: 1) cleared and cropped land, 2) cleared but uncropped land, and 3) undisturbed woodlands. Greenhouse gas emissions will be observed in relation to soil variables and land use during one cropping season at two sites in Zimbabwe. The project is using the denitrification-decomposition (DNDC) model (which has the ability to predict daily changes in nutrient flux) to simulate greenhouse gas fluxes at each site. Meteorological and site management data will be used to set the parameters for the model. Expected deliverables will include datasets of greenhouse gases to reflect the short-term effect of forest clearing on greenhouse gas exchange. Recommendations will be made for reduction of greenhouse gases. The Principal Investigator will travel to The Scottish Agricultural College to learn about the DNDC model to predict daily changes in nutrient flux, which will be used to simulate greenhouse gas at test sites. All laboratory testing will be conducted at the University of Zimbabwe. This effort relates to USCCSP goals to understand the sensitivity and adaptability of different natural and managed ecosystems and human systems to climate and related global changes. Since 1995, annual rainfall totals have generally declined for many sites in Ghana. Concurrently, extreme weather events, especially droughts, have been increasing. In an agricultural economy where irrigation is used only for lowland rice production, it would be useful to have an improved prediction for the coming cropping season’s rainfall pattern. If farmers had access to data generated by linking weather forecast variables with crop models, there would be a chance for better predictions and increased cropping success. Farmers would have a way to select the “best” crop combination and then allocate resources in an effort to maximize farm output. For this study, the Principal Investigator is a visiting scientist at the International Research Institute (IRI) Climate Prediction Center in Palisades, NY USA, during 2008where he is collaborating and using the extensive facilities to assess the relationship between ENSO (El Nino Southern Oscillation) and seasonal rainfall in terms of amount, distribution, onset and end of rainy seasons. His research will be focused at Akatsi, an active farming and marketing District in the southeastern corner of Ghana. A coupled rainfall-crop model will be used to forecast crop yields of crops that are planted on three selected planting dates. The yield output of the model will be incorporated into a linear programming framework that would consider the three most common constraints of farmers: labor, land, and cash. This effort relates to USCCSP goals to improve quantification of the forces bringing about changes in the Earth’s climate and related systems. The Congo River is considered to be a potential asset for supplying water to arid and semi-arid areas of nations both to the North and to the South of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Knowing more about the hydrology of the river will provide opportunities to understand the dynamic balance of the river system. The main goal for this research project is to build local capacity of African scientists, as well as others who work on issues related to water regulation and water use. The Principal Investigator will conduct a one year study using satellite-based information obtained from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), a NASA satellite that provides information for testing and improving models that describe and predict climate change and rainfall patterns in the tropics and subtropics of the Earth. The project is focused on developing methodology and tools for a better understanding of rainfall trends in the Congo Basin, and their impact on water levels. The goal is to develop further applications using remotely sensed data, hydrology and GIS spatial analysis to support local and regional policy elaboration and implementation of best management practice for water resources. The PI is spending most of 2008 at University of South Dakota, USA where she will have access to NASA facilities. Then she will complete her research at the University of Kinshasa. She will form a research network by working with Observatoire Satellital des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale laboratory and the Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE). This effort relates to USCCSP goals to improve quantification of the forces bringing about changes in the Earth’s climate and related systems.
This project is the initial phase of a 3-phase multi-disciplinary research project based at the Cape Point Research Station to conduct biogeochemical research to compile data on volatile halogenated organic compounds (VHOC) in the Southern Hemisphere. Atmospheric scientists are interested in the involvement of VHOC in boundary layer ozone destruction, and their potential to form cloud condensation nuclei. There is currently no scientific consensus on the relative contributions of seaweeds (marcroalgae), phytoplankton, and ice algae to the atmospheric VHOC budget. The location of the Cape Point Research Station receives air from local kelp beds, from the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic Ocean, and from the Antarctic region, making it the ideal place to conduct this research. Furthermore, Cape Point scientists have expertise in using chemical and physical data to determine which air mass is being sampled. A pre-existing Gas Chromatography – Electron Capture Detector (GC-ECD) for VHOC and DMS measurements will be adapted by constructing a concentrative trap and developing a method of calibration. The project will result in one trained MSc level student with the rare skill of “hands-on” analytical instrument development. In addition, a workshop was held during October 2007 with scientists from Namibia and Mozambique to discuss how this science is relevant to their work and to learn how to apply the research findings from this research to very different coastal environments. This effort relates to USCCSP goals to improve quantification of the forces bringing about changes in the Earth’s climate and related systems and to Reduce uncertainty in projections of how the Earth’s climate and related systems may change in the future.
The lowlands and highlands of Kenya were vulnerable to changes related to both climate and land use change in the Late Holocene period. Today, these same areas of Kenya are undergoing rapid population growth and development. Some of the areas are located in very fragile ecosystems that are situated in the wettest and driest part of East Africa. Together, land use and climate change make both the highlands and the lowland regions very susceptible to ecosystem change. As more palaeoenvironmental data are produced, there is a new perspective on the spatial and temporal character of abrupt climate shifts and how those changes impact ecosystem composition. The Principal Investigator is completing his PhD research at the University of York (UK) and the University of Amsterdam. He has colleced sediment analyses from sediment cores. Lab studies will be conducted to identify pollen, charcoal, macrofossil and geochemistry. Documentation will be done with high spatial and temporal resolution (provided by radiocarbon time control) to gain more knowledge on ecosystem dynamics for various locations in Kenya. A second area of the proposed research will investigate ecosystem response by applying three vegetation models: 1) ecologically driven, 2) environmentally driven and 3) the ecosystem state and its transitions. This effort relates to USCCSP goals to improve knowledge of the Earth’s past and present climate and environment, including its natural variability,and to improve understanding of the causes of observed variability and change.
Changes in land use and surface cover through urbanization may be of equal importance in the alteration of the climate system and its energy budget as are the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases and aerosols, solar radiation and land surface properties. Current global climate models do not resolve the scale of urban land transformation and therefore overlook its important impact on Earth’s water, energy and carbon fluxes. This research program will map the urban extension of Oran, Algeria using high-resolution satellite data from ALSAT-1 and Landsat-TM. Oran, located in western Algeria, is an ideal site for the survey of urban impact on local climate because there has been strong recent economic growth, with a subsequent reduction in land areas with vegetative cover (mostly fertile agricultural lands) and an increase in impervious surfaces. The project will help local scientists to use satellite data to gain knowledge of land surface biophysical characteristics and then to begin modeling to address thematic questions related to climate change and its potential mitigation. The project combines expertise from specialists of the National Center for Space. Techniques (CNTS), the University of Science and Technology (USTO) (Oran, Algeria), and collaborators from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (USA). This effort relates to USCCSP goals to improve quantification of the forces bringing about changes in the Earth’s climate and related systems.
In West Africa, there is pronounced variability in interannual rainfall, especially in the northern part of the region (known as the Sahel), where the most severe and longest drought in modern times occurred during the last decades of the 20th Century. Because the main livelihood in the developing countries of the Sahel is dryland agriculture, it is important to develop the skills to document and forecast weather patterns. In the 4th Assessment Report of the IPCC, it was noted that very little weather data has been collected from this region. Furthermore, existing data is based on general circulation models with only scant data from high-resolution models. This research project will use a high resolution GCM (General Circulation Model) simulation and a high resolution RCM (Regional Climate Model) to investigate climate variability during the years 1991-2000. In the last phase of the research, selected crop models will be developed for the commonly grown crops (e.g. groundnut, millet) of CILSS (Inter-State Committee on Drought Control) participant countries. The models will be used to develop adaptation strategies based on documented shifts in the onset and duration of rainy seasons. Finally, students at AGRHYMET (the Regional Center for Training and Application in Agrometeorology and Operational Hydrology) in Niamey, Niger, will be introduced to the suggested crop models and will have the opportunity to gain experience in their use and applications. This effort relates to USCCSP goals to improve quantification of the forces bringing about changes in the Earth’s climate and related systems and to reduce uncertainty in projections of how the Earth’s climate and related systems may change in the future.
The organizers of the 2008 IGBP Congress (http://www.igbp2008.co.za) accepted START’s proposal to sponsor a special concurrent session for young African scientists who have benefited from the START/NORAD PhD Fellowships and from the START Africa Grants program of the US Climate Change Science Program administered by the US National Science Foundation. The African scientists had the opportunity to showcase their results from a wide range of research projects on global environmental change. The topics covered a range of GEC issues pertinent to projects and programs of the Earth Systems Science Partnership (ESSP). The session allowed the young African scientists to present their research and to interact with representatives of core and joint projects within the ESSP family. Nine young African scientists were selected to present their research through short oral presentations and a poster session. The young scientists were able to have full participation in the IGBP Congress. This effort relates to USCCSP goals to explore the uses and identify the limits of evolving knowledge to manage risks and opportunities related to climate variability and change.
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