BAOBAB
A curated summary of news and perspectives on fulfilling Africa's vibrant potential©
Hello, and a warm welcome to the July 2021 edition of Baobab.
We are constantly reminded that the path to good health and long life lies in the adequate consumption of nutritious foods reinforced by a healthy lifestyle. Health professionals advocate eating a minimum of five and up to ten portions of fruit and vegetables per day as a key element for achieving an optimal state of wellbeing. Indeed, these foods – rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants – are part of Nature’s medicine chest, providing us with the nutrients we need to keep us heathy, fit and strong.
To obtain greater attention from a global audience on the benefits of fruit and vegetables, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly designated 2021 as the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables, with FAO as the lead agency. This has proved timely, given the findings reported by FAO in The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021 of a dramatic worsening in the number of hungry people in 2020, with an estimated 720 million–811 million people affected and Africa experiencing the sharpest rise. There, the prevalence of undernourished people is more than double that of any other region, at 21 percent of the continent’s population.
This situation is put into stark relief by the staggering conclusion of a recent report co-published by FAO, the African Union and the
UN Economic Commission for Africa, Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2019, which reveals that “the number of undernourished people in Africa reached about 250.3 million in 2019 and that three-quarters of Africans cannot afford a healthy diet while 51 percent can hardly afford a nutrient-adequate diet” (emphasis added).
As reported in the Mail & Guardian, the situation is especially dire for millions of schoolchildren in sub-Saharan Africa, for whom the Covid pandemic has exacted a heavy price due to missed school meals and subsequent increased malnutrition as a result of school closures. Other ramifications include lost education due to no home internet access, removal from schooling to support families, and increased risks outside schools for girls.
Africa is a resource-rich continent, but the wealth and health of many of its people have been compromised for a host of mainly historical, political and economic reasons. It is failing to achieve its economic potential and to adequately feed its people; climate change and other environmental challenges are exacerbating the situation. For millions of Africans, particularly children and pregnant women, achieving the ambition of more nutritious and sustainable foods and diets is urgent. Taking action now is essential if millions of young people today are to get a decent start in life.
In this edition of Baobab we present some such action. We launch by looking “outside the box” at energy distribution in Bangladesh, where an exemplary model in renewable energy – solar – is providing far-removed rural villages with reliable sources of income-generating power. Could such a model be adapted to Africa? In Kenya, a national wildlife inventory is under way, with concerns that some of the country’s magnificent wildlife species are in decline.
Ghana is attempting to leave a lasting natural legacy through a campaign to plant five million trees, while various forms of forest and tree monitoring are taking place in Gabon, Ethiopia and Rwanda.
In Zambia, people’s daily need for woodfuel is among the leading causes of forest depletion, but a search for solutions is on. In Algeria, a major initiative is aiming to revive cork-oak forests and related industries, while in Guinea Bissau simple technology is a promising means of helping poor families suffering economically from the Covid pandemic to get their children back in school.
I am sure you will find something of interest in this edition. My thanks again to Alastair Sarre and Mafa Chipeta for their advice and support. A reminder, as always, about Baobab – we sometimes present original material but, for the most part, we simply draw your attention to items of interest published elsewhere by summarizing and linking to them.
Patricia
News
A welcome energy swarm from Bangladesh?
Renewable-energy projects abound in Africa, from the world’s largest single-site concentrated solar-energy complex in Morocco to solar panels on individual homes. But Africa could also learn from Bangladesh, a country of 20 million solar-energy users, where many rural poor are now part of a novel microgrid system that links solar-powered homes to those with none, while allowing community members to earn income by selling excess power. As suggested in this short Al Jazeera film, rural people elsewhere could also transform their lives by adopting the system. In Africa, this might also help ease unsustainable pressure on forests for woodfuel.
View the source video: Power swarm: a revolutionary approach to solar microgrids
Making a small-business case for African ‘’superfoods’’
A positive trend of growing international demand for African “superfoods” derived from naturally occurring protein-, vitamin- and mineral-rich edible plants needs to be balanced with the needs of local consumers for affordable fruit and vegetables. Suggestions include adding the miracle tree, Moringa oleifiera, to the range of species grown by the continent’s small farmers. But success will require overcoming constraints such as a lack of market access and knowledge, indicating a compelling need for training to maximize sustainable business opportunities based on superfoods.
Read from the source: Moringa: the next superfood?; Moringa: the potential to empower African small farmers; Opportunities for development of the Moringa sector in Bangladesh (ref. Niger, Nigeria and Mozambique) Health benefits of Moringa oleifera; Forest business incubation: the heartbeat of healthy landscape livelihoods
Phoning in support for families
In many parts of Africa, the Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on children, millions of whom have missed many months of school but have been hampered from studying at home due to a lack of internet access and the need to work to support their families. In Guinea Bissau, and other countries, the transfer of small amounts of money directly to families (via their mobile phones) trialled by UN agencies is proving a promising measure for enabling children to return to school. The post-pandemic education of girls is a key concern of UNESCO, as advocated in its Building back equal on the continent together campaign.
Read from the source: Children’s education in sub-Saharan Africa cannot wait
Kenya counts its wildlife
Kenya is deploying an array of monitoring tools – from manual dung counts to helicopter surveys – to conduct its first comprehensive wildlife census. The survey will generate crucial data on the country’s land and marine mammals and birds to inform policies and adaptive wildlife management, particularly for rare or threatened species such as bongos, turtles and antelopes. The results, which are expected in August, will provide a basis for corrective actions. Wildlife habitat in Kenya is being altered by land use, drought and climate change, and landowners are increasingly petitioning government for compensation for losses caused by wildlife.
Read from the source: Wildebeest, bustards and bongos: Kenya begins first national census of wildlife
Gabon receives down-payment for conserving forests
Gabon has become the first country in Africa to be paid for forest protection aimed at reducing net carbon emissions. As reported in Africa Renewal, the initial payment of USD 17 million – part of a ten-year scheme worth USD 150 million – by the Central African Forest Initiative was made for a reduction in deforestation and forest degradation in 2016/2017. The scheme does not preclude the country from also developing a sustainable wood industry outside its national parks. Separately, FAO has invited the Gabonese Spatial Observation and Study Agency to help estimate the extent of forest degradation and deforestation in Central Africa.
Read from the source: Gabon, first African country to receive payment for reducing CO2 emissions; La FAO sollicitel’expertise du Gabon pour estimer la déforestation et la dégradation des forêtsd’Afrique centrale
Ghanaians go planting in bid to restore forest cover
In mid-June, thousands of people from across Ghanaian society were given seedlings in a government-led drive to mass-plant 5 million trees and thus help restore the country’s forest resources for future generations. As Al Jazeera reports, decades of small-scale gold mining, unsustainable tree-felling, and clearance for agriculture have reduced Ghana’s forest cover from 8.2 million hectares in 1900 to 1.6 million hectares today. To avoid repeating past failures, annual maintenance checks will be carried out under the “Green Ghana” programme to monitor the growth and health of the planted trees.
Read from the source: Action time: Ghanaians plant 5 million trees to fight forest depletion
Managing and conserving Algeria’s cork-oak forests
Algeria’s 440 000 hectares of cork-oak forests rank third in world production of cork, a resource whose use can be traced back millennia. Now, under its forest sector 2035 development policy, Algeria has co-signed a four-year, USD 27 million project with FAO and the Global Environment Fund to rehabilitate and sustainably manage three diverse cork-forest sites to conserve their ecological integrity, combat climate change and provide local employment. Economic and financial incentives will aim to stimulate cork-industry services and the manufacture and commercialization of cork products.
Read from the source: La “DGF” et la “FAO” signent un accord pour la réhabilitation des forêts de chêne-liègeenAlgérie;
Let’s be clear about Zambian forests
Woodfuel accounts for 90% of domestic energy in Zambia, but unsustainable extraction is taking a huge toll. A new CIFOR policy brief reveals that charcoal production is responsible for about one-quarter of the 300 000 hectares of forest lost per year in the country. Confusion about access to trees and the legality of felling, even on customary land, is a significant hindrance to sustainability. Solutions include community dialogue and incentives for the sustainable management of fast-growing species. As Zulu and Richardson note in another paper, charcoal production provides many Africans with a crucial safety net, so sustainability is vital.
Read from the source: Lessons from Zambia on promoting sustainable wood fuel management; Charcoal, livelihoods, and poverty reduction: evidence from sub-Saharan Africa
Coconuts taking the heat out of Nigerian deforestation
A finding in a 2017 World Bank report that Nigeria had lost nearly half its forest in a decade due to the charcoal trade spurred a national commitment to incentivize the use of alternative biofuels. Some local small-scale entrepreneurs who saw potential in transforming coconut- and palm-husk processing waste into briquettes are now confident of sufficient demand to warrant investing in larger-scale mechanical production. But, despite a charcoal export ban, experts say that more robust monitoring, compliance and enforcement are needed if Nigeria is to avoid losing all its forests by 2047, as predicted by the World Bank.
Read from the source: Nigerian companies use charcoal substitutes to reduce deforestation
Satellite tools and local knowledge make smart fit
Local people are acquiring skills in computer use and data collection and analysis to produce high-resolution local forest maps that they can use as an aid to better land management. Using FAO’s Open FORIS tool, Collect Earth, “mapathons” organized by FAO and the World Resources Institute combine freely available satellite imagery with participants’ local knowledge to monitor tree-cover restoration at the scale of individual trees. The results, including successes and failures, feed into other systems and online platforms. Tree-cover mapathons in Ethiopia and Rwanda have been revelatory, triggering the implementation of adaptive land-use measures.
Read from the source: People for trees, trees for people; Open FORIS – Collect Earth and SEPAL
Declaration
B A O B A B comes to you free of charge as I do the research and compile the source material in a voluntary capacity. I have no affiliation with any source of finance or political party. Nor does the inclusion of any externally sourced information in the bulletin imply that I endorse its contents. It is up to you readers to arrive at your own interpretation of the published material.
Acknowledgements
I extend my sincere thanks in particular to Mafa Chipeta and Alastair Sarre, as well as to my family and friends, for their encouragement, advice, feedback and support. I thank Alex Juma for his work in creating Baobab edition one.
Patricia Tendi
baobabdawn@gmail.com
Photo credits and copyright
Baobab tree at sunrise,,Tarangire National Park, United Republic of Tanzania, by Diana Robinson
Africa food security 18 by DFAT photo library
Cameroon – UN Women’s Gender Road Project by UN Women Gallery
Dareshe sunset (southern Ethiopia) by Rod Waddington
Guinea, rural women’s cooperative generates income and community livelihood (Moringa) by UN Women Gallery
Sahal Gure Mohamed texts on his mobile phone (illustrative) by Internews Europe
Bongo by David Bygott
Lope National Park, Gabon, by jbdodane
Chinapok Atinyansa (Ghana) by TREEAID
Cork products by Acornjfl
Charcoal vendor by CIFOR
Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) by Dag Endresen
National data capacity building training course (illustrative) by the Official CTBTO photostream
Baobab tree by Caneles
Copyright © publishers/photographers/authors as indicated
Copyright © BaobabDawn 2021 as indicated
Disclaimer
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