Posts

Wrapping Up: Thoughts and Outlooks

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In my final blog I would like to reflect on what I have covered in the series of my posts. In my first blog I brought up the need to consider Africa’s complexity, to see the land, not as a whole but to recognise the diversity it holds in all aspects. I also aimed to, with case studies of different regions in Africa, examine in detail the interaction between changing environment and water in order to reflect on water management strategies in Africa. During the process of reviewing the case studies, I have further realised that the concept of applying ‘complexity’ can go way beyond the simple physical characteristics of a place or region. The term ‘variation’ and ‘complicity’ holds not just topographical, geological and hydrogeological meaning, but social, cultural and developmental ones as well. After my third post I encountered numerous readings that broadened my initially narrowed view of the definition of ‘environmental change’. Realising that the term can go beyond natural enviro...
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Urban Environment - Infrastructure and Water: Intermittent water supply in Kampala

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Under the scenario of rapid urbanisation in Africa, the pressure on water supply is on multiple stakeholders. Moreover, infrastructure development has not kept pace with the growth of informal settlements. The population of the slum, which makes up about 60% of the city’s inhabitants , is highly vulnerable to and disadvantaged by the unpredictable changing water supply system under climate change.  Therefore, noting the fact that in many cases infrastructural development often lags behind settlement and population growth , we came to ask the question: how can different stakeholders take their role in assisting a more effective, sustainable and fair water supply system in African cities? I will use an example, Kampala in Uganda, to illustrate the significance and benefits of a well-managed water supply system. National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) Uganda NWSC Uganda is a public utility company that is owned by the state of Uganda. In the year of 1972, the company first est...
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Urban Environment - Cape Town II

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The last entry introduced the drought in 2018 in Cape Town and its effect on the city. At the beginning of the last post, together with the video, I’ve put I have given out some questions to think about while looking at the case study: How has the urban setting altered the situation? How effective were the regulations?  What can be done better? In this post, I wish to continue the topic on Cape Town and discuss, around these questions, the problem of changing environment and water in the African urban setting. ———————————————— Droughts often have various effects on different people based on structural factors including class, gender, and historical legacies of discrimination and segregation . A "water crisis" is thus more than just a matter of having too much or too little water; it is frequently a "governance catastrophe," in which the institutions in place have failed to generate resilience, adjust to changing conditions and consider all the groups in the society....
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Urban Environment - Cape Town I

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Following my previous blog posts, discussing a general picture of climate change, groundwater, water management in Africa and a case study on the 2015/16 El Niño, I have decided to first take a closer look at an example of URBAN ENVIRONMENT in Africa to explore their problem in accessing groundwater resources due to consequences from global climate change. Upon reviewing , I would like to note that the definition of environmental change does not remain restricted to the natural physical environment, but extended to the process of urbanisation as well. By looking at the urban setting of specific case studies and its adaptation to the consequences of climate change, hopefully, we can review the different strategies taken and propose improvements to develop more considerable solutions for the future. ——————————————— Case Study: The Drought and Cape Town Attention to water resource access, management and distribution becomes increasingly noted as Africa sees a trend of rapid urbanisation a...
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Natural Environmental Change: Extreme Climate Events and Groundwater in East Africa

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East Africa has some of the most highly variable topography in Africa. Ranging from vast plains to highly mountainous areas, the topography of the area is ideal, with its excellent ecological and climatic archives, for climate and environmental studies. More importantly, some of the lakes located in the area are known as amplifier lakes as even little climatic changes have a big impact on them. The Central Kenya Rift and the Tanzania Rift located in East Africa contains some of these amplifier lakes, sometimes called small soda lakes, such as Elmenteita and freshwater lake Naivasha . Climate, tectonically driven morphological and volcanic barriers, and local water-table variation all influence the hydrology of this region. Moreover, the groundwater held at the two rifts counts for much of the area’s human and industrial usage, making the hydrology of the area particularly important. However, over the last 150 years, the rapid change in climate and natural environment, such as the 201...
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Groundwater, Climate Change and Water Management in Africa - An Overview

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Hi! Welcome back to my blog!  In last week’s article, we highlighted the need to not consider Africa as a whole but instead to keep in mind its complexity, physically, politically and socially in all aspects. In this week’s post, I would like to bring up the focused themes of this blog: groundwater, climate change and water management. By exploring how these three elements interact in different regions and places in Africa, we will be able to compare, and, hopefully, evaluate different mitigation and adaptation strategies for the better water management system(s) in Africa. Why climate change and why groundwater?  The topic of climate change is under the spotlight when discussing environmental change. The myriad of environmental changes are entangled with climate change and hence discussing its impact can bring new insights into the conversation.  The attention for groundwater is owing to the recognition that groundwater is a critical freshwater resource for global food a...
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Africa: A Complex Picture

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Hello! Welcome to my blog about water and environmental change in Africa. While the environment is changing rapidly on a global scale, Africa stood out with its characteristics. In this blog, I will create a series of posts addressing and discussing issues about water accessibility in Africa. By exploring different regional examples, I will look into how different regions, countries, or even towns adapt differently to various levels of environmental change in terms of accessing and managing water resources. Through evaluations of their approach, I aim to reflect on the relationship between water and environmental change holistically. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Prior to start discussing different regions in Africa, I would like to address the importance of taking ‘ variation ’ and ‘complicity’ into mind when looking at issues about water and environmental change in Africa. This is not only because of the wide stretch of Africa’s latitude, the ...
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