Foreword by the Acting Chair of Society of African Earth Scientists, Dr Chukwunyere Kamalu
Welcome to the fifth issue of the bi-monthly newsletter of the Society of African Earth Scientists (SAES).
In the current issue we address the continent’s unfolding dual challenges of land grabbing and hydraulic fracturing.
In the current issue we address the continent’s unfolding dual challenges of land grabbing and hydraulic fracturing.
Why the World Bank has Refused to Halt Funding of the Africa Land Grab
Despite receiving a formal
request from Oxfam Kenya to stop the financing of land deals, the World Bank
has refused to halt its funding programme.1 The World Bank does not
accept the Oxfam position, that the funding facilitating land deals are
adversely affecting the food security of African nations. The World Bank
continues to justify its financial support by claiming their action is designed
to ameliorate the effects of rising food prices and the looming prospect of
world food shortage.
Ironically, two thirds of the land acquired
in Africa between 2000 and 2010 have been used
for export crops, which will not feed Africans, and much of the
remainder is to be used for biofuels which will feed nobody, inside or outside
of Africa.
I was reminded by Dr Emeka Akaezuwa of Stop
Africa Land Grab that this should not be an unexpected response
as “African land grab”, he notes, “ is the brainchild of the world bank”. The World
Bank is therefore bound to pay lip service to the ideals of enhancing food security whilst continuing to
fund land deals that are further impoverishing Africa and other developing
regions.
The
land deals are also to be understood in the context of European climate change
targets.
European targets to replace fossil fuels with biofuels are contributing to the
increase in food prices and global hunger, according to Oxfam. Current EU mandates require member states
to increase the amount of transport powered by biofuels to reach 10% by 2020.
Hydraulic Fracturing in Africa2
Although proving to be an
unpopular technology elsewhere in the world, hydraulic fracturing is likely to
be coming to Africa. Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” involves the vertical
drilling into hundreds of feet of rock followed by horizontal drilling through shale rock.
Millions of gallons of water mixed with rock, sand, and chemicals are blasted
into the shale rock at super high pressure inducing fractures in the rock and
releasing shale gas. Drawbacks are however, that the process uses massive
amounts of water to blast through the shale. The drilling may pass through
aquifers that provide local communities with a supply of groundwater. Local
water supplies are therefore in danger of becoming contaminated, as evidence
from fracking in the US suggests. Also, fracking is well known to cause earth
tremors.
A watershed in the emergence of fracking in
Africa is that South Africa has now lifted its previous ban.3 It is
now more likely that in time as more companies globally exploit shale gas,
other African countries believed to possess shale gas reserves such as Algeria,
Morocco and Western Sahara, etc will follow suit.
To appreciate the concern over ceding the
responsibility for ensuring the purity of African rivers, groundwater, and air to
the conscience and judgements of corporations primarily driven by the desire
for quick profits through shale gas exploration, one has to take into account
the oil and gas companies that will be leading this new shale gas exploitation
and the appalling record they have in African environmental health and safety.
It is shell, for example, that is to lead the exploitation of shale gas in South
Africa. What is their record in observing environmental health and safety
measures in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region? If their record is appalling there, why
would we expect their behaviour to be different elsewhere on the continent?
Given limited African technological and infrastructural resources how will
African countries cope with potential groundwater pollution, earth tremors and atmospheric
pollution? The clear track records of environmental irresponsibility in Nigeria
and elsewhere should be stark reminders of what we may expect.
The African Union Research Grant Programme4
In its Consolidated Plan of
Action (CPA) developed in 2005, the African Union clearly recognises the
important role of science and technology in Africa’s sustainable development,
and this fact must be taken full advantage of by African science and technology
organisations. The CPA “articulates Africa’s common objectives and commitment
to collectively use science as a development tool…. It addresses the way
forward to use science and technology as catalysts for sustainable
development.”
In
meeting these objects, the AU commission
has designed the African union research grant which has among its objectives the wish to promote
intra-african and international cooperation and collaboration in research. The
implementation strategy of the grant encourages the creation of research networks
and the formation of consortia of scientists that will jointly make bids for
the AU research grant.
The African Union’s Research Grant Programme
offers an important opportunity for
African science and technology organisations to work together as
consortia to apply for research funding
for well considered research projects that will lead to the improvement
of quality of life for African communities.
It is worthy of note that the priority areas
for the 2012 call for research proposals fitted precisely with the objects of
SAES and highlight the relevance of considering the AU research grant for prospective future research.
Earth Science Book Reviews
Erosion and Sedimentation (2nd edition) by Pierre Y. Julien
The
science of sedimentation and erosion is
still in its relative infancy. This volume by Julien5 brings the
topic up to date and manages to convey the fundamentals of the mechanics of
sediment motion alongside the fundamentals of the relevant concepts in fluid
mechanics. The book, aimed at Earth scientists and engineers, is well written
and illustrated and appears to make a highly complex subject much more accessible.
The volume contains many worked examples and serves well as a text for
postgraduate studies in erosion and sedimentation.
Society of
African Earth Scientists Events
On 8th
Nov 2012 the Society held a soil and water conservation workshop at Hampstead
Quaker Meeting Rooms. The notes have
been available on the facebook page and
will also become available on the SAES blog. The notes are intended as a resource to assist
soil and water conservation work in an African context.
Future SAES events will include an event on
African land grab, possibly featuring a speaker from the Stop Africa Land Grab
movement, and/or the Oxfam Pan Africa Economic Justice Lead. Following on from this, and not to be
forgotten, is a planned workshop on photovoltaics.
Affiliation and Association with other science & technology organisations
SAES is affiliated to both the
African Association of Women in the Geosciences and Solar Sister.
Earth Science Events
December 3 - 4, 2012
Achieving
Food and Environmental Security - New Approaches to Close the Gap
Venue: Royal
Society, London
THE ROYAL SOCIETY
2012 scientific discussion
meetings at the Royal Society.
3 – 4 December
This meeting is free to attend, but pre-registration is essential.
3 – 4 December
This meeting is free to attend, but pre-registration is essential.
For more details visit http://royalsociety.org/events
December 3 - 4, 2012
Annual
International Conference on Geological & Earth Sciences (GEOS 2012)
Venue: Hotel
Fort Canning, Singapore, Malaysia
December 10 - 21, 2012
Conference
and Advanced School on Quantification of Earthquake Hazards in the Caribbean –
The Gonave Microplate
Venue: Santiago
de Cuba, Cuba.
Two-week workshop
dedicated to understanding the
deformation processes around the Gonave microplate and the related
earthquake hazards, followed by an advanced school on the theory and
application of modern seismological and
geodetic methods
April 16-19, 2013
12th
International Conference Groundwater-Soil-Systems and Water Resources
Management
Venue: Barcelona,
Spain
May 3 - 5, 2013
Colloque
maghrebin de geophysique appliquee
Venue: Meknes,
Morocco
Overview of latest scientific developments and recent work
to help the fight against the loss of environmental resources and ensure
environmental sustaoinability.
Some selected Reading, Links,
etc
3. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-07/south-africa-allows-exploration-of-shale-gas-resources.html
5. Julien,
P. Y.., Erosion and Sedimentation, 2nd
Edition, Cambridge University Press, 2010.
6. A
link on “Groundwater and Rural Water
Supply in Africa”: http://www.iah.org/downloads/occpub/IAH_ruralwater.pdf
7. Link to Journal of African Earth Sciences: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-african-earth-sciences/
