Feeling the Heat: Investigating Gas Flaring Activities in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

By Dr Omosivie Maduka, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Cohort 2 CIRCLE Visiting Fellow

Nigeria is Africa’s largest producer of crude oil and the 6^th largest producer in the world, with a capacity to produce approximately 2.5 million barrels/day. Oil and natural gas extraction currently account for up to 97% of the country’s revenue from foreign exchange, 20% of the country’s GrossDomestic Product (GDP) and 65% of budgetary revenue.  Nigeria is also blessed with vast deposits of natural gas located mainly in the Niger Delta region of the country. In spite of this apparent wealth, Nigeria ranks among the poorest countries in the world with over half of its population living on less than two dollars a day.

Gas flaring, which is the controlled burning of gases in the course of oil production, is routinely carried out by oil exploration companies in Nigeria, even though it was formally banned in 1984 and declared "unconstitutional" by the Nigerian Supreme Court in 2005. However, despite government bans, the federal and state authorities have been unable to force companies to stop, even in the face of significant hazards to the health of populations exposed to it. It pollutes the air, heats up the atmosphere and releases greenhouse gases.  Although Nigeria pledged to stop gas flaring and has imposed fines on oil exploration companies that are still flaring gas in the country, the practice of gas flaring has not ended. Nigeria ranks as the 5^th highest contributor to the flaring of natural gas worldwide with flares of up to 428 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas in 2013, representing 10% of gas flaring.

Horizontal gas flaring at Etelebu flow station in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State

My CIRCLE-funded research titled ‘Gas flaring and climate change: an analysis of the impact on the health and well-being of communities in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria’, explores the health effects of gas flaring on oil-bearing communities of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. My research team and I conducted field visits to six communities in the Niger Delta region of the country, three of which are host to flow stations that have been flaring gas for the past ten years. We gathered data from these communities including those host to flow stations namely: Mbodo-Aluu in Ikwerre Local Government Area (LGA) of Rivers State, Nedugo in Yenagoa LGA of Bayelsa State and Oton in Sapele LGA of Delta State. One of the things we were eager to do was to get as close to gas flaring locations as possible in these three communities and conduct air quality analysis. We hoped to experience for a few minutes what the residents of these communities have been exposed to for a decade or more. This would be the first time I would be ‘up close and personal’ with gas flares.


My research team and I braving the heat and rain to conduct air quality analysis

At Mbodo-Aluu in Rivers State, we drove as close as we could to the flow station, hoping production activities were in full gear with the resultant flaring of gas. We were disappointed as operations had not commenced that day. We however hit jackpot (imagine being excited about such a health hazard) at Nedugo in Bayelsa State and Oton in Delta state, where we were able to get within 500 metres of horizontal flares from the Etelebu and Sapele flow stations. We felt the heat and smelt the smoke as we conducted the air quality analysis, observing the horizontal flares while we took our measurements.  The analysis included carbon monoxide (CO), Carbon dioxide (CO₂), Nitrogen oxide (NO₂), Ozone (O₃), Sulphur dioxide S0₂), Hydrogen sulphide (H₂S), methane (CH₄) and ammonia (NH3). Other gases measured were volatile organic compounds (VOC). Needless to say, most of the readings exceeded the threshold for many of the atmospheric gases. Data analysis is now underway along with work on a manuscript that describes the air quality in gas flaring host communities in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

Report from the 5th Climate Change and Population Conference on Africa

By Dr Eunice Thomas, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Cohort 2 CIRCLE Visiting Fellow

The 5th climate change and population conference on Africa was held in Ghana from the 19th of July to 21st of July, 2016. The theme for the conference was “Building Bridges and Research –into – use.” Among the invited Guests were:  the ambassador of the royal kingdom of Morocco, her excellency Madam Nezha AlaouiM, Hammdi; Special UN Secretary General Envoy on climate change, His excellency John Agyekum Kufour; and Prof Ebenezer Oduro Owusu,  the provost of the college of Basic and Applied Sciences and the Vice chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey.

In the welcome address, the Vice Chancellor and chairman of the day emphasized the need to live in a sound environment and develop a legacy for the future generation. As such, there is a need for vigorous discussion of issues at conferences of this sort. Passion and commitment should be divorced from any differences, including academic warfare, with the focus instead on society and development. The third day of the conference was heralded by a plenary session, titled Gender based flood early warning systems, by Dr Delali B. Dovie (the 2016 Global Innovation Gold award) from Legon and Dr Raymond Kasei from the University for Development studies, Ghana. They talked about how haphazard development and global population growth had paved the way for increased demand for housing and industries, which in turn had exposed several lands to increasing flood risk. They showcased how the drone that came with the award will be used to monitor early flood warning so that adequate preparation can be made to avert it.

Dr  Eunice  Thomas  presenting her research paper

The oral presentations kicked off after the plenary sessions and I had my presentation in the afternoon, titled “Soil Organic Carbon Variations and Soil Chemical Properties in Rubber Plantations and Other Land Use Types in Benin (South-Southern Nigeria).”  The paper was borne out of the recent concern about greenhouse gases and their damage to the ozone layer, which had increased the need for studies on the inputs, outputs and carbon storage in different terrestrial systems.  As the largest C pool in the terrestrial biosphere, even a minor change in soil carbon stocks could result in a significant alteration of atmospheric CO2 concentration (Davidson and Janssens, 2006; Trumbore and Czimczik, 2008). The study therefore aimed at quantifying soil organic carbon and some selected soil properties in order to predict their changes in response to different land use (rubber plantation versus fallow/forest and arable farming land).  The study recommends that farmers should engage in practices that will sequester carbon in soils, using methods such as crop rotation, leaving the land to fallow and adding organic manure at a specific ratio to the soil.  This will also help to mitigate climate change.

CVFs from cohort 1 and 2 at the conference; from the left is Olga Laiza Kupika, Sandra Akugpoka Atindana, Sylvia Ankamah, Catherine Mungai, Daniella Sedegah and Eunice Thomas

Other CIRCLE fellows had oral presentations, such as Olga Kupika (from cohort 1), Catherine Mungai and Sandra Atindana (also cohort 2 members). Daniella, D Seddgah and Syvia Ankamah and Dr Zahor  Zahor  were also in attendance. Sandra Atindana’s paper titled “Gender – Disaggregated Perceptions of Smallholder Crop Farmers on Climate change Adaptation Strategies in the Kintampo North Municipal District of Ghana”, discussed a district which is a transitional forest zone that is being gradually converted to a savannah zone and so is more prone to the adverse effects of climate change factors, hence the need to take steps to mitigate it.

Dr Eunice Thomas  receiving the certificate of participation

At the end of the conference I felt better equipped with different methods to communicate my findings to different policy makers, including proper and adequate communication approaches and ways to involve them from the onset of the research work.

Latest developments at Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS), University of Ghana

Among a few remarkable steps being taken by climate change ambassadors, such as CIRCLE and many others, RIPS have taken a step ahead of national efforts to develop a drone that is being put in place to monitor and signal future occurrence of floods to help save lives. A representation from the Ministry of health, Ghana in collaboration with RIPS are developing a drone  (called Dr. One) to enhance the transport and distribution of drugs  and other logistics to remote health care centers in Ghana.

My CIRCLE Adventure So Far

Dr Phyllis Bernice Opare, University of Energy and Natural Resources, Ghana
Cohort 2 CIRCLE Visiting Fellow

Dr Opare spent her fellowship year at Makerere University, Uganda. Here, she reflects on her time on the CIRCLE Programme.

When the email came announcing that I had been selected as a CIRCLE Visiting Fellow, cohort 2, I was ecstatic. I knew this year would be a life changing year for me, and so far it has been phenomenal. I worked like a maniac to get all my scripts graded, scored and upgraded before the end of 2015. This in addition to a full Christmas calendar of services and other events was scary, but I was able to get everything done by the 28th. I left my home, Sunyani, to travel to Accra on Sunday 3rd December 2015 to begin the first leg of my CIRCLE journey.

Experiences at the Host Institution

I left Accra on 9th January and arrived at Entebbe on January 10th, 2016. My time in Uganda has been very nice and peaceful. The CIRCLE Coordinator at Makerere arranged a taxi and place of residence for me before I got to Entebbe, which made things very easy for me. With Kampala being on a much higher altitude than Sunyani, plus the fact that Uganda is three hours ahead of Ghana, I had one of the worst cases of jet lag when I first arrived. Every little effort had me huffing and puffing. I slept a lot, mostly in the daytime. The room I got in the student hostel was near to their TV room and since some international soccer tournament was going on in January I was kept awake most nights and of course I slept in the day (a vampire in the making if I had stayed).

In spite of all that, I got to find my way around Makerere campus, and together with CVF Abimbola Oluwaranti form OAU, Nigeria, we managed to find new accommodation on the compound of Makerere University’s Agricultural Research Institute at Kambanyolo, about 35 minutes’ drive from the main campus (that’s on a good day with no traffic, we have actually spent 2 hours en route at one time). During this time, with the help of staff from the Coordinator’s office, we also managed to find our way around Kampala city, discovering most of the major shopping malls.

Culturally, there are many similarities between the people of Uganda and Ghana, but most importantly, there is the warm sense of welcome wherever I go. The people are very nice and welcoming, very eager to extend assistance when needed. I find that we have most of the same foods so eating has not been a problem – though I have to add a little bit more pepper to mine for some pizazz. I am doubly happy that fruits and vegetables are in abundance and fairly cheap. The meat and dairy products are more affordable here than in Ghana. Most fresh milk in Ghana is imported, so it is made shelf stable, hardly fresh, but in Uganda fresh milk is everywhere.

We also had access to the university library when we were living in town. At Kambanyolo, where we now live, the Continuing Agriculture Extension Education Center Staff has opened their kitchen to us so we can fix whatever we like. We also have access to internet here, and just recently I was given a key to a small computer lab with internet access so I can work in a place other than my room. In all, my stay in Uganda so far has been a positive experience.

Research and Data Gathering

I decided to work with small holder farmers in Ghana since they are among the groups most affected by climate variability.  After much consultation with my supervisor, specialist advisor, mentor and officials from the ministry of food and agriculture in Ghana I decided to work with three villages within the Sunyani east Municipality. These communities are Atronie, Nwowasu, and Benue Nkwanta (I will also be talking with my supervisor about replicating this research in at least one farming community in Uganda for comparative analysis). In all about 150 farmers took part in the study and they have been encouraged and challenged to begin Climate-smart farms that can be used as model farms for other farmers.

A section of Nwowasu Village

The timing of this research can only be considered propitious since Ghana experienced one of the worst dry seasons in recent history during the last harmatan. This coupled with some significant bush fires and other farming practices has resulted in significant food shortages, particularly in local staples like cassava, cocoyam and plantain. As a result, the farmers were very interested in finding out why the climate is changing and what they can do to adapt in the face of variability.

Initial meeting at Atronie, sharing the overview and objectives of the research with farmers

I employed several CCFAS Gender and Climate change research tools, with some of the tools modified for this study. The tools employed included:

I. Climate analogue tools:

• The village resource map
• The seasonal calendar
• Daily activity clocks
• Capacity and vulnerability analysis matrix

II. Weather forecast tools:

• Seasonal food security calendar

III. Tools for understanding and catalysing gender sensitive climate-smart agriculture initiatives:

• Changing farm practices

Young women at Nwowasu busily participating in developing a seasonal calender for their village

Key observations:

• Farmers in the Sunyani East Municipality are very aware of climate change and climate variability
• Farmers tend to adopt certain technologies very quickly, especially when it is considered to ease labour, without adequate understanding of the long term implications.
• Farmers are very concerned with making a livelihood in agriculture in the face of climate variability
• Farmers lacked the capacity to make proper commercial decisions that will help them maximise profits on their produce. Many of them barely break even.
• Many farmers were willing to adopt climate-smart agricultural practices. However, those farmers who were only renting or working the land for others felt powerless to initiate too many changes without the land owners’ permission/cooperation.

Detailed reports and videos will be disseminated in due course. It should be placed on record that an agricultural extension officer was part of the research team and he has indicated his willingness to continue to work with the individual farmers in adopting CSA practices. Additionally, some financial institutions have been contacted on behalf of the farmers to bring banking services to these communities and to organise entrepreneurship capacity building training for the farmers and others in the communities to help improve their livelihoods.

Overall, the time spent with the farmers was very fruitful and it is anticipated that there will be continuous collaboration to ensure widespread climate-smart agriculture adoption in the district that will spread to other parts of the country.

Now I am back at Makerere, ready to get down to writing.

Judging Soils as a Climate Change Solution: Where is the evidence? My fieldwork experience under CIRCLE

Dr Shade Akinsete,  University of Ibadan,

Cohort 2 CIRCLE Visiting Fellow

Climate change! Climate change!! Climate change!!! Is soil carbon storage a solution? Soils play a key role in climate change, as they could act as sources of or sinks for carbon depending on land-use management. However, sufficient evidence must be provided for the African continent. On this note, I began my field trip in southwest Nigeria in search for some evidence. For different disciplines fieldwork connotes different things. Mine was a real field in beautifully arranged teak plantations, natural forests, and arable farm lands in Onigambari and Omo forest reserves in Oyo and Ogun States, respectively. Beautiful serene environments with clean flowing streams, jumping squirrels, skillfully carved nests, flocking birds, bustling insects and active worms. Thankfully, no snakes were on sight. All these scenes were soon masked in what was about to turn into a very busy soil sampling process. Actually, I was not out there to enjoy the view only but to collect nearly seven hundred soil samples for various laboratory analyses. Why and how did I bring this upon myself? To improve and develop my career capacity provided by rare opportunities such as the Climate Impact Research Capacity and Leadership Enhancement (CIRCLE) programme that not only targets early career researchers but also ensures a good representation of women from different aspects of learning. Also, of the good nature of my home institution, which continually seeks the growth of her faculty members.

Soil profile in arable land use (Cassava farm) Onigambari Forest Reserve, Oyo State, Nigeria

Fig.1. Some Soil profiles sampled for this study: a) Alfisol under natural forest - Onigambari Forest Reserve; b) Inceptisol under teak plantation - Onigambari Forest Reserve; c) Alfisol under arable land (cassava farm) - Omo Forest Reserve; d) Inceptisol under arable land (cassava farm) - Omo Forest Reserve

Storage of carbon (C) in soils, frequently termed ‘soil carbon sequestration’, is a mitigation strategy for reducing atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, especially carbon dioxide (CO₂), known to contribute to global warming. So how soils are treated is extremely critical for climate change studies. Under the CIRCLE award, I will be measuring how much carbon is stored in soils under different land-use management strategies in southwest Nigeria, due to insufficient information for the global soil C database and for guiding stakeholders on appropriate future land use planning and climate change mitigation strategies.

L – R: Mr. O. Owolabi (Forest Guide); Shade Akinsete; Dr. S. Jimoh (Forest Ecologist); Dr. J. Orimoloye (Pedologist) Mr. S. Ogundele (Forest Guide) in the Teak Plantation, Onigambari Forest Reserve, Oyo State, Nigeria



I could not have traversed the forest reserves on my own without the forest guides who provided direction and guidance in these terrains. Sampling soils without some past history of land-use engenders difficulty in data interpretation. Therefore, Dr. Saka Jimoh, a forest ecologist of the Department of Forest Resources and Management, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, provided some useful history as well as identifying some of the plant species. Apart from assisting in sampling, he facilitated the network with the ministry of forestry for permission to access these reserves. Without a pedologist, identification of soil types as well as soil characterisation can be frustrating, with various colours under our foot. So on this trip, I could not have left behind Dr. Julius Orimoloye, Department of Agronomy, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Together with him and some field assistants (graduate students of our University), the soils were identified, characterised and sampled. With the unflinching support and resilience of my team the soil sampling was completed whether it was dusk or in the actual event of heavy rainfall. In the event of future fieldwork, I will enlist this same team, whose support was total to achieve the best despite the serious fuel crisis the country was experiencing at the time of the fieldwork. Although, this fieldwork was more rugged than previous ones I had engaged in, I have no regrets because it was mission accomplished. Now, onto lab work at “Mazingira Centre; ILRI’s state-of-art environmental lab” seeking to provide the evidence……

Mission accomplished- Some members of the team

Adventure into climate finance flows and corruption study: A mid-term reflection on the CIRCLE fellowship

By Olushola Fadairo, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Cohort 2 Visiting Fellow

Dr Fadairo spent his fellowship year at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Halfway through his Fellowship, he reflects on his experiences.

My nomination by my home institution to apply for the CIRCLE fellowship programme in July 2015 was greeted with mixed feelings. On the one hand, a feeling of excitement as it was going to be an additional opportunity for capacity development and further intellectual excursion beyond the shores of Nigeria barely two years after completion of a PhD programme. On the other hand, a feeling of awe arising from the challenge of having to develop a novel research proposal on climate change as the only focus and within a very short time in the face of a very busy schedule in my home institution. Fortunately, the dice was already cast and there was no going back, so I took up the challenge. In my retrospective reflection in search of a problem or gap around which I could build a research proposal, I quickly remembered some newspaper reports I had read in recent times which alleged corruption by some government officials in the management of climate funds. So, I thought it was important to investigate the extent to which effectiveness of climate change intervention projects is being affected by corruption. This led to my first working title on “Broaching Research on Corruption in Ecological Fund Management for Climate Change Mitigation” which I submitted to CIRCLE and was privileged to be offered the fellowship opportunity.

Rethinking the proposal

Shortly before the commencement of the fellowship in January 2016, I decided to undertake a brief reconnaissance on the subject of my CIRCLE research proposal. After much consideration, I realised the need to revise the proposal to be more specific and realistic. When I attended the CIRCLE induction workshop held in Kenya in February, 2016 I met John Morton who shared the same opinion. Following further review of relevant literature and consultation with my Supervisor (Richard Calland), Specialist advisor (Yacob Mulugetta) and home institution mentor (Janice Olawoye), I revised my research proposal and amended the title as “Exploring Research on Corruption in Climate Funds Management: The Case of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) Project in Nigeria”. The thrust of the study is premised on the experience in Africa with respect to climate finance flow which has so far not boded too well as the gap between funds approved and those disbursed in the region remains substantial, presumably because of challenges in meeting the required fiduciary and governance standards. So, a major research concern is that the fiduciary standards that have been set and will continue to be set will either be too high and unreasonably so, or else they cannot be met because countries are unable to show how they will combat corruption, which will have a detrimental effect on the flow of climate finance at a crucial time. In this vein, key questions that come to mind include: is the concern about corruption in climate change and, therefore, fiduciary standards, justified? The study therefore aims at providing answers to six objectives derived from this question using Cross River State (CRS), Nigeria where there is REDD+ presence as a test case.

What does forthcoming finding suggest?

While the field survey on households within forest dependent communities in the study area was still on-going as of the time of writing this article, the flip side data garnered from a key informant from the state forestry commission (Table 1) shows that only five out of eight governance measures that could help improve transparency in REDD+ processes were available locally; two of which were rated as just fairly functional while the functionality of the other two could not be ascertained. Does this trend say anything about the governance capacity of the implementing agency for REDD+ in the study area? It may be too hasty to draw conclusions on this now until all data are fully collected.

Table 1: Highlights of information from IDI with key informant from CRS forestry commission

Major engagements with research stakeholders so far

My first engagement with stakeholders apart from the CIRCLE induction workshop held in Kenya, was on March 2, 2016 when I did a self-introduction seminar at the African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI), University of Cape Town (my host institution). My presentation focused on my profile, past research experience and current CIRCLE research work. This was followed by my participation at the United Nations University Education for Sustainable Development in Africa (ESDA) – Next Generation Researchers (NGR) – National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF) workshop on “Developing an Exploratory Research Programme on the Role of Youth Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development in Africa” from March 4-7, 2016, where I also did a presentation entitled “Blockades between entrepreneurship and development in Africa: My Perspectives”. Furthermore, on April 14, 2016, I presented my CIRCLE research work at the CIRCLE coordinators/Supervisors/UCT-Research Office/CVFs meeting held at the University of Cape Town Research Office. A more recent one was my participation at the International Conference on Climate Change held at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Nigeria from 18-20 May, 2016 where I delivered a review paper co-authored with my supervisor on the title “Corruption and the imbalance in climate finance flows in Sub Saharan Africa: Lessons for Social Researchers”. The review paper is now being revised for submission for publication in a suitable open access journal.

Gains versus Pains: How did I fare?

It is just about six months into my CIRCLE fellowship year and I am happy to note that the experience so far has been awesome, though not without some moments of disappointment. An instance I would describe as a low point for me in my experience so far was when I narrowly missed an opportunity to attend the 2016 Potsdam (Germany) Summer School on Dealing with Climate Change Impacts. It was a two week programme with partial sponsorship. It was with great regret that I read the mail sent to me from Potsdam by Angela Borowski who informed me of the jury committee’s recommendation to put my offer on the waiting list should anyone withdraw. Alas! it never happened. However, it is pertinent to state that while I have had more high points than low points, both conditions have really been essential learning processes for me.

Acknowledgements

I appreciate my fellow CVFs, Faridah and Portia for their companionship. Special thanks to my supervisor (Richard Calland), specialist advisor (Yacob Mulugetta) and mentor (Janice Olawoye) for their guidance. I gratefully acknowledge the African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI), African Academy of Sciences (AAS), UK Department for International Development and Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) for this memorable opportunity.

Impacts of Climate Change on Aquaculture Sector of Ghana: A Field Experience

By: Berchie Asiedu, University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), Ghana
Cohort 2 CIRCLE Visiting Fellow

Climate change is one of the most serious threats to sustainable aquaculture development in Ghana. The impacts of climate change in the aquaculture (small-scale) sector of Ghana are real. Droughts are being prolonged, rainfall patterns changing, floods increasing and strong winds are becoming a common phenomenon. Fish ponds are breaking in, aquatic plants are taking over ponds, fish mortalities are increasing, water quantity and quality are getting poorer, fish farmers are getting lower revenue and poverty is increasing.

In February 2016, I arrived at the University of Ibadan (UI) to officially commence my one-year Climate Impact Research Capacity and Leadership Enhancement (CIRCLE) Visiting Fellowship programme. Prior to my arrival, I had several email exchanges with my Host Supervisor on my research proposal, work plan and other logistics. I also had a meeting with my Home Mentor and CIRCLE Coordinator before departing to UI.

Being at my Host Institution has been interesting. UI is Nigeria’s premier university with a lot of faculties, students and commercial activities. I was introduced to officers in the Research Management Unit (RMO), which is the unit responsible for coordinating the CIRCLE Programme. I met my Host Supervisor who warmly welcomed me and introduced me to other members in the department (Dept. of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management). I also interacted with students in the department and took interest in their research activities. I visited the department’s fish farm to familiarize myself with their work. I took keen interest to understudy the academic and administrative structures of my Host institution, especially, the Dept. of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management (UI), which is unique and I hope to adopt in my Home institution (UENR).

In March 2016, I had the opportunity to attend a workshop on Research and Grants Writing for Doctoral Students which was organized by the RMO and Postgraduate School. The workshop had sharpened my skills in research grant management, budget and budgeting in research grants, reference management, effective communication in research grant proposal writing, and ethical consideration in research.

I also had the opportunity to meet other CIRCLE Fellows and Ghanaian students at UI to exchange ideas and build working relationships.

After a meeting with some Ghanaian students in UI

As part of my CIRCLE research, I have spent three months studying the impacts of climate change on aquaculture through field data collection in two important aquaculture regions in Ghana (Ashanti and Brong Ahafo), sometimes travelling for about three days across districts, municipals, metropolitans, in rain, sunshine, traffic, day and night and in the remote parts of Ghana.

Working with stakeholders (i.e. fish farmers, fisheries officers, meteorological officers, opinion leaders, local climate experts, national best fish farmers, students, government institutions and religious bodies), the impacts of climate change are being analysed.

A visit to a fish farm in Sunyani, Ghana. The pond is dried-up completely due to prolonged drought and high temperatures. The water source is dried and the farmer forced to stop operations

Taking pond water turbidity with secchi disc at a fish farm in Kumasi, Ghana. The quality of water is key for fish growth but is getting poorer due to drought

It is worth noting that stakeholders (both individuals and institutions) are using various strategies to combat climate change (examples; constructing concrete walls to combat incidence of flood during extreme rainfall, raising pond dykes to check flooding, fencing ponds with nets to retain fish during floods, using sand bags to prevent pond erosion due to high rainfall, planting of trees to serve as wind breaks and to provide shade to reduce evaporation, abandoning ponds to contain water during heavy rains and construction of filtration systems to ensure safe water usage for production, pumping water to top up ponds during drought periods).

A farmer at Asufua has constructed a concrete wall to combat incidences of flooding during extreme rainfall. Farm operational costs have increased

A fish farmer at Odumasi has fenced ponds with nets to retain fish during floods. Ponds here are flooded during torrential rains

The opportunities and experience from the CIRCLE programme have been very helpful. I am hoping to use my knowledge and skills to have impact in the aquaculture sector, academic circles, public sector and the international communities.

This study has been possible by kind assistance of the CIRCLE programme, DfID, the ACU and AAS.

Berchie Asiedu.

CIRCLE Programme: A pleasant exposure so far…

Ms Portia Adade Williams, Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (CSIR- STEPRI), Ghana
Cohort 2 CIRCLE Visiting Fellow

Ms Williams spent her fellowship year at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Here,she reflects on her time on the CIRCLE Programme.

In January 2016, I arrived at my host institution to officially commence the one-year Climate Impact Research Capacity and Leadership Enhancement (CIRCLE) Visiting Fellowship programme to enhance my research skills and contribute to the aim of the programme. Not knowing exactly what to expect, I did my research on the programme by communicating with some Cohort 1 Fellows to learn from their experiences. This together with the guidance of my host supervisor, Dr. Olivier Crespo and unflinching support from my home mentor Dr. George O. Essegbey, enabled me start working before officially commencing the programme.  

I am half way through the fellowship and I have participated in both local and international programmes.  Besides the educative bi- weekly departmental seminars I participate in, the exposure has been amazing. I participated in the 2nd Students’ Conference on Climate Change and Development at Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, South Africa, on 18th March, 2016. This was organized by the CIRCLE host at UCT, the African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI) where insightful presentations related to the theme were made. Another opportunity for me was when ACDI facilitated a meeting between Circle Visiting Fellows (CVFs) and the Research Office at UCT on 21st April, 2016 to introduce the CVFs to the office. This was a meeting between CVFs, our supervisors, host ACDI and the research office constituting Dr. Mignonne Breier and her team. The meeting enabled us seek any assistance required in conducting research in UCT. It later facilitated my participation in a three day writing retreat with the Emerging Researcher Programme (ERP) coordinated by Drs. Lyn Holness and Gudrun Oberprieler of the research office at Mont Fleur conference venue, Stellenbosch, South Africa from 21st to 23rd May, 2016. The retreat was useful and impactful as educative sessions with experiences from other international students were shared, not to mention the learning platform to develop proficient use of time in writing.

Meeting with CVFs, supervisors, CIRCLE host ACDI and the research office team at UCT

Writing retreat at Mont Fleur Conference Venue, Stellenbosch, South Africa.

The latest exposure as part of the CIRCLE Fellowship is my participation in the scholar’s prestigious program at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island in the United States of America (USA). This was the “Brown International Advanced Research Institute (BIARI)”, hosted by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. About 146 participants from 55 countries convened from 4th – 18th June 2016, to participate in a two week annual residential program sponsored by Santander Universities. Out of the four institutes hosted, I had the privilege of participating in the climate change institute under the theme “Climate Change and Its Impacts: Connecting Variability and Knowledge in a Global System”. Convened by Brown University professors, each section featured lectures and seminars led by distinguished local and international guest faculty.

The Climate Change Institute at BIARI 2016, Brown University, USA

It was a unique experience meeting individuals across academic, professional and geographic boundaries. At the end of the programme, various research groups were formed. I am now part of a global group of 11 researchers from 8 different countries representing four continents with the common goal of developing further a research proposal to conduct a comparative study across countries and we hope to continually collaborate and research into emerging issues related to climate change within our expertise.

Other participants at BIARI 2016, Brown University, USA

On my CIRCLE research, I am working on “Climate variability impact on pineapple production in Ghana”. Pineapple heavily depends on climate for performance and is an important crop within the horticultural sub-sector of Ghanaian economy. With limited knowledge relating to climate and pineapple productivity, this research focuses on assessing the effect of variability on pineapple production under climatic and economic perspectives. It also explores the coping strategies employed by pineapple farmers in Ghana. It is a holistic study which will play a critical role in assisting pineapple farmers to adapt to climate variability and cope with short term impacts.

At the end of June 2016, I will be participating in a one week winter school course on “Using climate information for adaptation and policy development” organized by the Climate Systems Analysis Group(CSAG) of the Environmental and Geographical Sciences Department of UCT. I also hope to participate in a conference in the next two months to present part of the findings from my study. I aspire to develop my career and build my intellectual capabilities for professional growth and my participation in the CIRCLE programme so far has set me on the right path. Being an early career academic, I hope to become an internationally recognised scientist in the field of climate change and I value this unique experience CIRCLE programme through DFID, ACU and AAS has given me. I am also grateful to CSIR-STEPRI and UCT for all the support and assistance.

Reflections on the Adaptation Futures Conference

Dr Philip Antwi-Agyei, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana

Cohort 1 CIRCLE Visiting Fellow

With realisation that mitigation alone might not be sufficient in tackling climate change; adaptation has dominated recent international political and academic discourse on climate change. Following the momentum of the historic Conference of Parties in Paris in December, 2015, over 1600 participants from more than 100 countries, gathered in the beautiful city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to share new scientific findings, products and services aimed at promoting the business case for climate change adaptation. Participants included academic researchers, innovators, practitioners and decision-makers both in the private and public sectors. Hosted by PROVIA (Global Programme of Research on Climate Change Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation) and funded by the European Union and the Government of the Netherlands, the theme of this conference was “adaptation futures 2016: practicesand solutions”.

Philip explaining CIRCLE’s business poster to a participant

The conference had 155 sessions, 7 high-level round tables and, of course, the highlight of it, the Adaptation Expo. There were seven key themes including food and rural livelihoods, cities and infrastructure, fresh water availability and access, ecosystems and ecosystem based adaptations, disaster risk reduction, the artic, and public health. Additionally, there were three 3 cross-cutting issues touching on risk assessment, adaptation planning and evaluation, institutions and governance, and investment and business. One of the key highlights of this conference was the address by Her Majesty Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, who is the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development. In her address, HRH Queen Maxima emphasized the need for the international community to provide all inclusive financial access to the most vulnerable in our communities. As the keynote speaker, Queen Maxima indicated that globally there are over 230 million people who are affected by climate change induced disasters. She opined that access to financial services by these people was critical for their survival.

Several cutting edge studies conducted across the globe were presented. I participated actively and made a presentation titled: “mapping the multiple stressors contributing to vulnerability across scales in the Savannah zone of Ghana”. In this presentation, I explored how the various climatic and non-climatic stressors vary and interact across three different spatial scales in dry land farming systems, typified by case studies from northern Ghana. This presentation outlined that smallholder households are confronted with multiple stressors, many of which are non-climatic in nature. To this end, the presentation highlighted the urgent and practical need to tackle both climatic and non-climatic stressors in a holistic approach in climate change adaptation policies. In addition to my academic presentation, I presented CIRCLE’s business poster at the Adaptation Expo. It is important to stress that CIRCLE’s business poster received considerable audience and participants were generally impressed by the overall objective of the programme, which is aimed at developing the capacity of early career researchers in climate change impacts on development in sub-Saharan Africa.

Philip (middle) explaining a point on academic poster to participants

For me, two key things made this conference a resounding success. First, the tool shed session, where practitioners including NGOs such as CARE International, Oxfam (UK) and other organisations such as the European Environment Agency, The World Bank, Stockholm Environment Institute etc., demonstrated practical tools for addressing various aspects of climate change vulnerability and adaptation. Indeed, many of the tools were quite innovative and attracted large audiences. Another fascinating feature of the Adaptation Futures Conference was the active participation by the business community (including insurers, accountants, bankers etc.), non-governmental organisations as well as policy makers. The participation of these stakeholders was a clear demonstration that the issue of climate change is not a problem only for academic researchers, but rather an all-encompassing issue that needs a holistic approach involving all stakeholders.  For instance, several sessions were devoted to the role of insurance and business models in reducing the impacts of climate change related risk on households, especially on poorer households. It is believed that businesses could help in developing appropriate business models in tackling climate change.

Philip (extreme left) with H.R.H. Princess Abze Djigma, Burkina Faso (in the middle) and other participants from Ghana



Additionally, this conference outlined some of the key challenges in adapting to climate change, the next steps and who should take the lead. In terms of challenges, a number of challenges were highlighted including the lack of communication on climate change, inadequate engagement amongst researchers and practitioners, as well as lack of appreciation of local knowledge, etc. Personally, one of the refreshing moments was meeting some of the key global leaders in adaptation literature that I have cited several times in my writing. Importantly, the Adaptation Futures Conference provided a good platform for forging new networks and renewing old friendships. Crucially, new thinking and ideas on adaptation to climate change emerged from this conference.

The next Adaptation Futures Conference takes place in Cape Town, South Africa in 2018 and it will be great to have a good representation of climate change adaptation researchers and practitioners from the Africa continent attending this conference. In doing this, the continent shall be demonstrating its commitments in contributing to finding lasting solutions to climate change, which is already posing a considerable threat to Africa’s poverty reduction, economic growth and social development efforts.

Finally, I wish to take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude to CIRCLE and the organisers of the Adaptation Futures Conference for providing the necessary support to enable me attend this important conference.

Dr Philip Antwi-Agyei is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Environmental Science at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana and recently completed a CIRCLE Visiting Fellowship at the University of Ghana.

Catching up with the Geospatial Revolution

Br Dr Catherine V Nnamani, Ebonyi State University, Nigeria, and Sylvia Ankamah, University of Energy and Natural Resources, Ghana
Cohort 2 CIRCLE Visiting Fellows 

Dr Catherine V Nnamani and Sylvia Ankamah at the GIS and RS Training Course

The Induction Workshop in Kenya for CIRCLE Cohort 2 Fellows made us understand the importance of integrating and taking advantage of training programs at our Host Institutions. The experience gained from the reports presented by Cohort 1 Fellows spurred us on to attend a two week training course on Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS). The training was an eye opener on what a researcher can do, enjoy and achieve with GIS. It was amazing, enriching and has built our capacity.

The training was organized by Space Applications and the Environmental Science Laboratory at the African Centre of Excellence in Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. It is a World Bank Program/Flagship for collaborative research and development, and an innovation platform aimed at addressing Africa’s challenges relating to agriculture, environment, health, security, welfare, housing, disaster, transportation and industry using Satellite Spatial Data.

Dr Catherine V Nnamani and Sylvia Ankamah, CIRCLE Fellows digitalizing the RASTER and Vector features of Osogbo Map

Knowing where and why things are located on the surface of the earth, their distributions and the patterns they create, as well as their dynamics are vital for sustainability and conservation. GIS is pertinent to almost all human activity regarding space. In today’s globalized world, where climate variability and change is increasing, and where people seek to make everything easier, we need GIS to simplify spatial and temporal analysis. About 90% of our daily decisions hinge on the question ‘where’. GIS brings the world to our palms, enabling us to make informed decisions about spatial issues. It makes evident patterns in life, distributions and activities, thus helping in the location of phenomena and giving insight into the dynamics of such phenomena. It aids in understanding the relationship between the physical and human environment, making easier the expressions of such relationships in maps and visual forms using satellite spatial data. GIS could be applied in many different aspects of Human and Environmental issues (Fig. 1).

Fig 1: Application of GIS in different aspects of human and environmental issues.

The major aim of the training was to make environmental research easier, faster and timely by engaging individuals and companies whose activities have impacted, or have the potential to impact, the environment. The training was specifically focused on the basic concept of Geographic Information System, GIS Software’s, Primitive Spatial Analysis, Spatial Data Models and Map Design. Through the training our skills and capacity were enhanced in the following areas: 

• How to manage and process environmental data from varied sources using raster/vector features, scripting, geoprocessing tools, cartography and projections.
• We can now handle spatial analysis answering queries of accessibility, proximity and conservation using attribute features in AcrGIS
• We can produce distributional maps of our study areas for our CIRCLE research.
• Most importantly we want to share the good news that we were able to launch our first DRONE that captured spatial data on OAU, our Host Institution.

Our Joy knows no bound for participating in this training

COURTESY OF THE CIRCLE FELLOWSHIP.

Dr Catherine V Nnamani and Sylvia Ankamah are CIRCLE Visiting Fellows, currently hosted at Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria.