African bloggers are highlighting water related issues, from the politics in South Africa that
led to suspension of a water quality expert, new devices for collecting and cleaning water, to
the 'scramble for fish' the East African lake region.
CC licenced photo by Julien
Harneis on flickr.
We start with South Africa where the blog Urbansprout highlights the
suspension Dr. Anthony Turton . Dr Turton is a researcher who was set to deliver a
presentation at the conference “Science Real and Relevant” in Pretoria. He was barred
from delivering the presentation, and later suspended by The Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research (CSIR).
The blogger includes the presumed reason for his suspension as communicated by the CSIR, but also
looks at the content of Dr. Turton's
paper[pdf on environment.co.za], noting…
Taking a brief look at Dr Turton's paper, he argues that a lack of investment in science,
engineering and technology (SET) since the early 1990's, the termination of important research
projects and the shift to a contract driven income model has had a “catastrophic
effect” on our national scientific capacity to deal with the technical challenges our water
quality is facing.
There is also the question of academic freedom of scientists to present their findings.
Urbansprout quotes a science journalist reacting to news of Dr. Turton's suspension.
Science journalist and former Journalism head of department of the University of Stellenbosch, Dr
George Claassen asserted that the withdrawal of the presentation by the CSIR was an
“absolute disgrace”. “This is a very serious encroachment on academic freedom
and the right of scientists to announce their results, no matter how bad those results are for
our view of things,” he commented. Claassen noted that academic and research freedom was
protected under Section 16 of the constitution, which states that everyone has the right to
freedom of expression, including academic freedom and freedom of scientific research.
Urbansprout provides the link for an online petition
in support of Dr. Turton and concludes:
Turton's report highlighted that South Africa could be headed for a water supply and water
quality crisis that could negatively impact on the economic growth and development of the
country, as well as lead to social unrest. The findings conflicted starkly with recent government
assurances that South Africa was not facing a water crisis similar to the one prevailing in the
electricity-supply sector.
A previous post
on Urbansprout gives more information about the water crisis in South Africa, which is
characterized by sewage seeping from municipal treatment works to rivers. The water from the
rivers feeds into the local tap water system.
A WaterMill is described on the
BLDG blog as a device that “uses the electricity of about three light bulbs to condense
moisture from the air and purify it into clean drinking water.” Rory of The
Carbon Smart
blog links to the BLDG
post, and considers ‘micro devices' like the WaterMill, and whether this could be a
source of clean drinking water for urban areas. He writes:
Discussion about the
WaterMill — a small-scale dehumidifier that collects and cleans water from the air
— leads to conjecture not only about how much of our drinking water could come from the
air, but also about whether the urban microclimate could be significantly altered by installing
thousands of these low-energy devices. Could we do away with a significant number of
energy-sapping air conditioners by making our environment more comfortable through a combination
of better building design, appropriate clothing, vegetating the landscape and reducing the
ambient humidity with thousands of WaterMills?
In East Africa, the Kenyan blog
Kenvironews highlights a piece by Namhla Matshanda of the African Security Analysis
Programme. The piece looks at the conflict over Migingo island in Lake Victoria, which is claimed by both Uganda
and Kenya. The piece warns:
The so-called ‘scramble for fish’ in Lake Victoria is turning out to be
a source of conflict between nations bordering the lake and could potentially threaten regional
stability. In the past month alone there have been several incidents around the lake that have
heightened tensions between Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. It is now apparent that the main source
of these incidents is the lack of a clearly delimited and demarcated border between the three
countries sharing Lake Victoria.
Since 2003, a number of Kenyan fishermen have been arrested and their boats and equipment
confiscated by either Tanzanian or Ugandan authorities for “illegally crossing the common
borders.” The latest incident happened when about 400 Kenyan fishermen were kicked out of
Migingo island by Ugandan authorities. Migingo is claimed by both Uganda and Kenya. This incident
has exacerbated the already strained relations between the two countries. The Kenyan fishermen
have appealed to their political leaders to intervene, some even threatening violence.
Recommandations
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and reject those that you are not interested in
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