DIGITAL EARTH: QUANTIFYING URBAN LANDSCAPE CHANGES FOR IMPACT ANALYSIS

This study is to quantify land cover changes over time in order to analyze the impacts of human disturbances and climate factors on urban landscapes. The study area is Kansas City metropolitan area, USA. The study investigated both “dry-landscapes ” – urban impervious surface and “wet-landscapes ” – urban wetlands in order to fully understand the coupling effects of human built-up activities and precipitation variations. For the dynamics of drylandscapes, we classified multi-year Landsat images to map impervious surface change in relation to other land cover types at a metropolitan level. Based on the classified maps, we calculated relevant landscape metrics, including land patch density index and largest patch index of land covers, in order to better understand landscape change mechanism. The study reveals that in the recent decades urban built-up activities have greatly increased impervious surfaces and resulted in urban sprawling in the study area. To understand the variation of wetlandscapes, high-resolution SPOT images were classified to map urban wetlands and other relevant land cover types at finer scales. The mapped wetlands were analyzed in relation to precipitation conditions and impervious surface changes. The results suggest that urban wetland area changes were correlated with short-term precipitation conditions at a regional level, while the built-up activities have affected wetlands in some locations at fine scales

'We cannot reconcile until the past has been acknowledged’ : perspectives on Gukurahundi from Matabeleland, Zimbabwe

Since the Matabeleland massacres in the early 1980s, reconciliation remains unattainable in this region of Zimbabwe. Reasons for this include the fact that survivors of these atrocities have not received the acknowledgement they require from the government. As a result, their perception is that the government has continued to repress them by failing to provide for their needs. More so, the preceding episodes of violence in the region have engendered fear, anxiety and distress among a population that is battling to deal with its past. This article explores the attempts by the government and civil society representatives in the region to facilitate reconciliation and seeks to determine their ability to establish durable peace at the community level. Drawing from fi eldwork undertaken in Matabeleland in April 2014, this article describes what the community identifi es as central requirements for reconciliation to occur, as against what is provided by the national framework for reconciliation implemented by the government.http://www.accord.org.za/publications/ajcram201

Multi-scale analysis of urban wetland changes using satellite remote sensing techniques

Title from PDF of title page, viewed on January 10, 2012Dissertation advisor: Wei JiVitaIncludes bibliographic references (p.146-157)Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dept of Geosciences and School of Computing and Engineering. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2011This study investigates urban wetland-cover changes in the Kansas City metropolitan area with analyses at various spatial and temporal scales. Not many studies fully addressed multi-scale urban wetland-cover dynamics in both the temporal and spatial dimension. The objective was to understand how major driving factors - human disturbances and climate variation - impacted urban wetlands as determined by the scale effects of observing land-cover changes. To address this objective, multi-year and multi-season SPOT satellite images were acquired and digitally classified to generate wetland and related land-cover data over various temporal ranges. To detect long term changes of urban wetland, the study examined the landscape changes between 1992 and 2008. Furthermore, for a short term analysis over a period between 2008 and 2010, the study analyzed seasonal land-cover variation among the autumn, spring, and summer. These multi-temporal land-cover data were analyzed at various spatial scales - the metropolitan region, watersheds, sub-watersheds, specific wetland areas, and particular urban development zones. The results show that over the 16-year period, both wetland and impervious surfaces gained in area at the metropolitan level. However, the wetland change patterns were varied at other spatial scales of analysis, which were related to the dominant site-specific development activities. Further, the wetland change patterns differed if large surface water bodies (> 8ha) were excluded from the class of wetlands. The study also revealed that the seasonal change patterns of urban wetlands were likely correlated with short term precipitation conditions; but this effect may be varied depending on sampling area sizes. The study suggests that the effects of spatial and temporal scales should be considered in remote sensing detection of urban wetlands as they influence the interpretation of remotely sensed land-cover changes and correlation of driving factors. In conclusion, understanding the complex human-climate coupling factors affecting urban wetland-cover requires a multi-scale and multi-faceted analysis.Introduction -- Literature review -- Methodology -- Remote sensing analysis -- Quantifying land cover data using geospatial modelling -- Discussion and conclusion -- Appendix A. Lake inflows: historical and actual -- Appendix B. Source code for the geo-processing model -- Appendix C. Precipitation received before a satellite imaging dates -- Surface water cover analysis at Kansas City Metropolitan, watershed and sub-watershed scale

Reconciliation in Zimbabwe : the conflict between a state-centred and people-centred approach

Reconciliation has become an integral part of the post-conflict peacebuilding process, and has come to be seen as an integral part of sustaining peace and security, particularly at the local level. The tension between a state security and human security approach to peacebuilding is particularly evident in national reconciliation and transitional justice processes. There is a continued emphasis on high-level reconciliation processes and the reconciliation of elite actors over processes that facilitate reconciliation at the community level. This article explores this in the case of Zimbabwe, where the emphasis is on a state-based approach to resolving conflict, which fails to take into account or address the needs and issues that affect local communities. Drawing from fieldwork undertaken in Matabeleland in April, 2014, this article describes what community members identify as their central needs when it comes to reconciliation, within the context of the state-driven processes that have been implemented to date.Fieldwork was undertaken by the first author for her Master's dissertation on reconciliation in Zimbabwe titled, "The politicization of reconciliation in Zimbabwe: a case study of the Nkayi District". The second author, as supervisor of the Master's, participated in the fieldwork for a brief period. (http://hdl.handle.net/2263/43770)http://www.up.ac.za/en/political-sciences/article/19718/strategic-review-for-southern-africaam2016Political Science

Beyond restorative justice : understanding justice from an African perspective

Over the past few decades, there has been a growing interest in restorative justice in terms of the alternatives it offers to the narrow limits of the criminal justice system. This has also been the case in the African context, where some argue that local justice processes reflect a restorative approach to justice. In this article, we explore this assertion and argue for the adoption of the term African restorative justice to encapsulate the ways in which local justice processes on the continent echo certain aspects of restorative justice approaches globally, but also have characteristics that make them uniquely African. Of interest is what African restorative justice can offer national, state-led interventions in relation to mass conflict. We reference the cases of South Africa and Zimbabwe, where interviews were held, together with observations of tradition-based practices, in order to understand local understandings of justice. This article discusses the findings which include the difficulties in bringing together human rights, human dignity, customary law and the state-led justice system. It argues for the importance of community and ‘endogenous’ knowledge in helping us overcome and move beyond the dual thinking that is often apparent in public discourse, of either rejecting local justice practices as being undemocratic and having nothing to offer a new, contemporary democratic order, or accepting them idealistically and uncritically.https://journals.co.za/content/journal/aa_ubuntu2021-04-30am2021Political Science

Stratification of SADC regional pearl millet testing sites based on grain yield performance of lines

Sequential retrospective (SeqRet) pattern analysis was used to stratify pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum] testing sites according to their similarity of line-yield differentiation using grain yield data from 90 multi-environment trials (METs) conducted in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. The METs, conducted across 25 sites over 9 years were split into two sets: Set 1 (1989/90-1992/93) included introductory genetic materials, and Set 2 (1994/95-1998/99) included advanced genetic materials. Site stratification analysis from Set 1 and Set 2 partitioned the testing sites into six and five groups with R2-values of 76 and 79%, respectively. Analysis of the cumulative dataset (1989/90-1998/99) clustered the 25 sites into six groups with R2=76% and captured the major patterns of site similarities in Set 1 and Set 2. Based on our experience from running multi-year METs in the SADC region, the cumulative dataset was more informative in judging the relevance of site-stratification results. SeqRet pattern analysis, exploiting available highly imbalanced historical MET data, provided an objective basis for stratifying the test-sites to facilitate selection of a few representative test-sites for future testing of lines. The results from cumulative dataset suggest that future line testing could be restricted to a few sites picked from within each of the identified site-groups

Scope, trends and opportunities for sociohydrology research in Africa: A bibliometric analysis

Socio-hydrology research is concerned with the understanding of how humanity interacts with water resources. The purpose of this study was to assess the disparity between global and African trends as well as developments in the research domain of socio-hydrology. From the viewpoint of a multitude of research themes, multi-author collaborations between African and international researchers and the number of publications produced globally, the results reveal that the field of socio-hydrology is still underdeveloped and yet nascent. At a global level, the USA, China, and the Netherlands have the highest number of scientific publications, while in Africa, South Africa dominates, although these scientific publications are significantly much lower than the global output. The output of scientific publications on socio-hydrology research from Africa increased from 2016, with significant output reached in 2019. Water management and supply, hydrological modelling, flood monitoring as well as policies and decision-making, are some of the dominant themes found through keywords co-occurrence analysis. These main keywords may be considered as the foci of research in socio-hydrology. Although socio-hydrology research is still in the early stages of development in Africa, the cluster and emerging themes analysis provide opportunities for research in Africa that will underpin new frontiers of the research agenda encompassing topics such as the (1) impacts of climate change on socio-hydrology; (2) influence of socio-hydrology on water resources such as surface water and groundwater; (3) benefits of socio-hydrological models on river basins and (4) role of socio-hydrology in economic sectors such as agriculture. Overall, this study points to a need to advance socio-hydrology research in Africa in a bid to address pressing water crises that affect sustainable development as well as to understand the feedback mechanisms and linkages between water resources and different sectors of society. Significance:• The field of socio-hydrology is still under-researched in Africa. • Limited research could be attributed to a lack of expertise, resources and data limitations.• Socio-hydrology research is likely to be strengthened through collaborations between Africa and other developed countries.• Existing gaps present opportunities to advance socio-hydrology research in Africa

Quality analysis of Tanzanian photoperiod sensitive sorghums and potential for their improvement through lead NARS approach

Fourteen landraces were collected and compared with commercial varieties Macia and Pato. The landraces were analysed, and data tabulated, for visual hardness score, kernel weight, floaters, size fractions (large, medium and small), dehulling loss, milling yield, water absorption, agtron readings (colour of flour), and tannin contents. Values for visual hardness score, water absorption and dehulling loss were far better and more acceptable than those of released short-season sorghums. Dry agtron readings were better than those of the released varieties

Stratification of pearl millet testing sites in the SADC region

Maximization of crop productivity requires accurate selection and targeting of cultivars for appropriate production areas. The number and location of testing sites are critical factors that affect the efficiency of and potential gains from breeding. The selected testing sites must be representative of the conditions of target production areas. Within a large region such as SADC, knowledge of underlying production zones within the region could help not only in choosing appropriate testing sites, but also in objective targeting of cultivars for production (Peterson 1992). The availability of long-term yield data from regional trials conducted in the SADC region over the past decade provides a unique opportunity to identify intra-regional production zones based on grouping of previously used testing sites with respect to their similarities in cultivar response to varying production conditions