Reinventing Effluent Management in the Sugar Industry in the Nyando Basin, Kenya: From End-of-Pipe to Integrated Approaches

The industrial pollution discharge into the river basins of Lake Victoria in Kenya has been a major environmental management issue. Much of this discharge comes from the sugar mills and molasses distilleries in the Nyando River Basin. Voluntary approaches to pollution prevention have been on spotlight in the recent years as a viable option for enabling industries to meet, even surpass, statutory effluent discharge standards. Central to these approaches is use of cleaner production technologies and practices which have been experimented with in the Nyando River Basin since 2009. However, the potential of this voluntary ecological transformation tool to deliver economic and ecological advantages in a Kenyan perspective has not been examined. Using the case of the sugar industry in the Nyando Basin in Western Kenya, this article explores the benefits to firms of integrating cleaner production with end-of-pipe approaches in effluent management. The theoretical underpinning of the analysis is the Ecological Modernisation paradigm, owing to its emphasis on voluntarism and integrated approaches to pollution management that portend double-dividends of reduced expenses and pollution loads. The results indicate that companies integrating cleaner production with end-of-pipe treatment are likely to reduce pollution loads, register high water productivity and enhance compliance with effluent discharge standards. In addition to these improved environmental performance, they are likely to record financial rewards. It is concluded that cleaner production is a potential tool to promote pollution prevention. However, its current implementation framework based on time-bound donor-funded projects falls short of inducing a transformational culture towards a preventative pollution regime. Keywords: Industrial effluent, pollution prevention, cleaner production, ecological modernisatio

Assessing the impacts of climate change in cities and their adaptive capacity: Towards transformative approaches to climate change adaptation and poverty reduction in urban areas in a set of developing countries

Many cities across the world are facing many problems climate change poses to their populations, communities and infrastructure. These vary from increased exposures to floods, to discomfort due to urban heat, depending on their geographical locations and settings. However, even though some cities have a greater ability to cope with climate change challenges, many struggle to do so, particularly in cities in developing countries. In addition, there is a shortage of international studies which examine the links between climate change adaptation and cities, and which at the same time draw some successful examples of good practice, which may assist future efforts. This paper is an attempt to address this information need. The aim of this paper is to analyse the extent to which cities in a sample of developing countries are attempting to pursue climate change adaptation and the problems which hinder this process. Its goal is to showcase examples of initiatives and good practice in transformative adaptation, which may be replicable elsewhere. To this purpose, the paper describes some trends related to climate change in a set of cities in developing countries across different continents, including one of the smallest capital cities (Georgetown, Guyana) and Shanghai, one the world's most populous cities. In particular, it analyses their degree of vulnerability, how they manage to cope with climate change impacts, and the policies being implemented to aid adaptation. It also suggests the use of transformative approaches which may be adopted, in order to assist them in their efforts towards investments in low-carbon and climate-resilient infrastructure, thereby maximizing investments in urban areas and trying to address their related poverty issues. This paper addresses a gap in the international literature on the problems many cities in developing countries face, in trying to adapt to a changing climate

An investigation of the antifertility effects of medroxyprogesterone acetate in rabbits

A series of studies was carried out to investigate feasibility of chemical fertility control in wild rabbit populations. Initial trials were designed to investigate in vivo kinetics and bioavailability properties of MPA in rabbit plasma and effects of a single oral dose on fertility in females. MPA was incorporated into carrots or feed pellets before administration. Plasma concentration of MPA reached maximum levels 1 - 12 h post treatment and declined to undetectable values after 1 or 8 days depending on dosage. An oral dose of 10 mg MPA/rabbit caused complete infertility in females mated 1 day but did not affect fertility in those mated 8 days after treatment. Animals orally dosed with 100 or 1000 mg MPA were infertile when mated 1 day but not 29 days post treatment. It was concluded that MPA is absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract following incorporation in feed of rabbits, its bioavailability is dose-dependent in the dose range tested and a single oral dose of 10 mg or more causes complete infertility for at least 1 day following treatment. Further trials were conducted to investigate the mode of action of MPA in female rabbits. In one such experiment, rabbits were mated following a single oral dose of MPA and post mating plasma progesterone and LH concentration measured in order to determine ovarian and pituitary endocrine activity. There was no post mating increase in plasma hormone concentrations until 4 days following MPA treatment. A single oral dose of 10 mg MPA provided a contraceptive effect in female rabbits for a period of 4 days and this appeared to be directly related to its bioavailability. In another experiment, rabbits mated 3 - 6 days following MPA treatment were killed 28 - 30 h post mating. The ovaries were examined for ovulation sites, oviducts flushed with saline solution and the washings examined for embryos. MPA either blocked ovulation or lowered the ovulation rates of rabbits mated 3 days post treatment. Rabbits mated 4 - 6 days had normal ovulation rates. There were no effects of MPA on oocyte fertilization. In an experiment to determine if MPA acts at the level of the hypothalamus or the pituitary, ovariectomised rabbits were injected i.m. with 250 ng GnRH before and after a single oral dose of MPA. Although MPA significantly lowered basal plasma LH concentration, response of LH secretion to the GnRH challenge was not suppressed by its administration. These results indicate that a single oral dose of MPA affects the ovulatory process in mated rabbits for up to 4 days by blocking the preovulatory LH surge and ovarian endocrine activity, and that the effect is directed mainly at the level of the hypothalamus. In another series of experiments, MPA was administered to mated rabbits in early-, midor late-pregnancy and effects on conception, pregnancy and parturition determined. MPA had no effects on conception or pregnancy. However, when administered as a single large oral dose (1000 mg/rabbit) or as low multiple doses (10 mg/rabbit/day x 5) in late-pregnancy, MPA significantly inhibited normal parturition. Nonetheless, the mechanisms of the effects of MPA on parturition could not be determined and there is a need for further study on this potentially very important effect of MPA