Modernisation in Automotive Technology and performance of Informal Sector Mechanics in Kenya

Rosana G. Moreira, Editor-in-Chief; Texas A&M UniversityThis is a paper from International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR, Commission Internationale du Genie Rural) E-Journal Volume 6 (2004): L. Kipkurui, I. Kithyo, P. Okemwa, and J. Korir. Modernisation in Automotive Technology and performance of Informal Sector Mechanics in Kenya. (August 2004)

The State of Agricultural Mechanisation in Uasin Gishu District, Kenya, and its Impact on Agricultural Output

Rosana G. Moreira, Editor-in-Chief; Texas A&M UniversityThis is a paper from International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR, Commission Internationale du Genie Rural) E-Journal Volume 9 (2007): The State of Agricultural Mechanisation in Uasin Gishu District, Kenya, and its Impact on Agricultural Output. Invited Overview. Vol. IX. June, 2007

Large projected reductions in marine fish biomass for Kenya and Tanzania in the absence of climate mitigation

Climate change is projected to cause significant reductions in global fisheries catch during the 21st Century. Yet, little is understood of climate change impacts on tropical fisheries, which support many livelihoods, as is the case in the Western Indian Ocean region (WIO). Here, we focus on two central WIO countries ― Kenya and Tanzania ― and run a multi-species fish model (Size Spectrum Dynamic Bio-climate Envelope Model; SS-DBEM) for 43 species of commercial and artisanal importance, to investigate the effects of climate change. We include both national Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) as domains. The model was forced by data from a biogeochemical model (NEMO-MEDUSA), run under the high emissions scenario Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5, until the end of the 21st century. Impacts of fisheries and climate change were investigated by running SS-DBEM under five scenarios of fishing pressures to predict a range of possible future scenarios. Fishing pressure was represented as the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY), expressed as MSY0, MSY1, MSY2, MSY3 and MSY4 representing fishing mortality of 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 times MSY, respectively. Large reductions in average fish biomass were projected over the 21st Century, with median reductions of fish species biomass of 63–76% and 56–69% for the Kenyan and Tanzanian EEZs respectively across the fishing scenarios. Tunas were particularly impacted by future climate change, with the six modelled species exhibiting biomass reductions of at least 70% in both EEZs for all fishing scenarios during the 21st Century. Reductions in fish biomass were much more severe during the second half of the 21st Century, highlighting the benefits to tropical fisheries of global action on climate change

Accuracy Assessment of the ESA CCI 20M Land Cover Map: Kenya, Gabon, Ivory Coast and South Africa

This working paper presents the overall and spatial accuracy assessment of the European Space Agency (ESA) 20 m prototype land cover map for Africa for four countries: Kenya, Gabon, Ivory Coast and South Africa. This accuracy assessment was undertaken as part of the ESA-funded CrowdVal project. The results varied from 44% (for South Africa) to 91% (for Gabon). In the case of Kenya (56% overall accuracy) and South Africa, these values are largely caused by the confusion between grassland and shrubland. However, if a weighted confusion matrix is used, which diminishes the importance of the confusion between grassland and shrubs, the overall accuracy for Kenya increases to 79% and for South Africa, 75%. The overall accuracy for Ivory Coast (47%) is a result of a highly fragmented land cover, which makes it a difficult country to map with remote sensing. The exception was Gabon with a high overall accuracy of 91%, but this can be explained by the high amount of tree cover across the country, which is a relatively easy class to map

Population structure enhances perspectives on regional management of the western Indian Ocean green turtle

To refine our understanding of the spatial structure of the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) populations in the South West Indian Ocean (SWIO), we analysed patterns of mitochondrial DNA (396 base pairs control region fragment) variation among 171 samples collected at five distinct locations (Kenya, Northern Mozambique, and three locations in the Republic of Seychelles: the Granitic, Amirantes, and Farquhar groups) and compared them to genetic data (n = 288), previously collected from 10 southern locations in the SWIO. We also analysed post-nesting satellite tracks (n = 4) from green turtles nesting in the Amirantes group. Pairwise comparisons of haplotype frequencies showed significant genetic differentiation amongst rookeries and suggest that the SWIO hosts two main genetic stocks of nesting green turtles that could themselves be divided in two sub-stocks that still need to be confirmed: A. the Southern Mozambique Channel, that could be composed of two sub-stocks (a1) Europa and (a2) Juan de Nova, and B. the Northern SWIO (N-SWIO) comprising two sub-stocks (b1) the Seychelles archipelago stock—SEY; and (b2) the remaining Northern SWIO rookeries. The newly revealed differentiation of the Seychelles population is supported by restricted migration of females tracked from the Amirantes group suggesting relatively limited links with other regional stocks. We hypothesize that this differentiation could be due to local and regional current patterns and to the role of the Indo-Pacific Barrier as a genetic break, enhanced during periods of sea level decrease associated with a rare but continuous flow of hatchlings and young juveniles from Western Australia