Resilience and response-ability: Towards just water service provision the context of climate change

Climate change will impact on water service provision, yet it is not integrated into water sector policies and plans. This paper unpacks some of the reasons for this disjuncture: the complex and overwhelming challenge of universal water provision even in the absence of climate change; and the real threat that climate change poses to predictable water availability. Current climate change response policies and practices fall short of what is necessary and also threaten to deepen social inequity. Without considered intervention, climate change impacts on water provision will exacerbate social stratification and inequality, making the lives of poor people harsher and even more arginalised by further limiting access to quality water and sanitation services that are necessary to support a safe, healthy and dignified life. The paper argues that shifts need to happen at both personal and structural levels to build effective resilience, and suggests interventions that could facilitate these shifts

Policy brief, number 16, 2017

The last few years have seen one of the most severe droughts in recent times in the southern African region, and news headlines are increasingly full of warnings about heavy storms, fires and floods. There is no doubt that extreme hydro-meteorological events, and their multiple and potentially disastrous impacts, are at the forefront of the public consciousness at the present time and are one of the key concerns regarding the impacts of climate change in the region. While the links between extreme climate events, disaster risk reduction (DRR - see Box 1) and climate change adaptation (CCA - see Box 2) are recognised in the South African Climate Change White Paper, this is not the case for the whole region. Furthermore, even if there is national recognition of the need to synergise these two spheres of endeavour, this does not always trickle down to effective policy, planning and implementation at the local level

Trade in reed-based craft products in rural villages in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

Selling traditional craft products made from fibrous plants is an important source of income for economically vulnerable rural women. In the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, Cyperus textilis and Juncus kraussii have been used for centuries to make products of functional and cultural importance, such as sleeping mats and baskets. In the former Transkei village clusters of Mpozolo and Ntubeni, female crafters harvest the raw material and make and sell the products in their communities and in nearby towns. Interviews with 40 of them revealed what the trade contributes to their livelihoods and what enhances or limits their success. The findings show that crafting contributes vital income to vulnerable households, on average 26 ± 4 per cent of annual household cash income, over 40 per cent for the poorest households and 5–15 per cent for wealthier households. Lack of access to non-traditional markets was identified as the main constraint on the trade

Trade in reed-based craft products in rural villages in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

Selling traditional craft products made from fibrous plants is an important source of income for economically vulnerable rural women. In the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, Cyperus textilis and Juncus kraussii have been used for centuries to make products of functional and cultural importance, such as sleeping mats and baskets. In the former Transkei village clusters of Mpozolo and Ntubeni, female crafters harvest the raw material and make and sell the products in their communities and in nearby towns. Interviews with 40 of them revealed what the trade contributes to their livelihoods and what enhances or limits their success. The findings show that crafting contributes vital income to vulnerable households, on average 26 ± 4 per cent of annual household cash income, over 40 per cent for the poorest households and 5–15 per cent for wealthier households. Lack of access to non-traditional markets was identified as the main constraint on the trade

N2O emissions from California farmlands: A review

Of the greenhouse gases emitted from cropland, nitrous oxide (N2O) has the highest global warming potential. The state of California acknowledges that agriculture both contributes to and is affected by climate change, and in 2016 it adopted legislation to help growers reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, explicitly including N2O. Nitrous oxide emissions can vary widely due to environmental and agronomic factors with most emission estimates coming from temperate grain systems. There is, however, a dearth of emission estimates from perennial and vegetable cropping systems commonly found in California\u27s Mediterranean climate. Therefore, emission factors (EFs) specific to California conditions are needed to accurately assess statewide N2O emissions and mitigation options. In this paper, we review 16 studies reporting annual and seasonal N2O emissions. This data set represents all available studies on measured emissions at the whole field scale and on an event basis. Through this series of studies, we discuss how such farm management and environmental factors influence N2O emissions from California agriculture and may serve as a basis for improved EF calculations

Report containing learning, reflection and evaluation based on social learning:

This report forms the seventh deliverable in the NWRS2 citizen monitoring project and builds on the previous 6 deliverables, which include methodology for the project (Del 1), an assessment of civil society involvement in water policy (Del 2), an overview of the social learning approach and introduction to the case studies (Del 3), draft citizen monitoring guidelines (Del 4), an update on social learning to-date, including action plans (Del 5) and a report on a description and assessment of the case studies (Del 6). This report describes the last social learning module of the ‘Changing Practice’ course and highlights preliminary reflections on the learning that has taken place during this course. The report also describes the plans that were taken at the follow up research meeting. Finally we present the approach towards evaluating the role of social learning in the project as a whole

Citizen Monitoring of The National Water Resource Strategy 2 (NWRS2)

In 2014, the South African Water Caucus (SAWC), a network of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community-based organisations (CBOs) who are active in the water sec-tor, embarked on a social learning and action research journey supported by the South African Water Research Commission (WRC) to deepen its monitoring of South Africa’s Second Na-tional Water Resources Strategy (NWRS2). They focused on three issues in three cases study areas

Cephalopod-omics: emerging fields and technologies in cephalopod biology

14 pages, 1 figure.-- This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution LicenseFew animal groups can claim the level of wonder that cephalopods instill in the minds of researchers and the general public. Much of cephalopod biology, however, remains unexplored: the largest invertebrate brain, difficult husbandry conditions, and complex (meta-)genomes, among many other things, have hindered progress in addressing key questions. However, recent technological advancements in sequencing, imaging, and genetic manipulation have opened new avenues for exploring the biology of these extraordinary animals. The cephalopod molecular biology community is thus experiencing a large influx of researchers, emerging from different fields, accelerating the pace of research in this clade. In the first post-pandemic event at the Cephalopod International Advisory Council (CIAC) conference in April 2022, over 40 participants from all over the world met and discussed key challenges and perspectives for current cephalopod molecular biology and evolution. Our particular focus was on the fields of comparative and regulatory genomics, gene manipulation, single-cell transcriptomics, metagenomics, and microbial interactions. This article is a result of this joint effort, summarizing the latest insights from these emerging fields, their bottlenecks, and potential solutions. The article highlights the interdisciplinary nature of the cephalopod-omics community and provides an emphasis on continuous consolidation of efforts and collaboration in this rapidly evolving fieldPeer reviewe

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570