44 research outputs found
Onset of the rainy season and crop yield in sub-Saharan Africa - tools and perspectives for Cameroon
Assessment of the ClimGen stochastic weather generator at Cameroon sites
Simulation of agricultural risk assessment and environmental management requires long series of daily weather data for the area being modelled. Acquiring and formatting this data can be very complex and time-consuming. This has led to the development of weather generation procedures and tools. Weather generators can produce time series of synthetic weather data of any length, interpolating observed data to produce synthetic weather data at new sites. Any generator must be tested to ensure that the data that it produces is satisfactory for the purposes for which it is to be used. The aim of this paper is to test a commonly used weather generator, ClimGen (version 4.1.05) at eight sites with contrasting climates in Cameroon. Statistical test were conducted, including t-test and F-test, to compare the differences between generated weather data versus 25 years observed weather data. The results showed that the generated weather series was similar to the observed data for its distribution of monthly precipitation and its variances, monthly means and variance of minimum and maximum air temperatures. Based on the results from this study, it can be concluded that ClimGen performs well in the simulation of weather statistics in Cameroon.Keywords: Weather generators, weather data, Cameroon, climate chang
A change in the transportation needs today, a better future for tomorrow â climate change review
No sooner than later, the world will be living hell as a result of the transportation effects on our climate now escalating. The pressure is now growing towards their resultant effects to be totally eradicated in order to save our planet otherwise, the stabilisation of these effects; global warming, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and degradation will need to be sought after. The world all over is at it now in an effort to restore our climate, to save it from the effects of these catastrophes/disasters.
On the proposition of the Kyoto Protocol in1997, the main focus was to decrease greenhouse emissions of mainly six gases â Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride, Hydro fluorocarbons (HFCs) and Per fluorinated Compounds (PFCs). And transport alone, accounts for over 26% of global CO2 and has been regarded as one of the few industrial sectors wherein emissions are still on the increase, on this basis, researchers and policy makers are all at it to tackle the menace of climate changes through provision of sustainable transport.
This paper focuses on the new and developed technologies like the renewable energy source [RES], which will be an alternative to transport fuels to avoid the dependence on petroleum which after effects are damaging to the world climate, and may probably not be there forever to continue serving the world ever increasing population. While the long term solutions are being sought, these alternatives will make do for now
Food security outcomes in agricultural systems models: Current status and recommended improvements
Improvement of food security is a common objective for many agricultural systems analyses, but how food security has been conceptualized and evaluated within agricultural systems has not been systematically evaluated. We reviewed the literature on agricultural systems analyses of food security at the household- and regionallevels, finding that the primary focus is on only one dimension of food security-agricultural output as a proxy for food availability. Given that food security comprises availability, access, utilization and stability dimensions, improved practice would involve more effort to incorporate food access and stability indicators into agricultural systems models. The empirical evidence base for including food access indicators and their determinants within agricultural systems models requires further development through appropriate short and longterm investments in data collection and analysis. Assessment of the stability dimension of food security (through time) is also particularly under-represented in previous work and requires the development and application of appropriate dynamic models of agricultural systems that include food security indicators, coupled with more formalized treatment of robustness and adaptability at both the regional and household levels. We find that agricultural systems models often conflate analysis of food security covariates that have the potential to improve food security (like agricultural yields) with an assessment of food security itself. Agricultural systems modelers should exercise greater caution in referring to analyses of agricultural output and food availability as representing food security more generally
Ecosystem Management: Tomorrowâs Approach to Enhancing Food Security under a Changing Climate
This paper argues that a sustainable ecosystem management approach is vital to ensure the delivery of essential âlife supportâ ecosystem services and must be mainstreamed into societal conscience, political thinking and economic processes. Feeding the world at a time of climate change, environmental degradation, increasing human population and demand for finite resources requires sustainable ecosystem management and equitable governance. Ecosystem degradation undermines food production and the availability of clean water, hence threatening human health, livelihoods and ultimately societal stability. Degradation also increases the vulnerability of populations to the consequences of natural disasters and climate change impacts. With 10 million people dying from hunger each year, the linkages between ecosystems and food security are important to recognize. Though we all depend on ecosystems for our food and water, about seventy per cent of the estimated 1.1 billion people in poverty around the world live in rural areas and depend directly on the productivity of ecosystems for their livelihoods. Healthy ecosystems provide a diverse range of food sources and support entire agricultural systems, but their value to food security and sustainable livelihoods are often undervalued or ignored. There is an urgent need for increased financial investment for integrating ecosystem management with food security and poverty alleviation priorities. As the worldâs leaders worked towards a new international climate change agenda in Cancun, Mexico, 29 Novemberâ10 December 2010 (UNFCCC COP16), it was clear that without a deep and decisive post-2012 agreement and major concerted effort to reduce the food crisis, the Millennium Development Goals will not be attained. Political commitment at the highest level will be needed to raise the profile of ecosystems on the global food agenda. It is recommended that full recognition and promotion be given of the linkages between healthy, protected ecosystems and global food security; that sufficient resources be allocated for improved ecosystem valuation, protection, management and restoration; and that ecosystem management be integrated in climate change and food security portfolios. We will not be able to feed the world and eradicate extreme poverty, if we do not protect our valuable ecosystems and biodiversity
Adaptation assessments for crop production in response to climate change in Cameroon
The Cameroonian agricultural sector, a critical part of the local ecosystem,
is potentially vulnerable to climate change, thus raising concerns about
food security in the country's future. Adaptations policies may be able to
mitigate some of this vulnerability. This article addresses the issue of
selected adaptation options within the context of Cameroonian food
production. A methodology is applied where transient diagnostics of two
atmosphere-ocean general circulation models, the NASA/Goddard Institute GISS
and the British HadCM3, are coupled to a cropping system simulation model
(CropSyst). This methodology simulates current and future (2020, 2080) crop
yields for selected key crops such as bambara nut, groundnut, maize,
sorghum, and soybean, in eight agricultural regions of Cameroon. Our results
show that for the future, substantial yield increases are estimated for
bambara groundnut, soybean and groundnut, while little or no change or even
decreases for maize and sorghum yields, varying according to the climate
scenario and the agricultural region investigated. Taking the âno regretsâ
principle into consideration, we also explore the advantages of specific
adaptation strategies specifically for three crops, maize, sorghum and
bambara groundnut, under GISS A2 and B2 marker scenarios only. Here,
changing sowing dates may be ineffective in counteracting adverse climatic
effects because of the narrow rainfall band that strictly determines the
timing of farm operations in Cameroon. In contrast, the possibility of
developing later maturing new cultivars proved to be very effective in
offsetting adverse impacts, giving the highest increases in productivity
under different scenario projections without management changes. For
example, under climate change scenario GISS A2 2080, a 14.6% reduction in
maize yield was converted to a 32.1% increase; a 39.9% decrease in
sorghum yield was converted to a 17.6% increase, and for bambara
groundnut, yields were almost trebled due to increase length of growing
period and the positive effects of higher CO concentrations. These
results better inform wider studies and development strategies on
sustainable agriculture in the area by providing an indication as to the
potential direction in shifts in production capabilities. Our approach
highlights the benefit of using models as tools to investigate potential
climate change impacts, where results can supplement existing knowledge. The
findings also provide useful guidance and motivation to public authorities
and development agencies interested in food security issues in Cameroon and
elsewhere
Ecosystem Management: Tomorrowâs Approach to Enhancing Food Security under a Changing Climate
This paper argues that a sustainable ecosystem management approach is vital to ensure the delivery of essential âlife supportâ ecosystem services and must be mainstreamed into societal conscience, political thinking and economic processes. Feeding the world at a time of climate change, environmental degradation, increasing human population and demand for finite resources requires sustainable ecosystem management and equitable governance. Ecosystem degradation undermines food production and the availability of clean water, hence threatening human health, livelihoods and ultimately societal stability. Degradation also increases the vulnerability of populations to the consequences of natural disasters and climate change impacts. With 10 million people dying from hunger each year, the linkages between ecosystems and food security are important to recognize. Though we all depend on ecosystems for our food and water, about seventy per cent of the estimated 1.1 billion people in poverty around the world live in rural areas and depend directly on the productivity of ecosystems for their livelihoods. Healthy ecosystems provide a diverse range of food sources and support entire agricultural systems, but their value to food security and sustainable livelihoods are often undervalued or ignored. There is an urgent need for increased financial investment for integrating ecosystem management with food security and poverty alleviation priorities. As the worldâs leaders worked towards a new international climate change agenda in Cancun, Mexico, 29 Novemberâ10 December 2010 (UNFCCC COP16), it was clear that without a deep and decisive post-2012 agreement and major concerted effort to reduce the food crisis, the Millennium Development Goals will not be attained. Political commitment at the highest level will be needed to raise the profile of ecosystems on the global food agenda. It is recommended that full recognition and promotion be given of the linkages between healthy, protected ecosystems and global food security; that sufficient resources be allocated for improved ecosystem valuation, protection, management and restoration; and that ecosystem management be integrated in climate change and food security portfolios. We will not be able to feed the world and eradicate extreme poverty, if we do not protect our valuable ecosystems and biodiversity