Climate Change & Africa

The entire globe has been effected negatively by climate change over the past 10-20 years. Africa is no exception to this climate change, and given the large size of the continent its effects are seen in various fashions. For instance, the horn of Africa would only see a drought once a generation as the CNN article states, however this occurrence has changed frequency to every few years. Africa as we know from our readings, already struggles from its harsh climate in terms of agriculture, due to water being such a scarce source. The negative effects of El Nino are impacting Africa in a bad way. This is also bad because it raises the concern of food security, water security, the grown of urbanization, and the question of how to build Africa's emerging infrastructure.

Climate change is an issue that the globe needs to tackle as a whole. This could be yet another event in a long list of negative things that have occurred in Africa that have stagnated its growth as a continent.

Source:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/09/africa/africa-climate-change-cop21/

Don't Forget Boko Haram

It's been a terrible week across the globe not just in Paris France, but in Beirut and now most recently Nigeria. When terrorism strikes close to home, or against our closest allies it tends to garner more attention than attacks that effect those in other regions. This has been the case in Africa for years. While ISIS has been in the spotlight for over a year now, Boko Haram has recently been regarded as the most damaging terrorist organization in terms of people killed. Tuesday evening, and now today, Nigeria was hit by multiple suicide bombers killing well over 40 individuals in public places such as the market, and religious area's. Some individuals in Nigeria have described life in Nigeria as, "hellish."

Boko Haram previously focused on capturing territories in Nigeria, but now however has shifted its focus on suicide bombings. This is a side effect of the new Nigerian Presidents focus on clamping down on a corrupt government, and curbing terrorism in Nigeria.

Remember to take a moment to take in the news across the globe, what we see on the TV or read in the American headlines aren't the only topics of interest within the global news sphere.

Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/boko-haram-isis_564cd890e4b00b7997f8c15d

Solar Morocco

This is really cool. What a way to start a blog, but I mean really, this is some neat stuff coming up. Solar energy is clean, it is infinite (as long as our Sun remains static), and is extremely underutilized. What area of the world gets a lot of sun? Africa for one, and more specifically the Sarahah Desert. Did you know that according to Gerhard Kines, a German physicist, that the "world's deserts receive enough energy in a few hours to provide for humanity's power needs for a whole year"? Yeah, I didn't know, but wow!



Apparently Morocco is a popular spot in Africa, as it sits in the northern central area, acting as a gateway to the desert. Morocco is taking the initative, and a huge investment as well in producing solar energy for itself as a means to survive and as a way to make money potentially in the future. Morocco imports over 90% of its energy, cutting significantly into its budget and by creating its own energy it will help the nation prosper. It is believed that solar energy could possibly be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th century.

If this is the case, maybe Africa really could use that leverage to bring it into the forefront of regions within the 21st century. Imagine Africa covered in solar energy panels, and it as the major energy exporter of the world. The key here however will be to let Africa build and run these panels, not outsiders. It will certainly be interesting to see how solar energy develops in Africa into the future.

Source:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/oct/26/morocco-poised-to-become-a-solar-superpower-with-launch-of-desert-mega-project?CMP=EMCENVEML1631

Economic Barriers to Education

South Africa is a relevant topic of interest given our recent discussion of it in class. We have learned of the events leading up to the Apartheid, but have not spoken much about the Apartheid period itself. It's important to note, that it was a long struggle for South African to break the barriers created by the Apartheid, and despite defeating the archaic and barbaric practice, many of the effects of it still linger today. Unfortunately for South Africa, despite the African National Congress leading the country for the better part of two decades, a major economic disparity exists between the wealthy, the poor, and the ever decreasing middle class.

I mentioned in a previous blog more about this economic issue, and we're now seeing it flood into other sectors within the South African infrastructure. One of these sectors is that of Education. Many South African individuals who are more than qualified to attend a university are being turned away because they cannot afford the fee increases. South Africa wants to, "raise university fees by between 10.5% and 12% in 2016." One may argue that this is a discrimination against people of color, and while it may be, I believe it is a discrimination against humanity. Education leads to forward thinking, it educates us about prior events in history for which we can do our best to prevent (Apartheid for example), and it aids not just individuals with prosperity, but it brings innovation and advancement to countries and our planet as a whole.

This issue doesn't exist just in South Africa, but all over the world and especially America. University should not be a privilege for the wealthy, or well off, but rather a right for those who desire to pursue the fruits of labor that education brings with it. I commend what the people of South Africa are doing, and wish that the spirits of the protesting South African students could find its way to America.

Source:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34656160

Poisoned Elephants in Zimbabwe

Place holder for blog post.

Source:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/14/bodies-of-dozens-of-elephants-found-poisoned-in-zimbabwe?CMP=twt_b-gdnnews

Charities Holding Africa Back?

A quote that a famous US-based rapper stated caught my attention, he said, "Personally, I don't think that charities in Africa really work. I think that it just holds the people down longer than it should." The rapper in question is Akon (someone who I have never heard of me, forgive my cultural ignorance), and while some may argue what is his business commenting on such subjects, one has to take into account his upbringing in Senegal.

According to The Guardian article, "600 million Africa people still live without access to electricity, and 3.5 million people die each year from inhaling toxic fuels or house fires..." Bringing electricity to Africa will help facilitate growth within Africa, and quite frankly I can see the point that Akon is trying to make having some significance. Don't get me wrong, what the NGO's are doing is noble work, however we as a nation understand well enough that when we put our own people to work, that is when we grow the quickest. This was evident following the Great Depression under FDR's economic stimulation plan known as "The New Deal."

Africans need to be put to work, they need to be trained on utilizing new technology, most notably solar. NGO's may come and go, their workers while they may care are not as fully invested as someone who lives and breathes in Africa every day, who grew up in Africa and wants to see their own continent and individual country within that continent grow and prosper.

Africa was and still is a country of great natural resources, there is a reason that the continent was colonized after-all. Africa was significantly hindered in its own development as a region of the world due to colonialism, and is further stagnating due to its reliance on NGO's and donations when what it should really be doing is putting itself to work, understanding technology and growing to be the "new China."

Source(s):
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/oct/05/akon-charities-africa-lighting-energy-access
http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2015/10/07/strategies-for-sustainable-energy-development-in-africa/
http://cdn.zmescience.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/south-africa-lead-the-solar-energy.jpg

The Plague of Inequality

South Africa, when one thinks of South Africa it is easy to forget that this country is really a part of Africa. With its fairly large white population, and wealth (compared to other African nations), it's easy to see why some may mentally seperate the country from the continent. It was thought that after the fall of apartheid, and with the election of Nelson Mandela, and the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC), that the hardships of South Africans would be mended. However, over two decades after the fact, this is simply not the case.


According to a recent Guardian article, South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world. The high rate of violence is then being attributed to the massive divide in equality. In South Africa there is those in extreme poverty (the majority), and those that are well off. The middle-class in South Africa is almost non-existent, and for this reason the article argues is the catalyst for the unusually high rate of violence. Poverty has lead the country to be divided again, not this time by race, but rather economic barriers. With poverty, has come resentment towards those who are wealthy, hatred for those who have versus those who have not, and self-hatred for being in the situation that those living in poverty are in.

Apparently the government is so "behind" that the more well off citizens have hired private security firms to act as their police in their area of living as opposed to the real police. Poverty has to be solved in South Africa, and not just there but in the rest of the country. Poverty is the root of all evils and allows extremist views to become reality as they seem like the only escape out of the vicious cycle.

Source(s):
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/01/south-africa-violent-crime-murders-increase-inequality

War Against Poachers

The Rhino Horn trade is a lucrative trade, and the horns are valued heavily in parts of Asia such as China, and Vietnam. Unfortuantely, a high demand for rhino horns, and the large population of rhinos in South Africa are dwindling from poachers. Normally the preserves in which rhinos live on were protected by the equivalent in the U.S. as a park ranger. Times have changed however, and now these protectors of the rhino are having to undergo paramilitary training, and learn how to hunt the hunters. They are fighting fire with fire because the problem has become so widespread across South Africa.



2014 saw approximately 1200 rhino poaching's, and those are just the ones that we know about. The rhino population in South Africa is approximately 20,400 and a rhino horn can fetch between $1100-$5500.

Various tactics have been employed in an effort to dissuade the poachers. Rhino horns have been died, poisoned, and in some cases surgically removed (for their own protection), all to no avail. The only way now that seems viable is to find and arrest the poachers before they get to the rhinos.

These rangers used to train and learn about conservation and tourism. Now they find themselves learning how to track hunters, how to fire semi-automatic rifles, and intelligence gathering. It's really sad and pathetic the way these poachers are murdering South Africa of an iconic animal.

Source(s):
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/22/africa/south-africa-rhino-poaching/

Fighting Malaria

As we learned in the early chapters of our textbook, disease is one of the primary issues that has plagued Africa not just in the past, but in recent times as well. One of the diseases which has caused problems in the modern world has been that of Malaria. Luckily though, according to a BBC Health article, nearly 700 million cases of Malaria have been prevented in Africa. According to the article, the "overall number of infections fell by 50% across the continent."

Despite their best efforts, Africa apparently still houses 80% of the cases, and 78% of the deaths from Malaria. The continent still has quite a way to go before Malaria is fully eradicated, but a 50% drop in cases is significant progress nonetheless. Part of what has inhibited Africa's growth as a continent has been disease, and fighting Malaria and other fatal diseases is a step in the right direction to bring prosperity to that region of the world.

The article goes on to state that several countries are looking to have the disease completely gone by 2020. One major hurdle for fighting the disease, and other diseases however is funding. It will be up to governments and other private funders such as the Bill Gates Foundation to continue the fight against disease in Africa.

Source(s): http://www.bbc.com/news/health-34260339

New Human Species!

Today on September 10th, 2015 in South Africa, an international team of scientists convened to announce a new human species which was discovered in a South African cave. The species has been named, "H. Naledi" which is in reference to the cave in which the bones were found. Apparently the cave housed a "chamber" and the bones were a burial site for this species of human. The scientists have not yet been able to determine in which time period this species lived. A BBC article on the same subject goes on to describe how humans had many different species, one of which would eventually become the modern day human.

This finding is significant for two reasons. One being, this is a new species of human which in itself is a major discovery. The second is that the these humans buried the remains of their peers in a hidden tucked away area, "a behavior previously considered limited to modern humans."

The article is quite relevant to the beginning of our African Studies course, the origin of humans.

Source(s):
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34192447
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/11/science/south-africa-fossils-new-species-human-ancestor-homo-naledi.html