JOHANNESBURG, 21 April 2010 (IRIN) – How can a villager in Ethiopia, at the mercy of the climate’s eccentricities, get to know what is happening to the precious rain in her part of the world, and how best to deal with it? Climate change is already affecting the amount of rainfall a continent or a country receives, but making information available at the daily living level is critical to helping communities develop strategies to adapt, as most of them rely heavily on rain for food and livelihoods. Such information is rare; more often there is none, but this may soon change. “How about a rainfall calendar for communities?” thought two climate change researchers – Cynthia Awuor, of Care, an international humanitarian NGO, and Anne Hammill, of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), a Canada-based policy research institute.
The calendar they developed was piloted in May/June 2009 in Kalabaydh village in Ethiopia’s Somali region. It uses rainfall information from the community and combines it with meteorological data where available, but goes beyond simply providing a sense of how rainfall patterns have been changing over the years. It is also a “tool” to help develop the community’s perceptions of rainfall patterns, and provides a “platform to discuss risk management strategies to help them adapt”, said Awuor. The calendar “clarifies” the “consequences of the changes in rainfall patterns on livelihoods”, and can help researchers and policy-makers develop appropriate projects. A community or village plots the amount of rain it received each month for the past three to five years in the calendar, “depending on how accurately they can recall”, said Awuor. Communities can even plot rainfall information for specific weeks or seasons, using a scale ranging from “little/below normal” through “average/normal” to “heavy/normal”, and can also use any available local meteorological records to make the calendar more accurate.
The Kalabaydh villagers discovered local variations in rainfall after plotting their calendar. “Some locations within the area receive comparatively higher rainfall than others in given seasons, and this results in a higher concentration of livestock in such areas, and the potential for the rapid spread of livestock diseases” the researchers said. They noted that the villagers had been resorting to short-term measures like depending on food aid, and selling firewood and charcoal to get by; many had been forced to migrate. The older men pointed out that in the past 10 years it had been getting drier and warmer in their village, as the calendar prompted the community to discuss the issues and reflect on long-term strategies, one of which was that the government should help them build reservoirs and tap available groundwater. Since the Ethiopian pilot, Care and IISD have helped communities in Uganda and Kenya develop a similar calendar, allowing them to define the relationship between changing rainfall patterns and pasture availability, livestock productivity, duration of migration and access to markets. Awuor commented, “It is early days, but the tool has great potential.” jk/he |
|||||
| source.irinnews | |||||
Archive for April 26th, 2010
GLOBAL: Much more than a rain calendar
Posted by African Press International on April 26, 2010
The calendar “clarifies” the “consequences of the changes in rainfall patterns on livelihoods
Posted in AA > News and News analysis | Leave a Comment »
PHILIPPINES: Hospital learns lessons from Ketsana storm
Posted by African Press International on April 26, 2010
 Photo: Jason Gutierrez/IRIN  |
A boy covers his face as he is circumcised at the Cainta Municipal Hospital
————–
MANILA, 21 April 2010 (IRIN) – Nervous young boys carrying their surgical slips squat on the floor of Cainta municipal hospital, east of the capital, waiting for their turn on the operating bed during a mass circumcision programme.
With its clean, well-lit surroundings and orderly patient administration, it is difficult to imagine that the four-storey building was completely overwhelmed when tropical storm Ketsana hit Manila on 26 September 2009.
Over 80 percent of the capital was flooded. A week later Typhoon Parma struck the northern part of Luzon island, and a third typhoon, Mirinae, came in October. All in all, over 1,000 people were killed and 10 million affected.
The worst flooding in decades swamped Cainta town’s 27 community health centres, forcing many to seek shelter in schools, while others crammed into the hospital for medical help as floods swept cars and entire houses away.
The hospital itself was spared, but many of its staff were stranded in their homes, or trapped inside the structure without power, and fast dwindling food and medical supplies.
“Many of our 94 doctors themselves were victims. We didn’t have electricity, but tried to cope the best we could,” said hospital chief Antonio Cadano.
“Ketsana has taught us a valuable lesson in stockpiling medicines, preparing contingency measures and putting in place crucial mechanisms,” he said.
The UN earlier this month launched a worldwide campaign targeting unsafe schools and hospitals, where it says the most vulnerable people – and highest death tolls – can be found in times of disaster.
The UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction said a total of 42 primary and secondary schools were flooded in Manila last year, while 30 private and public hospitals and 100 health centres were damaged.
Valuable lessons
Renaud Meyer, country director for the UN Development Programme in the Philippines, said the typhoons last year exposed vulnerabilities in the country, but at the same time taught valuable lessons.
“Events like Parma and Ketsana have significantly raised awareness on these gaps like never before and are changing mindsets,” Meyer told IRIN. “A major indicator is more demand from local government units, for example, [for] appropriate disaster risk reduction/climate change adaptation options.”
 Photo: David Swanson/IRIN  |
| Schools like hers play a big role during disasters |
The government has earmarked about 852 million pesos (US$19.3 million) for repairs to 19 major state hospitals and thousands of primary school classrooms damaged by the floods, according to the government’s national reconstruction commission.
Reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts would have to focus on making structures stronger in withstanding natural disasters, said Glenn Rabonza, chief of Manila’s Office of Civil Defence.
“There is an ongoing effort now to make critical infrastructures risk and disaster free, as part of our commitment to the UN’s campaign to make schools and hospitals safe,” Rabonza told IRIN.
“We have also asked line agencies to make emergency drills a regular fixture in all government buildings, while schools are told to stock up on emergency kits,” he said.
“Disaster-proof”
At Cainta Municipal Hospital, power generators were bought for the facility, and a disaster-preparedness committee was formed shortly after Ketsana hit.
All of the hospital’s 600 staff, from the maintenance crew to the medical workers, were taught to respond quickly to disasters. Communication facilities were also improved, with a radio relay tower erected in case telephone signals go down.
“We are aiming to make the hospital disaster proof, if possible,” said Cadano, whose home in Marikina District, near Cainta, was also damaged by last year’s floods.
Cathy Rodriguez, 75, a volunteer midwife at the hospital, said among the most vulnerable last year were pregnant mothers, many of whom had to give birth in dirty and overcrowded evacuation centres.
jg/ey/ds/cb source.irinnews
Posted in AA > News and News analysis | Leave a Comment »
PHILIPPINES: Hopeful signs for end to Mindanao conflict
Posted by African Press International on April 26, 2010
A woman carries her toddler at an evacuation centre in Maguindanao Province ——- MANILA, 23 April 2010 (IRIN) – The Philippine government and the country’s largest Muslim separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), have agreed to facilitate the return of tens of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs); aid workers hope this could be the harbinger of a lasting peace deal. The agreement, concluded after talks in Kuala Lumpur on 22 April, comes amid independent reports that fighting all but stopped in parts of southern Mindanao island after a Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team (IMT) returned in February to help implement a ceasefire agreed last year. Foreign Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, the government’s chief negotiator with the 12,000-strong MILF, said both sides appeared to be moving towards sealing a “comprehensive compact” soon, though rebel leaders have told IRIN previously they would be unlikely to strike a deal with President Gloria Arroyo, whose stormy six-year term is set to end in June. “Both parties agreed to work together for the swift return of the remaining lDPs in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao,” Seguis said in a statement on 22 April. The Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) – established in 2003 – has been tasked by both side to “ensure the safety and security of returning evacuees by accompanying them to their respective areas of origin, in close coordination with local government units concerned, the lMT, and other concerned agencies.” The CCCH is comprised of members from both sides of the conflict, as well as neutral parties, whose job it is to resolve complaints over truce violations so that small firefights do not escalate. 100,000 in evacuation centres
Since the return of the IMT in February 2010, there have been only three complaints of truce violations which were all amicably settled, according to CCCH. It said that between 2008 and 2009 there was a “quantum leap of violations”, a trend that is slowly being reversed. “The turnaround of incidents of ceasefire violations from very high to very low is attributed to the good cooperation and teamwork between the government, MILF and CCCH in cooperation with civil society organizations,” CCCH said. Arroyo’s spokesman, Gary Olivar, said the agreement had renewed hope that the rebels were now becoming more receptive to crafting a peace deal. However, he flatly rejected the possibility of reviving the 2008 deal that was declared unconstitutional. “By itself, that action already has a lot of value. Going beyond that kind of action hopefully indicates willingness to see the peace process through from their side,” Olivar told IRIN. “The president still wants to sign a peace deal with the MILF, but the public pronouncements of their leaders indicate that they prefer to work with the next administration.” Background In 2003, Manila opened peace negotiations with the MILF in the hope of ending the group’s 32-year war for an independent Muslim state on Mindanao – talks which have been rocky and often punctuated by violence. Large-scale fighting broke out in late 2008 after the Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional a proposed deal that would have granted the insurgents political and economic control over 700 towns and villages on the island they claim as their ancestral domain, including areas heavily populated by Christians. The document was initialled by both sides but national groups backed by Christian leaders raised the issue with the court, leading to the ruling. In the fighting that ensured, over 750,000 people were displaced, leaving nearly 400 dead and many more injured. In July of 2009 back-door negotiations resumed in a bid to solve the tattered peace process.
Red Cross concerns Meanwhile, the Red Cross welcomed the latest news, but stressed that beyond allowing the IDPs to return safely, the government must ensure that they get adequate support to re-start their disrupted lives. “It is a very positive development, but on the other hand, we want to know how these people will be protected. We cannot just encourage them to return when they don’t feel secure in the areas where they will go back to,” Gwendolyn Pang, secretary-general of the Philippine National Red Cross, told IRIN. “What will be the plan now, because we cannot force them to return?” she asked. Families “should be able to feel safe, and assured that when they go back, they have livelihoods and basic infrastructure like schools, and health centres that will meet their needs,” she said. jg/ds/cb |
||||||
Posted in AA > News and News analysis | Leave a Comment »
BURKINA FASO: Cross-border land conflict risks
Posted by African Press International on April 26, 2010
 Photo: Anne Isabelle Leclercq/IRIN |
| Of food and fodder- herders seek greener pastures |
OUAGADOUGOU, 20 April 2010 (IRIN) – Conflicts in Burkina Faso between herders and farmers threaten to spill into neighbouring countries as herders seek grazing pastures, according to the government.
“Competition for shrinking land will spur migration of herders and their cattle to neighbouring countries, which increases the risk for cross-border conflicts,” Tanga Guissou, the director of pastoralism in the Ministry of Livestock, told IRIN.
Sixty percent of herders from Burkina Faso’s central-south region now live in Ghana, according to Hassan Barry, the president of a livestock association in the province of Zoumwéogo.
“The problem has become serious,” director of agriculture Salam Kaboré from the southern province of Nahouri told IRIN. “In the past, there was the land for farmers and herders to carry out their activities side by side. Now, there is not enough space and [farmers from other regions] are on livestock grazing areas,” Kaboré said.
There were 29 cases of land damages caused by animals in 2009 in Nahouri. Despite authorities’ efforts to encourage farmers and herders to work together peacefully, there are still outbreaks of conflicts “here and there” said Kaboré.
In the south, 18 deaths have been recorded and an unknown number wounded in farmer-herder conflicts since 2007 in the provinces of Gogo, Perkoura, Zounwéogo and Poni.
The risk of conflict will increase in Burkina Faso and nearby countries with expected declines in agricultural production and animal fodder, according to the Livestock Ministry’s Guissou.
Burkina Faso and neighbouring desert countries had erratic 2009 rains that reduced their harvests by up to 30 percent.
Irrigation projects and land degradation that has scattered farmers in search of cultivable land have reduced pastoral land by three percent a year, according to the Livestock Ministry.
No land rights
Communities – mostly in the south – with no formal land rights have been pushed out by hydro-agricultural irrigation projects and migrants from other parts of the country that have formed sedentary farming communities, Guissou told IRIN. “Indigenous groups are often left to their own resources in this [development] process and there has been no systematic effort to involve them, which frustrates them and leads to conflicts.”
Pastoralists pushed off the land are forced to travel farther across borders to find suitable pastures, Guissou added. “What were yesterday’s pastures have become hydro-agriculture projects in the south, which are not taking into consideration pastoralists,” the Ministry of Livestock director told IRIN.
There are eight million cows and 19 million other smaller cattle nationwide. Following the droughts of the 1970s, the government designated 185 pastoral zones covering two million hectares – which is more than one million hectares short of what is needed now, Guissou told IRIN.
He added: “Our herding and farming methods are still traditional and take up a lot of land. Since the 1970s drought, and [ongoing] climate change, there has been an increase of humans and animals on limited space with limited resources.”
To minimize the risk of conflicts between farmers and herders, the Ministry of Livestock has outlined a land clearing plan that takes into account herders’ migration patterns and animals’ water needs, but only a fraction of the millions of dollars needed to finance the plan has been raised by the government, said Guissou.
bo/pt/aj source.irinnews
Posted in AA > News and News analysis | Leave a Comment »
Kenya: Kilonzo was a good man – killed in a silencing spree
Posted by African Press International on April 26, 2010
Kilonzo was a good man. I knew him personally when he worked as the Provincial Police Officer, Nairobi area at the same time I worked as Administrative Officer in The Provincial Administration Headquarters. He was a good man that was easy to work with in many areas security wise. His killers should be punished, and that is why Kenya needs to speed up the work of The Truth Commision so that people who know of his killers may come forward. (Korir/API)
How retired Police chief was killed Mafia-style
By Amos Kareithi
On Wednesday July 30, 1997 Mr Phillip Kilonzo, a retired former Police Commissioner who was at the centre of the investigation into Dr Robert Ouko’s assassination seven years earlier, was driven into his favourite pub in Matuu.
He asked that half-a-kilo of meat be prepared for him, then sat down to sip his favourite drink — White Cap. Halfway through his glass, he is called out to receive a heifer given to him as a gift by a local councillor.
When he came back to his seat and took a sip from his glass, he exclaimed; “This beer tastes different. What have you done to it?”
 |
| Former Police Commissioner Philip Kilonzo. |
Those were his last words…minutes later he was dead, another statistic on the killer trail that followed witnesses and investigators of Ouko’s murder, estimated to be about 100 today.
They include former powerful Permanent Secretary Hezekiah Oyugi; former head of Pan-African Group who died hours before appearing before the Ouko Commission; Oidho Agalo, the farmhand and Otieno Gor who were among the people who saw the Minister just hours before he disappeared; Martin Ochanda was attached to the Kisumu Special Branch office and was a friend of Dr Ouko…James Eric Onyango, a relative and confidant of the late Minister, and who was among the people Dr Ouko talked to on the telephone on the night he disappeared; Nehemiah Shikuku Obati the Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police who spearheaded the arrest and interrogation of the Ouko murder chief suspects, among them Mr Nicholas Biwott, who was briefly arrested. Thirteen years later, the family has not seen the post-mortem examination reports and finding of toxicology texts by the Government Chemist of what was left of Kilonzo’s beer …and for a top cop, no statements taken from potential witnesses, no word on who wanted him dead …just silence.
But this month The Standard walked down what to others could be the beaten path.
Speaking to the forlorn family of the former top cop, the sheer horror of talking about Ouko’s murder is shocking. Few have the courage to be quoted, others wish it was forgotten and chapter closed, not because they do not feel the pain, but for fear they could be next. For, they believe, Ouko killers are still on the prowl.
Not in touch
Their dilemma reminds one of that of Mr John Troon, the Scotland Yard detective, who led the investigations, who when a few years ago he was asked if he had been in touch with Dr Ouko’s family, he responded: “I have not been in touch with Dr Ouko’s family since leaving Kenya. This is due to the issue of their safety, as I do believe they may be targeted by associates of the suspects if there was communication between myself and any member of the family.”
Already the then Chief Pathologist Dr Jason Kaviti and then CID director had conceded the ‘suicide theory’ was manufactured by powerful personalities in Government then.
“We were told not to worry because the post-mortem examination report would be availed to us. Thirteen years later, I have not seen this report. I do not know what killed my brother but I am sure of one thing. My brother did not die from old age or natural cause,” says his elder brother James Ngwiri Kilonzo.
He added: “Kilonzo died after consuming the contents of the first beer from the crate,” adding that even after samples of the beer, the glass were submitted to the Government Chemist for analysis, the outcome was never communicated to the family.
source.standard.ke
Posted in AA > News and News analysis | Leave a Comment »
Corruption rampant in many corners of Kenya – Ministers should step aside
Posted by African Press International on April 26, 2010
Calls for Kenyan ministers to resign over GM maize
Written By:Doreen Appollos/Metabel Mainya , Posted: Fri, Apr 23, 2010
It is feared that of the 40,000 metric tones of Genetically Modified maize imported into the country early this year, 10,000 metric tones have already found their way into the market.
The Parliamentary Select Committee on Agriculture chairman John Mututho says the entrance of the commodity into the market happened with the full knowledge of both the new Agriculture Minister Dr. Sally Kosgey and Industrialization Minister Henry Kosgey.
Addressing the press at parliament buildings Mututho called on the two ministers to form a committee to investigate the matter.
He also wants the two ministers to step aside to allow for investigations into the matter.
Mututho alleges that the missing 10,000 metric tones of GM maize cannot be accounted for, an indication that it could have found its way into the local market.
The rest of the consignment is being held at the Grain Bulk Handlers in Mombasa.
40,000 metric tonnes, an equivalent of 3 million bags costing the government a whooping 1.8 billion shillings was offloaded at the Port of Mombasa early this year allegedly secretly but out of this 10 000 metric tonnes is believed to have been quickly distributed to the market.
Cases of GM maize importation into the country dates back to 2007, with 2008 being the year that this illegal trade allegedly picked pace, supposedly under the watch of the then science and technology minister Sally Kosgey, under whose docket the supervision of KEPHIS falls.
It is also alleged to have occurred under the watch of industrialization minister Henry Kosgey who supervises the Kenya Bureau of Standards.
Kenya now stands as the highest importer of GM maize in the world amid claims that the government is not keen in observing bio- safety regulations, a negligence that might expose its citizenry to high health risks.
source.kbc.ke
Posted in AA > News and News analysis | Leave a Comment »
Kenya’s Cohesion Commission on spot over PM
Posted by African Press International on April 26, 2010
Written By:Kendagor Obadiah/Rose Kamau , Posted: Thu, Apr 22, 2010
The National Cohesion Commission has averred that it will not be used by politicians to further their agenda.
“We are not a rubber stamp to propagate an agenda for certain groups and will not favour any camp mighty or small in enforcing the hate speech rule,” the group says.
However, even as it refutes claims of being partisan, the commission will find it hard to convince the public of its neutrality after it afforded the Prime Minister a platform to campaign for the draft constitution.
Thursday’s closure of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission conference at the Bomas of Kenya, Nairobi provided the perfect platform for Odinga to drum up support for the draft constitution.
The move did not augur well with those opposed to the draft constitution who have already accused the commission of being biased towards the no camp in applying the rule on hate speech.
The first to throw the salvo was NCCK which alleged the commission would be used to sacrifice those opposing the draft constitution.
However the commission chairman Mzalendo Kibunja defended the PM’s move to use the commission’s platform to campaign for the draft saying even those opposed to the draft had a right to use any forum they so wished to sell their ideas, as long as they were devoid of hate speech.
And as the referendum campaign heats up, Kibunja says his team will be particularly keen on errant politicians to ensure their utterances do not divide the country as it happened in the early days of 2008.
Kibunja said as an honest arbiter and broker, the commission seeks a cohesive road map towards a peaceful referendum which will involve talking with all Kenyans.
“We have no position for either YES or NO as regards the draft constitution” Kibunja said adding that Chapter 5 of the current constitution allows for freedom of speech and proponents of the NO and YES campaigns were free to express their opinions.
However the freedoms must be exercised in caution to ensure they were devoid of threatening, abusive and insulting words or behaviour that may lead to ethnic, racial and religious hatred.
Odinga who was guest of honour at the conference said that the Government was determined to recreate the country and recapture the spirit of nationalism.
“We are going to great lengths to recapture the nationalistic spirit that pushed this country to and immediately after independence and which appear to have been lost,” he said.
He reiterated that the country needs practical strategies to promote tolerance, understanding and acceptance of diversity among the Kenyan communities and pledged the Government’s commitment to promote national cohesion and reconciliation.
The four day conference brought together an estimated 500 elders drawn from all districts to deliberate on possible solutions to ethnicity, nepotism, and unemployment which have adversely affected the country.
Meanwhile the National Conference of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) has criticized retired ACK Archbishop David Gitari for supporting the draft constitution in its current state saying this was his personal opinion and not that of the Anglican Church of Kenya.
NCCK Secretary General Rev. Canon Peter Karanja said though NCCK respected and honored retired church leaders, Gitari should be advised to allow the incumbent Archbishop Eliud Wabukala to speak on behalf of the ACK fraternity on the draft constitution.
Karanja expressed hope that consensus building between the church and the government representatives scheduled from next Monday would bear fruits.
He urged the government to address the concerns of the church in the draft constitution saying the church was only championing the interests and aspirations of Kenyans.
Addressing the press at the South Rift regional conference of the NCCK in Nakuru, the church leaders urged the government to speed up the consensus building process to ensure that an agreement was reached before the referendum.
They reiterated their earlier stand that the church will vote NO at the referendum if their concerns were not fully addressed.
The Church in Kenya has vowed to mobilize their flock to shoot down the draft constitution unless the clauses on the right to life and the Kadhis’ courts were deleted from the draft.
source.kbc.ke
Posted in AA > News and News analysis | Leave a Comment »
