Water and Environmental Change in Africa

Welcome to the penultimate post in this series! Before I begin, I want you to consider these questions. Did you know that the World Health Organisation estimates that 2 billion people globally lack access to safe water (Perez et al., 2015) ? Or that Africa is the world's fastest urbanising continent ? Both were just as shocking to me. Therefore, this blog will first delve into an African urban case study of The Cape Town Drought and then into discussions of COP 27.  Figure 1: Residents queueing to collect water from the Kalk Bay Spring, Cape Town.  South Africa primarily relies on rainwater to meet demand . This is becoming increasingly difficult in light of climate change. Rains have become unpredictable with an increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. The Cape Town Drought lasted between 2015 and 2018 and was made three times more likely by anthropogenic climate change ( Trisos et al., 2022 ). Water sales contributed to 14% of the city's total revenue; ...

Hello again! This blog aims to discuss the role of water storage in aiding water and development in Africa in the age of climate change. Conversations of climate change are inherently political, and thus, so are the decisions regarding adaptation, mitigations, and sustainability. Unfortunately, the vulnerability of communities is also determined by non-climatic factors  (Mason et al., 2011) . One way to help reduce vulnerability is through increased water storage. Dams are used globally; however, this blog will focus on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Investments in such water infrastructure are needed to ensure water security, so the structure of the economy plays an important role, especially with the looming threat of climate change.  Figure 1: A graph showing the relation between Ethiopia's GDP and rainfall (Grey and Sadoff, 2007) In Ethiopia, hydrological variability is strongly related to economic growth, as shown in Figure 1. Models show that if there is a s...

Welcome back! This third blog post explains why groundwater is a useful tool for accessing safe water in Africa, particularly in the context of climate change, with a specific focus on Tanzania.  Groundwater is the world's largest accessible store of freshwater, supplying over 30% of the world's drinking water today ( Taylor et al., 2013 ). However, the rates of groundwater level decline have increased substantially, leading academics to question the relationship between precipitation and recharge. Groundwater is naturally a potable quality and, therefore, does not require expensive treatment, which lowers the cost of access ( Taylor et al., 2009 ). It is typically stored in aquifers, which vary dramatically in shape and size. As they are underground, they are protected from the dangers of evaporation , something that climate change is intensifying.  Africa is extremely rich in water. That is a statement you may not hear frequently, but it is true. The water is just stored und...

What is the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)? Why do I need to know what it is? What is its relevance to water, development and environmental change in Africa? These are all questions I asked myself. This post aims to answer all three. I am someone with a brief scientific background and, therefore, will attempt to provide a simplified overview of the ITCZ, El Niño and La Niña in an understandable manner.  The ITCZ is a band of low pressure close to the equator, where the northern and southern trade winds meet. The band is not stationary; it migrates north during July and August and south throughout January and February to follow the sun's natural overhead position. The climate of Eastern Africa is significantly controlled by the ITCZ ( Taylor, 2016 ). It determines the annual seasonality of rainfall, which can potentially lead to extreme weather events. Seasonal shifts impact annual rainfall patterns, hence why East Africa has bimodal precipitation, whereas the sub...

Hello! I'm Charlotte, a third-year BA Geography student. I have chosen to focus my blog on Environmental change and Water in Africa as I believe I can provide a unique human geography perspective on a subject area dominated by physical geography and natural sciences. This first post will provide a brief introduction to writing about Africa, Climate injustice and Water Scarcity.  Western media often portrays Africa as a homogenous group which relies on international aid in order for society to function. Not only is this fabricated from ignorance, but the creation of a Western saviour is also factually incorrect. Africa is an extremely diverse continent; socially, culturally and environmentally. Comprised of 54 countries and 900 million people  (Wainaina, 2005) , Africa is a continent yet to be researched in its entirety.  It is commonly understood that Africa emits less greenhouse gases than any other continent , as shown in Figure 1. Despite this, African nations are most...