Resources and Development Journal

Resources and Development Journal We believe that the conservation of natural resources is a fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem, it will avail us little to solve all others.

The Journal is a peer-reviewed and published only in electronic version as a research-resource platform dedicated to public policy and community experience on land and natural resources, taking a multi-disciplinary approach with particular interest in young professionals and their views on practice, legislation and policy.

22/06/2016

RESILIENCE-A CORE CONCEPT IN WATER GOVERNANCE
Resilience is becoming a core concept in water governance. It refers to the ability of communities, cities or regions to withstand the challenges posed by an increased intensity and frequency of floods and droughts. Resilience often involves adopting diverse, flexible, adaptive and redundant or supplemental systems. This pertains to both physical infrastructures and governance arrangements. Resilience in the urban water sector also focuses on restoring and maintaining water ecosystems, such as wetlands, rivers or streams. The Stockholm-based Resilience Alliance and other Euro-American institutions have largely driven the frameworks for resilience. However, they are now increasingly being applied in African cities. For example, Accra, Cape Town, Dakar, Durban, Enugu and Kigali are all participating in the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities initiative. Each city appoints a chief resilience officer to lead action on addressing its specific resilience challenges. For Cape Town these include civil unrest, rainfall flooding, infrastructure failure and disease outbreaks.

11/04/2016

GLOBAL WARMING LIKELY TO BE WORSE THAN THOUGHT
When climate scientists look ahead to how much the planet's surface temperature may warm up in response to a doubling of carbon dioxide- a byproduct of fossil fuel burning- they typically predict a rise of between 2.1 and 4.7 degrees Celsius (3.75 to 8.5 degrees Fahrenheit).But these models overestimate the ability of clouds to reflect back sunlight, and counteract warming in Earth's atmosphere, researchers said. It was found that the climate sensitivity increased from four degrees Celsius in the default model to five to 5.3 degrees Celsius in versions that were modified to bring liquid and ice amounts into closer agreement with observations. The problem is most models assume there is more ice in clouds than there actually is. Icier clouds would gain more liquid in a warming environment, and more liquid in clouds would mean less global warming. Most climate models are a little too eager to glaciate below freezing, so they are likely exaggerating the increase in cloud reflectivity as the atmosphere warms. This means they may be systematically underestimating how much warming will occur in response to carbon dioxide. The findings add to previous studies that have suggested clouds may make warming worse, rather than lessen it. The evidence is piling up against an overall stabilizing cloud feedback. Clouds do not seem to want to do us any favors when it comes to limiting global warming. COMMENT

29/12/2015

CANADA TO SUPPORT RENEWABLE ENERGY IN AFRICA
Canada will provide $150 million in support for renewable energy in Africa. The pledge is part of the African Renewable Energy Initiative. Africa is home to more than 640 million people without electricity and an additional 120 million that rely on firewood and charcoal for fuel. In sub-Saharan African two out of three people have no access to electricity. If not seized on renewable energies now, Africa’s energy needs can only be satisfied by oil, gas and coal with disastrous climate outcomes. However, bringing clean energy to the millions in Africa without electricity will require peoples willingness to make the difficult reforms that are necessary to make these deals advance. COMMENT

12/12/2015

URBAN SANITATION IN AFRICA STILL POOR
Over the last 15 years, only 68 million people gained access to improved sanitation in urban areas in sub-Saharan Africa. This is a big achievement however urban population grew by an estimated 167 million. That leaves an additional 99 million urban dwellers without access to improved sanitation. Since the beginning of this century there has been an increase in the number of people without access to improved sanitation in 42 out of 51 African countries. With the rapid rate of urbanisation on the continent, this number is going to increase. This means there are 99 million – and rising – urban dwellers who are at increased risk of diarrhoea and other diseases spread by contact with faeces.
The lack of sanitation in these areas is causes roughly 50 000 deaths per year. The health risks associated with poor sanitation include stunting in children as well as malnutrition, illness from poor sanitation prevents children from going to school and adults from going to work. The economic impact of the lack of sanitation has been estimated at up to $80 billion annually for Africa. Unfortunately, what should have been 15 years of investment in sanitation under the MDGs hasn’t materialised in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sanitation did not initially get the attention it deserved. As result there was lower investment and slower progress globally.
COMMENT!

02/11/2015

URBAN INCLUSION NEEDED THAN EVER BEFORE
Urbanization in Africa and Asia have continued to the push for urban inclusion more than ever . Cities are growing at historic rates, with 90 percent of urban growth taking place in Asia and Africa. Its clear that urbanization has the potential to lift people out of poverty and increase prosperity however the rising inequality and exclusion threaten to derail progress. People move to cities looking for better jobs and more opportunity, but too often end up trapped in a stigmatized space of poverty and marginalization. Nearly 1 billion urban poor live in informal settlements around the world. The current levels of urban poverty and inequality, coupled with the projected rates of urbanization, send a clear and unequivocal signal of the need to foster inclusion and do it differently. Comment

22/08/2015

POOR LAND GOVERNANCE AFFECTING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Weak land governance and insecure property rights negatively affect economic development. This is because land and property rights is a complex and politically sensitive issue to address. Weak land governance puts a brake on economic development. It deters responsible investors, threatens food security, increases the likelihood of conflicts, and puts the livelihoods of many people at risk, particularly women and girls. Changing the way in which we deal with land is critically important for food security, growth, poverty eradication. COMMENT

13/08/2015

POOR LAND RIGHTS AS DRIVERS OF DEGRADATION
Insecure land rights rights are key drivers of biodiversity and natural resource degradation. Where rights are poorly defined and/or poorly enforced, natural resources and ecosystems can be quickly degraded because incentives to protect resources are weak or absent. Such rights' insecurity may easily result in overgrazing, poaching of wildlife, deforestation, ineffective watershed management, and poorly planned extraction industry investments, among other negative outcomes. Degradation and misuse of resources limit prospects for long-run economic growth and the diversified livelihood options that come from more effective natural resource management. COMMENT

16/07/2015

UN-EATEN FOOD WASTE ADDING OVER 3 BILLION TONS OF GHGs ANNUALLY
Food that is produced but not eaten adds 3.3 billion tons of greenhouses gases to the atmosphere every year. Food that is produced but not eaten consumes a volume of water three times greater than Lake Geneva and than the entire global shipping industry. In addition, direct economic consequences of food waste (excluding fish and seafood) is estimated to be $750 billion annually. Therefore all stakeholders must make changes at every link of the human food chain to prevent food wastage at all stages of the food chain. Fifty-four percent occurs “upstream” during production, post-harvest handling, and storage, while 46 percent occurs “downstream” during the processing, distribution, and consumption stages. Developing countries suffer more food loss during agricultural production, while food waste is higher in middle & high-income at the retail and consumer level. COMMENT

06/06/2015

RE-GREENING CHEAPER THAN AGROFORESTRY
Re-greening is a process in which farmers protect and manage trees that naturally regenerate on their land, rather than cut them down. Regenerated trees and shrubs help restore degraded lands and provide many benefits – from increased crop yields, recharging groundwater, providing fodder and firewood, and storing carbon. Through the African Re-Greening Initiatives and other endeavors, there is also need to work with local partners to develop a strategy for scaling up re-greening successes that have already taken place across Africa. COMMENT

29/05/2015

UGANDA LIKELY TO MISS MDG 1
Elimination of hunger is still a challenge for Uganda. Despite the global decline in the number of people going hungry, about nine million Ugandans remain undernourished. Uganda’s portion of undernourished population currently stands at 25.5 per cent. However, Uganda’s prevalence of undernourishment remains high and has not achieved the Millennium Development Goal, which calls for total elimination of hunger by end of this year. However, Eastern Africa has the biggest hunger problem, with 124 million people undernourished. Tanzania has 16.8m hungry people, Kenya 9.9m and Rwanda 3 million. Uganda is food secure but access is still a challenge in terms of food movement from one place to another. COMMENT!

21/05/2015

S.AFRICA INVESTIGATING WHETHER TO LEGALIZE RHINO HORN TRADING
Poaching in South Africa has risen by 18% in the first four months of 2015 on the same period a year ago. By the end of April 2015 the number of rhino lost to poachers was 393. These animals are killed for their horns, used in traditional Asian medicine. A total of 1,215 rhinos were killed in 2014, compared with 1,004 in 2013, 668 in 2012 and 448 in 2011. Since 2008, South African authorities have struggled to contain the carnage despite moving some animals out of poaching hotspots especially in Kruger National Park. The park rangers detained 132 suspected poachers, crediting the use of helicopters and anti-poaching dogs for a rise in arrests. The government in February announced it would investigate whether the trade in rhino horn should be legalised and regulated to try to halt the poaching. COMMENT!

11/05/2015

WHY GOVERNMENT MUST PLAY A ROLE IN LAND DISTRIBUTION
The Ugandan government has poorly applied equitable access and distribution of land to marginalized groups especially, rural women. There is need to revisit the land policy such that large chunks of land are not only held by some few richer people at the expense of the majority poor ones. The current policy does not distribute land equitably but rather gives more powers to foreign investors and the few richer ones compared to the poor. Land in Uganda is not scarce, but the greedy amass bigger chunks of land making it scarce. Ugandans need to be made aware of how important it is for women to own property and land. This is because they take care of the family in the event that the husband departs and contributes a greatly to the food basket. If corrected the land policy can help streamline women's access to land. Women face difficulties getting access to land since most societies are patriarchal and prohibit females' inheritance. COMMENT!!!

17/04/2015

INCREASING POLLUTION DEGRADING FRESHWATER & COASTAL AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
its clear that the world cannot run without water. Clean, safe & reliable water supplies are vital for consumption, industry, agriculture, and energy production. Every community and ecosystem on Earth depends on water for sanitation, hygiene, and daily survival. Yet the world’s water systems face enormous threats. Currently more than a billion people currently live in water-scarce regions. Experts warn that about 3.5 billion people could experience water scarcity by 2025. Increasing pollution degrades freshwater and coastal aquatic ecosystems. And climate change is poised to shift precipitation patterns and speed glacial melt, altering water supplies and intensifying floods and drought. There is need to identify the most cost-effective strategies to reduce water pollution but also identify solutions such as restoring ecosystem services to alleviate stresses on the world’s water supplies. Comment!!!!!!

09/04/2015

LAND RIGHTS RELATED TO GENDER VIOLENCE
There is a growing body of evidence shows a correlation between GBV and land rights, though whether this correlation is positive or negative depends on context and culture. Secure land rights can increase a woman’s economic independence and bargaining power, thereby reducing her vulnerability to GBV. Further, secure land rights can empower women, and may give them more freedom to leave abusive relationships. However, some studies show that in areas where traditional norms dominate, gains in women’s property ownership and employment status seemed to increase the risk of domestic violence. In some cases, a woman’s increased economic power might lead to violence from men seeking to reassert their dominance and power in the home.
COMMENT!!!

03/03/2015

ACCELERATED GLOBAL WARMING AWAITING
Recently scientists developed new technologies capable of measuring ocean temperatures with a depth and precision that was previously lacking. Research in recent decades showed that climate change has been adding on average around 125 trillion Joules of heat energy to the oceans per second, this is roughly the same amount of energy that would be released by the detonation of two atomic bombs the size dropped on Hiroshima, meaning that climate is warming the oceans at a rate equivalent to around two Hiroshima bombs per second. More recently in the last 17 years, the rate of warming has doubled to about four bombs per second. In 2013 however, the rate of warming tripled to become equivalent to 12 Hiroshima bombs every second. So not only is warming intensifying, it is also accelerated by burning fossil fuels, humans are effectively detonating 378 million atomic bombs in the oceans each year—this, along with the ocean’s over-absorption of carbon dioxide, has fuelled ocean acidification, and now threatens the entire marine food chain as well as animals who feed on marine species. COMMENT!!!

25/02/2015

SECURE LAND RIGHTS CONTRIBUTES TO BETTER NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Secure land rights and resource rights are key indicators of sustainable natural resource management. When land rights are poorly defined and/or poorly enforced, natural resources and ecosystems can easily be degraded. The incentives to protect resources are either weak or missing. It is this insecurity that lead to overgrazing, poaching of wildlife, deforestation, unsustainable watershed management, and poorly planned extractive industry investments, and so on. Comment!!!!

23/02/2015

WORLD LEFT WITH LESS THAN HALF OF THE CARBON BUDGET
Carbon budget refers to an internationally agreed upon target of the amount of carbon dioxide the world can emit while still having a likely chance of limiting average global temperature rise to 2°C above pre-industrial levels. The world has already burned over 52 percent of the carbon budget. Experts revealed that if emissions continue unabated, we’ll exceed it entirely in about 30 years. Blowing this budget would expose the world to more severe forest fires, extreme weather, sea level rise, and other climate impacts. COMMENT!!!

16/02/2015

SOUTH AFRICA PROPOSES LAW BARRING FOREIGNERS FROM OWNING LAND
This is aimed at rectifying inequalities that have persisted since colonial days and apartheid, with white farmers still owning most of the land. The law on foreign ownership cannot be applied retroactively, but the government could exercise a right of first refusal... if the land is deemed strategic. This reform will also address "the need to secure the limited land for food security and address the land injustice of more than 300 years of colonialism and apartheid. In future, foreigners who currently own some five to seven percent of South Africa's land would be allowed only to lease property for between 30-50 years, and may be required to cede land considered "strategic". COMMENT!!!!!!!!!

08/02/2015

EXPLOIT NATURAL RESOURCES SUSTAINABLY
Humans are responsible for exploitation of natural resources like on timber, oil, animal pelts, and ivory. Today the demand out-paces the supply, and this has led to a new challenge: Finding an economic value for slowing down our consumption of nature’s bounty and treading more gently on the earth. To balance the needs of people and wildlife, there is need to work with industries involved in natural resource extraction, to help them manage their concessions more sustainably. The local communities whose livelihoods depend on hunting, fishing, and the extraction of other natural resources also need to be assisted to find new economic opportunities that promote both human well-being and animal conservation as well as wipe out harmful wildlife trade. COMMENT!!!!!!

31/01/2015

WHY DEVELOPING COUNTRIES NEED TO EMBRACE SECURE TENURE
Secure land tenure affects investment, credit availability, poverty rates, land values, and agricultural productivity. All these are related to economic performance. With secure land tenure, individuals & groups of people can make investments, secure credit, sell land, and make longer term decisions about agricultural practices. Contrary, developing countries with large informal sector land insecure tenure lack opportunities to invest in or profit from land since they always have a risk of transacting. In order to increase GDP, developing countries should formalize property rights to encourage more of these transactions as this will result into improved economic status. COMMENT!!!

27/01/2015

WHY SUSTAINABLE WATER MANAGEMENT?
Water is life. There is a growing pressure on water resources ranging from population and economic growth, climate change and pollution. Half of the world’s wetlands have already been lost to development. The world’s water is increasingly becoming degraded in quality, threatening the health of people and ecosystems and increasing the cost of treatment. Some 780 million people around the globe still lack access to clean water and thousands perish daily for lack of it. The world’s water problems stem from our failure to meet basic human needs, ineffective or inappropriate institutions and management, and our inability to balance human needs with the needs of the natural world. What about the future???
COMMENT!

20/01/2015

AFRICA'S ENERGY GOVERNANCE NEEDS TO BE REFOCUSED
Most developing countries in Africa need to break the monopoly on the way to develop power/energy infrastructure. This can be: off-grid to mini-grids to on-grid, from small-scale to large-scale, from government-owned, to private-sector, and to community-owned. Shifting to more sustainable and efficient energy systems globally is important for tackling climate change – one of the most serious threat to future poverty eradication. To increase energy access, models for energy service delivery need to serve the poor and must integrate ‘bottom-up’ and context sensitive approaches. COMMENT!!!

19/01/2015

WOMEN ARE CRUCIAL IN NATURAL RESOURCE UTILIZATION & DEVELOPMENT
In many developing countries to date, women are still persistently discriminated and compensated less in agricultural pursuits, land rights, and other natural resource management activities. This is problematic because the it results into food insecurity which not only threatens women but the dependent family members and young children too. In addition, food insecurity often contributes to the recurrence of violence in areas with weak institutions and vulnerable markets. Comment!

16/01/2015

40,000 Ha ACHOLI LAND STILL QUESTIONABLE
Acholi leaders are determined to block the planned survey of the over land in Amuru District that the Government intends to give to Madvhani Group for sugarcane growing. This move follows a series of correspondences between the Attorney General and Lands Minister be Surveyed. Residents were advised to that their properties be recorded and valued to pave way for the project. Leaders in Acholi sub region are blaming government for failure to listen to their grievances in regard to this land in question.
COMMENT!!!!!!!!!!

05/01/2015

POOR URBAN LAND MANAGEMENT WORSENING URBAN POVERTY
Urban development in sub-Saharan Africa has posed more challenges in recent years. Though there is a shift in the focus from rural poverty to urbanized poverty, sub-Saharan Africa urbanization coupled with failures in urban management, urban economies have grown slower than correspondent population increase, slum growth has increased and poverty has urbanized. Among the urban challenges, housing still remains the a serous issue that needs attention in Africa. Its clear that the basis of urban housing is land. Urban land management is key to urban development due to its influences on the social, economic development and urban environmental management. Land and housing are important sectors as urbanization. Comment!

31/12/2014

SMARTPHONE MAKING EXPLOITING MINERS IN D.R.C
Your smartphone is a phone, an Internet browser, a personal calendar, a memo pad, an MP3 player, a gaming console, a weather forecaster, and much more. Your smartphone is a symbol of affluence, style, comfort and convenience. However, during manufacturing, smartphone capacitors require tantalum, an element that is derived from a metal ore called coltan. And coltan is hard to come by. In fact, up to 30% of it is from the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo (the DRC). The United Nations estimates that up to three-quarters of coltan sourced from the DRC is mined and sold illegally meaning outside the international regulatory framework intended to protect local miners from dangerous working conditions and general exploitation.

22/12/2014

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY BLESSED 2015
It’s that time of year again when friends and family think about the Christmases of the past and plan for the coming holiday with their loved ones in mind. As we reflect on this wonderful holiday, we must keep in mind that Christmas is not just any holiday but may be the most important one of the year for some people. It is a time for remembering, a time to share the goodness of your heart with others, and for expressing with words and gifts what someone means to you. It is a chance to make wishes come true and to give something from your heart. It is a chance to give a message that will express love and caring to the ones we care about the most. Merry Christmas and happy 2015. Thanks for the continued support and love.

22/12/2014

POST HARVEST LOSSES CLAIMING OVER 40% OF TANZANIA'S ANNUAL CROP PRODUCTION. COMMENT!!!

12/12/2014

AMURU & NWOYA'S UNUTILIZED LAND ATTRACTING GRABBERS.
Amuru and Nwoya have 90% of their total land unutilized. This land is attracting land grabbers from all over Uganda. Locals have vowed to fight all grabbers till the end. Comment!

09/12/2014

ILLEGAL LOGGING RESPONSIBLE FOR FOREST DEPLETION IN UGANDA
Illegal logging in western Uganda has worsened after communities abandoned monitoring the Budongo Central forest. Budongo Central Forest Reserve is the country’s only largest tropical forest known for its former abundance of East African mahogany trees and a home to a population of chimpanzees. The increasing illegal felling of trees has not only endangered the forest but also threatened tourism. Comment!!!

08/12/2014

EAST AFRICA TO FOCUS ON ENERGY PRODUCTION
East African governments have doubled their efforts to increase energy output, with several multi-million dollar projects on the cards.
The aim is to meet rising demand as well as attract more investments. According to the World Bank Ease of Doing Business 2014, low energy output remains a hurdle for investors in East Africa. What's your say???

02/12/2014

UGANDA BETTER THAN SPAIN IN AN ON-LINE TOURISM POLL
The poll was conducted by the on-line version of the Guardian newspaper, the second most popular UK newspaper website. Answering the poll question “where would you prefer to go on holiday?”, 79% of the respondents said they would rather visit Uganda than Spain.The 79% alluded to Uganda’s beauty, wildlife, scenery, culture, the hospitable people and the landscape from the snowcapped Mountain Rwenzori to the open savannah, as the lure to the diverse country sitting astride the Equator. Before we even get to the physical scenery. Recently, Uganda was said to be the most ethnically diverse country in the world, with each of its people having a rich culture. Contrary,those who backed Spain said it houses the world’s grandest, most powerful and incomparable architectural treasures, such as the Great Mosque of Cordoba. Some of them argued that Ugandans were homophobic. What should be done to tap Uganda's tourism potential optimally???

22/11/2014

80% OF CASES IN NORTHERN UGANDA ARE RELATED TO LAND
Land conflicts have led to slow development, abject poverty and lots of community disagreements. This mainly affects widows, orphans and the elderly. After over 20 years of insurgency by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in Northern Uganda, people would assume peace returned in the area, but land wrangles have emerged as another cause of insecurity in the region. During the insurgency, all people were forced into the IDP camps, but were surprised to find encroachers on their land on return. COMMENT!!!

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