The Entrepreneur - Cameroon's Premier Economic & Business Journal

Food Prices Driven up by Global Warming, Study Shows

With a booming global population and a rise in temperatures, there is an urgency to create new farming mechanisms that can meet a growing demand for food. Continuing to farm with current seed varieties that are ill-suited for changing weather patterns will contribute to rising food prices, pushing a record number of people into poverty and hunger. Research shows potential for adapting farming to climate change but remains unproven....More

African Science to be tapped for Business

The UN Economic commission for Africa (UNECA) has announced a new fund to turn scientific ideas into successful enterprises. The African Science, Technology and Innovation Endowment Fund (ASTIEF), along with the African Science to Business Challenge, was launched at the Second Science with Africa Conference held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The fund’s objective is to motivate inventors and innovators and spur on the development of sustainable industries and enterprises for the continent, according to Opoku-Mensah, director of UNECA’s ICT, Science and Technology Division. “The fund will help translate scientific research and ideas into micro-entrepreneurship to spur socio-economic growth on the continent,” Opuku-Mensah reported. She observes that while African research leads to many ideas being formulated, the means to translate them into enterprise is lacking. She believes that Africa also needs goods and services derived from applied science, and ASTIEF will fund and support both enterprising individuals and research and development centres. The Uneca-managed fund received $500,000 from various African organizations, mainly in the private sector, Opuku-Mensah said. Oye Ibidapo-Obe, who serves as president of the Nigerian Academy of sciences, describes the fund as the first in Africa to directly support science innovation//African Business

Hotter nights threaten food security - rice at risk

Climate change temperature increases will affect rice yields

Production of rice — the world's most important crop for ensuring food security and addressing poverty — will be thwarted as temperatures increase in rice-growing areas with continued climate change, according to a new study by an international team of scientists. The research team found evidence that the net impact of projected temperature increases will be to slow the growth of rice production in Asia. Rising temperatures during the past 25 years have already cut the yield growth rate by 10-20% in several locations. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) — a peer-reviewed, scientific journal from the United States — the report analyzed 6 years of data from 227 irrigated rice farms in six major rice-growing countries in Asia, which produces more than 90% of the world's rice.

Afrique ne consacre pas assez d’argent à la nourriture

Selon un article de l’Institut international de recherche sur les politiques alimentaires (IFPRI), un groupe de réflexion basé aux États-Unis, « L’Afrique fait aujourd’hui face au problème du déficit en nourriture à long terme qu’a rencontré l’Inde au début des années 1960 ». D’après un article consacré aux tendances dans le domaine des dépenses publiques consacrées à l’agriculture en Afrique, les pays africains n’allouent pas suffisamment de fonds à l’agriculture et la productivité globale du continent est en baisse depuis le milieu des années 1980.

The Role of Natural Resources in Civil Wars

The plundering of natural resources by foreign governments and companies has contributed to nearly every conflict of the last thirty-years. Oil, gold, cobalt, water, timber and many more resources are used to prop up corrupt governments and support violent militias. The Security Council must develop the political will to draw links between natural resources and conflict, if peacekeeping and peace-building forces are to be successful...More

WBI Launches New Climate Change Learning Products: Managing Agricultural Water

The World Bank Institute launches new Climate Change Learning Products. The new new learning platform on managing agricultural water to access simulations and case studies that illustrate cutting edge-concepts and tested practices, comprises of six learning modules which are self-paced, with exercises, tests, and audiovisual presentations. More...

Carbon Finance and Solid Waste

Managing solid waste is one of the biggest challenges facing cities across the globe. Some 30-60% of solid waste from cities in developing countries goes uncollected and ends up on the streets or is otherwise misused. This poses enormous problems for growing mega cities as well as small towns. It is a major public health and environmental concern affecting rich and poor people alike. Solid Waste Management in the World's Cities, Water and Sanitation in the World's Cities 2010 is a new book that looks at recent developments in solid waste management and presents innovative solutions by local communities. Nadine Dulac who wrote the chapter on carbon finance, Financial Sustainability: Solid Waste, Recycling and Carbon Financing: Fact or Fiction? is an environmental specialist in the World Bank Institute's Climate Change practice. We asked her about the challenges and opportunities of carbon finance for solid waste management projects. Read her interview

The Global Financial & Economic Meltdown: "Explaining the Crisis"

Shoals O' Red Herrings

By David Laibman (Editorial, Science & Society)

If you haven’t yet seen Michael Moore’s film, Capitalism: A Love Story, and if it is still available where you are, please don’t miss it!...My wife and I saw it yesterday, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in New York. It is a heartfelt cry of anger against the shocking immorality of a society that secures vast wealth and power at one pole, resting upon the increasing misery of the vast majority at the other. Moore’s humor cuts the pain of the interviews with people whose homes, and lives, have been taken from them. Without the humor, the human stories would be unbearable. With it, one comes away with hope, and the film ends with a ringing call to replace capitalism with — well, “democracy.” You probably expect me now to jump into this apparent failure to use the “s” word...(socialism?)

Ministers resolve to address food security and impacts of climate change within the community

By Richard Owora Othieno

The Sectoral Council of Ministers for Lake Victoria Basin and the Multi-Sectoral meeting on Food Security and Climate Change concluded their meetings on 4 March 2010 in Kisumu, Kenya with a firm resolve to address food insecurity and impacts of climate change within the East African Community. The Multi-Sectoral Council, which was chaired by Hon. Prof. Mark J. Mwandosya, Minister of Water and Irrigation from The United Republic of Tanzania, considered and provided critical inputs on the draft EAC Food Security Action Plan; the draft EAC Climate Change Policy; and the draft Declaration on Food Security and Climate Change that are to be presented to the EAC Heads of State at a special Summit on 26 March 2010 in Arusha, Tanzania.

Calling Young Researchers: Essay on Health Systems Research - towards universal health coverage

The First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research, The Global Forum for Health Research and The Lancet, announce an essay competition on the theme, Health systems research: towards universal health coverage

Call Description

The First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research (organized by WHO and collaborating partners), The Global Forum for Health Research and The Lancet are pleased to announce an essay competition for young researchers. The theme of this year’s competition is Health Systems Research: towards universal health coverage.

Health Systems Research (HSR) – the purposeful generation of knowledge that enables societies to organize themselves to improve health outcomes and health services – is rapidly emerging as one of the most dynamic and complex areas of research for health. The Symposium is dedicated to improving the scientific evidence needed by health policy-makers and health professionals to inform their decisions related to accelerating universal health coverage.