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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

AFRICAN-BUILT SATELLITE BENEFITS NIGERIA, KUDOS!

AFRICAN-BUILT SATELLITE BENEFITS NIGERIA, KUDOS!

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

NigeriaSat-X, the first satellite designed and built by Africans, was launched into orbit just recently. This is a milestone event for Africans, so let me express my Big Kudos!

That Africa’s mainstream black peoples are able to design and build satellites totally negates all those defamatory pejoratives cast upon them by bigoted Whites in Europe and America. To recall, the Blacks were stigmatized as “halfway between man and monkeys,” Mandingos who were worthy only of becoming slaves, “brainless Niggers!” and more.

While those days of White domination are way behind us now, with colored Asians leading the way in showing how the West (Whites) can be overtaken in the science & technology fields (2007 was year of technology overtake), too many White folks are still of the bigoted fascistic mindsets in their perceptions of the colored peoples.

At any rate, let the colored peoples notably the Blacks of Africa show their prowess in the different fields of endeavor. As the satellite news below has shown, the Africans have already overcome the cognitive barriers imposed upon them by White enslavement, colonialism and imperialism.

[Philippines, 20 September 2011]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/en/news/nigeria-launches-first-satellite-built-by-africans.html

Nigeria launches first satellite built by Africans

Emeka Johnkingsley

19 August 2011

[ABUJA] Nigeria successfully launched NigeriaSat-X, the first satellite to be designed and built by Africans, into orbit this week (17 August).

NigeriaSat-X was launched along with another small satellite, NigeriaSat-2, from Yasny in southern Russia.

The satellite is the result of a transfer training agreement between Nigeria's National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, a satellite developer based in the United Kingdom. It brought 26 young scientists from NASRDA to work on the satellite for 18 months, under the supervision of experts in Surrey.

NigeriaSat-X will be used for resource management, and for mapping of the country that will feed into food security through crop monitoring, urban planning and disaster management. It will also facilitate the development of Nigeria's space capability and engineering skills for new technologies.

In a national broadcast, President Goodluck Jonathan praised "the resourceful Nigerians who made this history possible".

Jonathan, a scientist by training, said: "Today marks another milestone in our nation's effort to solve national problems through space technologies."

Nigeria's national space policy was approved in 2001 and culminated in the launch of the country's first satellite, NigeriaSat-1, in 2003.

Its 25-year space mission roadmap, approved by the government in 2006, aims to produce a Nigerian astronaut by 2015; launch a satellite built in Nigeria between 2018 and 2030; and be part of the moon mission by 2030.

Oye Ibidapo-Obe, president of the Nigerian Academy of Science, told SciDev.Net: "This is a remarkable feat that puts our nation in the well-deserved rank of scientifically capable countries. It is a glorious day for our country."

But he added that the country now needs to develop capacity to build satellites locally.

Seidu Mohammed, director-general of NASRDA, said: "This [achievement] showcases the importance of capacity building as it is vigorously being pursued by NASRDA. In light of this, having the required environment, our engineers and scientists can handle any design with little or no supervision."

Ajayi Boroffice, founding director-general of NASRDA, said: "Capacity building is central to the implementation of Nigeria's space programme.

"Africa's scientists and engineers need to rise up to the challenge of developing and applying invaluable space technology to tackle [their] countries' problems."

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CLIMATE DATA BENEFITS FARMERS IN SENEGAL

CLIMATE DATA BENEFITS FARMERS IN SENEGAL

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Many small planters across the globe are habitués of ecosystems that are replete with ecohazards. Add to that the risks posed by climate change patterns. Results: shrinking incomes, greater uncertainties of survival, possible deaths.

Sharing of climate data to the planter stakeholders could somehow dissipate any possibility of greater risks and damages. Information channels and data access are among the parameters that ought to be checked as enabling measures on the ground in aid of our small or marginal planters.

Senegal is among the developing countries that is addressing the challenges to data sharing and access in the area of climatology, that could then benefit farmers in the short run.

The update report on the Senegal precedent is shown below.

[Philippines, 20 September 2011]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/en/features/how-climate-data-is-bringing-benefits-to-senegal-s-farmers.html

How climate data is bringing benefits to Senegal's farmers

Emeka Johnkingsley

11 August 2011

The InfoClim project, which distributes climate data to local communities, has helped Senegalese farmers adapt to climate change. SciDev.Net investigates.

Smallholder farmers have years of experience in assessing how climatic conditions, particularly rainfall, affect their crops. But as the climate changes, that knowledge — often gathered over a lifetime — may no longer be valid.

As a result, vulnerable farmers need help to adapt or fine-tune their practices. But as climate monitoring and research become more sophisticated, the gap between the technology and farming communities is getting wider.

A project in Senegal is now helping to bridge that gap.

The InfoClim project collects climate information and shares it with vulnerable populations, particularly farmers, to help them adjust their sowing, cultivation and other dates to suit the current climate.

The project's advisors begin by analysing data from the Centre for Ecological Monitoring (CSE) in Dakar and its partners to assess the probability of climatic events.

These partners include Senegal's National Meteorological Agency, which collects seasonal forecasts, and the Senegalese Agricultural Research Institute (ISRA), which contributes information on adapted crops. The Laboratory for Atmospheric Physics at the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar provides local climate models and scenarios.

Sharing knowledge

The scientific data are then shared with communities through four well-equipped regional 'observatories'. Local people trained by the project use community radio stations and meetings to pass the climate information to farmers.

Innocent Butare of the Senegal office of Canada's International Development Research Centre, which funded the InfoClim project, said the pilot project was intended to understand how to disseminate scientific information on adaptation to climate change to rural communities and local decision-makers.

The project provides farmers and local communities with climate data and soil statistics, and helps them share their knowledge to improve planting practices and ensure better yields.

Members of community-based organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and local decision-makers have learnt how to use agro-meteorological data to assess different options for adapting to climate change.

These include changing planting dates, using drought-resistant seeds, diversifying crops and planting perennial crops, improving water and soil management, fighting soil erosion, developing agro-forestry, integrating crops, livestock and trees, and finding alternative sources of income.

The success of the project has depended on building reliable networks between researchers and rural communities to share information on climate change.

"The project allowed the sharing of views on climate change and [highlighted] the importance of access to the information as a means of strengthening the capacity of rural communities to adapt to this phenomenon," said Butare.

"We also involved people from the local administration, local political decision-makers, community-based organisations and NGO representatives," said Butare. "Those forums are still working after the end of the project."

Local planning

The three-year research project, which started in 2008, was due to end in December 2010 but was extended by six months, spreading across four communities: Fandène, Notto Diobass, Taiba Ndiaye and Thiès. Other regions of Senegal are now asking for similar projects to help them.

Butare added that the project, funded to the tune of more than US$443,000, is a good example of how local decision-makers can use scientific information to integrate climate-change concerns into local development plans.

Amadou Sall, project leader of InfoClim, told SciDev.Net that the project had showed that adaptation at the local level is a condition of success for a national policy of adaptation to climate change.

Ibrahima Thiao, programme coordinator at the Federation of Non-Governmental Organisations of Senegal, said that InfoClim is one of the few innovative projects that provides opportunities for farmers, technicians and scientists to discuss common issues within a well-defined environment.

"Apart from the know-how, which the project inculcated in the partners, it scores a major point in securing the commitment of scientists and technicians to provide answers to farmers whenever they have questions about climate change as it relates to their work.

"It built the confidence of farmers by enhancing their knowledge and equipped them with the skills to be able to translate scientific and technical information into simple and understandable messages. Farmers want accurate information about the climate events that affect their crops," said Thiao.