Bleeding mountains, drying springs
by Anastasia Deligianni, Saroj Yakami, and Frank van Steenbergen November 05, 2020 It is a major concern that springs … Continued
The WaterBlog
Building a Tool for Microclimate Management
By Femke van Woesik June 21, 2021 Climate change threats and fragile ecosystems are threatening agricultural production and resulting in lower agricultural capacity. This highlights the importance of building climate resilience and improving conditions for better agricultural yield. Increasing climate resilience at a farm level can be done by microclimate management. As was highlighted in an earlier piece, the management of microclimates is a powerful but not well understood frontier in smoothening out the impact of climate change and creating more resilient agricultural ecosystems. This blog will pick up the baton and explore how microclimate management can be made practical in the form of an assessment tool. Microclimates are the local interplays between several factors: solar radiation, soil moisture, soil temperature, air temperature, air humidity, and wind direction and speed. These microclimatic interplays occur on a small scale with a horizontal range between centimetres and a hundred meters and a vertical range between centimetres and ten meters from the ground;… Continued
Previous posts
On Local Circular Growth: Appreciating Local Value Chains
By Frank van Steenbergen, Rommert Schram, and Jean Pace Ricci Value chains have received much attention in recent years. They … Continued
On Local Circular Growth: Strengthening Local Value Chains
Frank van Steenbergen, Rommert Schram, Abraham Abhishek, Jean Marc Pace Rici October 21, 2020 In many poor rural areas, there … Continued
Rains in Yemen: A blessing or a curse?
Yemen is ranked amongst the top five most water-scarce countries in the world with an annual average rainfall of 125mm. … Continued
The power of networking and opportunity analysis in times of COVID-19
Reinier Veldman and Judith de Bruijne September 30, 2020 The world is going through uncertain times with the growing visible … Continued
Introduction: Understanding, responding to the Desert Locust Crisis
The world is reasonably aware of the scale of ongoing locust outbreaks (2019-20) in East Asia and West Africa, and … Continued
Understanding the linkage between land-use change, anthropogenic activities and locust growth
Locust outbreaks and its impact on humans and crop have been well documented. However, the linkage between anthropogenic activities, land-use … Continued
Catching, profiting from locusts as an effective response to outbreaks
In January 2020, the Pakistan Ministry of National Food Security was faced with a new challenge. Swarms of locusts had … Continued
Using data and mathematical models to predict locust breeding sites
The desert locust can migrate long distances and can voraciously feed on key staple crops like maize which can adversely … Continued
Essential oils-based locusticides: a step towards minimizing environmental impact
In view of the negative environmental impact of pesticides used against locusts, use of biopesticides is being widely promoted. Researchers … Continued
The Math behind Locust Swarms and Solutions therein
Mathematical models offer insight into how locusts form and move as swarms; and how to break them up to limit … Continued
Intermediary mechanization for construction of dug-out ponds
by Francesco Sambalino, MetaMeta September 04, 2020 Digging ponds is a labour demanding activity when there is no access to … Continued
Another Consecutive Disaster in Sindh
By Ashfaque A. Soomro, Research and Development Foundation (RDF), Pakistan August 31, 2020 The COVID-19 pandemic has not yet … Continued
The Ancient Olive Tree
By Frank van Steenbergen August 28, 2020 Postcard from Vouves in the Municipality of Kolymivari in Eastern Crete in Greece … Continued
On Local Circular Growth: Creating 500,000 Jobs in Rural Transport in Ethiopia
by Frank van Steenbergen, Kifle Woldearegay, Mekdelawit Deribe and Kebede Manjur, Theophilius Kioko, and Abraham Abhishek August 21, 2020 … Continued
Lockdown Reality Check in Sindh
By Niaz Sial, Ashfaque Soomro and Frank van Steenbergen July 13, 2020 Postcard from Naj Gaj, Sindh, one of the … Continued
Sand to protect
Postcard from Muizenfort close to Muiden, the Netherlands: To protect Amsterdam from possible attacks and create a safe haven for … Continued
New Local Energy: Solar Mini-Mills
By Allah Bakhsh, Flood-based Livelihoods Network-Pakistan July 09, 2020 There is a saying derived from hundred years experiences that “necessity is … Continued
The Ibb Water Supply Miracle of Resilience
The Ibb Water Supply Miracle of Resilience By Frank Van Steenbergen July 2018 It achieves nearly full recovery on customer … Continued