Climate risk profile: Ethiopia
This profile provides an overview of climate risks facing Ethiopia, including how climate change will potentially impact agriculture and crop production, livestock, water resources and human health. The
Ethiopia
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Light to Ethiopia
With the aid of small island PV systems, a German-based aid foundation is bringing light in the huts of Ethiopia's rural population. The solar energy is also awakening the energy of the people themselves.
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Energy for all in Africa to be or not to be?
Access to modern forms of energy continues to elude the majority of households in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and only about 30% of the population has access to electricity while 90% relies on traditional fuels for cooking and heating. The central question addressed in this review is whether or not SSA can provide access to modern energy services for its entire population by 2030.
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US $758 million relief for Ethiopia
The Ethiopian economy has received a major boost in the form of debt relief by the Paris Club countries, comprising mainly Western nations, and the African Development Bank. Announcing the
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Ethiopian berries help to battle mussels
The berries of an Ethiopian plant have been found to be effective against mussels, which are carriers of the schistosomiasis parasite.
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Proposed Tata plant in Tanzania threat to flamingo habitat
Tata Chemicals is getting considerable stick from conservation groups and environmentalists in Africa over its plan to set up a soda ash facility jointly with the Tanzanian government. It is being
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Chickpea, sorghum: India sends seeds to Noah's Food Ark' deep in the Arctic
Halfway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole in an archipelago called Svalbard, three enormous caverns have been blasted 130 m into the permafrost. Called the doomsday vault, it will be a Noah's Ark of food in the event of a global catastrophe. Among the world's 45,000 most important seeds stored in this Svalbard Global Seed Vault, there will be quite a bit of India too. Seeds of sorghum, pearl millet, chickpea, pigeonpea, groundnut and six small millets will be transferred by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) from its headquarters in Patencheru, near Hyderabad to this location, 1000 km from the Arctic. William Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, is at Svalbard for the opening celebrations tomorrow. He will join European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Nobel Peace Prize-winning environmentalist Wangari Mathai in this global initiative. Norway is footing the $8.9-million bill for building the Arctic archipelago where, ironically, no crops grow. Secured behind an airlock door, the three airtight chambers can house duplicates of samples from the world's more than 1,400 existing seed banks. The Norwegian archipelago was selected for its inhospitable climate as well as its remote location. The seeds of wheat, maize, oats and other crops will be stored at a constant temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius, and even if the freezer system fails, the permafrost will ensure that temperatures never rise above 3.5 degrees Celsius below freezing. This project is important as some of the world's biodiversity has already disappeared, with gene vaults in both Iraq and Afghanistan destroyed by war and a seed bank in the Philippines annihilated by a typhoon. Seed banks have begun contributing: potato seeds from Peru; 30,000 samples of different beans from Colombia; 47,000 seed samples of wheat and 10,000 types of maize from Mexico and thousands of rice varieties from Philippines. Pakistan and Kenya, both wracked by serious unrest, have sent seed collections too. By the time of the inauguration on Tuesday, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault will hold some 250,000 samples, which will remain the property of their countries of origin. According to Dar, ICRISAT's participation adds a special significance to the project