Introduction

Welcome to my blog on water and environmental change in Africa! 🌍

As a student studying Water and development in Africa, I would like to explore past and current situations regarding access and availability of water in Africa and threats posed by environmental change including global warming in this blog.

WHY water and environmental change in Africa?

Freshwater sources are important in many aspects of human life, ranging from drinking water sources to irrigation of agricultural land. Since climate and environment are one of essential factors influencing water, the global environmental change will be inseparable with availability and access to water resources. 

As for region, particularly for African countries near the equatorial line, its climatic setting put them in a rather unique situation compared to regions located further from the equator; 

The atmospheric circulation around the earth's surface (from unequal heating of earth's surface developing the pressure gradients) creates an area around the equator where high rate of moisture and Southeast & Northeast trade winds converge - often referred as the inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ). Since ITCZ moves northward and southward (See figure 1) and it is pronounced over continents, it determines not only the seasonal patterns of precipitation across tropical Africa but also the spatial distribution in rainfall (Taylor, 2004). 

Figure 1 - The migration of ITCZ (red area) north and south, creating seasonability of rainfall around tropics 

(Source: Urbano, L., 2011. Weather versus Climate: The Seasonal Migration of the Sub-Polar Low, Retrieved October 17th, 2016, from Montessori Muddle: http://MontessoriMuddle.org/).

Some recent studies suggest that there has been changes in precipitation and ITCZ convection that may have been caused by recent global warming. For example, a study by Fontaine et al. (2011) introducing the rainfall increase in North Africa since mid-90s and increase & northward shifts in deep convection may partly due to recent warming observed in the Saharan and Mediterranean region.

Along with such climatic factors, the recent population growth in African countries is adding pressure on freshwater demands - pushing onto water scarcity and stress, as shown in the projections of freshwater availability in Africa in 2025 (figure 2). 

Figure 2 - Freshwater availability in African countries in 1990 and future projections
(Source: UNECA, Addis Ababa; Global Environmental Outlook 2000 (GEO), UNEP, Earthscan, London, 1999). 

World Bank also projected the increase in number of countries that will experience water stress (by 2025) to 18, affecting 600 million people. 

As illustrated above, both demographic trends and climate change is posing serious threat on freshwater availability in Africa through rapid increase in water demands and changes in physical environments and settings (e.g. more extreme climate events). 

Hence, it will be interesting to explore around the extents of such factors influencing freshwater sources in African countries.


Aims of this blog
Through reading and research on variety of sources, I would like to investigate further on factors affecting the freshwater availability in Africa including changes in land use, demographic changes and global climate change.

Reference: 

Fontain, B., Roucou, P., Gaetani, M., Marteau, R., 2011. Recent Changes in Precipitation, TICZ Convection And Northern 

     Tropical Circulation Over North Africa (1979-2007). International Journal of Climatology. 31.5: 633-648. 

Taylor, R., 2004. Water Resources (Chapter 8). In: T. Bowyer-Bower and D. Potts (Eds.), East and Southern Africa. 

     Regional Development Text, RGS-IBG Developing Areas Research Group, Addison-Wesley Longman. London.
Urbano, L., 2011. Weather versus Climate: The Seasonal Migration of the Sub-Polar Low, Retrieved October 17th, 2016, 
     from Montessori Muddle: http://MontessoriMuddle.org/ 

UNECA, 1999. Global Environmental Outlook 2000 (GEO), UNEP, Earthscan, London.