No Car No Cry

This boy (r) in Hoima town gives his young sister a ride in an improvised "open vehicle". You can guess what he is doing with his mouth - the games our kids play!

Just hope? No!

These are Ugandans turned Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Kangwali sub-county, Hoima District, for environmental reasons.

They were reportedly evicted from forests. They set up their camp at the sub-county headquarters, not far away from Kyangwali Refugee Settlement.

 
See the living conditions of these children, homeless and starving as corrupt government officials continue to steal money and grab land even in ecologically sensitive areas.

Why should a Uganda child grow up under such conditions? What do we expect that child to become in the future? Whatever he or she will become will undoubtedly be the face of Uganda. So it is not surprising Uganda is what it is because of what we were, what our fathers and mothers were, and what our leaders were.  

Things must change! We can make a different Uganda from the one we are in, the one which has turned us into beggars and economic refugees. How?

Thank you in advance for sharing your beautiful ideas. On that list, remember to put as number one: Nanyini mufu y'akwaata awawunya! We have to to change attitude now, we have to act now!

How Uganda is unwittingly giving territory to DRC

Mathew 13: 12 – Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.

Cow at Semliki Uganda: the green side across is DRC

Uganda is slowly losing land to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) due to poor environmental practices including over grazing and cultivation  at river banks. 

I was in Ntoroko district last week and saw how River Semliki, which marks the boundary between tiny Uganda (total area: 241, 038 km²) and big DRC (total area: 2,345,410 km²) in these parts, is cutting into Uganda and giving pieces of land to DRC. 

How does this happen? The DRC side has its buffer vegetation intact. The Ugandan side has been degraded. Semliki finds the Ugandan side smoother on its 140km journey from L. Edward to L. Albert – it just keeps extending this side. 

 

Sand mining: dangerous in some parts of the Semliki system

Over 10m of the river bank on Uganda’s territory is eroded annually at various points of the river, the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) says (Highlights of the Uganda Atlas of Our Changing Environment 2006).

  

 Thank you Jackson Kitamirike (Albert Water Management Zone - AWMZ) for being a very good guide on my first of several research trips I intend to make this side. Emma, our driver, you did a very good job over those three days as we crossed the many streams and rivers that refresh this beautiful Rwenzori-Albert area. Albert Orijabo (Team Leader, AWMZ), your brief on water management issues in this area was the right opener.

AWMZ staff at their offices in Fort Portal: Albert (3rd left), Jackson (middle), Emma (2nd right)

Can we stop the degradation!

Road from Ntoroko to Fort Portal

EBOLA OUTBREAK AND THE URGENT NEED FOR SCIENCE JOURNALISTS

 

The outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Western Africa highlights the urgent need to close the gap in communication between scientists, journalists and communities.

Beyond the devastating outcome of EVD, poor communication has clearly heightened apprehension among the public, while potentially seeding confusion among scientists and journalists who report the outbreak.

More here...

When Europeans Were Hunter-Gatherers

Neolithic Revolution

The history of our species is marked by numerous events that have shaped the current lifestyle and diversity of different human populations. Among the known points of inflection is the emergence of our species in Africa about 200,000 years ago, the departure of some modern humans from Africa around 60,000 years ago, their coexistence with Neanderthals and Denisovans – sex included – and their arrival in America about 15,000 years ago.

More here

Barcelona!

Travel, travel, travel. Nothing ever comes better. Recently I was in Buvuma District (Island) with NaFIRRI to promote cage fish farming as an option for fisher communities as wild catches in Lake Victoria continue to dwindle. I will be sharing a lot with you from my week-long trip through the Daily Monitor, The Sunrise and this blog in the coming days. But first, look at the this: The Mighty Bercelona FC.

FC Barcelona

A chapati (rolex) maker at Walwanda has this picture hanging above his sigiri. The black smoke from charcoal has altered it over the years. The man loves the club, but what has happened to the picture speaks a lot about what has happened to the Club (team) itself (especially last year). And with Spain failing to make it through to the knock out stage in the World Cup 2014, surely change is needed. Barcelona, you can help replace this man's picture through me. What he has just doesn't look nice.

Water-Smart Agriculture

"H20 & Agric Team Uganda" at Bole Airport Addis Ababa May 20, 2014

One thing I appreciate about myself is the ability to accept that I am simply human. I simply can’t get it all. This blog has starved in the previous few weeks not because I have fallen out of love with it. I simply could not find a minute for it.

It is approaching midnight here in Addis Ababa (new flower), the weather is cool, and there is enough quiet here in my room at Beshale Hotel. I landed here a few hours ago. I am here for a regional meeting on water and agriculture.

From May 21, 2014, you are going to be receiving more updates on the concept of "Water-Smart Agriculture." You might be wondering what this is about and how I am involved.

I, through Wild Dog Limited, have media work at the Global Water Initiative East Africa (GWI EA). GWI EA and its partners, including the International Water Management Institute, are convening a regional meeting from May 21 to 23, 2014, in Addis Ababa to discuss transformation in water for smallholder farmers in East Africa.

I promise to bring you Dr. Alan Nicol, the Programme Director of the GWI EA, to explain fully the concept of “Water-Smart Agriculture” very soon. For now, let me catch some sleep!

Signing in with facebook? Hmn!

Be careful if you're signing in to Web services or apps that let you log in using an ID from Facebook, Twitter, or Google.

Read more: http://readwrite.com/2014/05/04/social-login-covert-redirect-openid-oauth-facebook-google-amazon#awesm=~oDkpsmz6gGyIHp#ixzz30r7WErd3

Rwanda: A story of two worlds in two decades

On the morning of March 30, 2014, Kigali International Airport smelt of new paint. A week later, on April 7, Rwanda would officially be marking two decades after the start of the 1994 genocide which
claimed about a million lives in just 100 days. As a young man continued to paint his way up the stairs in the "Arrivals" section, a delegation that had just landed by RwandaAir from Uganda was descending them for an unrelated but symbolic event-the 2nd Global Conference on Biofortification.

More here

Social media trends shaping 2014

2013 was a year of exploration for brands on social media. From testing Vines to launching Instagram ads, many companies were dabbling in social media efforts across the Web just to see how customers would react. Now, in 2014, brands are geting serious. They’re using the wealth of data as well as the human connection that social media can provide to develop deeper relationships with customers.
Here are seven ways brands are using social media to increase customer loyalty this year.

1. Social Listening

People are increasingly turning to social media to report their grievances with companies. And when complaints are lodged in such a public manner, brands are learning the hard way not to put social media customer service on the back burner. This is why 24% of brands plan to participate in “social listening,” or paying attention to what’s being said about them on social networks like Twitter. While this means brands and customers are now more likely than ever to interact online, brands are still figuring out how to make social listening work in their favor: only 31% of marketers think their social listening is fully effective.

More here

"I want to unlock the stagnant water supply curve"

Engineer Aaron Mwidu Kabirizi is the Director, Directorate of Water Development (DWD). In this interview with The Sunrise's William Odinga Balikuddembe, he reveals his vision for water development in Uganda.
More here

Win the opportunity to attend and cover EcoHealth 2014

The 5th Biennial Conference of the International Association for Ecology and Health
Montréal, Canada, 11 – 15 August 2014

Be one of up to 8 journalists to win a scholarship and get the opportunity to attend the 2014 EcoHealth Conference. Cover the panel sessions meet and interview the researchers.

EcoHealth Conference is a key forum for researchers, practitioners and educators whose work spans the fields of ecology, human and veterinarian medicine, planning, social sciences, international development and beyond. The conference provides an opportunity to address issues ranging from environmental impact on human and animal health and transmission of infectious diseases, to conservation and ecosystem management, to rural and urban development and planning. The conference is also an opportunity to engage with and profile voices outside of academia and to explore new collaborations with community groups, businesses, policy makers, the media and others.

Information on the Conference www.ecohealth2014.uqam.ca
 
Application Deadline
Tuesday 3^rd of June 2014

The scholarships
In addition to free registration, the travel grants cover the costs of transportation from your own country, travel visas and four nights of accommodation in Montréal.

Eligibility
Journalists specialized in the coverage of health and the environment,irrespective of their gender, age, nationality, place of residence and media (print, radio, TV, web) are welcome to apply. Journalists attending will be expected to publish articles and/or programme content on the various issues addressed by the conference.

Application procedure
The jury will select eight professional, fulltime or freelance journalists, specialized in the coverage of health and the environment, with comprehensive experience in traditional and/or digital media. Candidates are asked to send their CV, coordinates, identification pages of their passport, three articles or video or audio productions on health and environmental issues in the language of origin, and a one-page essay in English describing why they should be selected and what they will do if they win the competition.

Selection committee and decision
The World Federation of Science Journalists administers the competition and is solely responsible for the selection of the winning journalists. The jury, a sub-committee of the WFSJ Board, will select the eight journalists on the basis of submitted work, on the applicant’s CV and motivation statement.

To apply
Applications - including the applicant's CV, coordinates, identification pages of the passport - should be sent electronically to:
EcoHealth Prize Competition/
WFSJ (TITLE OF YOUR MESSAGE)
Email: info@wfsj.org


Applications must be received no later than 3^rd of June 2014

Information
For further information, visit WFSJ Webiste
or contact the WFSJ Office at info@wfsj.org
Tel.: +1 514 508-2777

EcoHealth 2014 is the fifth international conference organized under the auspices of the IAEH. Previous biennial conferences were held in Wisconsin (2006), Mérida (2008), London (2010) and Kunming (2012).

The scholarships are funded by the International Development Research Centre.