Category: Environment

{{Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete on Tuesday chaired his first meeting as the chairman of the African Union Heads of State and Government on Climate Change.}}

The meeting was held at the AU’s Permanent Mission to the UN here, where the continental body has an observer status and was attended by Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, Ethiopian Prime Minister Haile Mariam Deselengy and ministers from six other countries — members of the committee.

The countries include Uganda, Algeria, Senegal, Swaziland, Mauritius and Congo-Brazzaville.

The meeting sought to find a common stand among African countries on a global environmental meeting to be held in Poland later this year.

President Kikwete, who is in the US to attend the 68th General Assembly meeting of the UN, was elected to chair the AU committee early this year after the position remained vacant following the death of former Ethiopian Premier, Meles Zenawi, in September last year.

Meanwhile, President Kikwete has said there are plans to restructure the Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited to increase efficiency in power supply in the country.

Speaking at a meeting with the delegation of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) here on Wednesday he said the aim of his government was to increase electricity supply to reach 30% of the population by 2015.

Currently about 21% of Tanzania access electricity, up from only about 10% in 2005, President Kikwete told the delegation headed by MCC chief executive officer, Daniel W Yohannes. MCC offered Tanzania a grant of $698 million (Sh1.1 billion) for funding various infrastructure projects like electricity, roads, water and airports.

NMG

{{A huge water source has been discovered in the arid Turkana region of northern Kenya which could supply the country for 70 years, the government says.}}

The discovery of two aquifers brings hope to the drought-hit region, tweeted Environment Minister Judi Wakhungu.

They were found in the Turkana Basin and Lotikipi Basin using satellites and radar.

Last year, scientists released a map detailing the vast reservoirs which lie under much of Africa.

Another aquifer was found in Namibia – sub-Saharan Africa’s driest country.

Turkana is one of the hottest, driest and poorest parts of Kenya and was hit by a devastating drought last year.

Many of the region’s inhabitants are nomadic herders, who are especially vulnerable to a lack of rain.

Test drilling confirmed there was water under the ground.

The discovery was announced by Ms Wakhungu at a meeting of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Unesco.

“This newly found wealth of water opens a door to a more prosperous future for the people of Turkana and the nation as a whole. We must now work to further explore these resources responsibly and safeguard them for future generations,” she said.

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{{Kenya is expected to receive lower-than-normal and poorly distributed rains in the last quarter of 2013 which could impact agricultural production and power supply from hydro-electric dams, the Meteorological Department said on Friday.}}

East Africa’s biggest economy relies heavily on agriculture and power from dams. Analysts watch the forecasts to gauge the impact on inflation, which could be pushed up if harvests are weak and cheap hydropower is in short supply.

Inflation rose to 6.67% in the year to August from 6.02% a month earlier.

“Generally depressed rainfall is expected over most agricultural areas of the country. It is also expected that the rainfall will be poorly distributed,” the department said.

“This will impact negatively on the agricultural activities in most of the areas. Food security is expected to deteriorate especially in the eastern sector of Kenya during the October-December period,” it said in a statement.

Kenya has two rainy seasons, the so-called short rains of October to December and the long rains of March to May.

The Meteorological Department said the short rains outlook in the food-growing areas of the Western, Nyanza and Rift Valley regions would be for near- or above-normal rain.

It said some other food-growing areas such as Central, Southeastern and Coastal regions would have near-normal rains.

For hydropower generation, the department said catchment areas in western Kenya would have near- to above-normal rainfall, improving water levels in some dams.

But normal to below-normal rains in the Tana and Athi River catchment areas were likely to lead to low flows to major dams, it said, adding that this could reduce hydro-electric power capacity.

The department said parts of the country’s Northeastern and Eastern provinces, which border Somalia and Ethiopia which are already drought prone, would receive scant rainfall.

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