Africa Renewal - Volume 31, Issue 1, 2017

It was midnight on 14 December 2016, when five fishermen in Tombo village near Freetown in Sierra Leone revved up a small outboard engine and powered their boat far out to sea. They threw in their net and soon bagged a good quantity of fish. But as they hauled in their catch, a terrible storm blew in. When the waters finally calmed, one of them, an 18-year-old named Alimamy, could not be found.

Renowned American oceanographer Sylvia Earle has studied the sea extensively for more than 60 years, and logged more than 7,000 hours researching and filming marine life since her first dive at age 16.

Researchers are still trying to learn why the population of African penguins has dropped precipitously over the last 15 years—some estimates say by 90%—but most agree that climate change is a major factor in the decline of this iconic African species.

Peter Thomson assumed his current one-year term as the 71st president of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2016. Before that Mr. Thomson had served since 2010 as Fiji’s permanent representative to the United Nations and its ambassador to Cuba. Africa Renewal’s Masimba Tafirenyika sat down with Mr. Thomson in New York to discuss preparations for the Ocean Conference to be co-hosted by the governments of Fiji and Sweden at UN headquarters from 5 to 9 June 2017. The UN Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, as it is officially called, coincides with World Oceans Day (June 8). SDG 14 deals with the conservation and use of oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. The following are excerpts from the interview.

Salva Dut was 11 years old, sitting through the last lesson in class and looking forward to the trip home with his schoolmates. Suddenly all hell broke loose. An infernal civil war had ignited in his native South Sudan. The year was 1985.

There has been much talk about Africa’s urban dividends—the increased prosperity and sustained socioeconomic development resulting from the expansion and industrialization of African cities.

When she needed to transfer money to a friend in a faraway village last March, Mouna Ahmed, a gender equality activist in Liberia, did not have to worry about long bank queues and complex paperwork. Instead she took her phone, tapped on the mobile money app, punched in an amount and pressed the send button. Minutes later, her friend acknowledged the kind gesture.

The second International Conference on the Emergence of Africa (ICEA) was held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, in March 2017. Since the first conference in 2015—at a time of robust economic growth on the continent—hopes for economic progress have dimmed because of a crash in the price of commodities, volatile global financial markets and a slowdown in global growth. Before departing New York to attend the second ICEA conference, jointly organized by the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Assistant Secretary-General of the UN and head of UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Africa Abdoulaye Mar Dieye sat down for an interview with Africa Renewal’s Kingsley Ighobor to talk about Africa’s economic development opportunities and challenges.

When disaster strikes in Africa, humanitarian aid can take months to reach people on the ground. By then a lot of damage may have been done. During a drought, for example, small-scale farmers facing a sequence of harsh dry seasons may sell their cattle and pull their children out of school. A quicker response could minimize the long-term effects of such a crisis.

Fumani Mthembi, who runs a renewable energy producing company in South Africa, has no regrets about leaving her secure job in the middle of an economic recession to start her own business in 2009.

As the rate of animal poaching continues to rise, conservationists have begun calling for stronger laws and deterrents to wildlife crimes.

Capital markets, where money from savers is put into long-term investments, can contribute significantly to socio-economic development if they invest in productive projects and enterprises. But small size and market illiquidity can undercut this process.

Sometime last year, three African countries—Burundi, the Gambia and South Africa—signalled their intention to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC). There was fear that more countries would follow.

As the results of The Gambia’s presidential election trickled in last December, incumbent President Yahya Jammeh realised his power was slipping away. Indeed, final results showed that a newcomer, 51-year-old businessman Adama Barrow, had garnered 45.5% of total votes, while Mr. Jammeh received 36.6%.

Since December 2015, when 195 countries signed the Paris Agreement on climate change, several countries in Africa have begun implementing climate resilience activities that will allow them to better absorb and adapt to harsh climatic changes.

When the world was changing from mechanical and analogue technology to digital electronics four decades ago, Africa was nowhere on the scene.

I magine a world where your spice cabinet reminds you to buy salt, or your cell phone sends a text message about the amount of water left in your water tank. These are the wonders of the Internet of things (IoT).