Search

Countries in the East African region have for decades been synonymous with natural disasters, conflicts and severe environmental degradation. About 10 million out of the 65.6 million displaced persons globally are found in this region. This paper presents an empirical analysis of environmental impacts caused by forced displacements in five East African countries. Contrary to a widely-held opinion, there is sufficient anecdotal and empirical evidence depicting environmental damage caused by refugees and/or Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). A spatial analysis of current and former refugee and/or IDP camps in these five countries suggests the formation of “deforestation clusters” with concentrations of camps that compound environmental impacts. Technological advancements such as remote sensing capabilities can provide the means for assessing and implementing environmental protection measures. This paper recommends environmental care in humanitarian settings be considered an integral part of the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and climate change/variability agenda, based on cost- and responsibility-sharing, employing technology, and incorporating appropriate monitoring tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unavailability of clean water caused by population growth, increased industrial activities, and global climate change is a major challenge in many communities. A number of desalination technologies including distillation, reverse osmosis and electrodialysis, have been used to supplement the available water resources. However, these technologies are energy intensive and demand a significant financial commitment. Capacitive deionization (CDI) is an emerging desalination technology which is promising to provide water at a reasonable cost, especially in societies with limited incomes such as those in Africa. The opportunities for CDI to provide clean water to the African population are discussed in this paper. These opportunities include electrosorption at low potential, low energy consumption, large quantities of agricultural wastes for the production of electrode materials, high sunshine irradiation throughout the year, suitability for disinfection and defluoridation and its applications in the removal of heavy metals and emerging pollutants. Due to the existence of numerous enabling conditions, the analysis from this paper demonstrates that CDI can be a dependable method to provide clean water in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Convergence of the environmental indicators has been one of the significant research areas for researchers since the study of Strazicich and List (2003) was published. Earlier papers have concentrated on investigating the existence of the convergence of indicators of the environment by using carbon emissions as a pollution indicator. However, some researchers have criticized the use of carbon emission as a one-dimensional indicator and proposed using ecological footprint as a more comprehensive indicator. The primary aim of this paper is to examine whether stochastic convergence of ecological footprint exists in 49 African countries from 1973 to 2018 by employing a battery of traditional stationarity methods and a newly proposed stationary method with smooth shifts and a combination of p-values. The empirical results show that panel findings of the conventional stationarity test with no structural shifts reveal that ecological footprint follows a stationary process. In contrast, panel findings of the traditional stationarity method with sharp and smooth changes and the newly developed stationary method with smooth shifts and a combination of p-values reveal that ecological footprint follows a non-stationary process. Moreover, the majority of individual results show that the ecological footprint follows a convergent pattern in 38 African countries, whereas it follows a divergent pattern in the remainder. Therefore, the main finding indicates the stochastic convergence of ecological footprint in African countries is validated. The policy outcomes of the empirical results are given in the body of the paper. • Convergence of ecological footprint in African countries was investigated. • A battery of traditional stationarity methods was employed. • A recently proposed stationarity method with smooth shifts and p-values was also employed. • EF converges in 38 of the 49 sampled countries. • The policy implications of the results were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Designing interactions with technologies that are compatible with rural wisdom and skills can help to digitally enfranchise rural people and, thus, contribute to community cohesion in the face of Africa''s urbanization. Oral information has been integral to rural identity and livelihood in Africa for generations. However, the use of technology can inadvertently displace the knowledge of communities with practices that differ from the knowledge traditions in which technology is designed. We propose that devices that are sensitive to users'' locations, combined with platforms for social networking and user-generated content, offer intriguing opportunities for rural communities to extend their knowledge practices digitally. In this paper we present insights on the way rural people of the Herero tribe manage information spatially and temporally during some of our design activities in Namibia. We generated these insights from ethnography and detailed analysis of interactions with media in our ongoing Ethnographic Action Research. Rural participants had not depicted their wisdom graphically by photography or video before, rarely use writing materials and some cannot read. Thus, we gathered 30h of observer-and participant-recorded video and participants'' interpretations and interactions with thumbnail photos from video, photography and paper. We describe insights into verbal and bodily interactions and relationships between bodies, movements, settings, knowledge and identity. These findings have made us more sensitive to local experiences of locations and more aware of assumptions about space and time embedded in locative media. As a result, we have started to adopt an approach that emphasizes connectors rather than points and social–relational and topokinetic rather than topographic spaces. In the final section of the paper we discuss applying this approach in design by responding to the ways that participants use social relationships to orient information and use voice, gesture and movement to incorporate locations into this “dialogic”. In conclusion we outline why we hope our reflections will inspire others to examine the spatial, temporal and social affordances of technologies within the bonds of rural, and other, communities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Indoor air pollution from solid fuel use is a significant risk factor for acute lower respiratory infections among children in sub-Saharan Africa. Interventions that promote a switch to modern fuels hold a large health promise, but their effective design and implementation require an understanding of the web of upstream and proximal determinants of household fuel use. Using Demographic and Health Survey data for Benin, Kenya and Ethiopia together with Bayesian hierarchical and spatial modelling, this paper quantifies the impact of household-level factors on cooking fuel choice, assesses variation between communities and districts and discusses the likely nature of contextual effects. Household- and area-level characteristics appear to interact as determinants of cooking fuel choice. In all three countries, wealth and the educational attainment of women and men emerge as important; the nature of area-level factors varies between countries. In Benin, a two-level model with spatial community random effects best explains the data, pointing to an environmental explanation. In Ethiopia and Kenya, a three-level model with unstructured community and district random effects is selected, implying relatively autonomous economic and social areas. Area-level heterogeneity, indicated by large median odds ratios, appears to be responsible for a greater share of variation in the data than household-level factors. This may be an indication that fuel choice is to a considerable extent supply-driven rather than demand-driven. Consequently, interventions to promote fuel switching will carefully need to assess supply-side limitations and devise appropriate policy and programmatic approaches to overcome them. To our knowledge, this paper represents the first attempt to model the determinants of solid fuel use, highlighting socio-economic differences between households and, notably, the dramatic influence of contextual effects. It illustrates the potential that multilevel and spatial modelling approaches hold for understanding determinants of major public health problems in the developing world. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Arabic language has several dialects across the twenty-two Arabic-speaking countries in Asia and Africa. Arabic Dialect Identification (ADI) is still a challenging task due to the well-recognized complexity and variations of Arabic dialects. It is noteworthy that Arabic dialects share the majority of tokens. The state-of-the-art solutions have been built upon various machine learning approaches. However, they commonly treat all words equally-likely and thus ignores the importance of dialectal words in response to a given dialect. In this paper, we propose a three-stage neural approach to learn the dialectal semantic representation from a given corpus. Specifically, we first aim to capture the dialect-relevant information, which is then used to model the dialectal vector representation. The goal is to filter away the shared words between dialects to reduce the noisy information fused to the fully connected layer. We introduce two variants, including LSTM-based and Transformer-based. Finally, we empirically evaluate the performance of the proposed solution by a comparative study on real benchmark datasets, including MADAR, NADI, and QADI. Our extensive experiments show that it consistently achieves state-of-the-art performance. Due to the well-recognized challenging of ADI, the improvement margins can be deemed considerable. The code is available on GitHub. 1 1 The code is available: https://github.com/amurtadha/arabic-dialect-identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proliferation of woody plants has been observed on rangelands globally and has significant impacts on subsistence livestock production. However, adaptation strategies to such environmental changes remain largely unexamined. This paper investigates pastoralists' adaptations to such environmental changes in the Borana zone of southern Ethiopia by integrating pastoralists' ecological knowledge, surveys of plant species composition, and census data on livestock holdings. The results indicated that a proliferation of woody plants and corresponding decline in herbaceous species would have negative impact on forage values for cattle and sheep, whereas goats would remain relatively unaffected, and camels would benefit. While census data showed declines in household herd size from 2000 to 2014, pastoralists have been adapting to the proliferation of woody plants by doubling their goat holdings, and wealthier households are investing in camels. These changes in livestock holdings based on indigenous ecological knowledge will mitigate the negative impacts of vegetation shifts on livestock production, and facilitate adaptive environmental management in the pastoral systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar drying is one of the most efficient and cost-effective, renewable, and sustainable technologies to conserve agricultural products in Asian and sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. This review paper presents the different types of solar dryers that are widely used in Africa and Asia. In addition, the pre-eminent effects of their use on product quality, as well as their economic, environmental, and social impacts, are highlighted. Since financial, external, and structural factors play a key role in the adoption and scaling of solar dryers, this paper also discusses the impact of these factors on the effectiveness of solar drying technologies in selected Asian and SSA countries. Image 1 • An application of solar dryers in Asian and SSA countries is reviewed. • Solar dryers of different types or designs are available, depending on the respective requirements. • Solar drying has positive impacts on quality as well as economic, environmental, and social aspects. • Financial and technical efforts are required to promote an adoption of solar dryers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes recent changes to the fire management policy of the 1.9 million ha Kruger National Park in South Africa. It provides a real-life example of adaptive learning in an environment where understanding is incomplete, but where management nonetheless has to proceed. The previous policy called for the application of fire to meet burnt area targets that were set for administrative subdivisions, and that were assessed at the scale of the entire park. This was problematic because the park is large and heterogeneous, and because sound ecological motivations that could link burning prescriptions to ecological objectives were missing. The new policy divides the park into five fire management zones on the basis of differences in mean annual rainfall, historic fire return periods, and geology. In addition, it proposes fire management actions designed to achieve specified ecological objectives in each zone, and includes fire-regime related thresholds and associated ecological outcomes against which to assess the effectiveness of management. The new policy is an improvement over previous iterations, but several challenges remain. Most important among these would be to continually improve the understanding of the effects of fire, and to develop frameworks for assessing the impacts of fire together with other ecosystem drivers that interact strongly with fire to influence the attainment of ecological objectives. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Savanna ecosystems are semi-arid and fire-prone. Increasing temperatures and decreasing precipitation in Southern Africa will probably have a series of strong impacts on the various components of fire regimes in these ecosystems that will, in turn, affect their ecology, structure, and function. This paper presents a geospatial analysis to quantify changes in fire frequency, seasonality and spatial distribution during the last decade and creates a fire return interval map for the core area of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, which spans five Southern African countries and is the largest cooperative multistate conservation region in the world. To disentangle the relative contribution of environmental variability from country-specific land management decisions in driving changes in fire regimes, we use two different products from the MODIS Terra platform (Active Fire and Burned Area products), TRMM precipitation data and the Multivariate ENSO Index data to analyze change in fire regimes among the five countries, differentiating between different land uses such as protected areas, forest reserves, and communal lands and accounting for specific changes in fire management policies. There are significant differences in fire frequencies between countries with more effective fire management (Botswana and Zimbabwe) and countries where anthropogenic, mainly early-dry season, burning is largely uncontrolled (Namibia, Angola, and Zambia), both within and outside protected areas, while all countries and land-use units show an overall increasing trend in fire occurrences. Large fire occurrences increased up to 200% in the period before the beginning of the natural fire season in Namibia, where a new prescribed burn policy was introduced in 2006, while the other countries show a slightly different shift in seasonality of increasing fire occurrences mainly during the dry season. The mean size of fires also increases significantly across all land uses despite increasing fire prevention efforts in most protected areas in the five countries. These findings can contribute to more effective transboundary natural resource and wildlife habitat management by providing a baseline assessment of fire return intervals across five countries with different fire management policies and have implications in the climate change arena. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between complex and tectonically active landscapes and patterns of human evolution. We show how active tectonics can produce dynamic landscapes with geomorphological and topographic features that may be critical to long-term patterns of hominin land use, but which are not typically addressed in landscape reconstructions based on existing geological and paleoenvironmental principles. We describe methods of representing topography at a range of scales using measures of roughness based on digital elevation data, and combine the resulting maps with satellite imagery and ground observations to reconstruct features of the wider landscape as they existed at the time of hominin occupation and activity. We apply these methods to sites in South Africa, where relatively stable topography facilitates reconstruction. We demonstrate the presence of previously unrecognized tectonic effects and their implications for the interpretation of hominin habitats and land use. In parts of the East African Rift, reconstruction is more difficult because of dramatic changes since the time of hominin occupation, while fossils are often found in places where activity has now almost ceased. However, we show that original, dynamic landscape features can be assessed by analogy with parts of the Rift that are currently active and indicate how this approach can complement other sources of information to add new insights and pose new questions for future investigation of hominin land use and habitats. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Colonial state institutions are widely cited as a root cause of sub-Saharan African under-development, but the opinions differ on the channels of causation. Were African colonial states ruled by near absolutist governments who strived to maximize revenue extraction in order to strengthen their grip on native African societies? Or did European powers build 'states without substance', governed with minimal resources and effort, failing to invest in basic public goods? This paper develops an analytical framework for comparing colonial tax and spending patterns and applies it to eight British African colonies (1880-1940). We show that colonial fiscal systems did not adhere to a uniform logic, that minimalism prevailed in West Africa, extractive features were more pronounced in East Africa, and that Mauritius revealed characteristics of a developmental state already before 1940. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Excavations at Liang Bua, Flores, Indonesia, have yielded evidence for an endemic human species, Homo floresiensis, a population that occupied the cave between ∼95–17ka. This discovery has major implications for early hominin evolution and dispersal in Africa and Asia, attracting worldwide interest. This preface describes the rationale for the excavations in historical, geographical, and wider research contexts, as well as the methods used. It also introduces the other papers on aspects of Liang Bua research that feature in this edition of the Journal of Human Evolution. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In 2006 a report on the analysis for lead in 80 new residential paints from four countries in Asia revealed high levels in three of the countries (China, India and Malaysia) and low levels in a fourth country (Singapore) where a lead in paint regulation was enforced. The authors warned of the possible export of lead-painted consumer products to the United States and other countries and the dangers the lead paint represented to children in the countries where it was available for purchase. The need for a worldwide ban on the use of lead in paints was emphasized to prevent an increase in exposure and disease from this very preventable environmental source. Since the earlier paper almost 300 additional new paint samples have been collected from the four initial countries plus 8 additional countries, three from Asia, three from Africa and two from South America. During the intervening time period two million toys and other items imported into the United States were recalled because the lead content exceeded the United States standard. High lead paints were detected in all 12 countries. The average lead concentration by country ranged from 6988 (Singapore) to 31,960ppm (Ecuador). One multinational company sold high lead paint in one country through January 2007 but sold low lead paint later in 2007 indicating that a major change to cease adding lead to their paints had occurred. However, the finding that almost one-third of the samples would meet the new United States standard for new paint of 90ppm, suggests that the technology is already available in at least 11 of the 12 countries to produce low lead enamel paints for domestic use. The need remains urgent to establish effective worldwide controls to prevent the needless poisoning of millions of children from this preventable exposure. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Rift Valley Fever virus (RVFV) regularly accounts for severe and often lethal outbreaks among livestock and humans in Africa. Safe and effective veterinarian and human vaccines are highly needed. We present evidence that administration of RVF virus-like particles (VLPs) induces protective immunity in mice. In an accompanying paper, (Habjan, M., Penski, N., Wagner, V., Spiegel, M., Överby, A.K., Kochs, G., Huiskonen, J., Weber, F., 2009. Efficient production of Rift Valley fever virus-like particles: the antiviral protein MxA can inhibit primary transcription of Bunyaviruses. Virology 385, 400–408) we report the production of these VLPs in mammalian cells. After three subsequent immunizations with 1×106 VLPs/dose, high titers of virus-neutralizing antibodies were detected; 11 out of 12 mice were protected from challenge and only 1 out of 12 mice survived infection in the control groups. VLP vaccination efficiently suppressed replication of the challenge virus, whereas in the control animals high RNA levels and increasing antibody titers against the nucleocapsid protein indicated extensive viral replication. Our study demonstrates that the RVF VLPs are highly immunogenic and confer protection against RVFV infection in mice. In the test groups, the vaccinated mice did not exhibit any side effects, and the lack of anti-nucleocapsid protein antibodies serologically distinguished vaccinated animals from experimentally infected animals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a description and comparison of the Nazlet Khater 2 (NK 2) inner ear structures. This specimen is the only complete modern human skeleton from the earliest Late Stone Age in Africa. The interest in the inner ear structures lies with their strong genetic component. The morphology and biometrical characteristics of the NK 2 bony labyrinth are described and compared to extant modern humans, Middle and Upper Paleolithic modern humans, and Neanderthal specimens by means of uni-, bi-, and multivariate analyses. The NK 2 inner ear presents particular features that are unusual within our extant modern human sample, but that occur more frequently among Upper and Middle Paleolithic modern human specimens. In addition, the two latter comparative groups fall on the edge of extant human variation in the multivariate morphological analysis. These results suggest that Late Pleistocene modern human variation differs from that of recent humans. Finally, the similarities between NK 2 and the Upper Paleolithic sample, suggested by the discriminant analysis, may indicate a close relationship between this Nile Valley specimen and European Upper Paleolithic modern humans. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

It has been estimated that over 28 million tonnes of plastics end up in water bodies annually. These plastics degrade into microplastics (MPs), which along with microbeads and MPs from other sources such as wastewater treatment plants continue to threaten the aquatic system. At such small sizes, and corresponding larger surface areas per unit mass/volume, MPs exhibit enhanced capacity for absorbing and desorbing toxic chemicals/additives. Therefore, MPs can serve as vectors through which additives as well as other persistent, bio-accumulative, and toxic chemicals can enter the food chain. Additives are a significant component of most plastic products with some identified as hazardous to health and the environment. One group of additives that has continued to attract interest is organophosphate esters (OPEs), which are used both as flame retardants and plasticizers. Some of these OPEs are suspected carcinogens and endocrine disruptors and have been reported to exert serious toxic effects on freshwater biota. Separate studies on the presence and fate in the freshwater environment of these additives and MPs have emerged recently. However, no studies exist that examine the extent to which plastics additives such as OPEs in sediments are sorbed to MPs as opposed to the sediment itself. This has potentially important implications for the bioavailability of such additives and studies to examine this are recommended. This paper reviews critically the current state-of-knowledge on MPs in freshwater sediments, methods for their analysis, as well as their occurrence, temporal trends, and risks to the freshwater aquatic environment. Moreover, to facilitate the study of additives associated with MPs that have been extracted from sediments, we consider the possible effect of MP isolation methods on the determination of concentrations of associated additives like OPEs. • Techniques for measurement of microplastics (MPs) in freshwater sediments reviewed. • Spatial and temporal trends in MPs in freshwater sediments identified. • Little known about MPs in freshwater sediments from Africa. • MPs role as conduits of contaminants in freshwater environments poorly understood. • Comparing bioavailability of OPEs bound to sediment particles and MPs is a priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper describes the excavation, stratigraphy, and lithic assemblages of Middle Stone Age sites from the Omo Kibish Formation (Lower Omo Valley, southwestern Ethiopia). Three sites were excavated, two in Kibish Member I (KHS and AHS) and one at the base of Member III (BNS). The assemblages are dominated by relatively high-quality raw materials procured as pebbles from local gravels. The principal modes of core preparation are radial/centripetal Levallois and discoidal. Retouched tools are rare. Foliate bifaces are present, as are larger tools, such as handaxes, picks, and lanceolates, but these are more common among surface finds than among excavated assemblages. Middle Stone Age assemblages shed light on the adaptations of the earliest-known Homo sapiens populations in Africa. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Ten years ago, evidence from genetics gave strong support to the “recent African origin” view of the evolution of modern humans, which posits that Homo sapiens arose as a new species in Africa and subsequently spread, leading to the extinction of other archaic human species. Subsequent data from the nuclear genome not only fail to support this model, they do not support any simple model of human demographic history. In this paper, we study a process in which the modern human phenotype originates in Africa and then advances across the world by local demic diffusion, hybridization, and natural selection. While the multiregional model of human origins posits a number of independent single locus selective sweeps, and the “out of Africa” model posits a sweep of a new species, we study the intermediate case of a phenotypic sweep. Numerical simulations of this process replicate many of the seemingly contradictory features of the genetic data, and suggest that as much as 80% of nuclear loci have assimilated genetic material from non-African archaic humans. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents a review of synthetic polymer (notably plastic) wastes profiles in Africa, their current management status, and better options. Data revealed that of the approximated 86.14 million metric tonnes and 31.5 million metric tonnes of primary polymers and plastics, respectively, and an estimated 230 million metric tonnes of plastic components imported between 1990 and 2017, about 17 million metric tonnes are mismanaged. Leading African nations on the plastic wastes generator table in increasing order are Tunisia (6.9%), Morocco (9.6%), Algeria (11.2%), South Africa (11.6%), Nigeria (16.9%), and the chief is Egypt (18.4%). The volume of plastic wastes generated in Africa directly correlates with her increasing population status, however, the current treatment options have major drawbacks (high energy and technological input, high demand for space, and creation of obnoxious by-products). Ineffective regulations, poor monitoring, and slow adoption of veritable practices by governments are responsible for the steady increase in plastic volume in the African landscapes and environments. In Nigeria, only about 9% and 12% of the total generated wastes are recycled and incinerated. The remainder bulk is either discarded into waste dumps (and a few available landfills) or natural environments. There is a paucity of standard plastic biodegradative work by African scientists, and only a few works show detection of competent synthetic plastic degrading microbes globally. Asides from the ills of possible omission of core degraders, there is a need for researchers to follow standard degradation procedures to arrive at efficient, reproducible, and generally accepted outcomes utilizable on a larger scale. Thus, metagenomic search on the vast African urban and rural plastisphere is the best isolation option. • Data shows population correlates with plastic demands and waste output. • The proper elimination of accumulating waste is a public service prerogative. • Degradative data from Africa are mostly culture-dependent, with limitations. • Researchers need pioneer localized metagenomic studies for plastic degraders. • Recycle and reuse efforts to reduce virgin plastic importations should be adopted. This study highlights the volume and dangers of plastic wastes in the African continent, a pointer to the lack of government and agency policies to utilize more eco-friendly methods to eliminate the waste and curb their continued threats. This review article suggests microbial degradation and other alternative solutions for plastic waste volume reduction in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By mid-September 2020, over 1.33 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and 32 thousand deaths had been reported in Africa. Global research on COVID-19 went 'viral' with a record 3487 research contributions comprising of 2062 journal papers and 1425 preprints published within the first three months following the outbreak of COVID-19. Surprisingly, the silence of the African research community has been unprecedented – contributing a paltry 0.6% (22 contributions), a figure nearly matched by Colombia (18 publications). Until now, a comprehensive perspective on the reasons for this subdued research response, and COVID-19 themes critical to Africa has been missing. We posit that while a milieu of factors accounts for this silence, unprecedented research opportunities exist to support COVID-19 decision and policy formulation in Africa. The subdued response reflects weak research systems, characterized by deep-rooted challenges, including severe lack of research expertise, funding, and infrastructure, coupled with poor working conditions. Hence, Africa's contribution to research on infectious diseases, including COVID-19, remains weak. Perceptions and attitudes among researchers and policy-makers on COVID-19, and the role of science in decision and policy-making also exist. Moreover, COVID-19 and earlier severe acute respiratory syndromes are considered as 'imported diseases' originating from outside Africa. Thus, notions may exist that the control methods will come from outside Africa through 'technology-transfer' or 'capacity-building'. Yet local COVID-19 research is needed to address knowledge gaps, including; (1) potential novel transmission of SARS-CoV-2, (2) adaption of generic COVID-19 control measures to suit African settings, (3) occurrence and persistence of SARS-CoV-2 in solid waste, wastewaters, on-site sanitation systems, and drinking water, and (4) the 'human factor' including the role of gender, perceptions, myths, attitudes, and religious beliefs in the transmission and control of COVID-19. Therefore, there is a need to: (1) strengthen local research capacity and evaluation systems, (2) consider biosafety and ethical issues, (3) initiate cross-disciplinary research and global collaboration on COVID-19, and (4) integrate science communication in COVID-19 programs. Image 1 • COVID-19 infections in Africa continue to rise, with over 1 million confirmed cases. • Current COVID-19 control and potential novel transmission pose challenges in Africa. • Surprisingly, Africa's research response to COVID-19 is subdued and unprecedented. • Weak research, lack of expertise, perceptions and attitudes account for the silence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ever since parthenium weed (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) first left its native range more than two centuries ago, this noxious herb has now invaded 46 countries and territories. The weed has expanded its range from a couple of islands in 18th Century through 11 minor and eight major introductions around the world. Segmented regression analyses confirmed introductions and revealed that the weed has spread fastest in developing countries, especially after the 1950s in Asia and Africa. A review of historical records, research papers and reports suggests that while border traffic (36%) and unchecked imports (seeds 16%, other commodities 17%) have resulted in the majority of international introductions, local spread has been achieved through multiple pathways, including roads and vehicles, by water and wind, through contaminated seed feed lots and floral bouquets. The high proportion of adjacent counties (51%) and oversea islands (5%) over the unknown origins (32%) or directly from the native range (12%) reveal a steady and predictable international spread pattern. Prevention of spread by management was first practised in Australia, then followed by other five countries. Containment barriers were set up, legislation on biosecurity imposed, and management plans based on early detection and eradication were executed; and these measures have been effective. Awareness within international research groups is raising, however, insufficient coordination between invaded countries has occurred to date, with policies yet to be formalised and executed to prevent the spread and impact of this weed. Image 1 • An invasion history of parthenium weed over two centuries, fastest in Asia and Africa. • Steps of exotic expansion by eight major populations outside Americas. • Traffic and contaminated product helped in most spread at international and local scale. • Scope of containment, legislation, and management policies in six leading countries. • Awareness is the key in international coordination and future cooperation to prevent spread. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions, fossil energy use and economic development, arguing that human development is not responsible for carbon dioxide emissions. To address the mechanism through which the latter relationship operates, a recursive system of three equations is estimated. The empirical results for a sample of 41 Sub-Saharan African countries observed over the period from 1990 to 2013 support our reasoning. Specifically, contrary to causality analyses which imply economic growth causing pollution, our recursive analysis indicates that greenhouse gas emissions are direct consequences of fossil energy use. Thus, economic growth is not to blame for carbon dioxide emissions. In terms of environmental policy for African countries, this study encourages efforts towards less polluting and renewable energies supply as well as investments in energy efficient technologies. • Human development requires energy, even so at early stages of economic development. • In SSA, increasing fossil energy use coincides with decreasing renewable energy use. • The CO 2 emissions, energy and development relationship as a recursive mechanism. • Economic growth and human well-being are not to blame for GHG emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon-emission transfer between two representative developing economies - China and Africa - behind the international trade has aroused quite a few controversies, which have not been fully estimated and understood yet. In this paper, the Multiregional Input-Output (MRIO) method is applied to the participants of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) from the global perspective to reveal the roles both China and Africa have played in the global supply chain as either the original emitter or the final consumer, and to depict the evolution pattern of carbon transfer via Sino-Africa trade from the year 2000–2015. The findings are as follows: 1) China has played the role of net exporter of embodied carbon-emission in Sino-Africa trade, for the amount of emitted carbon China had born yet resulted by consumption in Africa well surpassed that vice versa. 2) Compared to the carbon-emission flows embodied in EU-Africa and US-Africa trades, China has shouldered more carbon-emission derived from Africa's consumption. 3) The sectoral contribution and intensities of embodied carbon-emission correspond to the trading pattern between China and Africa, which stems from the two parties' comparative advantages and economic complementarity. 4) The intensities of embodied carbon-emission on both sides are declining towards a rosy prospect, which indicates an improving carbon-emission efficiency of both economies. From a global perspective, both China and Africa play a positive part in carbon-emission reduction. The results in this study can facilitate low-carbon and high-efficiency trading link between the two economies. • Historical trend of embodied carbon transfer between China-Africa Forum participants is explored. • Carbon-emission in China related to Africa's consumption well surpassed that vice versa. • Sino-Africa trade has relieved the carbon-emission pressure on Africa's economic development. • Sectoral contribution of embodied carbon-emission reflects the complementarity between China and Africa. • Embodied carbon-emission intensities of both China and Africa have declined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]