Financing for innovative technologies and best practices to reduce persistent organic pollutants

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) threaten human health and the global environment. Recognizing their dangers many countries began to limit or ban POPs production, use, and release in the 1990s. Eventually the Stockholm Convention on POPs, was adopted in 2001 and entered into force in 2004. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) provides financial support to developing country Parties for the implementation of the Stockholm Convention. The GEF’s POPs investment portfolio focuses on: 1) strengthening the capacity of developing country Parties to implement the Stockholm Convention; 2) establishing and supporting partnerships to develop and implement National Implementation Plans (NIPs), and 3) demonstrating and deploying best technologies and practices to reduce POPs emission, including development of safe alternatives. Since 2001 the GEF has committed US$568.8 million to POPs projects and leveraged some US$1474.5 million in co-financing from partners in the public and private sectors, bringing the total value of the GEF POPs portfolio to over US$2 billion. With GEF support, 108 developing country Parties have developed their NIPs. The GEF also financed 109 projects for the implementation of the Convention. Upon completion, these GEF POPs investments will contribute to the disposal of more than 70,000 tons of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) oil, contaminated equipments, and waste, more than 40,000 tons of obsolete POPs pesticides and associated waste, and reducing dioxin/furan and mercury emission by introducing environmentally sound technologies and best practices. This paper summarizes: 1) direct and indirect GEF investments to support the goals of the Stockholm Convention; 2) investment case studies on PCB, DichloroDiphenylTrichloroethane (DDT), chlordane and mirex, medical waste, obsolete POPs and engaging civil society; and 3) lessons learned in terms of GEF financing strategies, best technologies and environmental practices to address POPs.     

Managing tricky decentralised competencies: case study of a participatory modelling experiment on land use in the Lake Guiers area in Northern Senegal

We describe an action-research project whose objective was to help stakeholders at different organisational levels achieve sustainable land management by developing mediation models and tools. We chose to test a specific approach called companion modelling in the framework of a multidisciplinary research partnership and a formal local partnership (a ‘users committee’) involving an array of stakeholders at different organisational levels. The study area covers 10,000 km² of agro-pastoral land around Lake Guiers in northern Senegal. We conducted studies to update the knowledge base of the area and organised six field workshops that clearly revealed three important tool functions to support decision-making on land use at different scales, i.e. understanding maps, monitoring and evaluating land tenure, and foreseeing changes in land use. We found that a toolbox approach was the best way to implement the three functions and overcome the constraints faced by the research team and those linked to the timing of the project. Therefore, we produced five simple complementary tools aimed at various users: a farm-level optimisation model (for researchers and technical services), a database for land allocations and a discussion tool to assess the impact of land allocation decisions (for the rural council), a paper atlas (for local players) and a regional land use change simulation model (for regional and national planners). Participants were able to work with paper maps, to interpret computer-generated simulations of land use change and understand the strengths and limitations of each. Self-assessment of the research process emphasised the importance of the context and the critical role played by social capital at both the research and the field level, which, in turn, emphasised the need for major improvements in the design and implementation of a quality process for participatory modelling. It turns out that action-research may be an effective way to undertake sustainability science.     

Social monitoring in a multilevel society: a playback study with male Guinea baboons

Keeping track of social interactions among conspecifics is a driving force for the evolution of social cognition. How social cognition, such as social knowledge, ties in with a species' social organization is, however, largely unexplored. We investigated the social knowledge of wild Guinea baboons (Papio papio) ranging in Senegal, a species that lives in a fluid multilevel society with overlapping habitat use. Using playback experiments, we tested how adult males differentiate between subjects from their own vs. a neighboring or a stranger social unit (“gang”) and assessed ranging patterns with Global Positioning System (GPS) data. While territorial species usually differentiate between group and nongroup members and often respond more strongly to strangers than neighbors (the “dear enemy” effect), subjects in this highly tolerant species should largely ignore other unit members and mainly attend to subjects from their own unit. Males responded strongly after playback of calls recorded from members of their own gang, while they attended only briefly to neighbor or stranger calls. Apparently, males benefit from monitoring the social maneuvers in their own social unit, while it remains to be resolved whether they are unmotivated or unable to keep track of the identities and actions of individuals outside their own gang. The study highlights how the allocation of social attention is tuned to the specifics of a species' social organization, while a complex social organization does not necessarily translate into the need for more elaborate social knowledge.     

Heat waves and health risks in the northern part of Senegal: analysing the distribution of temperature-related diseases and associated risk factors

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The Sahelian zone of Senegal experienced heat waves in the previous decades, such as 2013, 2016 and 2018 that were characterised by temperatures...     

Pollution of water in Africa: a review of contaminants and fish as biomonitors and analytical methodologies—the case of Senegal

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Environmental pollution is one of the major problems facing human health, ecosystems, and biodiversity. This is particularly the case for water...