Food aid and food crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa: Statistical trends and implications*

This paper documents the rapid expansion and changes in food aid flows to Sub-Saharan Africa up to mid-1985. Trends for Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole and for the more seriously affected countries are examined, as are the comparative experiences of food aid of individual countries in the region. Table 11 lists the Sub-Saharan African countries and indicates the most seriously affected food-short countries, as defined by the WFP/FAO task force. It should be borne in mind that some practical problems exist in compiling data on food aid. These include lack of availability of reliable data, especially of most recent data; lack of common terminology and definitions; and different accounting systems. These data problems are sometimes a source of confusion. However, the basic facts are clear: food aid gradually emerged during the early 1980s as a resource too often of considerable significance to many countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. These trends were only accelerated with the crisis of 1984-1985. These facts provide a point of reference for further analysis of the sources of the crisis, its actual dimensions and consequences.     

Hunger, poverty and food aid in Sub-Saharan Africa: Retrospect and potential

Frustrations and failures will continue to mount if we do not immediately summon the courage to revise the ways we think and take action-as well as maintaining essential services to support life and health … Saving hundreds of thousands … who are at risk of dying from malnutrition or infection is an immediate imperative. But it must be only one stage in the progress toward other activities, and one element in the truly comprehensive approach… The main intent of this paper is to explore aspects of the nature and evolution of poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa with special reference to food and hunger and their interaction with macro-economic policy. An attempt is made to outline the overall context within which food aid needs to be used in order to have a greater developmental impact. Following an Introductory Section I, Section II provides a sketch map of how recession and lagging food production - with cyclical weather crises superimposed - affect the human condition of poor people. Section III reviews die interaction between "standard" IMF stabilization and World Bank structural adjustment strategies and poverty/hunger. Improvements in the design of stabilization and adjustment programmes, and of the inter-relationship with them of emergency programmes, can be identified. A number turn on the broadened and more innovative or catalytic use of food aid. Section IV reviews aspects of facing a continuing series of emergencies and of designing life support programmes to facilitate rehabilitation of the households directly affected as well as of the national economies. From this base it explores a series of elements in achieving renewed development. The concluding Section seeks to explore the strengths, limitations and potentials of food aid in the context set by the previous sections. The standard criticisms of food aid appear to be overstated and/or to relate to particular modalities or approaches rather than to anything intrinsic. A number of criteria for improving the effectiveness of food aid - especially in respect to rehabilitation, recovery and renewed development - are set out.     

Evaluation of Water Quality in the Chillán River (Central Chile) Using Physicochemical Parameters and a Modified Water Quality Index

The Chillán River in Central Chile plays a fundamental role in local society, as a source of irrigation and drinking water, and as a sink for urban wastewater. In order to characterize the spatial and temporal variability of surface water quality in the watershed, a Water Quality Index (WQI) was calculated from nine physicochemical parameters, periodically measured at 18 sampling sites (January–November 2000). The results indicated a good water quality in the upper and middle parts of the watershed. Downstream of the City of Chillán, water quality conditions were critical during the dry season, mainly due to the effects of the urban wastewater discharge. On the basis of the results from a Principal Component Analysis (PCA), modifications were introduced into the original WQI to reduce the costs associated with its implementation. WQI_DIR2 and WQI_DIR, which are both based on a laboratory analysis (Chemical Oxygen Demand) and three (pH, temperature and conductivity), respectively, four field measurements (pH, temperature, conductivity and Dissolved Oxygen), adequately reproduce the most important spatial and temporal variations observed with the original index. They are proposed as useful tools for monitoring global water quality trends in this and other, similar agricultural watersheds in the Chilean Central Valley. Possibilities and limitations for the application of the used methodology to watersheds in other parts of the world are discussed.     

Vegetation patterns and nature reserve construction in an extremely-arid desert in Anxi,NW China's Gansu Province

Anxi County is located in the northwestern part of the Hexi Corridor in gansu Province and has the sole national level nature reserve of extremely-arid desert in China.Phytosociological methods (Braun-Blanquet,1964) are used to classify plant community types in this area.Eleven are disting uished,including six of deserts,four of oases and one transitional type between deserts and oases.Direct gradient analysis (DCA) is employed to correlate the distribution of plant communities to physiogeographic conditions.This study makes clear that water is the most important ecological factor for the distribution of plant species and communities in this area.The effects of water have been demonstrated in different ways.A vegetation gradient from lower altitude to higher altitude in the southern part of the reserve is driven by a precipitation gradient.The effects of the depth of ground water table contribute to the differentiation of vegetation from desert to oasis in the flat area.In a finer scale,the washed gullies have obviously higher species richness and also higher vegetation cover than the surround gobi surfaces,possibly caused by the effects of floods.The vegetation patterns demonstrate that the area of Anxi County is a complete landscape unit.The range of the current nature reserve is not large enough for the purpose of conserving the unique biodiversity in this area.     

太旧高速公路中央分隔带绿化树种选择研究

针对太旧高速公路中央分隔带、边坡等绿化的实际绿化建设及管理工作状况。针对太旧高速公路中央分隔带及边坡的立地条件特点，阐述了树种选择的原则、程序和所使用的主要树种及各类花卉、草坪品种，并对高速公路中央分隔带绿化工作提出了建议。     

Differential N uptake by maize cultivars and soil nitrate dynamics under N fertilization in West Africa

Nitrate is prone to leaching in the sandy soils of the West African moist savannas. Better management of nitrogen (N) resources and maize cultivars with enhanced genetic capacity to capture and utilize soil and fertilizer N are strategies that could improve N-use efficiency. In two field experiments conducted at Zaria, northern Nigeria, five maize (Zea mays L.) cultivars planted early in the season were assessed under various N levels for differences in N uptake, soil N dynamics, and related N losses. Cultivar TZB-SR accumulated more N in the aboveground plant parts in both years than the other cultivars. All, except the semi-prolific late (SPL) variety, met about 50–60% of their N demand by the time of silking (64–69 DAP). In both years, SPL had the greatest capacity to take up N during the grain filling period, and it had the highest grain-N concentration and the least apparent N loss through leaching in the second year. There were no significant differences in soil N dynamics among cultivars in both years. At harvest, the residual N in the upper 90 cm of the profile under all the cultivars ranged from 56 to 72 kg ha⁻¹ in the first year and from 73 to 83 kg ha⁻¹ in the second year. Apparent N loss from 0 to 90 cm soil profile through leaching ranged from 35 to 122 kg ha⁻¹ in both years. N application significantly increased N uptake by more than 30% at all sampling dates in the second year of the experiment, but had no effect on apparent N loss. Results indicate that the use of maize cultivars with high N uptake capacity during the grain filling period when maximum leaching losses occur could enhance N recovery and may be effective in reducing leaching losses of mineral N in the moist savanna soils.     

黔中岩溶地区草地下土壤CO_2含量的变化特征

全球碳循环中,CO_2的未知汇可能是陆地生态系统中某一部分,如土壤。土壤中CO_2的含量是大气的几倍至近百倍,它的吸收与释放将影响大气中的CO_2浓度。岩溶地区占全球陆地面积的1/15。对典型的岩溶地区——黔中某地土壤的CO_2进行了四季及昼夜的采样测定,结果表明,该地地表大气的CO_2含量具有季节变化的特征。土壤气中的CO_2浓度为大气CO_2浓度的几倍至一百多倍;自地表向下,随着土壤深度的增大,CO_2浓度升高。土壤CO_2含量的季节变化及昼夜变化,与土壤中CO_2来源和温度等因子变化有关。     

十三陵地震台观测技术系统优化改造

在北京十三陵地震台建设了一个高度集成的地震观测监控系统,将原来分散的观测项目(如测震、GPS、气氡、气汞、电磁波、地电场等测项),改造为集中到一台服务器管理,在一个监控平台上统一实现了对台站数据的收集、入库、管理、处理、监控等业务;对这些观测项目可以在控制台上直接取数并将数据入库;初步实现了观测数据的收集、数据处理、数据管理、数据监控的软件管理系统,减少了系统维护工作量,方便台站工作人员操控。监控系统的地震前兆数据监管软件系统DataMonitor可准实时监视数据,检查数据的异常和到达情况,并向台站数据管理人员告警;可对数据库数据进行统计,包括数据到达情况统计、缺数统计、数据连续率统计等。该系统还提供多种前兆数据处理方法,实现对前兆数据的各种常规分析处理。     

Methodological and Practical Considerations for Developing Multiproject Baselines for Electric Power and Cement Industry Projects in Central America

The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the Center for Sustainable Development in the Americas (CSDA) conducted technical studies and organized two training workshops to develop capacity in Central America for the evaluation of climate change projects. This paper describes the results of two baseline case studies conducted for these workshops, one for the power sector and one for the cement industry, that were devised to illustrate certain approaches to baseline setting. Multiproject baseline emission rates (BERs) for the main Guatemalan electricity grid were calculated from 2001 data. In recent years, the Guatemalan power sector has experienced rapid growth; thus, a sufficient number of new plants have been built to estimate viable BERs. We found that BERs for baseload plants offsetting additional baseload capacity ranged from 0.702 kgCO2/kWh (using a weighted average stringency) to 0.507 kgCO2/kWh (using a 10th percentile stringency), while the baseline for plants offsetting load-following capacity is lower at 0.567 kgCO2/kWh. For power displaced from existing load-following plants, the rate is higher, 0.735 kgCO2/kWh, as a result of the age of some plants used for meeting peak loads and the infrequency of their use. The approved consolidated methodology for the Clean Development Mechanism yields a single rate of 0.753 kgCO2/kWh. Due to the relatively small number of cement plants in the region and the regional nature of the cement market, all of Central America was chosen as the geographic boundary for setting cement industry BERs. Unfortunately, actual operations and output data were unobtainable for most of the plants in the region, and many data were estimated. Cement industry BERs ranged from 205 kgCO2 to 225 kgCO2 per metric ton of cement.     

OPTIMIZATION MODELING OF A NEW FACILITY FOR THE CALIFORNIA STATE WATER PROJECT1

ABSTRACT: A non-linear optimization model is applied to the California State Water Project (SWP) and portions of the Central Valley Project (CVP). The model accounts for the major hydrologic, regulatory, and operational features of both projects. The model maximizes long-term SWP yields over a 70-year period, using a quarterly time step. The potential for increased yield associated with a proposed facility improvement is evaluated with the model. The proposed facility is an extension of the Folsom-South Canal, which would allow water to be conveyed from the American River below Folsom Reservoir into New Melones Reservoir on the Stanislaus River or into the California Aqueduct. Model results indicate that extension of the Folsom-South Canal has the potential to increase SWP yields by 13 percent.