Sida is sponsoring an international training programme on “Integrated Sustainable Coastal Development”, which will run from March 2011 to May 2012 and consists of five compulsory phases including three self-study phases and two scheduled course, one in Sweden, June 6-24, 2011 and one in Tanzania, October 3-14, 2011.

The training programme is developed and implemented by Ramboll Natura AB in close co-operation with the School of Global Studies at Gothenburg University. The course in Tanzania is implemented in collaboration with the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA).

Applications are invited from interested experts from Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda

The training programme is aimed at decision and policy makers in coastal management and development, key persons with the ability to initiate and drive a process of change, subject-matter specialists with responsibilities related to planning and use of coastal zones and other professionals with key positions in organisations involved in integrated coastal development. This can include central institutions, local authorities, private companies or NGOs.

The training programme will be conducted in English.

Applicants should hold an academic degree and have at least 5 years of professional working experience in relevant areas. Only candidates with official nomination from their organisation will be accepted.

Please find more information in the brochure (http://www.wiomsa.org/filearchive/3/3591/286_Sustainable%20Coastal%20Development%202011.pdf) and application form(http://www.wiomsa.org/filearchive/3/3592/286_Sustainable%20Coastal%20Development%20_Application%202011.pdf) for the training programme.

Closing date for application is October 29, 2010. By then the application forms should have reached the nearest Swedish Embassy.

WIOMSA Secretariat is safe from sea level rise! Or is it?

By Nirmal Shah

People often ask me why WIOMSA is headquartered in Zanzibar. Now I have a novel answer for them. Zanzibar is one of the few places that will escape sea level rise and the WIOMSA building, wholly owned by the Association, will escape unscathed! 

A newly published paper states that since the 1960s there have been substantial decreases in sea levels around Zanzibar and the Seychelles (where I live) and some other parts of the south tropical region of the Indian Ocean. The paper by 13 researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the United States was published on June 11^th in the online Nature Geoscience journal and is entitled “Patterns of Indian Ocean sea-level change in a warming climate”.

The authors state that sea level rises are not uniform across the world and are affected by  changes in atmospheric or oceanic currents. The study combined actual sea surface measurements and satellite observations of Indian Ocean sea level since the 1960’s with climate-model simulations.  Sea level rises have been much higher along the rest of the WIOMSA region including coasts of Kenya and Tanzania, Mauritius la Reunion and  Comoros as well as the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, Sri Lanka and the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java.

The major instigator is the Indo-Pacific warm pool, a very large bathtub-shaped area of the tropical oceans stretching from East Africa to the International Date Line in the Pacific. It is known that the warm pool has heated by about 0.5 degrees Celsius more, in the past 50 years. But the two major atmospheric wind patterns in the Indian Ocean known as the Hadley circulation and the Walker circulation have been causing an uneven distribution of water levels, like fans blowing across a bathtub, thus the drop of sea level in some areas and increase in others..

However, another group of researchers studying the same phenomenon have reacted to this. Axel Timmerman and Shayne McgregorFei-Fei Jin of the University of Hawaii who have a paper in press in the Journal of Climate published by the American Meteorological Society  have said they are astonished by these conclusions. Their paper entitled “Wind effects on past and future regional sea-level trends in the southern Indo-Pacific” states the opposite. Some parts of our region including Seychelles could see up to 10 percent more sea-level rise than the global average, they say.

The differences in the two studies is in their estimations of how wind patterns will change due to climate change. The computer generated climate models of Timmermann and McgregorFei-Fei Jin  as well as those of  the IPCC  predict  more warming near the equator and on the western side of the ocean basin. But in reality the observed warming has been on the eastern side.

There could be two reasons for this difference. Timmermann says the actual changes in sea surface temperature are due to natural variability in the ocean that canceled out the human-caused changes predicted by the models. The second possibility says Weiqing Han the lead author of  the Nature Geoscience paper is that climate models are not very good for this part of the ocean, and that we should expect the future to be more in line with the real changes we’ve seen so far, a pragmatic point of view others say.

Whatever the case may be, don’t hold your breath. Climate change is here to stay. The WIOMSA Secretariat is not on the ground floor of the building anyway. So we are safe whatever happens!

WIOMSA is seeking applications from suitably qualified and experienced individuals for the new position of Director, Outreach and Resource Mobilization.

Interested applicants should send a letter of application, latest detailed curriculum vitae and two names and addresses of professional referees by 31 July 2010 to: secretary@wiomsa.org

Download the announcement: http://www.wiomsa.org/filearchive/3/3589/Job%20Opportunity-Director_OutreachResource%20Mobilization.pdf

I moved from the beautiful coast of Anse a La Mouche to the foothills of the Trois Freres Mountain which overlooks the Seychelles’ capital city Victoria because I thought sea level rise and other climatic events would flood the area. Now I am told that that there are no sea level rises around the Seychelles. In fact, since the 1960s there have been substantial decreases in sea levels in the south tropical region of the Indian Ocean including the Seychelles and Zanzibar according to a study just released.

Read more from: http://67.15.211.7/~naturese/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=391&Itemid=63

IOC/UNESCO is looking for a consultant to conduct a mid-term evaluation of the GEF Project on Adaptation to Climate Change in the Coastal Areas of West Africa (ACCC Project). The ACCC project is a 3 year initiative implemented by UNDP and IOC/UNESCO, aimed at providing a response to changes affecting the coastline and its human dimensions in West Africa mainly through Integrated Coastal Area Management. The beneficiary countries are : Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, Senegal. The evaluation will be conducted mainly in September 2010 and will require a visit to the Regional Project Unit in Dakar, and other site visits in Senegal and Gambia.

Between 15 and 30 days of work is expected from the consultant. ToRs of the evaluation are attached.

Required Skills and Competencies

- At least 8 years experience in conducting evaluations, including in multilateral settings, and with GEF projects

-  Sound thematic expertise in  issues related to climate change, coastal management

-  Familiarity with political and development context in Africa

-  Strong understanding of the UN system, and UNDP, in particular

-    Excellent analytical skills

-    Ability to organize and interpret data and present findings in both oral and written form

-     Evidence of excellent interpersonal skills

-     Excellent writing in English and proficiency in English and French

The candidate should send a letter of motivation and CV to: Isabelle Niang (i.niang@unesco.org) and Julian Barbiere (j.barbiere@unesco.org)

DEADLINE: 6 AUGUST 2010, COB

The warming of Lake Tanganyika over the past century has made the lake less productive — posing a serious threat to fisheries, according to a study.

The lake temperatures reached their highest levels in the past few decades, said the authors, something that can be attributed to anthropogenic climate change.

Read the full article from: http://www.scidev.net/en/news/warmer-lake-tanganyika-threatens-east-african-fisheries.html

Dynamite fishing here has been singled out as a major challenge for the newly established Tanga Coelacanth Marine Park Authority.

The park acting conservator, Mr Sylvester Kazimoto, said at the proposed headquarters of the project that there was still much work to do before the vice threatening the newly established park is completely eliminated.

The Livestock Development and Fisheries minister, Dr John Magufuli, last year warned that the re-emerging spate of dynamite and other illegal fishing practices could be a threat to the establishment of Kigombe Marine Reserved Area comprising coelacanth, a rare fossil fish.

“The sustainability of the rare fossil fish will depend on the preservation of its breeding, feeding and growth environment,” Dr Magufuli said while officiating at a two-day stakeholder conference for the proposed Kigombe Marine Reserved area at Mkonge Hotel in Tanga City.

Read the full article from: http://allafrica.com/stories/201006240769.html

Prof E. Wolanski, one of the Editors of the Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, recently conducted an evaluation of the Special Issues of the Journal produced up to 2008, to amongst others determine their citation rates. The average citation rate for all special issues was found to be 7.20 (+_ 3.69, n=14). In 2005, a special issue, Volume 63, Issue 3, titled “Science for management in the western Indian Ocean” and edited by D.O. Obura, M.  Schleyer, and N.A. Muthiga, was published. This Issue consisted of selected papers that were presented in the Third WIOMSA Scientific Symposium that was held in Maputo, Mozambique in October 2003.

According to the Prof Wolanski’s evaluation, this Issue has an average of citations of 8.364, which is well above the average of the all special issues produced by ESCC up to 2008! This clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of the WIOMSA Scientific Symposiums and productions of Special Issues in attracting and publishing high quality papers.

International Climate Protection Fellowships for prospective leaders from threshold and developing countries

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s fellowship programme promotes prospective leaders from threshold and developing countries who are engaged in climate protection and resource conservation in academia or business, government or non-governmental organisations. Up to twenty fellows are funded annually. They will come to Germany for a year to work alongside a host of their own choosing on a joint project dedicated to the exchange of knowledge, methods and techniques. The aim is to create a network in which German and foreign experts will work together on a sustainable, international basis to combat climate change and its global consequences. The fellowships are funded under the Federal Environment Ministry’s (BMU) International Climate Protection Initiative.

Requirements

• first academic degree ( Bachelor’s or equivalent) completed no more than 12 years prior to start of fellowship
• further (academic or professional) qualification or extensive, theme-related professional experience
• confirmation of support and statement of a host in Germany
• independent project proposal agreed with host in the field of climate protection and resource conservation
• leadership potential

Fellowship specifications

• monthly fellowship amount between 2,150 -2,750 EUR
• group programme events: several-week introductory seminar, training courses, final meeting
• one to two month intensive German course
• family allowances, lump sum for travel expenses

The closing date for applications is 15 December 2010.

The fellowship commences 1 September 2011.

Visit www.humboldt-foundation.de/ICF for application package and further information.

Wageningen University and Research Centre is pleased to announce course on Climate change adaptation in agriculture and natural resources management which will be held in East Africa from 28 February – 11 March 2011.

The course is designed for mid-career professionals who are engaged at higher levels and deal with policy making either from the research side (as advisor), government side, or from civil society who aim to have a full understanding of climate change adaptation concepts, be able to effectively and meaningfully contribute to the debate on climate change adaption, either in the policy process and/or in providing knowledge to the policy process. 

For more information about the course programme and online application for this course we refer to our website: http://www.cdi.wur.nl/UK/newsagenda/agenda/Climate_change_adaptation_in_agriculture_and_natural_resources_management.htm

For this course  Netherlands government (NFP) fellowships are available.

Applications should be submitted to Wageningen UR Centre for Development Innovation before 1 September 2010. On the website you will find the details for this.