The deadline for the call for applications for the African Union Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Awards Programme for Continental Award 2012 Edition has been extended from 9th September to the 10th of November 2012.

Please circulate the call to potential and prospective scientists and institutions in your country and region.

Download the Rules of procedure (http://sancor.nrf.ac.za/Rules.pdf); application form (http://sancor.nrf.ac.za/Application%20form.doc) and score sheet (http://sancor.nrf.ac.za/Scoresheet.doc).

Forecasting tropical cyclone intensity — a key factor in the damage they cause — could be made more accurate by monitoring ocean salinity, according to a study.

The differences in salinity caused by an inflow of big rivers in tropical regions cause a layering of ocean water temperature that may reduce the intensity of cyclones passing over its surface, scientists report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) of 13 August 2012.

Although previous studies have showed that ocean surface cooling has a significant impact on the intensity of tropical cyclones, researchers say their study is the first time it has been shown on a global scale that upper ocean salinity may affect intensity of the storms.

Tropical cyclones are one of the world’s most highly occurring and damaging types of natural disasters, and while scientists can track their movement fairly accurately, forecasting their intensity has been more challenging.

To read the full article, read http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/natural-disasters/news/ocean-salinity-may-help-forecast-cyclone-intensity.html

The FIG Foundation will be providing scholarships of up to 4,000 euros to PhD students.

Applicants shall:
1. be studying for a PhD degree and registered solely in a surveying/geomatics academic programme that teaches surveying in a country listed by the World Bank as a low-income, lower-middle or upper-middle income economy,
2. must have had a paper accepted by a peer reviewed international journal based on their doctoral research project; applicants should be the lead author, and the paper should be co-authored with their supervisor,
3. should not have submitted their final thesis at the application deadline.

Applications will be judged on the quality of the application and need. In the event that two excellent applications are judged to be of equal quality, applications from low-income and lower-middle income countries will be preferred.

Applications are to be sent to fig@fig.net with “FIG Foundation PhD Scholarship Application” shown in the Subject Line.

Complete details can be found at: www.fig.net/figfoundation

Deadline 1 November 2012.

Changing climate conditions are making it harder for people in East Africa, most of whom grow food or raise livestock, to survive.

Rainy seasons are changing, destructive floods and temperatures have risen, and the soils have become drier than in recent years. Among the hardest hit are arid and semi-arid regions, small islands and the coastal strips.

Environmental experts say it’s important for the people of the region to learn to adapt.

In an effort to help farmers, the University of Nairobi has introduced a masters and doctorate degree in climate change – one of the first such programs on the continent.
According to Professor Shem Wandiga, acting chairman of the newly-established Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation, the university is proud to pioneer such a program.

Read the full article: http://www.voanews.com/content/kenyan-university-offers-degree-on-climate-change/1496798.html

Small increases in temperature may have reduced the industrial and agricultural production of poor countries, according to a study by US economists.

Higher temperatures may also have contributed to political instability in these countries — defined as those with below-median per capita income, adjusted for the purchasing power of the country’s currency — according to the study published in the American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics in July 2012. In contrast, rich countries have so far shown no measurable economic or political consequences resulting from temperature change.

“Temperature fluctuations can have large negative impacts on poor countries,” said Benjamin Olken, an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and one of the authors of the study.

Read more from http://www.scidev.net/en/climate-change-and-energy/climate-change-impacts/news/temperature-rise-slows-economy-in-poor-countries-.html

A £15.3 million (US$24 million) fund to build links between African research laboratories and strengthen their research capacity through mentoring has been launched by the Royal Society (the UK’s science academy) and the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

The aim is to provide equipment and training for African scientists, and to establish researcher exchange programmes between the United Kingdom and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Start-up grants of up to US$39,000 will assist the formation of research consortia, and larger grants of almost US$2 million will then support specific research programmes over a five-year period.

Read the full article: http://www.scidev.net/en/science-and-innovation-policy/r-d-in-africa/news/royal-society-and-dfid-launch-fund-for-african-research.html

A paper “Mobility, Expansion and Management of a Multi-Species Scuba Diving Fishery in East Africa”, by H. Eriksson, M. de la Torre-Castro and P. Olsson, was recently published in the PLoS ONE. Below is the abstract of the paper

Background: Scuba diving fishing, predominantly targeting sea cucumbers, has been documented to occur in an uncontrolled manner in the Western Indian Ocean and in other tropical regions. Although this type of fishing generally indicates a destructive activity, little attention has been directed towards this category of fishery, a major knowledge gap and barrier to management.

Methodology and Principal Findings: With the aim to capture geographic scales, fishing processes and social aspects the scuba diving fishery that operate out of Zanzibar was studied using interviews, discussions, participant observations and catch monitoring. The diving fishery was resilient to resource declines and had expanded to new species, new depths and new fishing grounds, sometimes operating approximately 250 km away from Zanzibar at depths down to 50 meters, as a result of depleted easy-access stock. The diving operations were embedded in a regional and global trade network, and its actors operated in a roving manner on multiple spatial levels, taking advantage of unfair patron-client relationships and of the insufficient management in Zanzibar.

Conclusions and Significance: This study illustrates that roving dynamics in fisheries, which have been predominantly addressed on a global scale, also take place at a considerably smaller spatial scale. Importantly, while proposed management of the sea cucumber fishery is often generic to a simplified fishery situation, this study illustrates a multifaceted fishery with diverse management requirements. The documented spatial scales and processes in the scuba diving fishery emphasize the need for increased regional governance partnerships to implement management that fit the spatial scales and processes of the operation.

Citation: Eriksson H, de la Torre-Castro M, Olsson P (2012) Mobility, Expansion and Management of a Multi-Species Scuba Diving Fishery in East Africa. PLoS ONE 7(4): e35504. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0035504

A greater commitment to multidisciplinary research, and to local problem solving, is essential to achieving future development goals.

Read the full article from: http://www.scidev.net/en/science-and-innovation-policy/editorials/scientific-disciplines-must-link-up-to-serve-development-1.html

Seychelles and Germany have the fourth healthiest seas according to the Ocean Health Index which provides the first ever global benchmark of 171 coastal regions  http://tinyurl.com/8mmb6co

The Coral Triangle, a roughly triangular marine zone in the Indo-Pacific region that is considered to have the world’s richest concentration of marine biodiversity, is facing potential ecological collapse due to heavy pressure inflicted by human activities, according to a new report.

The warning appears in a collaborative study, ‘Reefs at Risk Revisited in the Coral Triangle’, produced by a consortium led by the World Resources Institute, a global environmental think-tank based in Washington DC, United States.

It serves as a status report on the wellbeing of coral reefs in or near the six countries comprising the triangle.

The study aimed to identify where reefs are most threatened and to provide “baseline data to help groups establish and prioritise specific management strategies,” Kathleen Reytar, a lead author of the study, told SciDev.Net.

Read the full article: http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/biodiversity/news/pacific-coral-triangle-at-risk-of-collapse-.html