scholarly journals Integrated management of multiple water sources for multiple uses: rural communities in Limpopo Province, South Africa

Water SA ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (1 January) ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara van Koppen ◽  
Moritz Hofstetter ◽  
A Edward Nesamvuni ◽  
Quinex Chiluwe

This study fills a knowledge gap about low-income rural communities’ holistic management of multiple water resources to meet their multiple needs through multiple or single-use infrastructure. Six low-income rural villages in Limpopo Province were selected with a diversity in: service levels, surface and groundwater resources, public infrastructure (designed for either domestic uses or irrigation but multiple use in reality) and self-supply (people’s individual or communal investments in infrastructure). Focusing on water-dependent livelihoods and water provision to homesteads, distant fields and other sites of use, three policy-relevant patterns were identified. First, most households have two or more sources of water to their homesteads as a vital buffer to irregular supplies and droughts. Second, infrastructure to homesteads is normally for domestic uses, livestock and, for many households, irrigation for consumption and sale. Public infrastructure to irrigate distant fields is multiple use. Exceptionally, self-supply point sources to distant fields are single use. Water bodies to other sites of use are normally multiple use. As for large-scale infrastructure, multiple-use infrastructure is cost-effective and water-efficient. Third, in four of the six villages people’s self-supply is a more important water source to homesteads than public infrastructure. In all villages, water provided through self-supply is shared. Self-supply improves access to water faster, more cost-effectively and more sustainably than public services do. In line with international debates, self-supply is there to stay and can be supported as a cost-effective and sustainable complementary mode of service delivery. A last potential policy implication regards community-driven planning, design and construction of water infrastructure according to people’s priorities. This may sustainably harness the above-mentioned advantages and, moreover, communities’ ability to manage complex multiple sources, uses and multiple-use infrastructure, whether public or self-supply, as a matter of daily life.

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Sachin Kumar Vaid ◽  
Prakash Chandra Srivastava ◽  
Satya Pratap Pachauri ◽  
Anita Sharma ◽  
Deepa Rawat ◽  
...  

Low Zn in staple food grains like rice is closely related to large scale Zn malnutrition in many countries of the World. Zinc biofortification of rice grains by some cost effective agronomic method is important for low income farmers. To explore the possibility of enhancing the bioavailability of Zn in rice grains besides higher yields of two cultivars, the combinations of varying Zn fertilizer doses with or without inoculation of rhizobacteria consortium under split plot design set up were evaluated in two years field trials. Microbial inoculation + 5 kg Zn ha-1 to I year rice crop resulted in the highest number of effective tillers, grain yields, Zn concentration and uptake in grains and straw and total Zn uptake in both years. Grain yield of rice during two years increased by 19.7-27.9 and 17.1-20.4 percent over control under treatments receiving microbial inoculation + 5 kg Zn ha-1 to I year rice and 5 kg Zn ha-1 alone to I year rice crop, respectively. The highest concentration of Zn (10.9-19.1 mg kg-1) and the lowest concentration of phytic acid (18.5-25.3 g kg-1) in dehulled rice grains were recorded with soil application of 5 kg Zn ha-1; however, the values were at par with those observed under microbial inoculation + 5 kg Zn ha-1 (12.0-17.0 mg Zn kg-1 and 19.2-26.9 g phytic acid kg-1). The percent utilization of soil applied Zn increased with microbial inoculation in both the years and it was relatively higher in NDR 359 as compared to PD 16.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Azwindini Isaac Ramaano

Purpose Musina municipality is one of the driest regions in Limpopo Province, South Africa. It is, like many rural communities within the country, a low-income area. Nonetheless, being embedded within the tourism-orientated landscape of the Vhembe district in Limpopo, it possesses the potential for community-based tourism. This study aims to review the perception and application of tourism development policy in the Municipality using primary and secondary data. The study discovered poor enforcement of tourism development policy paired with a substandard knowledge of sustainable and responsible tourism principles. Consequently, the negative environmental impacts of tourism activities had exacerbated. The study recommends a need for improved policy implementation and strategies to advance local communities’ livelihoods while also managing natural resources.


1976 ◽  
Vol 33 (9) ◽  
pp. 2097-2139 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. D. McCracken ◽  
R. D. S. Macdonald

This study is a sequel to "Science for Canada’s Shelf Seas Fisheries" by Regier and McCracken (1975).Inshore seas fisheries cannot be defined rigorously and only acquire meaning on the Atlantic coast where there are many weakly organized fishermen based in about 2000 communities.This paper attempts to identify the science effort necessary to help resolve the problem of making decisions about many small fisheries-based communities. Particular attention is paid to the east coast of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.Science effort has not been related to an inshore–offshore seas relationship, and there is little difference in natural science needs between inshore and shelf-seas fisheries, with the exception of research on such important invertebrates as lobster, local mapping and monitoring of invertebrates, studies on seaweeds, and development of a viable extension service. An understanding of the cod–capelin–mammal complex off the east coast of Newfoundland and Labrador is urgent. Managing the aquatic resources of the Gulf of St. Lawrence on a multiple-use and multiple-species basis has high priority.These science needs are seen in the perspective of a manipulative sociopolitical subsistence system which perpetuates high unemployment, low income, and much dependency on government; and of three broad policy options. The only untried option aims for a balanced corporate–noncorporate fishery and attempts to counter the manipulative system by suggested measures which promote equity, productivity, and creativity. A broad congruence of issues on an international scale points to greater theoretical acceptance of this option; however, the greater degree of material sacrifice may not be acceptable to those affected.If this course is followed, demand to resolve the natural science problems identified above will be much greater. Social science activity will also have to change direction towards (a) more interdisciplinary study and input in decision-making, (b) more emphasis on innovation rather than analysis, (c) more countervailing sources of expertise. Community development is of critical importance in its role of stimulating self-help and of being a mirror image of corporate planning.It is essential to greatly increase inshore fisheries representation in fisheries decision-making. Some principles developed in this paper may also apply to other areas where rural communities suffer encroachments from corporate interests.


2013 ◽  
Vol 127 (11) ◽  
pp. 1103-1105 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Gungadeen ◽  
Y Ramakrishnan ◽  
H C Cocks

AbstractObjective:To investigate whether multiple-use Co-phenylcaine Forte® spray was more cost-effective than single-use vials.Methods:A literature review was conducted to determine the risk of cross-contamination associated with multiple-use topical nasal anaesthetic spray. The costs of multiple-use Co-phenylcaine Forte and single-use co-phenylcaine were compared, and potential savings were calculated. The cost of procuring these drugs from other sources was also examined.Results:Switching to multiple-use Co-phenylcaine Forte spray would lead to at least 40 per cent savings if bought from our local retailer. Potential savings of more than 70 per cent could be made if the drugs were procured from sources other than our local distributor.Conclusion:Multiple-use Co-phenylcaine Forte spray is safe to use and more cost-effective than single-use vials. This paper illustrates how money can be saved within the National Health Service through changes in drug procurement. Similar cost savings to those calculated for our department could be made in other ENT departments nationally, depending on their annual consumption of co-phenylcaine.


2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loretta Lees

Abstract Gentrification is no-longer, if it ever was, a small scale process of urban transformation. Gentrification globally is more often practised as large scale urban redevelopment. It is state-led or state-induced. The results are clear – the displacement and disenfranchisement of low income groups in favour of wealthier in-movers. So, why has gentrification come to dominate policy making worldwide and what can be done about it?


Author(s):  
Remus Runcan

According to Romania’s National Rural Development Programme, the socio-economic situation of the rural environment has a large number of weaknesses – among which low access to financial resources for small entrepreneurs and new business initiatives in rural areas and poorly developed entrepreneurial culture, characterized by a lack of basic managerial knowledge – but also a large number of opportunities – among which access of the rural population to lifelong learning and entrepreneurial skills development programmes and entrepreneurs’ access to financial instruments. The population in rural areas depends mainly on agricultural activities which give them subsistence living conditions. The gap between rural and urban areas is due to low income levels and employment rates, hence the need to obtain additional income for the population employed in subsistence and semi-subsistence farming, especially in the context of the depopulation trend. At the same time, the need to stimulate entrepreneurship in rural areas is high and is at a resonance with the need to increase the potential of rural communities from the perspective of landscape, culture, traditional activities and local resources. A solution could be to turn vegetal and / or animal farms into social farms – farms on which people with disabilities (but also adolescents and young people with anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicide, and alexithymia issues) might find a “foster” family, bed and meals in a natural, healthy environment, and share the farm’s activities with the farmer and the farmer’s family: “committing to a regular day / days and times for a mutually agreed period involves complying with any required health and safety practices (including use of protective clothing and equipment), engaging socially with the farm family members and other people working on and around the farm, and taking on tasks which would include working on the land, taking care of animals, or helping out with maintenance and other physical work”


Author(s):  
Yan Pan ◽  
Shining Li ◽  
Qianwu Chen ◽  
Nan Zhang ◽  
Tao Cheng ◽  
...  

Stimulated by the dramatical service demand in the logistics industry, logistics trucks employed in last-mile parcel delivery bring critical public concerns, such as heavy cost burden, traffic congestion and air pollution. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are a promising alternative tool in last-mile delivery, which is however limited by insufficient flight range and load capacity. This paper presents an innovative energy-limited logistics UAV schedule approach using crowdsourced buses. Specifically, when one UAV delivers a parcel, it first lands on a crowdsourced social bus to parcel destination, gets recharged by the wireless recharger deployed on the bus, and then flies from the bus to the parcel destination. This novel approach not only increases the delivery range and load capacity of battery-limited UAVs, but is also much more cost-effective and environment-friendly than traditional methods. New challenges therefore emerge as the buses with spatiotemporal mobility become the bottleneck during delivery. By landing on buses, an Energy-Neutral Flight Principle and a delivery scheduling algorithm are proposed for the UAVs. Using the Energy-Neutral Flight Principle, each UAV can plan a flying path without depleting energy given buses with uncertain velocities. Besides, the delivery scheduling algorithm optimizes the delivery time and number of delivered parcels given warehouse location, logistics UAVs, parcel locations and buses. Comprehensive evaluations using a large-scale bus dataset demonstrate the superiority of the innovative logistics UAV schedule approach.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 811
Author(s):  
Yaqin Hu ◽  
Yusheng Shi

The concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) has increased rapidly worldwide, aggravating the global greenhouse effect, and coal-fired power plants are one of the biggest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions in China. However, efficient methods that can quantify CO2 emissions from individual coal-fired power plants with high accuracy are needed. In this study, we estimated the CO2 emissions of large-scale coal-fired power plants using Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite data based on remote sensing inversions and bottom-up methods. First, we mapped the distribution of coal-fired power plants, displaying the total installed capacity, and identified two appropriate targets, the Waigaoqiao and Qinbei power plants in Shanghai and Henan, respectively. Then, an improved Gaussian plume model method was applied for CO2 emission estimations, with input parameters including the geographic coordinates of point sources, wind vectors from the atmospheric reanalysis of the global climate, and OCO-2 observations. The application of the Gaussian model was improved by using wind data with higher temporal and spatial resolutions, employing the physically based unit conversion method, and interpolating OCO-2 observations into different resolutions. Consequently, CO2 emissions were estimated to be 23.06 ± 2.82 (95% CI) Mt/yr using the Gaussian model and 16.28 Mt/yr using the bottom-up method for the Waigaoqiao Power Plant, and 14.58 ± 3.37 (95% CI) and 14.08 Mt/yr for the Qinbei Power Plant, respectively. These estimates were compared with three standard databases for validation: the Carbon Monitoring for Action database, the China coal-fired Power Plant Emissions Database, and the Carbon Brief database. The comparison found that previous emission inventories spanning different time frames might have overestimated the CO2 emissions of one of two Chinese power plants on the two days that the measurements were made. Our study contributes to quantifying CO2 emissions from point sources and helps in advancing satellite-based monitoring techniques of emission sources in the future; this helps in reducing errors due to human intervention in bottom-up statistical methods.


Diagnostics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1352
Author(s):  
Darius Riziki Martin ◽  
Nicole Remaliah Sibuyi ◽  
Phumuzile Dube ◽  
Adewale Oluwaseun Fadaka ◽  
Ruben Cloete ◽  
...  

The transmission of Tuberculosis (TB) is very rapid and the burden it places on health care systems is felt globally. The effective management and prevention of this disease requires that it is detected early. Current TB diagnostic approaches, such as the culture, sputum smear, skin tuberculin, and molecular tests are time-consuming, and some are unaffordable for low-income countries. Rapid tests for disease biomarker detection are mostly based on immunological assays that use antibodies which are costly to produce, have low sensitivity and stability. Aptamers can replace antibodies in these diagnostic tests for the development of new rapid tests that are more cost effective; more stable at high temperatures and therefore have a better shelf life; do not have batch-to-batch variations, and thus more consistently bind to a specific target with similar or higher specificity and selectivity and are therefore more reliable. Advancements in TB research, in particular the application of proteomics to identify TB specific biomarkers, led to the identification of a number of biomarker proteins, that can be used to develop aptamer-based diagnostic assays able to screen individuals at the point-of-care (POC) more efficiently in resource-limited settings.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 899
Author(s):  
Djordje Mitrovic ◽  
Miguel Crespo Chacón ◽  
Aida Mérida García ◽  
Jorge García Morillo ◽  
Juan Antonio Rodríguez Diaz ◽  
...  

Studies have shown micro-hydropower (MHP) opportunities for energy recovery and CO2 reductions in the water sector. This paper conducts a large-scale assessment of this potential using a dataset amassed across six EU countries (Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Spain, and Portugal) for the drinking water, irrigation, and wastewater sectors. Extrapolating the collected data, the total annual MHP potential was estimated between 482.3 and 821.6 GWh, depending on the assumptions, divided among Ireland (15.5–32.2 GWh), Scotland (17.8–139.7 GWh), Northern Ireland (5.9–8.2 GWh), Wales (10.2–8.1 GWh), Spain (375.3–539.9 GWh), and Portugal (57.6–93.5 GWh) and distributed across the drinking water (43–67%), irrigation (51–30%), and wastewater (6–3%) sectors. The findings demonstrated reductions in energy consumption in water networks between 1.7 and 13.0%. Forty-five percent of the energy estimated from the analysed sites was associated with just 3% of their number, having a power output capacity >15 kW. This demonstrated that a significant proportion of energy could be exploited at a small number of sites, with a valuable contribution to net energy efficiency gains and CO2 emission reductions. This also demonstrates cost-effective, value-added, multi-country benefits to policy makers, establishing the case to incentivise MHP in water networks to help achieve the desired CO2 emissions reductions targets.


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