During this week's online meeting John Dada was able to give the UK-Nigeria team an update about the Attachab Eco-Village project.

Following the successful initial progress the French Embassy have just released the 2nd installment of their grant.

John reported that the classroom / manager's residence is nearing completion as is the borehole.
On Monday the construction of the overhead water tank and the installation of a solar pump are scheduled to commence.

John explained that they are using compressed bricks work for the build.
He also reported that as of today (Wednesday 30th November) there are over 20 young men working at the Attachab site.
John said:

" We have created a small employment opportunity in the village"

This is very important for the local community where unrest and turmoil (especially amongst the unemployed youth) is still high as was sadly demonstrated by the recent civil unrest.

John explained:

Wednesday saw the first UK-Nigeria online meeting of 2011, and it was straight down to business as usual.

Following on from discussions at the Dadamac Day (Local goes Global) - and from the Directors’ meeting at the end of 2010 - the topic of climate change had already been identified as a focus for the New Year.

As ever, John Dada is keen to be at the forefront of raising this important issue at grassroots level. The hope is to develop the Knowledge Resource Centre and Attachab, ensuring that we are mindful of the issue of climate change.

Hi Pam,

I don't know if the Copenhagen Summit will end in some kind of a climate deal. But even if it does mark the first decisive step to do something about saving the planet, there are some who think it will amount to nothing, even if nations reach an agreement.

The reason being that reducing carbon emissions by 80% from the 1990 levels - the target for 2050 for rich countries - depends on technological breakthroughs, not political pledges at Copenhagen. Without technological breakthroughs, reducing carbon emissions by 80% will erode living standards in the countries concerned, says leading Indian economics journalist Swaminathan Aiyar.

In his latest column, Aiyar argues that through history, treaties have been junked if they become politically inconvenient. Not only that, he debunks climate science too by calling the projections of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projections as "just intelligent guesstimates". His parting shot: IPCC scientists may be the best in the world, yet they cannot predict the weather more than five days ahead.

Hi Pam, Nikki, John and others in the dadamac team and community,

Here is something that all of you would find interesting and useful.

I just read an interesting story on agricultural solutions for farmers to tackle the multiple challenges of climate change, desertification, high energy demand and an exploding population.

Dr William Dar, Director General of the India-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) says, "The world is facing a perfect storm, with a number of huge problems converging around us. At the centre of this storm are the poor people, who depend on agriculture for survival."

Backed by scientific research, ICRISAT says it has worked on crops (pearl millet, sorghum, chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut) that have several natural advantages in a changing climate. Click and read the full story

Hope there are some good takeaways for all of you.

Vijay

Hi Vijay.

You were thinking about climate change, its impact on Africa, and the reliability of forecasters. We don't have any current Dadamac project or Special Interest Group (SIG) related to climate change, but that doesn't mean that we couldn't have one. Dadamac is concerned with using the Internet to help people rub minds and learn from each other - especially people who could never have connected with each other before the Internet existed.

Two people can start a group

If at least two people want to rub minds on something that seems relevant to Dadamac then we can start a new SIG here at Dadamac.net. However - I can't really be one of the two people, so we would need to bring in at least one other person. Meanwhile if you want to start sharing your thoughts and collecting up resources in readiness you are very welcome to do so.

Hi Pam,

I just now read a Guardian story quoting a British scientist that Africa is already warming faster than the global average and that people living there can expect more intense droughts, floods and storm surges.

According to Prof. Sir Gordon Conway, the outgoing chief scientist at the British government's Department for International Development, and former head of the philanthropic Rockefeller Foundation, hunger on the continent could increase dramatically in the short term as droughts and desertification increase, and climate change affects water supplies. 

All that is fine. But my question is: Even assuming that the best minds are at work in predicting the consequences of climate change, how much of it can be taken at face value. After all, most of these forecasts are based on extrapolation of current-day statistics. The earth is such a dynamic phenomenon that so many parameters keep changing every year. When we can't be certain in knowing what could happen next year in terms of climate, how is it possible for scientists and experts to make doomsday projections for a period as far as 2100.

President of Maldives Mohamed Nasheed is one of the most outspoken spokespersons on the immediate need to end the climate impasse (over caps on carbon emissions) between the developed West and emerging countries like China and India. He believes that climate is now becoming a security than an environmental issue.

Nasheed is more worried than other heads of states since he fears (based on predictions by scientists) that his island nation might cease to exist owing to rise in sea levels triggered by climate change. In an article published in The New York Times just a month after he got elected in December 2008, Nasheed wrote that "for the first time in the country's history, the Maldives faces a new threat. The new danger is of apocalyptic, existential proportions, and it looms silently, invisibly and menacingly over our azure horizon." He brought the extreme vulnerability of his country to the global centre stage by holding an underwater meeting of his Cabinet.

Today, bloggers world wide are thinking about climate change as part of blog action day - and I am reminded of a conversation I had with a security man one dark night on a compound in rural Nigeria. 

I was admiring the stars. He was surprised. I explained that here in the UK I live on a main road; I need thick curtains in the bedroom to keep out the street lighting; light pollution hides all but the brightest of stars. He said he had previously met an American woman, also admiring the stars. She had said something similar but he had not believed her. Now I was saying the same thing so he was starting to believe it was true.

Another time, stumbling along a dark village path one evening someone said to me "Pam, we want street lights like you have". I replied  "No. You want street lights - but not like I have! I believe there are better ones now than the ones I have - ones which do not prevent you from seeing the stars"