ADF

ADF STAFF Raised by a hard-working mother on a small farm in Kenya, John Oroko experienced many hardships and developed a passion for problem-solving. As an adult he built a digital platform that integrates small-scale farmers, pastoralists and fishing communities into global supply chains. He and his co-founder named their company Selina Wamucii to honor their mothers. Last year, Oroko witnessed the devastation wrought by desert locusts. It was a call to action. Selina Wamucii recently launched a mobile app called Kuzi that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to fight the crop-devouring swarms while a second wave is hitting East Africa.…

ADF STAFF Liberia has embarked on a four-year, $3 million project that will aid local fishermen in their battle against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The Communities for Fisheries project will train local fishermen to take geotagged photos of trawlers suspected of IUUfishing. It is a partnership between the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) and Liberia’s National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA). “In some cases, we will provide some smartphones to trained fishermen to trail illegal fishing [vessels and issue reports] using our monitoring app that allows geotagged photos to be taken,” EJF Executive Director Steve Trent told ADF in…

ADF STAFF China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was supposed to tie large portions of the world together, but the project may be coming apart in Africa due to debt, poorly designed and vetted projects, and the damage of COVID-19. “The image that you get of the Belt and Road in grand halls is different than the reality on the ground,” researcher Jonathan Hillman told Australia’s United States Study Centre. Hillman is senior fellow and director of the Reconnecting Asia Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He recently published a book assessing BRI. In writing his book,…

ADF STAFF China has made a push to promote clean energy domestically in response to complaints about polluted skies and waterways. When it comes to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Africa, however, many projects still run on coal. Chinese banks and companies have a hand in financing at least 13 coal projects across Africa with nine more in the works, according to Greenpeace. Since 2000, China has invested more than $50 billion in coal overseas. The China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China alone have pumped $6.5 billion into African coal projects, according to data from…

ADF STAFF Niger’s Air Force celebrated the return of a refurbished C-130H Hercules transport plane that will be used to carry materiel and troops to defend its borders. U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett and U.S. Ambassador to Niger Eric Whitaker presented the plane to Nigerien Defense Minister Issoufou Katambe and Chief of Defense Gen. Salifou Modi at Air Base 101 in Niamey earlier in January. The ceremony marked the return of the plane to the Nigerien fleet after being repaired and refurbished. Capt. Ouma Laouali, Niger’s first female C-130 pilot, also took part in the event. The…

ADF STAFF People who depend on fish for food and income in Senegal are speaking out against Chinese-owned fishmeal and fish oil factories that have operated there for years. Fishmeal factories pulverize fish into powder to feed to farmed seafood, such as shrimp, as well as pigs, chickens and other animals. China is the world’s top importer of fishmeal and one of the world’s top shrimp exporters. The factories pose a dire food security threat because they usually are supplied by large foreign trawlers that catch tons of fish a day — far more than artisanal canoes — sometimes illegally.…

ADF STAFF Close on the heels of Zambia’s default on its Eurobond debt in November, Angola may be next in line to declare itself unable to service its huge international debt, nearly half of which is owed to China. The Southern African country has a debt equal to 120% of its gross domestic product. Debt payments eat up about $9 billion a year, about a quarter of its national revenue. As the debt has risen, the value of its currency, the kwanza, has fallen along with demand for oil, Angola’s biggest export. “Even before COVID-19 we were coming from a…

ADF STAFF Nongovernmental and volunteer organizations such as Sea Shepherd Global and Greenpeace are playing critical roles in the battle against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in Africa and around the globe. China, which operates the world’s largest distant-water fishing fleet, is the most notorious IUU fishing offender, supporting fishing vessels that steal food and income from nations that have insufficient maritime security forces. In West Africa, Chinese trawlers have decimated fish stocks to the brink of collapse, but more countries are contracting with Sea Shepherd, a direct-action group that operates a fleet of vessels that help local authorities…

ADF STAFF A locust invasion has laid siege to East Africa since December 2019, and it could get worse. Hundreds of billions of the insects destroyed crops across the region in early 2020, multiplying by a factor of 20 per generation, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). A second generation in March and April numbered in the trillions. Now ideal conditions have cultivated another wave that threatens crops and livelihoods across the eastern and southern parts of the continent. “Early and ongoing rains have led to a new cycle of breeding, and fresh swarms are forming…

ADF STAFF Twenty months ago a political earthquake rocked Sudan. A popular uprising led to a military coup that ousted dictator Omar al-Bashir and sent shockwaves around the world. Since then, revolution has given way to reality. Under the leadership of a transitional government, Sudan now faces daunting challenges, including an economic crisis, severe flooding and tensions with neighboring Ethiopia. “Sudan is at a critical juncture,” United Nations political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council on December 8. “It can move forward decisively in its transition, but that progress can still be derailed by the many challenges it…