ADF

The continent’s growth is ‘nearly unprecedented in human history.’ It will require planning and skilled leaders. ADF STAFF Habib Bourguiba was decades ahead of his time. In 1957, he became the first president of Tunisia. Over the course of his administration, he changed the social fabric of the country, particularly in the area of women’s rights. In a mostly Muslim country, Bourguiba gave women full citizenship, which included the right to remove their veils and the right to vote. He created a national health care system. He banned polygamy, gave women the right to divorce, and made sure that girls and…

Water Flows Through a Full Range of African Human Security Challenges ADF STAFF Lake Chad, which sits near the geographic center of Africa, can be seen as a symbol of the continent’s extraordinary water challenges. The lake, whose waters for centuries lapped at the shores of what is now Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, is a mere shadow of its former self. Between 1963 and 2001, the lake’s total area shrank from 25,000 square kilometers to 1,350 square kilometers. Overgrazing, excessive use, changes in climate patterns and unsustainable irrigation projects in surrounding countries combined to cause the decline. The livelihoods…

ADF STAFF Assi Ndiaye pushes her fingers into a box of dirt, planting a small lettuce sprout on an urban rooftop in Dakar, Senegal. Ndiaye is one of about 4,000 people, mostly women, participating in a successful project to improve food security in this nation of about 14 million. In a country where more than 20 percent of residents are undernourished, these 1-square-meter rooftop boxes offer families an opportunity to produce up to 30 kilograms of vegetables per year, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). One such box could produce either 200 tomatoes a…

Attacks by insurgent groups demonstrate the links between conflict and food security. ADF STAFF The human toll of Boko Haram’s long insurgency against the people of northern Nigeria is well-documented: Thousands have been killed, millions displaced and fear has rippled across the region. But in addition to the lives they destroyed, the extremist group has had another target: the agricultural sector. Boko Haram’s attacks on farmers and their land have been relentless. The group’s presence has cleared out much of the northeastern part of the country and transformed what once was known as Nigeria’s breadbasket into a food-insecure region. They’ve also…

Climate Change Can Combine With Other Factors to Affect Human Security  ADF STAFF The profound and dangerous effects of climate change in Africa are nowhere more evident than in the ongoing conflict in Darfur. The raging war in the western region of Sudan often is oversimplified as a long-standing ethnic dispute between nomadic Arab herders and black African farmers. Author Harald Welzer promotes a more complicated explanation, one that is “closely bound up with ecological problems.” In his 2008 book, Climate Wars: Why People Will Be Killed in the 21st Century, Welzer detailed a diverse and intricate pattern of events…

Stopping the slaughter requires a commitment from communities. ADF STAFF | photos by FELIPE RODRIGUEZ In April 2016, Kenyan officials built 11 massive piles of confiscated ivory and rhino horn in Nairobi National Park and set them on fire. The piles represented 6,500 slain elephants and 450 rhinos. The 105 tons of ivory and 1.35 tons of rhino horn were worth an estimated $150 million, National Geographic writer Rachel Nuwer reported. And it was only a fraction — about 5 percent — of the ivory and horns stockpiled by African governments. Animal poaching is big business. Africa has about 400,000…

Competition for energy resources often leads to violence. Africa hopes it can meet growing demands while reducing conflict. ADF STAFF By 2030, the global demand for energy is forecast to increase by 44 percent. Much of this new demand will come from emerging markets, including Sub-Saharan Africa. Millions of new air conditioners, smartphones, refrigerators and other items will push the continent’s electrical grid to its limits. Additionally, a growing manufacturing sector and increased automobile traffic will drive demand for coal, oil and natural gas. Although science has made major strides in diversifying energy sources and moving away from a complete reliance…

VOICE OF AMERICA South Sudan sponsored a “wrestling for peace” tournament, bringing together athletes from around the country. The last big tournament was canceled when civil war broke out in December 2013. With chests bare and leopard skins tied around their waists, 30 South Sudanese wrestlers marched into Juba stadium in April 2016. Four teams from different tribes competed to take home prizes of cattle and bragging rights. Traditional wrestling is hugely popular in the country. The tournament also was about showing that different South Sudanese tribes can find peace after more than two years of war that divided the…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Pioneering Malian photographer Malick Sidibe, whose powerful black-and-white images of local life won him international acclaim and top awards, died at the age of 80 in April 2016. Sidibe’s vibrant images of life in the capital, Bamako, in the 1960s, after Mali gained independence from France, were a social commentary chronicling popular culture and traditional society. In 2007, he was the first African and the first photographer to be awarded the Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival. “It’s a great loss for Mali. He was part of our cultural heritage,” said Mali’s Culture…

UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE A consecration ceremony of the Timbuktu mausoleums, last conducted in the 11th century, was celebrated in February 2016 at the initiative of the local community. It was the final phase of the United Nations-backed cultural rebirth of the age-old Sahara city after the destruction wrought by extremists in 2012. “These mausoleums are now once again standing,” U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Irina Bokova said in a message to the people of Mali. “This is irrefutable proof that unity is possible and peace is even stronger than before. We did it, and we can…