Africa

Grazing pressure in savannah rangelands increases the possibility of desertification and woody plant encroachment under different land management. As such, early warning shift indicators of degraded rangelands are required. Zimmer et al., 2024 conducted a study on the arid savanna rangelands on Arenosols in Namibia and focussed on soil organic carbon (SOC) and carbon isotopes (δ13C) as indicators. Results show lower SOC stocks on communal rangelands compared to freehold farms, with correlations between SOC stocks and vegetation cover types. The findings emphasize the importance of considering soil properties such as SOC in land management practices to assess and mitigate soil degradation risks in savanna ecosystems
Mulwafua and Kamchedzera 2024 found that Malawi's soil laws lack strong priorities for Avoid, Reduce, and Reverse strategies regarding land degradation neutrality, contrasting with Uganda and Germany which incorporate these strategies in their soil-dedicated legal frameworks. By using Roscoe Pound's theory of social engineering, the authors suggest that Malawi's human-centred approach to soil conservation neglects eco-centric and deep ecology perspectives.

This study examines the impact of home-to-school distance on student dropout rates in Adi-Keyih sub-zone, Eritrea, analysing data from almost 2,500 students. Findings indicate that greater distances between home and school significantly increase the likelihood of dropout.

Ethiopia is a rainfall-based agricultural country that is susceptible to the impacts of climate change and risk. Floods and droughts, which happen more frequently and intensely, significantly and negatively influence agricultural production. The objective of the meta-analysis is to identify impacts on various sectors, adaptation strategies, and the challenges of climate change in the Ethiopian context. Twenty-three peer-reviewed articles were identified from ScienceDirect and Web of Science, followed by PRISMA guidelines, and analyzed using Stata version 13.

Recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) research have opened up new opportunities for leveraging AI research for societal impacts. AI research offers novel ways of tackling societal problems including environmental, health, and education challenges. Despite the potential, there are limited documented use cases and methodologies for translating AI research to societal impact at a large scale. This paper presents AirQo, an AI and advanced technology-driven use case for urban environmental pollution monitoring and modelling and the resulting societal impacts that have been realised.

Proper regulation is essential to ensure that such a system benefited those in need, and that those who provided organs are properly compensated. Without significant policy changes, however, far too many patients will continue to languish on waiting lists until they run out of time. The goal of SDG3 is that everyone should have a good health and well-being.
A paper that explores how interventions can help reduce the waiting times in an epilepsy outpatient clinic.
Policymakers continue to contend with the challenge of measuring and classifying schools concerning educational resources, which makes it difficult for policy development and implementation towards efficient allocation of the scarce resources available to education managers. This study, therefore, sought to estimate the extent of educational resource deprivation among Basic Schools in Ghana and find out its effect on the delivery of quality education.

Truter et al. investigate how diet and culture influence the Ju|’hoansi intestinal microbiome, which can influence health and well-being. They find that while the Ju|’hoansi intestinal microbiome is distinct, it resembles that of other hunter-gatherer populations.

Elsevier, , Volume 1, 1 January 2024
Nanomaterials have become an important area of research for scientists worldwide for their application in energy generation, energy conversion, and energy storage, self-powered devices, etc. It is in high need to find alternate energy sources to the traditional ones for a sustainable environment. Therefore it is important to work on using the excellent properties of nanomaterials to conquer the limitations in selecting materials and fabrication techniques for efficient energy generation instruments to substitute conventional energy storage and energy sources.

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