Studying the effects of drought on sugar cane farmers in Swaziland

By: Alan Terry on 21st Aug 2017

I returned to Tshaneni, Swaziland this summer to investigate how the 2013-16 El Niño drought which affected most of southern Africa impacted on the food security of a group of irrigated smallholder sugar cane farmers. Themba Mthethwa (RMI, Swaziland) and... Read more »

Categories: Africa Agriculture Blog Drought University of the West of England

Water as an input in food security

By: Binganidzo Muchara on 21st Mar 2017

The use of water for the cultivation of indigenous crops is a relatively neglected area of research. In an effort to better understand how water utilisation impacts food security and livelihoods, the IWSN team at Monash South Africa, in... Read more »

Categories: Africa Agriculture Blog Drought Monash South Africa Nexus

IWSN Africa launches water security status report for the Kafue Flats

By: Bimo Nkhata, Machaya Chomba on 27th Feb 2017

IWSN researchers at Monash South Africa have produced a water security status report aimed at highlighting critical water security issues for the Kafue Flats, located in the Kafue River Basin of Zambia. The Flats are one of the key... Read more »

Categories: Africa Agriculture Blog Drought Ecosystems Groundwater Monash South Africa Nexus River basins Zambia

Water scarcity is not an ‘event,’ so where are we getting it all wrong?

By: Binganidzo Muchara on 29th Nov 2016

The commissioning of the Medupi Power Station improved the electrical power supply in South Africa, after a couple of years of load-shedding. But as soon as the risk posed by inadequate electrical power supply was seemingly mitigated, the effects... Read more »

Categories: Africa Blog Drought Monash South Africa

Water scarcity and local level intervention approaches in Swaziland

By: Elsah Dhliwayo and Tinashe Rimau on 15th Nov 2016

‘A climate resilient transboundary catchment’ was the theme of the 4th River and Environmental Management Cooperation (REMCO) conference, held in Swaziland from 25-28 September 2016. The Kingdom of Swaziland is experiencing a severe drought which has resulted in water... Read more »

Categories: Africa Agriculture Blog Drought Monash South Africa News Transboundary

The city of two tales

By: Hlengiwe Dube on 1st Nov 2016

As I drove around Pietermaritzburg, I counted ten water restriction adverts. I imagined the state of the dwindling dam levels that, for my research, I follow day in, day out on the uMngeni Water website. I visited the site... Read more »

Categories: Africa Blog Drought Monash South Africa Water services

Is ‘resilience thinking’ the space outside the box?

By: Catherine (Kate) Pringle on 28th Sep 2016

South Africa is in the midst of a water crisis. Approximately 98% of available water has already been allocated and there are rising concerns about water quality. These issues are amplified in the face of the country’s worst drought... Read more »

Categories: Africa Blog Drought Ecosystems Resilience

Diversity as a key element of urban resilience

By: Adriana Zuniga-Teran, Tamee Albrecht (MS) on 2nd Aug 2016

As climate change increases the frequency of storm events, flooding risk, prolonged drought, and other hazards, enhancing resilience becomes the goal of cities worldwide. How can societies prepare for and address a multitude of disturbances that can threaten the... Read more »

Categories: Blog Climate change adaptation Drought Ecosystems Flooding Groundwater Resilience University of Arizona

Monash students awarded IWSN Student Prize at first annual drought seminar

By: Linda Downsborough on 6th Jul 2016

On Friday 3 June, Monash South Africa, in partnership with the International Water Security Network, hosted a seminar which brought together academics, practitioners and both undergraduate and postgraduate scholars to engage in a dialogue around drought. Currently, drought is... Read more »

Categories: Africa Agriculture Drought IWSN Student Prize Monash South Africa News

Harnessing psychological capital to improve polycentric water governance

By: Binganidzo Muchara on 6th Jul 2016

The challenge of allocation and management of irrigation water at a community level is always a thorny issue, affecting access and utilisation of the resource. This has been investigated among smallholder irrigation farmers in the Mooi River Irrigation Scheme... Read more »

Categories: Africa Agriculture Blog Drought Monash South Africa