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Nature-based solutions for river restoration and flow management: the case of Kitwe City, Zambia
(Book Chapter, 2025-01-30) Umer, Yakob; Debele, S. E.; Mvula, C.; Amarnath, Giriraj; Chisola, M. N.; Marti-Cardona, B.
River systems worldwide are under significant anthropogenic pressures and climate-related challenges, leading to ecosystem degradation and increased flood risk. This chapter demonstrates how Nature Based Solutions (NbS) can contribute to river restoration while reducing flood risk, supporting wider sustainable goals. To this end, this chapter evaluates the effectiveness of NbS interventions in river restoration and flood risk management in the Kitwe City, Zambia. The methodology involves using a hydraulic model to simulate river flow under different NbS scenarios (retention ponds and woodland reforestation), and to compare the simulated flood depth and flow velocity in pre- and post-intervention conditions. The findings indicate that the presence of NbS significantly reduces flood risks, with retention ponds and woodlands leading to flood depth reductions ranging from 0.09 m to 0.18 m and 0.06 m to 0.11 m, respectively. Regarding flow velocities, retention ponds reduced them by an average of 0.11m/s, and woodlands, by 0.07 m/s. These results indicate that both NbS types reduce flood depth and velocity, with ponds being slightly more effective than woodland in the particular setting of the Kitwe District. The findings suggest that integrating NbS into river restoration can mitigate flood risks, improve ecosystem resilience, and contribute to long-term sustainability. These results inform risk management policies and emphasise the need for interdisciplinary collaboration to upscale NbS for maximum ecological and societal benefits.
Sustainable Development Goal 6: ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
(Book Chapter, 2024-04-19) van Koppen, Barbara
Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) seeks to ‘ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all’, and addresses the pathways to health, hygiene and ending hunger. This chapter highlights how reliable, weather-proof access to water is key for drinking, domestic uses, hygiene, and food preparation and processing from household to industrial scales. Further, agricultural water management and irrigation improve crop yields and can extend cropping into the ‘hunger’ season, also overcoming unexpected droughts. Moreover, water security stimulates investments in higher-value seeds and other inputs. Livestock, fisheries and aquaculture also depend on water availability. These pathways contribute to higher dietary diversity of micro-nutrient and protein-rich vegetables, meat, eggs, and other food for own consumption or sale. Water availability for multiple uses at homesteads is particularly effective for ending child malnutrition. However, food systems also risk polluting water. Therefore, SDG6 also envisages water quality control and resource recovery.
Links between water resources and infrastructure in water tenure
(Book Chapter, 2024-11-28) van Koppen, Barbara
Water tenure: integrity at the interface between statutory and customary law in Africa
(Book Chapter, 2024-11-28) Schreiner, B.; van Koppen, Barbara
Irrigation, collective action, and property rights
(Brief, 2004) Vermillion, Douglas L.
Governments are now shifting their role from direct management of irrigation systems to regulation of the water sector, provision of support services to water user associations, and capacity building among water user associations and irrigation service providers.... International experience suggests that successful irrigation sector reform programs establish both a policy working group and a national secretariat that help to guide and coordinate the planning and implementation of the reform process. The process should include: strategic, participatory planning; research and stakeholder consultations; mobilization of political support; design and adoption of an appropriate policy, legal, institutional, and regulatory framework; strategy to coordinate lending and technical assistance; public awareness campaigns; and monitoring, evaluations, and course corrections. -- from Text.
Protecting vulnerable communities: a case study of index-based flood insurance in India, powered by flood modeling and remotely sensed rainfall
(Book Chapter, 2025-01) Amarnath, Giriraj; Ghosh, Surajit; Alahacoon, Niranga; Sikka, Alok; Brahmanand, P. S.
The poor across the world is vulnerable to floods and drought disasters, which have a detrimental effect on the lives and livelihoods of the poor. Weather-based index insurance is one of the ways of dealing with these disasters. Protecting against floods and providing risk cover against losses due to floods has been a major area of concern for any government. Risk transfer through insurance is an important component in managing agricultural risks from extreme flood events. The study developed the first of its kind of design and implementation of an index-based flood insurance (IBFI) product with the advanced use of satellite data and flood models to estimate crop losses due to floods. IBFI insurance product uses two different data elements, and the first one is based on the flood model using HEC-HMS and HEC-RAS that uses inputs from NASA GPM bias-corrected satellite rainfall estimates, observed water level and discharge data, river characteristics, and digital elevation model to generate flood depth and flood duration to develop predetermined thresholds based on the historical flood events between 1991 and 2015 and the second IBFI product uses only satellite data from NASA MODIS Terra and Aqua satellite data and the Copernicus Sentinel-1 SAR data to generate flood depth and flood duration to develop predetermined thresholds based on the historical flood events and economic losses. More than 7000 farming households in Bihar (India) and northern Bangladesh have signed up for a pilot IBFI scheme, which went live in 2017. The participating farmers have received insurance compensation for crop losses of over $US160,000. In addition to the insurance product implementation, the research evaluated the farming willingness to pay, developing business models for scaling, social equity, and economic benefits of derisk disasters. IBFI initiative promotes a closer linkage between risk transfer and risk reduction that could make this a more sustainable and robust financial instrument for flood-affected communities and reduce the burden of postdisaster relief funds for the government. In summary, index insurance using open-access satellite imagery is a win-win opportunity as it brings down the data development cost, lower insurance premiums, quick settlement, and greater transparency among various users.
Enhancing transboundary flood forecasting for early warnings in the Gash River Basin
(Book Chapter, 2025-01) Amarnath, Giriraj; Alahacoon, Niranga; Gismalla, Y.; Mohammed, Y.; Sharma, Bharat R.; Smakhtin, Vladimir
Historically, flooding is the most common environmental hazard worldwide, and also one of the most threatening to communities. Hydrological modeling of large river catchments has become a challenging task for water resources engineers due to the complexity of collecting and handling both spatial and nonspatial data, such as rainfall, gauge-discharge data, and topographic and hydraulic parameters. The Gash is a transboundary river which originates from the Eritrean Highlands and Ethiopian Plateau and ends up in Sudan. It is unique in its discharge flows with torrential rain between Jul. and Oct. while being dry for the rest of the year. Despite this characteristic, the river is the main source of water for domestic and agricultural use in Kassala City, Sudan. In this chapter we briefly present the potential application of satellite-based rainfall estimates and develop a flood forecasting model for the Gash River Basin, Sudan, through a distributed modeling approach using remote sensing data. The approach includes rainfall-runoff modeling, hydrodynamic flow routing, and calibration and validation of the model with field discharge data. The study area is divided into 25 subbasins to improve model accuracy. To generate relevant parameters for modeling, GlobCover land cover data (1000 m), Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) at 90 m, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) soil grid data using freely available datasets were used for the Gash River in Eastern Sudan. Based on several studies in Eastern Africa on the choice of satellite-based rainfall estimates, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) was used to represent the actual rainfall pattern and intensity of the basin. Model simulations were carried out using the HEC-HMS model. From 6 years (2007–12) of available discharge data for five stations, the period 2008–11 was considered for calibration with 2008 as the warming-up period, and data from 2007 and 2012 were used for validation. The model was tested during the 2013 floods at real-time, 3-h intervals. The accuracy of the estimated peak flood discharge and lag time was found to be good with reference to field observation data. Flood forecasting lead time is increased by 12 h compared to conventional methods of forecasting.
Development of an operational flood early warning system for Black Volta River Basin, West Africa
(Book Chapter, 2025-01) Padhee, Suman Kumar; Amarnath, Giriraj; Umer, Yakob
Floods are the most frequent disaster causing global economic losses in billions and pose a significant threat to modern civilization. The UNDRR strongly advocates for flood early warning system (FEWS) with scientific rationale for all nations by 2027, acknowledging that developing countries face financial and human resource challenges in adopting advanced FEWS infrastructure. This study is focused on the development of a FEWS for the Black Volta Basin (BVB) in West Africa with free data resources and open-source modeling infrastructure. It is based on the approach of integrating the Deltares wflow_sbm hydrologic model and the LISFLOOD-FP hydrodynamic model for forecasting flood and inundation maps. The wflow_sbm is calibrated (1990–1997, NSE value = 0.71) and validated (1998–2007, NSE value = 0.72) by using station-based gridded rainfall from the West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) and discharge time series from Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC) portals. Based on the calibrated parameters, wflow_sbm model is utilized to produce hydrograph for the years 2001–2022 with raw and bias-corrected GPM-IMERG rainfall inputs, where the discharge with the latter is found to outperform that from the former. The peak flood event from the produced hydrograph by the wflow model is fed into a 2D hydraulic model, LISFLOOD-FP model, to simulate the flood extent. Evaluation of modeled inundation modeling by comparing with satellite inundation observation during flood 2022 case resulted in an acceptable range (F = 0.527). Hydrograph for the flood 2022 case is overlapped with hydrographs from GEFSv12 weather forecast inputs in 1 day, 2 days, and 3 days. It is found that the absolute error percentage for 1 day throughout most of the season is forecasted under 10% including the peak of the flood. Forecasts lead time of 2 and 3 days are observed to have degraded accuracy as compared to 1-day forecasts due to higher uncertainties. Identification of the onset of hydrograph inclination is also found to underperform by GEFSv12 inputs and possible causes are discussed. The aim of this work is to promote FEWS with limited resources in African river basins, considering the problem of data scarcity.
Water for sustainable development: examining the water–energy–food–society nexus (SDG 17)
(Book Chapter, 2024-09-06) Pavelic, Paul; Magombeyi, Manuel; Schmitter, Petra; Jacobs-Mata, Inga
SDG 17 underscores the pivotal and interconnected role of water, including its energy implications, in addressing challenges related to human well-being and sustainable development. Solar water pumps (SWPs) offer an important technological innovation exemplifying this water–energy–food–society nexus. As a comparatively new and eco-friendly approach to irrigation, SWPs have the potential to substantially benefit millions of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). With costs for solar products steadily reducing, the small-scale SWP market is expected to grow in sales and expand into new territories. Overall, the region’s groundwater resources are known to be greatly underutilized and hence enable greater SWP adoption. This study assesses the possible risks to groundwater resources from SWP expansion to the year 2030. The current market environment is extremely heterogeneous across regions and countries. It is conservatively estimated that up to 10,000 units are sold each year, with the strongest markets found in East Africa. Around 100,000 SWP units are estimated to be in operation. For projected rates of annual growth spanning from 6% to 18%, along with intentionally high estimates of groundwater pumping, the upper limit on the quantity of available groundwater pumped by small SWP development to 2030 would vary from 0.4% to 0.6% at the SSA scale. Values in the regions vary from a low of <0.1% for Central Africa through to a high of 1.6%–2.1% for Southern Africa. Specific countries may generally support additional SWPs ranging from tens of thousands up to millions of units without negatively impacting on groundwater availability. Countries characterized by greater recharge and lower current groundwater use can accommodate greater numbers of SWP systems. Short-term threats to the availability of groundwater are assessed to be low over the short and medium terms. Over the long term, risks to groundwater may be greater than evaluated in this study should SWP growth rates exceed the projected range or if improvements in technology allow for stronger, small-capacity pumps to flood the market. To address long-term groundwater management challenges, key action areas have been defined that recognize the diverse conditions across the regions.
Intra-African trade in virtual water: Trends and drivers
(Book Chapter, 2024-08-29) Matchaya, Greenwell; Odjo, Sunday; Collins, Julia
Increasing intra-African trade is expected to have a wide range of benefits, including contributing to increased economic growth, employment, and food security. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), launched in 2021, will have potentially significant impacts on economic output and incomes when fully implemented. A recent study suggests that AfCFTA implementation will drive substantial employment growth, generating more than 7 million new jobs in manufacturing, public services, trade, and other services (World Bank 2020). Bouët, Laborde, and Traoré (2022) estimate that an ambitious implementation of the AfCFTA, which eliminates tariffs and significantly reduces nontariff measures, would increase Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.2 percent compared to baseline trends in the absence of the AfCFTA by 2035. Increased intra-African trade in agriculture could also contribute significantly to improving food security and nutrition, including by increasing dietary diversity, promoting food price stability, and boosting the availability of key micronutrients (Bonuedi, Kamasa, and Opeku 2020; Makochekanwa and Matchaya 2019; Odjo and Badiane 2018; Olivetti et al. 2023). A further potential benefit of increased intra-African trade is its contribution to environmental sustainability and efficient use of scarce natural resources. The impacts of trade on the environment are complex. Although trade expends resources and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, it could also contribute to sustainable resource use if it allows countries to specialize in production patterns according to their resource endowments and comparative advantage (Odjo, Traoré, and Zaki 2023). In the context of climate variability and water scarcity, trade could potentially help to minimize the negative impacts by moving commodities from areas with high water availability to water-scarce areas (Matchaya, Garcia, and Traoré 2023). This chapter reviews overall trends in intra-African agricultural trade and, to assess the contribution of this trade to sustainability, takes a close look at its potential to address issues of water scarcity and contribute to efficient use of water resources. The chapter examines intra African agricultural trade in virtual water—that is, the water content embedded in trade flows of agricultural products. Trade is most commonly measured in value terms, but the monetary value of a product does not always reflect the resources used to produce it. Trade flows expressed as virtual water trade (VWT) reflect both the specific water requirements of different crops and the varying crop yields obtained in different countries. Examining intra-African trade in virtual water terms and identifying the impact of countries’ resource endowments and water productivity levels on VWT helps us to assess the contribution of intra-African trade to addressing water stress and scarcity in African countries and contributing to more efficient water use.
Forecasting future global agricultural water demand: current projections and future challenges
(Book Chapter, 2024-06-10) Amarasinghe, Upali A.; Amarnath, Giriraj; Sikka, Alok
Population and economic growth, urbanization, and lifestyle changes are key drivers of water demand estimation. Climatic change and risks add another dimension to the calculus. However, unreliable baseline information and future uncertainties of many drivers are barriers to accurate demand projections, which are essential for future planning. This chapter re-looks at the current global agricultural water demand estimations and challenges for making reliable future projections, which are crucial for two reasons. First is the large share of the water withdrawals and the population that depend on direct and indirect livelihoods at present in the agricultural sector in developing countries. Second, the emerging climatic risks with variable temperatures and rainfall frequently affect agriculture production globally. Because of interlinkages with international trade, accurate global water and food demand productions will be critical for planning food, water, and nutritional security, national climate adaptation actions, and achieving sustainable development targets in many developing countries.
Managing the irrigation efficiency paradox to “free” water for the environment
(Book Chapter, 2024-06-10) Lankford, B.; McCartney, Matthew
Reducing water consumption (equivalent to depletion) in irrigated agriculture ‘saves’ water, freeing it up to be allocated to other sectors, for example, to restore environmental flows. However, this task is not straightforward because consumption is difficult to adjust; there are many scales, motives, actors, concepts, calculations and hydrological practices and processes involved. Without a comprehensive approach to managing water, attempts to save water typically result in no observed effect, a reduction in crop production, a redistribution of water, or, paradoxically, an increase in water consumption. To address this challenge, a six-part ‘irrigation savings allocation framework’ (ISAF) to effect consumption-based savings is proposed. It first considers crop water requirements, then field applications, through to intra-system, and then system withdrawals of water. ISAF controls for irrigation consumption rebound and reuse in order to reduce depletion at the basin scale, and it tracks ‘freed up’ water to ensure it can be allocated to nature or other sectors.
Tracking CAADP indicators and processes
(Book Chapter, 2017) Makombe, Tsitsi; Tefera, Wondwosen; Matchaya, Greenwell; Benin, Samuel
Chapter 11 tracks progress on CAADP indicators outlined in the CAADP Results Framework for 2015–2025 in the areas of economic growth, food and nutrition security, employment, poverty, agricultural production and productivity, intra-African trade and market performance, and public agriculture-sector expenditure. It also reviews countries’ progress in the CAADP implementation process and in strengthening systemic capacity to deliver results.
Circular bioeconomy: a pathway to sustainable development in an age of global crisis
(Book Chapter, 2024-05-17) Taron, Avinandan; Gebrezgabher, Solomie
The global economy is facing a steep challenge from volatility, risk and uncertainty associated with climate change, pandemics, regional conflicts and trade wars which are unprecedented and overlapping. These crises are leading to macro- and microeconomic imbalances. The immediate effects like rising inflation, shortage of energy and fertiliser, food insecurity, loss of jobs and poverty are looming large, leading to existential threat. It is evident that decades of progress are at risk and pursuing sustainable development goals (SDGs) requires dedicated and customised efforts by the governments and other relevant actors, especially in the low- and middle-income countries (LMICS). The concept of circular economy is considered to bring a paradigm shift by reducing the dependence on natural resource extraction and decoupling economic growth from use of natural resources. Bioeconomy is another emerging field which deals with the use of renewable biological resources such as biomass to produce renewable biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower for economic, environmental and social benefits. Circular bioeconomy (CBE) lies at the intersection and is defined as the production of recoverable biological (waste) resources and the conversion of these resources into high-value-added products, such as food, feed, bio-based products and bioenergy. It has been estimated that the economic opportunity for the sector to complement or even substitute conventional ones is estimated to be USD 7.7 trillion by 2030 for food and feed waste products, and energy. CBE is perceived as a pathway for development and has the potential to target different SDGs directly like 6, 7 and 12 and SDGs 2, 3, 11, 12, 13 and 15 indirectly. This study explores the linkages of CBE with the SDG goals and provides recommendations to stimulate the sector.
Summary: creating systems innovation platforms for transformative pathways in circular economy
(Book Chapter, 2024-02-09) Sobratee‑Fajurally, Nafiisa; Nhamo, L.; Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwanashe
The chapters in this book cover multi-dimensional aspects of resource use efficiency framed around the circular economy (CE) and how its intertwined domains enable transformative approaches. Various epistemic standpoints are discussed, ranging from systems optimisation versus systems application challenges in sludge waste management in Sweden, gendered and intersectionality considerations, the efficacy of user interface in WASH initiatives from a socio-technical perspective, integrated strategies for climate change adaptation and pandemic preparedness, and CE implications at multiple governance levels with examples from Sub-Saharan Africa. This leads to the insight that whereas the various resource strategies grouped under the CE’s banner are not new individually, the concept offers a new framing of these strategies by drawing attention to their capacity to prolong resource use and sustain ecosystems as well as to the interrelationships between these strategies. This chapter aims at synthesising the learning outcomes from each chapter. More specifically, it seeks to demonstrate how tension arising between the dichotomy of short-term efficiency versus large-scale transition or mandated sector-specific achievements versus long-term systemic resilience outcomes can be accommodated if we can shift our perspective from seeing these as dichotomies to one where the evolutionary principle of complex systems is envisioned (Siegenfeld & Bar-Yam, 2020). Since transformative approaches to CE are complex, tensions due to competing strategies are inevitable. One of the ways to view the transformative potential of CE is to understand the nature and scale of change that any intervention seeks to address. Considering the topics covered in this work, six leverage points framed around transformative CE are discussed. These are organised as (i) realising that the current equilibrium is outdated and skewed towards linearity such that impacts are additive but non-systemic, (ii) creating a new culture for enabling transformative patterns by connecting actors who share a new set of values, (iii) enabling Community of Practice (CoP) that share a common identity, (iv) connecting resources in novel ways by repurposing existing capacities, that is, extending the ontology of the CE, (v) institutionalising and supporting new networked configurations till normalisation, and (vi) impacts become systemic through synergies, trade-offs and comprise are negotiated and new patterns co-exist and are visible. The theme from each chapter is plotted against these leverage points, as shown in Figure 15.1.
Catalysing cleaner production systems: benchmarking with the COVID‑19 lockdowns in South Africa
(Book Chapter, 2024-02-09) Magidi, J.; Nhamo, L.; Kurwakumire, E.; Gumindoga, W.; Mpandeli, S.; Liphadzi, S.; Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwanashe
Industrial and vehicular emissions are among the major contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) atmospheric concentration, causing ozone depletion, climate change, and health risks. Reducing air pollution to permissible levels fosters human and environmental health through reduced radiation, stabilised temperatures, and improved air quality. This chapter quantifies the spatio-temporal atmospheric pollution in South Africa using remotely sensed satellite data acquired between April 2019 and April 2020, just before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic lockdown. Remotely sensed data are essential for quantifying and monitoring air quality over time by assessing the change in pollution indicators such as fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) content. An analysis of results reveals that NO2 levels in South Africa reduced by 20.5% during the COVID-19 lockdown period compared to normal economic activity. The findings were used to develop a framework to guide policy and support decision-making to formulate coherent strategies for reducing pollution and alignment towards a low-carbon economy. Developing controlling and monitoring systems that capture episodic pollution events and enhance cleaner production mechanisms is critical for ensuring low carbon emissions and reducing environmental and human health risks. Although most NO2 emissions are generated in urban environments, the effects are felt far beyond, with detrimental effects on the environment and human health.
Understanding the nexus between water, energy and food in the context of climate change adaptation: a river basin perspective
(Book Chapter, 2024-02-06) Dlamini, N.; Senzanje, A.; Taguta, C.; Dirwai, Tinashe Lindel; Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwanashe
Climate change is a phenomenon that significantly affects vulnerable societies by disrupting water, energy, and food security. Hence, to meet projected socioeconomic needs while ensuring the sustainable development of these resources, a multidisciplinary approach to managing water, energy, food, and the environment under climate change is essential. This chapter outlines and promotes the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus approach, a holistic methodology that is becoming highly prevalent for more effective resource usage and economic growth. Furthermore, in light of climate change adaptation, this chapter discusses what adaptation means in today’s climate-sensitive society and the possible impact on resource security. A basin-level review on climate change impacts on WEF resources in the Buffalo River catchment, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, was conducted, which revealed that impacts from water pressures imposed by climate change and incoherent management of water resources are anticipated to have an adverse impact on agricultural production and the energy sector. Findings also emphasize the significance of adapting to the WEF nexus’ systems thinking approach in resource management under climate change, which addresses synergies, trade-offs, and harmonisation of management strategies.
A WEF nexus–based planning framework to assess progress towards Sustainable Development Goals
(Book Chapter, 2024-02-09) Mpandeli, S.; Nhamo, L.; Liphadzi, S.; Molwantwa, J.; Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwanashe
The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus has transitioned into an important transformative approach for understanding the intricate interlinkages between global resource systems on which humankind depends to achieve and sustain various social, economic, and environmental goals. This chapter discusses a WEF nexus–based framework developed to facilitate this understanding and guide the progress towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) assessment. Understanding the intricate interlinkages among the WEF resources and the progress towards SDGs is critical for achieving a sustainable and resource-secure future. Since the introduction of the SDGs, the WEF nexus has evolved into an important theoretical, analytical, and conceptual framework for understanding and systematically analysing the intricate socio-ecological interactions and their impact on human health. This has seen the approach becoming a useful decision-support tool for improved spatio-temporal and cross-sectoral coordination, management, and use of natural resources. This has facilitated identifying and managing trade-offs and synergies through informed developmental interventions that allow for more integrated and cost-effective planning, decision-making, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. The chapter provides the methodological pathways to strategic policy decisions towards resilience, adaptation and sustainable development.
Gender norms and social transformation of agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa
(Book Chapter, 2024-02-09) Mapedza, Everisto D.
There is a paucity of scientific information regarding gender norms and social transformation in the Sub-Saharan region. This has contributed to the insufficient articulation of gender issues in the proposed agricultural programmes and visions, such as the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the Malabo Declaration. These efforts premise the transformation of the African continent on the foundation of the agricultural sector, a critical pillar in most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Global initiatives such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations and Climate Change of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change must be locally applied. This means that the water and land livelihood pathways in agriculture and the related value chain linkages will contribute towards food self-sufficiency for Africa and the modernization of the economies in Africa. In all these discourses, whilst gender is sometimes highlighted, it is often not well articulated within the proposed solutions. This study aims to better understand the role of gender norms in agriculture transformation. This chapter aims to draw upon generic literature to illustrate how gender norms are central to transforming the agricultural sector within Sub-Saharan Africa. The study method is based on a generic desk study literature review that identified descriptive thematic areas.
Progress towards the circular economy: case studies of sanitation and organic waste–derived resource recovery technologies in South Africa
(Book Chapter, 2024-02-09) Badza, T.; Musazura, W.; Shozi, M. Z.; Odindo, A. O.; Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwanashe
The circular economy (CE) approach has attracted worldwide attention in the recent past due to increased global growth in natural resource use. The growth in natural resource extraction has been happening much faster than previously forecasted, hence the need for alternative and sustainable, transformative options for growing circular economies worldwide. In this chapter, the focus is on the progress made in South Africa on the transition towards a CE in the sanitation and organic waste management sectors. We interrogate the technologies currently existing in the country and how they contribute to resource recovery from sanitation products for reuse in the agricultural sector. The sanitation products value chain is targeted based on two basic principles: (a) decreasing resource exploitation and (b) increasing waste reduction, that is, evaluating evidence of increased resource use efficiencies and reduced waste generation in the local context. The reasons for the transition to a CE and available organic waste resource recovery technologies are highlighted, as the limitations hindering progress in achieving a CE and potential avenues to address these limitations are presented.

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