I use my skin care products religiously and I am loyal to several brands that have proven to be good for my skin over the years. Top on my list are Neutrogena and Clean and Clear facial scrubs that leave my skin feeling smooth and silky. So imagine my shock when I saw these products on the list of those causing harm to marine life and affecting the water quality. I will be honest; the research I have done on these products has been purely based on what I could gain from them and not what their use could potentially mean to the environment. However, a time comes when you can no longer ignore the facts glaring in your face. The past week has seen an active debate and discussion on the effects of microbeads on marine life and water supplies. Microbeads are small plastic particles found in different hygiene products. They provide color and texture; exfoliating dead skin particles from our skin. Microbeads are smaller than one millimeter and are made of polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polymethyl methacrylate, or nylon. The 5 Gyres institute estimates that a single tube of scrub can have more than 300,000 microbeads. They create a rough texture that is used in exfoliating scrubs and color in toothpastes. What complicates matters with microbeads is that they are non-biodegradable and its size makes it possible for it to pass through the waste water treatment systems. This means that the microbeads are washed into rivers and lakes and eventually make their way into the ocean where they contribute to the plastic soup.   Environmental activists claim that microbeads are clogging the water affecting marine life and eventually putting man at risk through the food chain. Beat the Microbead, an international campaign geared towards the complete phasing out of microbeads in hygiene products claims that the small size of the beads confuses the marine species to believe it is food. Microbeads also have the ability to absorb dangerous chemicals posing more threat to animals that consume them. Depending on the goodwill of companies to phase out the use of microbeads has not yielded any tangible results so far. As a result active restrictions on use of microbeads may be the next best alternative as some states in the USA have proven. Therefore, companies that produce products containing microbeads will have to reevaluate their products and redevelop new brands in order to conform to these new requirements. I am experiencing a personal struggle because I am an advocate for behavior change to promote environmental protection and conservation but this time round I need to heed my own advice. This time I am not writing about what other people should do but what I am supposed to do and that in itself is difficult. I am still using the said products but every time I do some guilt eats at me. I am not an extremist when it comes to sustainability but I believe in doing the little I can to make this world a better place. There are many other products on that list and groups like Beat the Microbead are pushing for legislation change in different countries to ban the use plastic microbeads in hygiene products. I need to believe that if a few of us can stop using these products before their production ceases can have even the slightest impact in protecting marine life. I also need to start doing my research on alternative products!   For more information: https://www.beatthemicrobead.org/en/science

There are so many products in the market each claiming to be better than the next that sometimes as a consumer I get dazed just looking at them. We must acknowledge that there exists a lot of exploitation in the production chain before a product finally finds its way on the shelves. There is exploitation of cheap labor in Asia where workers work for long hours with little pay and their working conditions are inhumane. Farmers in Africa get exploited by middlemen with very little representation in trade unions. Yet they work tirelessly to provide for their families and feed the world by extension. We have children working in cocoa farms in West Africa only for you to satisfy your chocolate craving. Forest cover continues to dwindle as the demand for furniture increases. The list is endless. It is in this light that the producers have found a way to ease our guilt as consumers and make us feel better about our consumption habits. We now have labels on products showing fair trade was practiced or for some showing no exploitation took place during the production chain. Yet who really verifies these claims? The fair trade marks are globally recognized symbols that show that products bearing these marks meet the internationally agreed social, environmental and economic standards. According to FAIRTRADE International buying these products support farmers and workers as they improve their lives and communities. Kenya has launched the fair trade mark as its first ethical label on products. I have to admit that the idea is noble. After all it seeks to protect and economically empower farmers and other workers against exploitation. However, this is only in paper. I am a daughter of a farmer who grows coffee and tea among other crops and the general feeling is that of resignation and of things never getting better. A few years back my country experienced a wave of farmers uprooting their coffee and tea plantations because they had been exploited for so long it made no economic sense to continue in the trade. To date, most continue to ravish in poverty as their products grace world markets. In short such marks do not make any sense to farmers if they do not translate into better income and living standards. We can make ourselves feel better by buying the so called certified products and even pay more for them but this money does not get to its rightful owners. So do we stop eating chocolate and drinking tea or coffee among many other products? Of course not! Maybe it is not the job of the consumer to determine what was fairy put in the market or not, after all there is government systems meant for this. What we should not do as consumers is pretend that paying more for products automatically eliminates the exploitation of hard working individuals in the production chain. It is hypocritical at the very least and only fattens the pockets of a few individuals.

Recently, an announcement regarding electricity access in Kenya was made by the World Bank. I was glad that the Kenyan government had increased electricity access to over 50% today from 23% in 2009. It is not only Kenya, but other countries within the East African region have also improved their electricity access. Rwanda increased access from 6% in 2009 to 22% in 2015. Tanzania improved from 2.5% in 2010 to approximately 24% in 2014. The improvements show that the individual governments have some form of comprehensive national strategies with regard to improving access to energy. For Kenya, I was particularly interested in the electricity access plan for the country to see if the achievement was in line with the Vision 2030. Unfortunately, it wasn’t; the access now should be 70%. I appreciate that there were challenges along the way that resulted to the shortfall. The challenges are not limited to Kenya. Take the case of Rwanda; the country is still a long way towards achieving 100% electricity access by 2020. The complexity that comes with implementation require our governments to apply more stringent measures, or apply better studies that provide more accurate projections. I want to believe that much more can be done as access to energy is a critical requirement in the achievement of most UN SDGs. The increased access to electricity in Kenya has been influenced by increased development in energy generation projects. One of the applauded projects, as many know, is the investment in geothermal power. With increased investment in Geothermal electricity, Kenya is getting global recognition as it is among the few countries with large generation capacities from geothermal. By the end of 2015, the country had a generation capacity of 600MW from geothermal contributing over a fourth of the total generation that stood at 2,333MW. Globally, looking at countries that invested in geothermal electricity in 2015 alone, Turkey set up the biggest plant at 159MW followed by the United States at 71MW, Mexico with 53MW and Kenya in the fourth position with 20MW. Japan came in fifth having added 7MW of geothermal electricity to its energy mix while Germany was 6th (6MW). Considering total electricity generation from geothermal, Kenya occupies the eighth position globally.  It is also noteworthy that the country is yet to fully exploit the 10,000MW of its geothermal capacity. The government aims to scale up electricity generation from to 5000MW by 2030. Even though the Kenyan electricity generation mix considers several renewables with geothermal being the main one, I believe that the country has largely ignored solar. Wind and solar currently contribute approximately 1% to the energy mix. I do not see this as fair considering drastic reduction of solar PV prices over the years. Fortunately, the Kenyan government is working to review its electricity grid code that will see increase in distributed generation especially on home solar through net-metering. There are also numerous solar-preneurs that are working to increase off-grid electricity alternative in the country. One notable one is the M-Kopa that provides a solar panel, LED light bulbs and rechargeable torch as well as a television set. For those that have solar firms, there is a Feed-in tariff of 12 dollar cents per kwh on solar electricity for solar farms with capacities above 0.5MW. Home solar will start taking shape hopefully in the next financial year when the new electricity code will take effect.

Sitting behind my broken laptop, pressing the back space key on the key board………… I trust you know what it does. I paused for a moment and imagined, if only everything could be transformed to be as easy as pressing the back space key to erase something and then replace with what you want, life would be the best thing ever - I mean it is still the best thing but it would be more than that. More time would be saved, more money would be made, more networks would be created and most importantly better innovations would be exhibited by man in problem solving. Just imagine what you can do with an extra hour a day! The world today blames politics for most of the things that are going wrong and a lot of hopes are put in politicians to still come up with solutions. News flash! It is not going to happen. Politics will probably help to solve some of the problems but you know what it will not do, it will not call a taxicab for you but UBER will, politics will not connect you to 5000 friends but Facebook will, it will not help you build your professional network but amazingly LinkedIn will. I can go on and on to tell you apps that have changed the world in some way but that’s not the point. The point is, politics will not solve the world problems but rather a bunch of serious smart guys who will sit down to reimagine the solutions to the problems you and I face, in a technological way, will solve the world problems. Do these guys have to come from Mars? Of course not! (I remember growing up in my beautiful country, they used to tell us stories about green people – did they ever exist?). The people who will sit down to reimagine technological solutions to the problems we face today are “You and I”. Just a couple of steps and we will be good to go. Identify a problem, suggest a solution, brainstorm about it, set goals and things will start moving. It’s not easy is what we all say but hey, nothing is easy, wait when you are suffering from constipation – you will know that even giving a little shit is not easy sometimes. Looking at all the people we call the greatest in the field of technology, I don’t know what you think of them but I will tell you what I think, they are humans like you and I. They make mistakes like us and also have fears like we do. What makes them special is, they took the first step which you can do now, or as they say in French, “maintenant”. Zuckerberg founded Facebook from his dorm room, you can start up something from your hostel too! Bill Gates left school to go solve problems through his technological innovations. Remember, he did not just leave school but HARVARD.My friend, are you going to sit back and wait for politics to solve the world problems? Or like Bolt, you are going to wait for the start sign to get started? We must not sit and become spectators of events of our time, we must become the events our time. Let’s drive Africa towards the world of technology, let’s drive the world.    

My class has just concluded a module in Water Economics and as part of the course requirement we had to choose a project that would account for almost half of the final grade. My group and I decided to work on the Nile under the title “Challenges and Opportunities in the Nile Basin Conflict: Proposed Interventions for Conflict Resolution”. To be honest, I had never really taken time to understand the intricate politics that surround the Nile Basin and what I found not only captured my imagination and interest but also made for one of the best research topics I have done in a long time out of what I would call my areas of interest. The Nile is the longest River in the world covering 6,600Km originating from the White Nile and Blue Nile and has 10 countries laying claim to it (Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and Republic Democratic of Congo). The estimated average annual flow of the river at the Aswan Dam in Egypt is 84 billion cubic meters with an estimated loss of 10 billion cubic meters to evaporation. The sharing of the water in the Nile River has mostly always been under contention with threats of war traded between the main contributor Ethiopia and the main user Egypt. The conflict on the utilization and allocation of the Nile can be partly attributed to the colonial treaties made by the British on behalf of its colonies. The treaties of 1902, 1929 and 1959 gave Egypt the veto powers over the Nile allocating it 55.5 billion cubic meters while Sudan took a share of 18.5 billion cubic meters. Through these treaties downstream countries were not to carry any development along the Nile or participate in any activities that would affect the water flow on the Nile. After gaining independence the countries wanted these treaties rendered absolute and a new sharing mechanism established. However, to date this dream is yet to be realized. The Nile has always been an important resource for Egypt and more so because of its geographic location and climatic conditions. It is estimated that about 99% of Egypt’s population live along the Nile River and depend on it for household and agricultural supply. This therefore, may explain the reason why Egypt is not enthusiastic about embracing new water sharing mechanism and agreement. However, with economic development and population increase in the Riparian States the status quo will have to change. Countries like Ethiopia are flexing their muscle with the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam along the Blue Nile which has a capacity of 74 billion cubic meters and an estimated power generation capacity of 6000 MW and other countries have stated their intention on future developments. Holding on to the colonial agreements therefore, is absolutely naïve for Egypt and yet the other Riparian countries have not been able to present a united front in challenging this position. One may ask what efforts have been made towards the resolution of the Nile conflict and rightly so. There have been many initiatives but the most notable one is the Nile Basin Initiative through which the Riparian States were able to develop the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) of 2010. The CFA outlines the principles, rights and obligations for cooperative management and development of the Nile Basin water resources. This treaty seeks to promote and establish a framework to “promote integrated management, sustainable development, and harmonious utilization of the water resources of the Basin, as well as their conservation and protection for the benefit of the present and future generations”. It creates a forum where permanent institutional mechanisms can be established to facilitate cooperation among the Basin’s States in the sustainable management and development of the River Nile and in the resolution of conflict. However, the agreement was met with mixed reactions and Egypt and Sudan declined to sign which backtracked the efforts put by the Nile Basin Initiative towards finding a lasting solution in the allocation, use and conflict resolution in the basin. So why will Sudan and Egypt not sign? Even though all riparian States agreed to the contents of the agreement Egypt and Sudan were not in agreement with Article 14 which introduced the aspect of water security and therefore failed to sign the agreement. Article 14 (b) reads “not to significantly affect the water security of any other Nile Basin State.” However, Egypt and Sudan proposed an amendment to Article 14(b) to “not to adversely affect the water security and current uses and rights of any other Nile Basin State” which was rejected by other States who viewed it as a bid by Egypt and Sudan to reinforce the colonial treaties therefore going against the vision of the Nile Basin Initiative. Egypt and Sudan saw Article 14 as one that threatened their rights and access to the water in River Nile and challenged the veto powers guaranteed by the 1929 and 1959 treaties. Furthermore Egypt wanted the definition of the Nile River System changed to include both environmental protection and water allocation which would mean that the Nile River would not only include the 84km3 but also 1600km3 rainwater that Egypt claims falls over the basin. The position of Egypt and Sudan was vehemently opposed by the other Riparian States and to date only six countries have signed the CFA (Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, and Burundi) and only three States (Tanzania, Ethiopia and Rwanda) have ratified it. It is surprising that Uganda which hosts the offices for the Nile Basin Initiative has not ratified the agreement highlighting the cracks that exist in the cooperation efforts. Another great challenge faced by the countries is the lack of data and an information sharing platform. The suspicion that exists between states has hampered any chance of working together and many continue to hold on to their hard lines. We submitted our findings and developed our own sharing mechanism that we felt could work for the Nile Riparian States. We made several assumptions and considered different variables in developing a mechanism for the Nile. You can expect that emotions ran high during the presentation with the majority of the class coming from the Nile Riparian States. Our conclusion as a group was that the Nile conflict is complex but all the States need to look at the Nile afresh and with a clear mind. Countries need to compromise in their demands and expectations bearing in mind that a successful agreement provides room for cooperation and water trading rights and development of a water market to the benefit all States.

Happy New Year! I hope it is not too late for the New Year wishes and good tidings. I am hoping that we all had a great winter break and we are looking forward to the coming days with great enthusiasm. My holiday from the blog is over so you can expect the weekly updates and links on your whatsApp groups to resume. Today’s entry is really special to me because it is a reflection of what it has meant to be one of the community leaders for the Community of Practice now that the time to handover that responsibility is here. When the call came for the positions it was almost natural for me to apply mostly because I have and continue to be involved in a similar platform albeit with a more broader outreach. We were required to submit an application detailing how we would better the platform and foster more activity online and offline. Looking back I think I underestimated that challenge and the jury is still out on what we achieved and what we slacked on but what cannot be denied is that we have all worked to beat this challenge. This position has provided me with an avenue for personal growth, bettering my communication and leadership skills. My networking abilities have also been honed and I can confidently say that I am a better rounded individual than when it all started. I can bet you that this is also true for other leaders as well. I want to acknowledge the endless support from the PAUWES administration and from the UNU-EHS who envisioned this platform and put all the resources and experts to making sure its operation continues to be top notch. However, the glue that holds this platform together is the group leaders and their members. I have watched their creativity come to play every time something has been required of them and they have always delivered above expectations. I have seen them each shine and grow into their responsibilities be it in event organization, coverage or interaction with their group members, partners and other stakeholders. So to each of them I say thank you and I hope they look back with nostalgia even on those heated moments we may have had. I have always believed that CoP presents a great opportunity for all students to develop their hard and soft skills. That belief continues for me even today because it is a platform run by students for the students. This platform presents an opportunity to network, share ideas and express our creativity. If you are interested in video filming you can sit down with the multimedia team and come up with creative ways to share ideas and as a result better your skills. For those who feel they want to blog, talk to the editorial team and explore ways on which your ideas can be shared with the rest of us and the world. You can stimulate debate on and off the platform by contributing to the work of your respective groups and being part of a greater vision. In short, each of the 7 groups have something for everyone and my challenge to each of you is to challenge how things are done, propose innovative ways to making the platform more active and keep growing as an individual and within groups. In conclusion, I am calling upon all the individuals who feel that they are up for the challenge to make CoP better and themselves as group leaders and community leaders to express their interest. The call for the new student leaders will go out this week and I believe so will that of group leaders and deputy leaders. If you have any questions get in touch with Martin, Mohammed or me and better yet talk to your respective group leaders. The leadership positions are not only fun and out of your comfort zone but they also offer endless networking opportunities. I am excited at what the future holds and you can be sure I will be part of this community for a very long time to come!

Every week we go to the market to buy groceries and this past week was no different. We mostly almost know what we are buying because frankly the choices are quite limited. One of my favourite things to do is picking cauliflower because of its colour and the contrast it gives in the sea of green and red vegetables. However, I could not make up my mind this week. The cauliflowers looked unhealthy and they had started yellowing and none appealed to me. I remember standing there and not wanting to make a choice and Diana insisting that her hands were full (how this related to making a choice is beyond me but I digress) and I needed to make up my mind. I did finally make a choice of 2 but I was not pleased with what we took home. I am almost sure other customers experienced my dilemma because according to a research done by Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) food at the retail level is mostly bought because it looks good. That which does not appeal to the customers is left to rot or pulled off the shelves. It is no wonder then that a third of the food produced in the world goes to waste post harvest translating to 1.3 billion tons of food every year (FAO, 2011). A quarter of this wasted food could be used to feed approximately 900 million of the world hungry. This wastefulness does not begin at the retail or consumer level but starts with the farmer sorting, storing and transporting their produce. Research shows that farmers in developing countries lose as much as 15% of their income to post-harvest loss. The impact extends to water resources with around 25% of global fresh water and a fifth of farm land being used to grow crops that are never eaten.  These figures are staggering considering most of these wastage can be easily corrected through attitude and behavior change. Another solution lies in governments providing a suitable environment for innovations on ways to conserve food for longer periods and regulating market standards. Every time I have been to the market I have always noticed vegetables going bad and by now Diana considers my voiced concern as a rhetorical question. Unfortunately, this is not an issue that is unique to Algeria but something I have witnessed in the different countries I have visited as I am sure most of you would attest. It always baffles me that so much food goes to waste and is pulled down the shelves for disposal while we have so many people starving in our societies. France however is working towards changing this status quo through the introduction of legislation that requires retailers to donate unsold food or face a fine of 4,230 dollars. Other European countries like Germany, Britain and Denmark have also made strides in the reduction of food wastage. In Cologne for instance a “waste supermarket” was opened at the beginning of the month where only salvaged food is sold and consumers determine the price of the products. The owner of the store in an interview with DW confessed her aim was not so much as her selling food that would otherwise be considered waste but to stimulate a conversation on how much food the Germans waste and promote behavior change. On the other side of the globe the Kenyan president declared drought as a national disaster with the Kenya Red Cross estimating that 2.7 million people are facing starvation. It saddens me that we continue to lose lives and livestock because we cannot feed our population. The  more I think about it the more I become disgusted at our society that is so profit driven that you would rather have produce rot at the shelves or farms than donate it to the needy and at our government for failing to act in a timely manner. If we are to achieve the sustainable development goal 2 on Zero hunger by 2030 we not only need to promote sustainable agricultural practices but consumption habits as well. The governments need to come up with penalties to discourage retail wastage and drive awareness campaigns to change the way consumers view food and the consequences of food wastage for the rest of the population and the ecosystem.   Useful Links http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/mb060e/mb060e.pdf http://www.dw.com/en/france-battles-food-waste-by-law/a-19148931 http://www.dw.com/en/first-german-supermarket-sells-waste-food-only/a-37426777

The excitement! You could practically feel the buzz of anticipation in the air. Everything became before and after Germany. The visit became a measure of time. Everything went according to plan apart from my visa hitch which I am sure is common knowledge but that is a story for another day (I am greatly flattered to be confused for an Ethiopian lady but still..). The day came, we went, conquered (read shopped) and like everything with a beginning the end came and here we are. I immensely enjoyed the field excursions and the laboratory experiments. Not only were they eye opening but also very interactive. I am sure we all appreciate that a lot of work went into coordinating our activities and making sure our stay was as comfortable as possible and for that we are grateful. There are some things outside the class schedule however that have stayed with me. I was very concern about the immigration crisis especially in Germany before we travelled. We all know there has been backlash in some communities and I felt like the bulls eye. It is not like I could walk on the streets holding my passport or holding a placard showing I was there legally. Maybe this was me over analyzing things like I always do but I found comfort in the realization that no one cared who I was. People might have thought it, some even asked about it but at the end of the day I was treated with respect and I did not have to justify myself being in any place at any time. I was safe and I was able to make a few friends. It reminded me of home, of getting lost in the crowd and just being normal. It was refreshing after months of standing out like a sore thumb. I have travelled some and the norm is to find bottled water in my hotel room. So imagine my shock when we checked in to our rooms and there was no bottled water. Surely they must have forgotten, so I thought it was my rightful duty to remind them of this very important detail. The gentleman at the reception was kind enough to inform me that Germany has among the safest tap water in the world and went a step further to offer me a glass. This got me thinking, why do we pay taxes for our governments to provide services like supply safe drinking water and yet none of us is confident to drink tap water. We either boil it or buy mineral water. We need to demand better services which of course would require us knowing our constitutional rights but how many of us do? So they exploit us in our ignorance and we fill their pockets by buying more mineral water from unknown springs. I loved the commitment to keeping time. The assurance that if the meeting was at 9Am I did not have to worry about waiting for anyone. There is a popular African proverb that there is no hurry in Africa but we forget time waits for no man and it is money.  I am sure we all remember the long talk we had on the importance of keeping time before we travelled. What really stuck with me was equating time keeping to respect. It means you value and appreciate that the other person took the time out of their schedule to see you. Keeping time is you saying thank you, I appreciate you. Keeping time can also be equated to safety because you are not in a rush to go somewhere. In Kenya crossing the road has no set formula most of the time. In most cases no one really cares if the light is red or green unless a policeman is within the vicinity (people are more worried about paying a fine than safety). Motorists, pedestrians and cyclists are all in such a hurry that they prefer the chaos to order. In Tlemcen most drivers are extremely kind and will slow down and let you cross with or without the light signals or a zebra crossing. What I found intriguing is that in the cities we visited people actually respect the significance of traffic lights. Safety. I cannot tell you how many times we stood by a red light with no oncoming vehicle and I was itching to cross to the other side but they say when you go to Rome do as the Romans do. I am sure you noticed some locals did not pay attention to the red light but the majority did and that matters because it implies that you are in a society that takes personal responsibility in ensuring safety and order which may look insignificant but plays a huge role in the efficient running of these cities. I am sure we all saw something that we know could work in our respective countries at no extra cost; something that would improve how our communities are run and make our relationships better. I guess it all boils down to personal conviction; the acknowledgement that you and I have a role to play in making this continent a better place without being policed. If we can start seeing ourselves as part of a bigger society and not individuals we can change our communities. If we can keep time someone else will learn from us eventually. If we can see a red light as a sign of safety and not wastage of time lives would be saved. If we can appreciate each other in our diversity maybe we will be a step away from world peace. If we fulfilled our role as citizens and demanded better service delivery and accountability maybe we will become economies in transition. A lot of maybes but we will never know unless we try.  

The event started with introductory speeches from the different dignitaries including the PAUWES director, Professor Abdelatif Zerga. The main points that were mentioned in the speeches included energy issues in Africa, how researchers can establish strong links with the private sector and sustainability of energy projects through capacity building. It was an intriguing session, as speakers went on to give their unbiased views about energy issues in Africa pointing out their experiences in the different African countries. It got more interesting when the representatives from the private sector started challenging researchers. They were alleging that researchers do a lot of research that never materialize yet the private sector is interested in lucrative opportunities. “Private companies are not donor agencies” said Ms. Kagina after researchers were talking about insufficient and hard to get funding from the Private sector. She stressed further that, researchers focus a lot on paper publishing other than money making. "What’s research without publishing papers?”, asked one researcher. The discussion continued along the line of finding a holistic and common ground where research not only enriches knowledge of researchers but also directly impact on people’s lives on ground. In this way, the funding can be easy to win.Session 2 This session was fully packed with educative presentations from the different researchers that had attended the symposium. Among the presentations was one for a sizing analysis of a Linear Fresnel Solar. A Linear Fresnel solar is a solar technology that involves the use of mirrors (reflectors) known as Fresnel to focus the irradiations from the sun onto a fixed absorber located at a common focal point of the reflectors. These mirrors are capable of concentrating the sun’s energy to approximately 30 times its normal intensity. In the presentation, the researcher stated that four locations were considered namely; Hassi R'mel, Tamanrasset, Beni-Abbes, and El Oued, all in Algeria. It was found out that performance calculations hence sizing, varies from site to site with the Direct Normal Radiation (DNI). The presentation that followed was about thermodynamic modelling of thermal energy storage systems. In this, a methodology for comparing thermal energy storage technologies to electrochemical, chemical and mechanical energy storage technologies was presented. “The underlying physics of this model is hinged on the development of a round trip efficiency formulation for these systems”, stated the researcher. He added, “The charging and discharging processes of compressed air energy storage, flywheel energy storage, fuel cells, and batteries are well understood and defined from a physics standpoint in the context of comparing these systems. However, the challenge lays in comparing the charging process of these systems with the charging process of thermal energy storage systems for concentrating solar power plants (CSP).” The rationale behind the presenter’s analysis was to develop an electrical storage efficiency for molten salt thermal energy storage systems, such that it can be compared to battery energy storage technologies in the context of comparing CSP with thermal energy storage to solar photovoltaic with battery storage from a utility scale perspective. The results from the modelling using Andasol 3 CSP plant as a case study yielded a storage efficiency of 86% and LCOE of $216/ MWh. With these findings he anticipated that a thermal energy storage roadmap for the future generation will be facilitated. The 3rd presentation was about analyzing the best algorithm for a Heliostat Field Layout. A heliostat is a device that includes a mirror, usually a plane mirror, which turns so as to keep reflecting sunlight toward a predetermined target thereby compensating the sun’s apparent motions in the sky. The presenter showed the different state of art Heliostat field layout arrangements and the amount of radiation they can capture. The experiment was carried out using a simulation software. The results of the simulation indicated that all the analyzed layout generation algorithms give approximately similar solar field efficiencies when compared for the considered scenarios once they are optimized. More events followed on the different days, a series of highlights will be posted under this heading. @Editorial_team

A few weeks ago I wrote a piece on endangered species and it generated quiet a discussion which I must say I greatly enjoyed and hope to stimulate with every post. The views on what should have been done to the over 100 tones of elephants and rhinos ivory Kenya chose to burn were valid and for good reason. However, I think we need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture and not just the single act of the ivory burn. Poaching and selling of ivory are considered as acts of wild animal trafficking which according to INTERPOL is the third largest illegal business in the world after drug and arms trafficking. It is among other activities like illegal logging, electronic waste mismanagement, fining and illegal fishing which are considered as environmental crimes.   Environmental crimes are a violation to the environmental laws put into place to protect the environment and involve all illegal acts that directly cause harm to the environment. According to the United Nations and INTERPOL, environmental crime businesses generate between $70 billion and $213 billion each year. That is a staggering amount considering that most of these crimes go unpunished and the true perpetrators are never caught. What makes this a dangerous trade is that the biggest percentages of these finances go towards financing militia, criminal and terrorist groups. Let me try and break it down for you; The ivory global trade is estimated to be worth around $1 billion every year and a kilogram of a sharks fin is worth 600 Euros. That may not seem significant but picture this, every year 100 million sharks are captured and out of these 75% are only caught for their fins and then thrown back to the ocean to a slow painful death. Forest crimes which include illegal logging are estimated to be worth over $30 billion annually.   We live in a time where security is no longer guaranteed. Terrorism has spread fear in the hearts of many and the illusion of public safety is slowly fading. What we fail to realize is that most of the terrorist activities are funded by engaging in environmental crimes. For example, the al shabaab from Somalia rely heavily on illegal exports of charcoal worth $360 million to $384 million to finance their activities. It is no secret that al shabaab has taken credit of wounding and killing hundreds of civilians in East Africa. Africa’s most unstable countries of South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa Republic provide a safe haven for poachers, miners and illegal loggers who make part of an elaborate network that support militia groups like those of Lord Joseph Koni from Uganda.   The effects of environmental crimes are too many to count and the destruction left in its wake too huge to quantify. We have had animals pushed to the blink of extinction as the middle class in Asia seeks to acquire societal status. Women and children have been enslaved by warlords who take over villages next to national parks as they seek their next kill. Let us not forget the rangers who have been killed in the line of duty or the innocent civilians who continue to be killed the world over through acts of terrorism. It is really a sickening trade one that has been fueled by corruption in government institutions, weak environmental legislations, and unemployment and abject poverty.   It is clear that environmental crimes affect countries at the national and community level. What we need is a system overhaul if this war is to be won because believe me it is a war. The biggest obstacle to winning this war is corruption and it needs to be addressed so that there is effective implementation of environmental laws and prosecution of offenders. Communities living near environmental protected areas need to be economically empowered so that they are not easily lured into illegal activities. Involving them in managing such environmental resources and creating awareness would be one way of creating a sense of ownership and creating policing networks. Above all countries need to rise together in one voice and cooperate in ensuring that the environmental resources are sustainably used and protected even beyond their borders. We owe it to ourselves to protect the beauty of our world from the greedy few.