Pan African University Institute of Water and Energy Science

Abstract The objective of this study is to identify the adoption level of this agricultural technology affected by climate change and to confirm the relationship with conservation agriculture. The assessment was carried out using the Mann–Kendall trend test and the Sen's slope is used. The collected data were statistically analyzed by Statistical Down Scaling Model Software to compare the observed and climate model scenarios of temperature and precipitation. According to the results of the study, earth analysis of the 2001–2021 data revealed that 26.68% of the land area has improved productivity, 67.38% of the territory is stable, 5.93% of the area has degraded productivity, and 0.02% of the area has no productivity data. The study result indicated that there is variability, a decrease in rainfall, and a rise in temperature in the area. The Mann–Kendall and Sen's slope test findings for the total maximum annual rainfall reveal a P-value of 0.307, indicating that there is no pattern in the series or variability of rainfall and that there is a diminishing trend in the rainfall data. The study's findings may help decision-makers and water managers provide more sustainable strategies and methods for managing water resources.

Many developing countries in Africa face a “double tragedy” when it comes to electrification. Electricity access rates are low, while those who have access to electricity face frequent outages. There are ongoing efforts aimed at increasing access to electricity on the continent. However, the need to improve the reliability of electricity supply receives limited attention. Unreliable electricity impacts users by limiting electricity utilization and the benefits that should accrue from having an electricity connection. Using data from 496 household survey questionnaires, this study examines the impacts of electricity outages in urban households in Accra, Ghana. The study applies correlation and regression analyses to identify which household characteristics are associated with or predict households reporting outage impacts. Outages were found to impact household safety/security, access to food, and access to social services and were found to cause appliance damage as well. Factors that are significantly correlated with reporting certain outage impacts include respondent’s annual income and employment status, frequency of electricity outages, and household size. Significant predictors of reporting outage impacts are socioeconomic disadvantage, high exposure to outages, and living in a large family setting. The study’s findings underscore the need for interventions to eliminate, or at least minimize, electricity supply interruptions in developing countries if sustainable social and economic development is to be achieved.

Land use change has a significant impact on the ecosystem. In this paper the effects of land use change on the physicochemical properties of the soil in Rulindo District, Rwanda have been studied. Three different land use types were selected; forestland, cattle farmland and cultivated land. A randomised complete block research design was used to carry out this research. Nine soil samples were collected and then analysed. The distributed samples were analysed in the Soil Laboratory of University of Rwanda-Busogo campus, while the undisturbed samples were analysed in-situ. Eight physicochemical properties were measured: pH, Organic Matter (OM), available nitrogen, available phosphorus, exchangeable potassium, soil bulk density, moisture content and porosity. The results showed that changing land use from forest or farm to cultivated land reduced the organic matter, available nitrogen, soil moisture and porosity while bulk density and pH were significantly increasing. On the other hand, the exchangeable potassium and exchangeable phosphorus did not change significantly for the both land use changes. Hence, the reduction of forestland and farmland are highly sensible to erosion and will decline soil fertility. The paper proposed few steps and recommendations to be the base for a new sustainable land use management in Rwanda.

Renewable energy is key to the development of Ghana’s power sector especially for the replacement of fossil fuels, which have become much a talk globally for contributing to climate change. Unfortunately, Ghana has seen little development and deployment in the renewable energy sector mainly due to the numerous challenges/obstacles hindering the growth of the sector. Therefore, there is the need to identify these obstacles and find possible mitigation measures for the development of the sector. The study therefore employed a desktop analysis of the literature, survey approach and collected data from renewable energy developers and institutions. The study based on the survey collected data on identified obstacles, ranked them from most notable to least notable to be addressed if the country needs to develop the renewable energy sector. Evidence from the survey indicated that the average score to obstacles ranged from 4.13 to 2.52 on a scale of 0–5 and the overall average score was 3.17 indicating that all the selected barriers are key to the development of renewable energy in Ghana. The study shows that, the most challenging obstacles include; cost of financing high interest rate, lack/insufficient incentives (tax rebate, grants etc.), lack/inadequate access to finance and long-term capital, grid connection constraints and lack of grid capacity, instability of the local currency (currency fluctuations), insufficient technical know-how for the operation and maintenance of renewable energy technologies. Ghana has enough policies and regulations to overcome these challenges if they are well implemented and enforced. The survey conducted also looked at respondents’ point of view on the most critical policy instruments for the development and deployment of renewable energy technologies in Ghana.

Northwest Algeria has experienced fluctuations in rainfall between the two decades 1940s and 1990s from positive to negative anomalies, which reflected a significant decline in rainfall during the mid-1970s. Therefore, further analyzing rainfall in this region is required for improving the strategies on water resource management. In this study, we complement previous studies by dealing with sub basins that were not previously addressed in Tafna basin (our study area located in Northwest Algeria), and by including additional statistical methods (Kruskal–Wallis test, Jonckheere-Terpstra test, and the Friedman test) that were not earlier reported on the large scale (Northwest Algeria). In order to analyse the homogeneity, trends, and stationarity in rainfall time series for nine rainfall stations over the period 1979–2011, we have used several statistical tests. The results showed an increasing trend for annual rainfall after the break detected in 2007 for Djbel Chouachi, Ouled Mimoun, Sidi Benkhala stations using Hubert, Pettitt, and Buishand tests. The Lee and Heghinian test has detected a break at the same year in 2007 for all stations except Sebdou, Beni Bahdel, and Hennaya stations, which have a break date in 1980. We have confirmed this increasing trend for rainfall with other trend detection methods such as Mann Kendall and Sen’s method that highlighted an upward trend for all the stations in the autumn season, which is mainly due to an increase in rainfall in September and October. On a monthly scale, the date of rupture is different from one station to another because the time series are not homogeneous. In addition, we have applied three tests enabling further results: (i) the Jonckheere-Terpstra test has detected an upward trend for two stations (Khemis and Hennaya), (ii) Friedman test has indicated the difference between the mean rank again with Khemis and Hennaya stations and the Merbeh station, (iii) according to the Kruskal-Wallis test, there have been no variance detected between all the rainfall stations. The increasing trend in rainfall may lead to a rise in stream flow and enhance potential floods risks in low-lying regions of the study area.

Digitalization is globally transforming the world with profound implications. It has enormous potential to foster progress toward sustainability. However, in its current form, digitalization also continues to enable and encourage practices with numerous unsustainable impacts affecting our environment, ingraining inequality, and degrading quality of life. There is an urgent need to identify such multifaceted impacts holistically. Impact assessment of digital interventions (DIs) leading to digitalization is essential specifically for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Action is required to understand the pursuit of short-term gains toward achieving long-term value-driven sustainable development. We need to understand the impact of DIs on various actors and in diverse contexts. A holistic understanding of the impact will help us align the visions of sustainable development and identify potential measures to mitigate negative short and long-term impacts. The recently developed digitainability assessment framework (DAF) unveils the impact of DIs with an in-depth context-aware assessment and offers an evidence-based impact profile of SDGs at the indicator level. This paper demonstrates how DAF can be instrumental in guiding participatory action for the implementation of digitainability practices. This paper summarizes the insights developed during the Digitainable Spring School 2022 (DSS) on “Sustainability with Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence,” one of whose goals was to operationalize the DAF as a tool in the participatory action process with collaboration and active involvement of diverse professionals in the field of digitalization and sustainability. The DAF guides a holistic context-aware process formulation for a given DI. An evidence-based evaluation within the DAF protocol benchmarks a specific DI’s impact against the SDG indicators framework. The participating experts worked together to identify a DI and gather and analyze evidence by operationalizing the DAF. The four DIs identified in the process are as follows: smart home technology (SHT) for energy efficiency, the blockchain for food security, artificial intelligence (AI) for land use and cover change (LUCC), and Big Data for international law. Each of the four expert groups addresses different DIs for digitainability assessment using different techniques to gather and analyze data related to the criteria and indicators. The knowledge presented here could increase understanding of the challenges and opportunities related to digitainability and provide a structure for developing and implementing robust digitainability practices with data-driven insights.

Water shortages across the globe have increased due to climate change among other factors with negative impacts expected at the river basin level. Anticipating these impacts will help experts act in a timely manner to avoid a future water crisis. As part of addressing the future water shortage impacts on the Togolese community, this paper assessed water security in the context of the global environmental change in the Oti River Basin taking Oti Nord sub-basin (ONSB) as a case study. Key informants’ interviews were done with staff from governmental institutions, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations, and private operators. The Improved Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Model (IFCEM) was used for assessing water security (WS). A basin level WS evaluation system including five subcomponents (external environment security, water resources security, water-society security, water economic security, and water-environment security) and 23 indicators related to climate, socio-economy, water availability, and consumption were constructed. The results showed that the water level is very insecure in the sub-basin for the assessed years (2010, 2015, and 2025) with the year 2025 being the worst (expected a decrease of water security by 20% and 1% in 2025 compared to the years 2015 and 2010, respectively). This insecurity is found to be the result of many factors including technical, institutional, juridical, environmental, socio-cultural, hydrogeological, and demographical factors. However, managerial factors such as institutional instability, the inadequacies in water and related sector evolution, and the absence of de-centralized water management structures, the non-operationalization of management organs/financial instruments, and culture (i.e., taboos and bylaws) are found to be key to the study area. The paper concluded that the operationalization of management organs/financial instruments may enable the application of adopted water policies and regulations, which may lead to a sound and coordinated management of the available water resources since this will enable the government’s self-investment in clean water provision, data acquisition (potential water available and the estimation of economic driven potential water needs, which are key for any sound development), and a stimulated joined effort from the existing institutions. In addition, the establishment of a sound waste management system and awareness raising, and educative activities regarding water pollution will be of great benefit for this cause.

Abstract Electricity is considered a fundamental service which is highly correlated with sustainable development. Nigeria will serve as a case study that has been experiencing an energy deficit, and severely needs a strong adoption of alternative energy sources. This paper provides a detailed assessment of a grid-connected photovoltaic/wind/biogas hybrid energy system in the northern part of Nigeria using a combined Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewables (HOMER), Microsoft Excel, and Ganzleitliche Bilanz (GaBi) tools. They are based on techno-economic modeling and optimization as well as comparison with the same configuration in its off-grid form. Sensitivity analysis as well as an energy efficiency assessment of the proposed grid-connected system was carried out, followed by a supplementary economic benefit assessment of a system switch over and an evaluation of the impacts of life cycle emissions. A wrap-up reliability assessment based on the utility grid status quo and policy implications was also carried out. The results of the analysis for the grid-connected system showed a 3% increase in the overall energy supply, and a 68% and 85% decrease in net present costs (NPC) and levelized costs of energy (LCOE), respectively, with avoided emissions as compared to its comparable off-grid configuration. Moreover, the energy efficiency (EE) determined for the proposed grid-connected system resulted in a massive reduction in the component sizing, energy supply, and an ultimate 88% and 81% reduction in overall NPC and LCOE, respectively. The sensitivity analysis as well as the other supplementary evaluations indicated clear impacts on the different performance measures. This approach is worthy of adoption coupled with expansions for an effective solution to the energy deficit and its sustainability in the case study country. This could be successfully provided if all the reliability concerns for the utility grid and policy measures are addressed significantly.

Algeria, richly-endowed with renewable resources, is well-positioned to become a vital green hydrogen provider to Europe. Aiming to aid policymakers, stakeholders, and energy sector participants, this study embodies the first effort in literature to investigate the viability and cost-effectiveness of implementing green hydrogen production projects destined for exports to Europe via existing pipelines. A land suitability analysis utilizing multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) coupled with geographical information system (GIS) identified that over 43.55% of Algeria is highly-suitable for hydrogen production. Five optimal locations were investigated utilizing Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Electric Renewables (HOMER), with solar-hydrogen proving the most cost-effective option. Wind-based production, offering higher output volumes reaching 968 kg/h, requires turbine cost reductions of 17.50% (Ain Salah) to 54.50% (Djanet) to achieve a competitive levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) of $3.85/kg with PV systems. A techno-economic sensitivity analysis was conducted, identifying Djanet as the most promising location for a 100 MW solar-hydrogen plant, with a competitive LCOH ranging from $1.96/kg to $4.85/kg.

Climate change continues to pose a threat to the sustainability of water resources. Global warming can have several effects on the water resources and water demands in the Densu River Basin especially household water use and agriculture use among several others. However, the extents to which the hydrology of the Densu River Basin is will be altered in the future remains unknown. In this research, the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP21) system was used to study the impacts of future climate change on water resources in the Densu River Basin. Future climate data (rainfall and temperature) for the period 2051-2080 was generated from the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute's climate models (ICHEC-EC-EARTH and RCA4) for RCP4.5 scenario under CORDEX experiment. The results of the study indicate that the Densu River Basin will experience a temperature increase by 8.23% and a 17% reduction in rainfall resulting in 58.3% reduction in water resources in the area. The climate change impact analysis indicates a reduction in the river streamflow due to decrease in rainfall. It is recommended that future research on climate change adaptation for water management in the Densu River Basin should be conducted.

Renewable energy is imperative for Africa's development; however, given that sustainable energy projects in Africa seldomly succeed, it is imperative to ascertain how community acceptance also influences energy projects. This paper examines the interplay between politics, market and community acceptance and how elements like cultural variations, gender activity roles, leadership roles and perceptions amongst communities can play a central role in renewable energy initiation and sustainability in Africa. We discuss implications for policymakers and present exegetical recommendations that can advance not only community participation but also private sector involvement and cultural reverence to ensure sustainable energy project implementation. This paper adds to the increasing stream of research on how Africa can unlock its renewable energy potential and ensure sustainable energy services for all.

Despite promising solar potential in South Sudan, rural electrification has long been an issue for the country's growth and development, as well as addressing climate change and fuel cost limits. This study aims at the feasibility analysis of a hybrid energy system for a rural community in the Southern part of South Sudan without access to electricity. Over a year, typical energy consumption profiles were generated based on the energy needs of the community. HOMER pro program was used to configure and optimize the system, and six different combinations were simulated and analyzed economically and technically based on the standalone mode of operation. The PV/DG/Battery design offers the lowest Net Present Cost (NPC) and Cost of Energy (COE), with a 22.94% return on investment due to the substantial solar potential. The study also found a modest wind speed in rural areas. In the rural community, the proposed configuration system can help provide electricity access with an 85% renewable fraction. The results of this study's six hybrid systems/combinations can serve as a reference benchmark for stakeholders, demonstrating the possibilities of boosting renewables, changing configuration settings, and lowering the cost of electricity.

South Sudan gets most of its energy from unreliable sources such as diesel generators, fuelwood, crop residue, and charcoal, all of which emit CO2. Fuelwood and charcoal use have resulted in the loss of trees and plants, which could lead to desertification, soil erosion, global warming, and the extinction of species habitats. Renewable energy sources are becoming popular in recent years due to their dependability, sustainability, and affordability. This study looked at the potential for renewable energy in South Sudan and its benefits and challenges. Despite the huge potential for hydropower and solar, the country’s renewable energy industry has seen little development. The benefits associated with renewables include providing long-term growth, economic development, and increased access to electricity. Limited renewable policies, technological limitations, financial barriers, inadequate infrastructure, a scarce skilled labor force, and political barriers are the obstacles to the country’s renewable energy development.

African countries such as Nigeria are anticipated to be more susceptible to the impacts of climate change due to large dependence on rainfed agriculture and to several uncertainties in the responses of crop production to climate change. The impacts of climate change on crop water requirements (CWR), irrigation water requirements (IWR), yields and crop water productivity (CWP) of rainfed maize in Ogun-Osun River Basin, Nigeria were evaluated for a baseline period (1986–2015) and future projection period (2021–2099) under Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios. For the baseline period, there is no significant trend within the variables studied. However, IWR is projected to increase significantly by up to 140% in the future period, while yield might likely decline under both scenarios up to −12%. This study shows that in the future periods, supplemental irrigation has little impact in improving yields, but an increase in soil fertility can improve yields and CWP by up to 80% in 2099. This paper offers useful information on suitable adaptation measures which could be implemented by stakeholders and policymakers to counterbalance the effects of climate change on crop production.

Recently, there has been a growing need to implement soil and water conservation measures in order to control sediment and water yield from agricultural areas. The objective of this study was to use a modeling approach to evaluate the impacts of structural conservation measures on water and sediment yield from Thika Chania catchment in Central Kenya. The SWAT model was calibrated and validated for stream flow and sediment yield at a gauging station in the catchment. The calibrated model was run to create a base scenario for the simulation of structural conservation methods, i.e. terraces and grassed waterways. Model simulation results indicated that terraces and grassed waterways would significantly impact water and sediment yield at the catchment outlet. Terraces were found to provide the greatest reduction in sediment yield, by 81% from the baseline scenario, while grassed waterways reduced sediment yield by 54%. Terraces indicated a reduction in surface runoff by 30% from the base annual average value of 202 mm. This was attributed to the increased infiltration that was indicated by increase in base flow by 8%. However, grassed waterways did not indicate any significant reduction in water yield. The results of this study show that structural conservation measures could reduce sediment yield from cultivated areas by more than 50% at the sub catchment level. Results also indicated that the effectiveness of structural conservation measures can be increased by implementing more than one method. Structural conservation measures studied in the current study were found to have a positive impact in controlling water and sediment yield in the catchment. However, further studies need to be conducted to evaluate the costs and benefits of implementing them at a small scale.

Kigali city, the capital of Rwanda, relies on decentralized, on-site, wastewater systems due to the absence of central sewerage systems and the limited finances to construct sustainable sanitation infrastructures. However, the city has increasingly shown failures in managing these on-site systems either at individual or collective levels. This study aims at assessing the sustainability of the operated collective public semicentralized sewage systems in Kigali city. To fully cover the sustainability assessment of such collective systems, the methods used were field observation, questionnaires, interviews, and laboratory tests. The study also reviewed the influence of national ruling sanitation legal instruments in addressing development, operation and management of such decentralized wastewater systems. The results showed that the sustainability levels of these systems were low in the technical, socioeconomic status, institutional, and legal dimensions. While the sustainability level was fair for the environmental quality. In conclusion, the research highlighted that the improved sanitation coverage does not mean coverage in terms of sewerage connection proportions for wastewater collection as these connections do not imply safe and sustainable treatment before being discharged into the environment.

Abstract Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is principally based on collecting, storing, and using rainfall which would otherwise be lost as surface runoff. Runoff threatens in several ways: accelerating erosion, intensifying flooding, and reducing groundwater recharge. Therefore, purposely retaining rainfall in the urban water cycle rather than draining has several positive impacts on designing sustainable cities. This work presents a proposal on how to avoid flooding in cities by systematically harvesting, storing rainwater, and using it for multiple purposes. The concept of RWH presented here has the potential to be a radical innovation to solve the social, economic, and environmental challenges associated with flash flooding. Each residence is regarded as a water production unit. Depending on the climatic conditions, people can meet their water needs on a local household basis, or alternatively use piped water as a complement. By infiltrating rainwater, groundwater is locally recharged and downstream wells are more productive. The implementation of this idea involves entrepreneurial agency that challenges existing structures, rather than adapting to them. Clearly, social entrepreneurship and social innovation are expected to catalyse the realization of this social innovation, also in rural areas. It is about mobilizing ideas, capacities, and resources to create a sustainable social transformation.

Life cycle assessment is a crucial tool in evaluating systems performances for sustainability and decision-making. This paper provided environmental impact of integrating renewable energy systems to the utility-grid based on a baseline optimized energy production data from “HOMER” for renewable systems modelling of a site in northern Nigeria. The ultimate goal was to ascertain the best hybrid option(s) in sustaining the environment. Different assumptions and scenarios were modelled and simulated using Ganzleitlichen Bilanz (GaBi). Uncertainty analysis was ensured to the impact data based on pedigree-matrix and Excel-program, as well as overall policy relevance. The results of the impact categories revealed first scenario (i.e., conventional path-based) with the highest impacts on global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), human toxicity potential (HTP), and abiotic depletion potential (ADPfossils). The lowest impacts arise in the renewable-based scenarios for all the considered categories except the Ozone-layer depletion potential Category where the highest contribution falls in the third scenario (i.e., photovoltaic (PV)/biomass-biogas system) although all values being infinitesimal. In quantitative terms, the reduction in the GWP from the highest being the first scenario to the lowest being the fourth scenario (i.e., wind/biomass-biogas system) was 96.5%. Hence, with the outstanding contributions of the hybrid renewable systems, adopting them especially the lowest impact scenarios with expansions is relevant for environmental sustainability.

The adverse impact of climate change on different regionally important sectors such as agriculture and hydropower is a serious concern and is currently at the epicentre of global interest. Despite the extensive efforts to project the future climate and assess its potential impact, it is surrounded by uncertainties. This study aimed to assess climate models’ performance and associated uncertainties in rainfall projection over the eastern Nile basin, Ethiopia. Seventeen climate models from Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) and their four ensemble models were evaluated in terms of their historical prediction performance (1986–2005) and future simulation skill (2006–2016) at rainfall station (point location), grid-scale (0.44° × 0.44°) and basin scale. Station-based and spatially interpolated observed rainfall data were used as a reference during climate model performance evaluation. In addition, CRU data was used as an alternative reference data to check the effect of the reference data source on the climate models evaluation process. As the results showed, climate models have a large discrepancy in their projected rainfall and hence prior evaluation of their performance is necessary. For instance, the bias in historical mean annual rainfall averaged over the basin ranges from +760 mm (wet bias) to −582 mm (dry bias). The spatial pattern correlation (r) of climate models output and observed rainfall ranges from −0.1 to 0.7. The ensemble formed with selected (performance-based) member models outperforms the widely used multi-model ensemble in most of the evaluation metrics. This showed the need for reconsidering the widely used multi-model approach in most climate model-based studies. The use of CRU data as a reference resulted in a change in the magnitude of climate model bias. To conclude, each climate model has a certain degree of uncertainty in the rainfall projection, which potentially affects the studies on climate change and its impact (e.g., on water resources). Therefore, climate-related studies have to consider uncertainties in climate projections, which will help end-users (decision-makers) at least to be aware of the potential range of deviation in the future projected outcomes of interest.

Abstract Flood disaster risk assessment is a crucial and very challenging task because of the uncertainty of flood events that are due to many climatic and physiographic factors of watersheds. The focus of this paper is to review flood risk assessment using multicriteria analysis (MCA) approach by considering risk as a function of flood hazard and vulnerability. The study analyzes the methods and reports of recent works in assessing flood risk based on MCA technique. The review reveals that the analytical hierarchical process (AHP) is the most widely used MCA technique due to its simplicity, less data requirement, and sound and reliable predictions of flood risk zones. The study also reveals that flood risk is a function and product of flood hazard and vulnerability. More so, high flood hazard does not guarantee high flood risk and vice versa. Furthermore, high flood vulnerability does not guarantee high flood risk and vice versa. In conclusion, more efficient state‐of‐art flood models that are based on hydrological processes should be explored for effective flood risk assessment and mapping. Further studies on flood risk should incorporate impact of climate change on flood risk indicators.