An island in Africa’s smallest country is under scrutiny as conservationists raise alarm over an ultra-luxury development project on Assomption Island, Seychelles. Backed by Qatari investors with ties to controversial financial dealings (and alleged terror funds), the resort poses a potential threat to the Aldabra Atoll—one of the world’s most significant biodiversity hotspots and a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We spoke with a local conservationist Adriam Skerret, bird expert and chairman of the Island Conservation Society on Mahé, whose interview we will publish next week. He told us that construction workers are already on the ground in Assomption and that there is no oversight.

“We are very concerned – there is no supervision. They are on the island and no one is there. Construction teams are there. They wanted 1500 construction workers and we said that’s too many. Never should there be more than 500. Who knows what’s goes on.”

Assomption Island lies roughly 20 miles from Aldabra Atoll, often called an “outpost for evolution” due to its unique ecological makeup and high concentration of endemic species. The island is home to endangered nesting sea turtles, giant tortoises, and over 400 species found nowhere else on Earth.

Construction has reportedly begun on Assomption Island for a development that includes luxury villas, a wellness spa, extended airstrip, and other high-end amenities. Conservationists argue this could devastate fragile habitats and pave the way for further commercial encroachment in the Aldabra region.

A 3-mile stretch of beach on Assomption is one of the best beaches in the Seychelles and a main breeding ground for the green turtle, says Skerret.

Despite opposition from some environmental NGOs and local communities (Skerret personally is for development, but in the right way), the Seychelles government has approved the project. Critics have questioned the transparency of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process, alleging it was expedited and potentially influenced by vested interests.

Qatari Influence and Allegations

The development is backed by the Assets Group, led by the Al-Khayyat brothers, whose business dealings have attracted international scrutiny. The pair have been implicated in UK court proceedings alleging ties to extremist financing—though these allegations remain under legal review.

Assets Group, the Qatari conglomerate behind the Assomption Island development, is led by the Al-Khayyat brothers—figures currently embroiled in UK legal proceedings over allegations of financing terrorist organizations. Court documents and investigative reports have linked the group to funneling funds through charitable fronts and construction firms tied to extremist networks, raising serious ethical and geopolitical concerns about their involvement in high-profile international projects.

When the Seychelles put out a tender for a development, Qatar was the only one who responded.

Observers such as the Friends of Aldabra fear that the resort is part of a broader geopolitical strategy: using opaque investment structures to gain strategic footholds in vulnerable island nations. Qatar’s expansion into tourism infrastructure across the Global South has raised similar concerns elsewhere.

A Troubled History of Assomption

According to ornithologist and conservationist Chris Feare, Assomption has already suffered catastrophic ecological damage due to guano mining in the 20th century. “Virtually all of its birds, some of them endemic forms, all of its Giant Tortoises and most of its vegetation were lost,” says Feare. The current development could undo decades of slow ecological recovery.

Assomption also serves as a critical logistical access point to the Aldabra region. Conservationists argue that once the airstrip is expanded to accommodate private jets, increased development pressure will follow across other islands in the Outer Islands District.

The Seychelles has long promoted itself as a global leader in marine conservation through its Blue Economy initiatives and high-profile international environmental partnerships. The Assomption project could undermine that reputation, and with national elections on the horizon, public scrutiny is mounting.

Despite concern from prominent figures, including Nirmal Shah, CEO of Nature Seychelles, institutional influence appears limited. “I have no role in any regulatory matter. I run an NGO,” he commented via LinkedIn. We have sent him more questions and he says he will return to us next week.

Visual materials shared by Assets Group show an ultra-luxury resort featuring up to 40 beachfront villas, an outdoor cinema, children’s clubs, diving experiences, and atoll sunset tours—all under the guise of “sustainable luxury.” The resort operator is expected to be announced in 2025, with an opening scheduled for 2027.

Meanwhile, activists continue to raise awareness and rally support to halt the development. The Island Conservation Society produced this environment assessment.

The post Seychelles’ UNESCO island under threat from luxury development and Qatari-linked terror funds appeared first on Green Prophet.

Me and my family travelled to Ethiopia this past April. People were dirt poor and happy for small handouts and our business, but they were happy. It was clear that if they could many people in Ethiopia would leave. One must be in a terrible place to want to leave one’s home and culture. Instead of focusing on refugees, the world needs to put more attention in helping people stay in their country, supports the UN. Happy, healthy people don’t want to leave home.

“We must come up with better ways to help people and communities become more resilient to climate change’s impacts, to ensure that people who are especially vulnerable have the chance to adapt and thrive,” said Director General Amy Pope of the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM).

As world leaders gather at the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (known as COP29) in Azerbaijan this year this organization says they need more concrete and sustainable solutions for the communities most affected by the impact of climate change to help them stay.

Related: Is COP29 suppressing climate change activists? 

Climate adaptation and resilience measures are needed for people who want to remain in their home, ensuring their livelihoods can sustain and recover from the impacts of climate change: “We must come up with better ways to help people and communities become more resilient to climate change’s impacts, to ensure that people who are especially vulnerable have the chance to adapt and thrive,” she said.

Flooding in Spain and North Carolina this year makes people worry about how unprepared we are when climate events hit. Climate migration is not just a concern of the future, it is the present reality for millions globally, DG Pope noted. Last year alone, disasters caused more than 26 million internal displacements (GRID 2024, IDMC). Syria is a prime example.

In the Horn of Africa, for instance, recurrent droughts and flash floods have pushed entire communities, especially pastoralists and smallholder farmers, to relocate in search of water and grazing land. In Bangladesh, rising sea levels and frequent cyclones have led to the displacement of coastal populations, forcing families to migrate to urban areas in search of stability.

Meanwhile, parts of Central America have experienced severe droughts that have decimated agricultural livelihoods, compelling thousands to move in search of work and resources. These examples demonstrate that climate migration is a pressing issue today, affecting diverse populations across continents.

Around the world, climate change is influencing how and why people move.  It prompts some to move for job opportunities as its impacts change livelihoods. In extreme cases, communities dealing with extreme impact of climate change and are no longer possible to adapt are compelled to relocate to safer areas. It is important that there are solutions in place that protect and support those who want to stay, those on the move and those needing or wanting to move.

Millions of people were displaced during the Syrian civil war, a conflict created by drought. Hundreds of thousands died. In the best scenario the world won’t move to Europe or America. People around the world will be able to adapt in place and thrive for generations.

The post How nations can avoid climate refugees appeared first on Green Prophet.

During the first week of March, Africa’s development finance leaders convened in Zimbabwe for the UNECA-hosted COM2024 summit amid a wavering continental growth agenda. Recognising that many SDG and African Union Agenda 2063 targets remain far out of reach, participants focused discussions on overhauling the global financial architecture to help generate the massive funding Africa needs to accelerate inclusive, sustainable growth.

According to World Bank Institute economist Hippolyte Fofack, the Bretton Woods system, comprised of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, has largely failed to help Africa unlock its significant economic potential. Fofack notably highlights how decades of underinvestment in the continent’s human capital have undercut the entrepreneurship, technical skills and infrastructure required to attract investment in high-value regional industries fueled by its natural resource wealth. 

With African leaders providing a promising economic vision, the mining industry is set to play a foundational role in the continent’s industrial transformation, as leading firms accelerate the socioeconomic and environmental innovations positioning Africa to take a new path in the 21st century.

Evolution of human-first mining 

As KPMG’s recently-published Mining Risk Forecast 2024 underlines, ESG considerations have risen to the top of the industry’s agenda in recent years, with tackling climate change, safeguarding biodiversity and cultivating strong community relations no longer “nice-to-haves” but core operational priorities for companies on the cutting-edge. 

The ‘S’ in ESG even has a specific term in the mining industry – ‘social license to operate,’ a measure of a project’s acceptance by local communities that has increasingly come to define what “good mining” looks like over the past two decades according to Africa-focused risk analyst Vincent Rouget. Chinese mining company CMOC is among the industry leaders that has fully embraced African governments’ rising expectations to ensure that the extraction of critical ‘green transition’ minerals generates local socioeconomic value.

As the world’s  largest cobalt producer, CMOC mobilises its considerable presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to not only provide jobs and training for local residents but  empower them with the wider range of resources they need to thrive. In 2023, CMOC spent a total of $42.08 million in community projects. At its Tenke Fungurume Mine (TFM), CMOC is investing over $30 million in its communities over the coming years, with project areas including economic development, public health and infrastructure.

In addition to the ongoing construction of 9 local primary schools and a host of other social initiatives, TFM has funded a nearly-completed electrification project that will help provide local communities the significant energy resources needed to realise the DRC Government’s plans to manufacture EV batteries with locally-sourced cobalt, which CMOC has committed to supporting to promote industrial development. Paired with its membership in the Fair Cobalt Alliance, CMOC will help embed supply chain safety, human rights and sustainability as the pillars of this economic transition. 

Sustainability at heart of mining innovation 

Given the need to reconcile industrial development, climate and biodiversity imperatives, incorporating sustainability in the mining industry has never been more vital. As mining consultant Jaime González has aptly noted, this accelerating societal evolution has inspired the industry to adopt both ‘Green Mining’ decarbonisation and ecological-value creating ‘Sustainable Mining’ innovations.

South African giant Impala Platinum has established a strong position in this space, joining the growing group of miners capitalising on the continent’s abundant renewable energy potential. As part of its ambitious decarbonisation strategy, Impala Platinum recently announced plans to build a 100 MW solar plant to power its massive Rustenburg mine with clean electricity, complementing substantial carbon emissions savings from its range of energy-efficiency measures.

To mitigate its ground disruption and waste generation, Impala Platinum has delivered an increasingly ambitious project to ‘re-mine’ waste rock at Rustenburg, enabling the firm to recover millions of tonnes, notably in partnership with a local reclamation company created with the surrounding Luka community that has created good-quality jobs for residents. What’s more, this initiative has spurred a land rehabilitation process unlocking some 200 hectares of healthy land for the community.

Beyond merely reversing its operations’ land disturbance, Impala Platinum’s proactive commitment to biodiversity has seen it place these considerations at the heart of its planning and decision-making, from strict internal environmental authorisation processes to site-specific biodiversity management plans. On the ground, its projects include the conservation of key bird species and tackling invasive species at its Rustenburg site.

Building on mining foundation

In addition to meeting vital local and global needs, the African mining industry’s ongoing transformation is equally set to help attract crucial foreign investment in its downstream manufacturing sectors, which in turn will lay the foundation for enhanced regional economic integration and accelerated sustainable development progress.

As Hippolyte Fofack has recently written, this rise in capital “financing would accelerate…the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the regulatory initiative to eliminate intra-African trade barriers and fuel strong regional economies. At COM24, African leaders notably discussed a new UNECA report revealing the continent’s concerningly-weak regional integration progress, with the fact that African countries continue trading more with the other parts of the world than among themselves highlighted as a significant development obstacle. 

Regarding the AfCFTA, whose full realization would assemble 55 AU countries and represent a combined GDP of over $3 trillion, the UNECA report has highlighted a series of roadblocks, from slow progress in ratifying key protocols on free movement and good governance to the rising wave of military coups and a massive infrastructure funding gap – most problematically for the energy and transport infrastructure needed to underpin robust regional supply chains.

By combining expanded regional regulatory harmonisation and railways with ESG-driven mining, Africa would be able to ramp up the industrial transformation of its natural resources into lucrative products in high demand on the international market. In effect, this development would spark a virtuous cycle helping countries attract foreign private and multilateral investment –  particularly if paired with the Bretton Woods reform that COM24 participants recently advocated for to transform Africa’s economic future. 

The post Africa’s emerging economic vision calls for ESG innovations of transformed mining industry appeared first on Green Prophet.

Israel, arguably the food-tech capital of the world, has come up with a new invention to supplement the alternative protein market: making a protein from black-eyed peas, also known as cowpea. The company says that the peas are gene-edited to make them easier for harvesting, but that the process does not fall into a GMO category. The company Better Pulse joins a long line of alternative meat and alternative plant-based solutions to feed a growing planet. We featured a recent round up of the top cultivated meat products from Israel (see Aleph Farms, Believer Meats) but what makes Better Pulse different is that it contains no meat protein at all but offers a reliable alternative for plant-based milk and yoghurts or any manufactured plant based protein product.

If you have ever read any modern criticism of agriculture (Michael Pollan, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Yuval Noa Harari), you will know that most of our food is derived from monocrops. While there may be hundreds of different grain types or bananas, we typically eat the same ones over and over again. It gets worse when you look at our staple crops where more than 51% of our caloric intake is sourced from just four staple crops—rice, soy, wheat, and corn.

These crops are threatened by global warming. We need to diversify what we eat and how we eat it. Arguably the best solution is for us all to return to the land and start regenerative farming and foraging, but likely only a handful in every community will do that. For alternatives, Better Pluse hopes to offer another protein-rich solution for food resiliency and food security.

Black eyed peas hummous anyone? Try our ultimate hummus recipe and switch out black eyed peas for the chick peas.

Black-eyed peas plant are among the oldest cultivated crops which is also very tolerant to extremes in heat: “The looming effects of climate change on the resiliency of the protein supply chain, particularly soybeans, underscore the urgency of adopting Black-eyed peas as a solution,” says founder and CEO Alon Karpol, “Better Pulse’s enhanced Black-eyed peas genetics will fortify global food security, drastically reduce Black-eyed peas cultivation costs, and its protein will provide a sensory experience akin to various dairy products. 

Unlike its soybean or green and pea counterparts, Better Seeds’ Black-eyed pea protein is distinguished by its white color and subtle aftertaste profile – characteristics that are essential for food ingredients.

The company has concluded a Proof-of-Concept phase where it achieved the production of over 70% protein, and integrated it into diverse food products. The company has special access to black-eyed peas genetics that are ready for mechanized harvesting, enabling cost cost-effective, and profitable cultivation beyond Africa, the primary region where black-eyed peas are grown today.

The initial financial backing for Better Pulse was provided by BetterSeeds, a portfolio company of Israel’s Smart-Agro Fund.

The alternative protein in food is worth an estimated $6.7 billion USD with an CAGR of 6.7%.

::Better Pulse

The post Black eyed peas are a new protein alternative appeared first on Green Prophet.

For the longest time, the Middle East, has been considered to be a rife area of the world, due to the sea of oil they sit on, and hence, peace has been difficult to obtain while driven by money. Continuing to seek transformation in Dubai, to be the world’s best city to live, work and invest, the government are now planning to achieve this goal in maintaining a higher level of global competitiveness within the Metaverse. 

Most recently, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai directed the formation of a higher committee to prepare the Dubai Metaverse strategy. Appointed the head of the committee is, Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who most recently announced a new ‘metaverse strategy’ and one that will create 40,000 new virtual jobs and add $4 billion to the city’s GDP in five years- as reported by Fortune, and according to a Monday tweet:

“While the details are scant, it is reported that the pillars of the plan include fostering ‘metaverse innovation and economic contribution’, cultivating metaverse talent, and developing metaverse use cases and applications within the Dubai government.” 

I founded Agritech (since 2005),  and it is a company that focuses on achieving sustainable development goals by training farmers in the West African Sahel and supporting local economics. I had been working on a project called ‘Zero Carbon, Zero Deforestation Shea Value Chain’ since 2010, and creating interconnected ecovillages to provide renewable fuel, power and other sustainable agricultural tech to the region.

Furthermore, I am steering the Great Green Wall initiative towards a sustainable value chain oriented implementation strategy with the technology Serious Shea has developed. 

I believe the Middle East and Dubai would be a perfect place for an incubator project he’s been developing, which is focused on nature based solution and restoration, as well as fit for what I call the DigiReal Multiverse. I believe this as the Middle East continues to welcome millions of people, and the population has grown so much in recent years, meaning that more trees are need in order to provide oxygen for this rising population. 

The Middle East and Dubai are quickly becoming the heart and symbol of globalisation and leadership both in economic development and transformation. Like the rest of the world and my home Africa, we are unfortunate witnesses to the unprecedented climate breakdown, subsequent to pollution and the destruction of the strategic climate infrastructure, our primary ecosystems.

As the accelerating cost of catastrophic climate events threatens to cancel economic growth in many parts of the globe , the world is mobilising to find solutions and change the habits responsible for this mayhem. 

I moved to Dubai almost 9 year ago to take advantage of the strategic location for innovation and trading. Our companies Golden Organics and SeriousShea are dedicated to finding solutions for a better future in Africa and beyond by developing nature based solutions and innovative food stuff.

We believe that technology can greatly contribute to finding a solution and have started with the support of global organisations like the African Development Bank, The World Bank and the World Economic forum to work on nature based business models with a positive impact on the environment and our climate in the Sahel around the Great Green Wall Initiative.

The Great Green Wall is an African-led movement with an epic ambition to grow an 8,000km natural wonder of the world across the entire width of Africa from Senegal to Djibouti across 13 countries. The Wall promises to be a compelling solution to the many urgent threats not only facing the African Continent, but the global community as a whole – notably climate change, drought, famine, conflict and migration. Once complete, the Great Green Wall will be the largest living structure on the planet, 3 times the size of the Great Barrier Reef.

The Great Green Wall corresponds to the northern boundary of the millennial Shea belt which speaks for its role as the indigenous ecosystem for climate and desertification control. The Shea, Baobab, Acacias   trees are vital social, environmental and economic crops (i.e  shea butter—a multimillion-dollar ingredient used in cosmetics, personal care products, pharmaceuticals and chocolate,  Acacia – Arabic Gum used in many industrial food processes ).

Selected as  ‘Global Top Innovator’ by the World Economic through uplink and 1T.org  (one Trillion Trees initiative). Agritech are members of the public private 1T.org Sahel Coalition to accelerate our impact driving with the other 1T.ORG  and the collective action of ecopreneurs, government,  businesses and civil society to unlock restoration at scale in the Sahel! They plan to plant 1 billions trees by 2030 and support the development of the value chains using their innovations. 

Our first innovation recognizes the importance of developing sustainable value chains, protection and repopulating the trees in the sahel. They have developed a Zero Carbon and deforestation value chain based on mini industrial processing units running on a mix of renewable energies. This enables remote communities to process the harvest from the trees and export them globally to generate their own revenues and contribute to the global food supply which is under a lot of stress, the potential from the Sahel exceeds 50 billions USD in various ingredients and foodstuffs. 

The second innovation is the use of blockchain to insure the integrity of all our processes including the traceability and the carbon footprint of our plantations, ingredients and foodstuffs. 

Finally, one of the most interesting is our third innovation in partnership with KALOSCOPE is the creation of our Great NFTREE and our Great Green Multiverse to help mobilise resources and raise awareness about the global importance of the Sahel ecosystem for its people and  the World climate stability. It’s a unique use of technology to create a DIGIREALTY ecosystem to allow people and corporations around the world to contribute ideas, funds, technologies and connect with the people of the Sahel. 

Kaloscope is a decentralised social media platform, and in recent months added me to its board as its Strategic Sustainability Advisor. The Great NFTrees project will see users to purchase tree NFTs connected to geo-tagged locations and the actual planting of these trees in Africa’s Great Green Wall and aims to grow one trillion trees across 8,000 km stretch of land in Africa. 

It is within an app, where users will be able to display their metaverse spaces and purchases, and use ‘perkabilities’ a host of ‘perks’ and ‘utilities’. For example collectors might get access to exclusive events, a one-to-one conversation with me, for having minted and holding the NFT. It is also noteworthy that ninety percent of revenue form the project will be minted on the Polygon blockchain and take place later in the year, as the website is still in development, and will go towards the Great Green Wall Project. As for the remaining ten percent it will cover administrative costs as Kaloscope plans to allow collectors to purchase these with various cryptocurrencies. 

One can see how this particular project, can, as I have already pointed out, also reach other parts of the world like the Middle East,  as they are in definite need of it. Such a project could possibly include attaching carbon credits to the Great NFTrees. While current carbon markets are known to be complex, this may be a way via the blockchain to truly contribute to solid sustainability efforts in all areas and possibly also the Middle East as they plan their next endeavour for this new market place. It is because the Middle-East is also feeling the full impact of climate change. 

Having a growing number of initiatives in the UAE and Saudi to scale the plantation of trees and restore ecosystems, we are now connecting with innovators and governments to share our experience and technologies in scaling up nature based systems and solutions for the greater good. Finally, we have welcomed our first partners in Germany, GmbH, Zammit International and ELCON LED GmbH, to be one of the first companies to be part of a coalition and alliance of global corporations for The Great Green Wall via the NFTrees.

Together we, at Golden Organics is focussing on achieving Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) sustainability (for the water-energy-food nexus, including by developing and training clusters of farmers in the West African Sahel through to global trading). We have already started with the first hectares of the Great NFtrees planted in early September 2022. And from this, I also invite those interested in rebuilding global trust and restoration of the planet to join me to plant one tree at a time. 

About William Kwende

William Kwende is the CEO of Agritech which is the sustainable umbrella company for Global Organics & Serious Shea that is leading the project, The Great Green Wall. The NFTrees is a part of the project- the digital aspect of it. Kwende is a partner of Kaloscope, the Strategic Sustainability Advisor towards efforts to introduce Economic Social Governance (ESG) into the metaverse.

The post How The Great NFTrees, Metaverse & Digiverse Can Change The Middle-East appeared first on Green Prophet.

Finding bones at an archeology site reveals the kind of animals our human ancestors would eat. But plants? Remains in the kitchens and pots of our ancients and their plant matter is much more elusive because plant remains disintegrate over time.

But scientists from the University of Bristol and Goethe University have uncovered the first insights into the origins of plant-based cuisine, locked inside pottery fragments dating back some 3,500 years ago from West Africa.

West African cuisine has long been known for its distinct ingredients and flavours, often enhanced by the addition of a large and diverse range of plant foods. But where did those plants come from? Are they from the past or are they a modern adaptation to our tastes?

A traditional meal in West Africa comprises a starchy staple cooked in a pot, served with a sauce prepared from vegetables, fish or meat, often accompanied by pulses.

These starchy staples include root crops such as yams, cassava, sorghum, pearl millet and maize. In the northern Sahel and savanna zones, pearl millet is mainly prepared as porridge, while in the southern forest zone, a pounded mash from tuber crops such as yam, called fufu, is the major starch-rich element.

Traditional cuisine couldn’t be traced back into time, until now

Indigenous vegetables, eaten at almost every West African meal, include eggplant, pumpkin and watermelon, okra (used as a thickener for soups and stews), as well as a staggering variety of both farmed and foraged green leafy vegetables, little known or used outside of the African continent.

These include leaves from the amaranth, roselle and baobab tree. However, investigating the origin of vegetables and leafy greens is difficult as they do not generally survive over archaeological timescales.

The science team carried out chemical analysis of more than 450 prehistoric potsherds from the Central Nigerian Nok culture to investigate what foods they were cooking in their pots. The Nok people are known for their remarkable large-scale terracotta figurines and early iron production in West Africa, around the first millennium BC.

Acidic soils at Nok archaeological sites meant that organic remains such as animal bones and plant remains did not survive very well so what Nok people were eating was somewhat of a mystery. 

Looking at the far remains from plants, or the lipid bioprofile

“Charred plant remains like seeds and nutshells preserved in the archaeological sediments reflect only one part of what people consumed in the past,” stated Professor Katharina Neumann from Goethe University, who directed archaeobotanical research on the Nok Project: “We hoped that chemical analyses would provide additional insights into food preparation.”

The team’s results tie in well with ancient plant remains from the site which mainly comprise pearl millet but also cowpea and African peach. 

Whilst there are few unique lipid biomarkers for leafy plants and cereals and, as such, specific plants consumed by the Nok people, or processed for medicinal purposes, cannot be identified, the results suggest that much of Nok plant consumption included leafy vegetables or ‘greens’, mirroring that of groups living in West Africa today, where these play a significant role in people’s diet.

It seems likely that Nok people consumed ‘greens’ or leaves from plants such as jute mallow, African eggplant, okra, cowpea and bombax, widely used today. These provide cheap but quality nutrition and add taste and flavour to the otherwise monotonous starch-based staples consumed and can be kept dried and stored for use throughout the year, affording a buffer in periods of food shortage.

One of the most important leaf-providing species is the baobab, which, together with species such as okra (Abelmoschus esculentus), false sesame, jute mallow and black sesame are today cooked in soups with a little potash (potassium carbonate) to give a high mucilage content or what is known as a ‘slimy’ consistency.

This soup is common in high yam producing areas, likely because pounded yam is known to be complemented by sauces of ‘slimy’ consistency as are other local cereal and tuber dishes.

Evidence for the use of leafy plants can also be found in ethnographic accounts. One of the earliest known mentions of baobab was by Al Bakri in Ghana, writing in 1068, in his great work ‘Kitāb al-Masālik wa-al-Mamālik’ (Book of Highways and of Kingdoms).

Jute mallow is mentioned by the Arab historian al-Umarī (1300 – 1349) and later, in the 19th century, Nachtigal, the German explorer, notes that it is used to prepare sauces to add to farinaceous foods in Chad and Mali. Nachtigal also writes of sauces made from leaves of herbs or trees, mentioning baobab leaves, added with fresh or dried meat, to porridges.

The possible preparation of tubers such as yam, in Nok pots also suggests a long history of use, in good agreement with evidence which suggests a domestication of yams in West Africa at around 2500 BC.

In summary, our results demonstrate that prehistoric plant processing and consumption in West Africa involved much more than the cooking of starchy food, the scientists report:

“It has allowed us to go beyond the identification of meals thought to consist mainly of meat and starchy plants. We can now confirm, based on the highly diverse range of lipid profiles presented here, the preparation of ancient meals combining vegetables, pulses, USOs and, possibly, herbs/spices,” the added.

Care about Aftrica? Read about the Great Green Wall progress. 

The post The plants our ancient ancestors ate appeared first on Green Prophet.

Africa’s Great Green Wall (GGW) programme to combat desertification in the Sahel region is not only crucial to the battle against climate change but also makes commercial sense for investors, a new study led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and published in Nature Sustainability shows. The lead author is from Bonn, Germany. 

For every US dollar put into the massive effort to halt land degradation across the African continent from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east, investors can expect an average return of USD 1.2, with outcomes ranging between USD 1.1  and USD 4.4, the analysis finds.

Imagine if such a project extends to North African regions of Tunisia and Libya and then makes its way to water-starved regions like Yemen and Syrian in the east?

“We need to change the rhetoric about the Sahel region,” to reflect the fact that despite its harsh and dry environment, “investors can get a viable return on their investment in  efforts to restore the land,” says Moctar Sacande, from the FAO.

But the study results might just be UN rhetoric as well to justify their means. According to Politico Only 4% of the Great Green Wall’s original goal has been met, and an estimated $43 billion would be needed to achieve the rest.

If you read below Jeff Bezos has contributed a billion, but we’d need a few dozen more billionaires to realize the grand dream. Planting trees in Africa is one thing, but what happens when temperatures not accounted for rises and it doesn’t rain and millions of trees die?

Teachings for the Middle East on desert agriculture?

“The project that doesn’t involve the community is doomed to failure,”  Diegane Ndiaye told Politico. He is part of a group known as SOS Sahel, which has helped with planting programs in Senegal and other countries across the Sahel, a broad geographic zone between the Sahara in the north and the more temperate African savanna to the south. His data might fine-tune what the UN is not seeing. 

How to grow trees on sandy soils in the Sahel:

But a US diplomat visiting the region also told Politico that there wasn’t initially much hope that it would succeed from the outset, yet progress is seen:

Jonathan Pershing, deputy special envoy for climate at the US State Department, visited Senegal as part of an Africa trip last month, saying the US wants to partner with African nations to fight climate change.

“The desert is encroaching. You see it really moving south,” Pershing said.

Investing for longer term goals

In terms of the Great Green Wall project, he told Politico, “I don’t think that very many people thought it was going to go very far. But there are indications of progress, as seen in the community projects.

“It has a global benefit, and people are prepared to make those kinds of long-term investments through their children and their families, which I think is a hallmark of what we need to do in other climate arenas.”

The UN analysis uses field and satellite data to track the land degradation over the period 2001 to 2018 and then compares the costs and benefits of restoring the land based on different scenarios adapted to the local contexts.

The results provide the final piece of economic transparency in a jigsaw, with the political will and technical know-how already in place and should encourage the private sector, which is showing increased interest, Sacande says.

The greening and land restoration along this belt stretching 8,000 km across the continent is already underway. Communities are planting resilient and hardy tree species such as the Acacia senegal, providing gum arabic, widely used as an emulsifier in food and drinks and the Gao tree or Faidherbia albida, which helps to fertilise soil for the cultivation of such staples as millet, and for animal fodder.

With technical support from the UN, more than 500 communities have seen improved food security and income generation opportunities. The total area the GGW programme encompasses remains limited, with only 4 million hectares out of a targeted 100 million, according to the study.

Jeff Bezos pledges a billion USD

A total of some 20 billion USD dollars has been pledged internationally to support the scaling up of the Great Green Wall programme, including USD 14.3 billion at a One Planet summit for biodiversity held in Paris in January this year and USD 1 billion from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos at the just-concluded COP26 climate conference.

Concrete details of how these funds can be accessed are yet to be clearly mapped out, Sacande says, adding that unless some of the funding is delivered urgently, it could be too late for planting to catch the limited rainfall expected in June and July.

With its potential for carbon sequestration and restoring biodiversity and its emphasis on the socio-economic benefits to the impoverished communities inhabiting the region, the GGW straddles the key areas of climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience. 

The Green Wall also addresses UN Sustainable Development Goals on hunger, climate, life on land, and more.

The armed conflicts pervading the region have long made some wary about its potential. And the study finds that about 50 percent of the land area involved is currently inaccessible for security reasons. But even taking this into account, land restoration interventions still represent a viable business proposition, the authors report.

The post Africa’s Great Green Wall works! appeared first on Green Prophet.

A new girlfriend, once interning for O., Oprah’s magazine, lent me an old review copy of Life in Code, by Ellen Ullman. It’s a series of essays by Silicon Valley programmer and author Ullman, one of the rare women who helped build the early days of computer programming, that which our future world of artificial intelligence will be built on. I know from my work founding a tech startup (read Mountain Thinking) that the coders who build algorithms today, are creating the foundations of tomorrow. 

In her book Ullman explores the personality that engineers transmit to their code. She explores the racism, sexism, classism that pervaded and still pervades Silicon Valley. She tells us how programs built 40 years ago by the world’s first coders are inexorably intwined with the foundations of every new line of code written today. 

Knowing the implications of having a 27-year-old guy who drinks Soylent and who can barely speak to real people –– building the foundations of machine learning and artificial intelligence –– is frightening.

While I don’t wish the life of a coder on anyone – it can be isolating, disconnected from reality, anxiety-inducing –– I do wish that those who go for it come with a set of values that embrace whole planet thinking. How? We need equal opportunities in teaching people how to code. (Read our past story on anglers in A.I.) And we need that code to consider religion, gender, age, opinions, fake news, real news, the language of plants…animals, minerals.

And that is why I like to hear about cities that stand up and teach code to anyone who is not like them.

Asylum seekers to Israel from violent countries like Sudan and Eritrea have had a challenging time integrating into Israel. They’ve crossed deserts, evaded live fire at the Egyptian border –- yet have never really felt at home in the Promised Land.

Social projects in Neve Shaanan

A new project by the City of Tel Aviv-Jaffa is offering a coding course to selected refugees, giving them a jumpstart to a new career path. And in my eyes a chance to influence the machine. 

The program is launched by The Platform, a municipal entrepreneurship center located in Tel Aviv’s Neve Shaanan neighborhood, and PresenTense, a social entrepreneurship program in Israel.

Neve Shaanan is the same neighbourhood as the location of the hydroponic urban farm project for refugees. 

The coding program is organized in close partnership with the African Refugee Development Center, a non-profit founded in 2004 by asylum seekers and Israeli citizens to empower African refugees, asylum seekers and migrant workers. 

The 10-week coding course provides basic coding in Python and entrepreneurial skills to asylum seekers who wish to pursue future studies in the field.

A pilot welcomed a total of 10 students, who were selected from a pool of over 50 applicants following a basic computer and logic skills test, and an interview. All 10 students completed the course successfully and expressed interest in pursuing advanced-level coding programs in future.

Fisseha Tsegai Tesfamichael, an asylum seeker from Eritrea and graduate of the course said, “My hope for the future is to teach young people from my community and share with them what I know and have experienced. The journey of life is short, so let’s make the world better together.”

Shana Krakowski, director of The Platform said: “The dedication of the students in the course exceeded our expectations, with students never missing a class and improving their skills in such a short time. We hope this will be the first of many.”

The course was guided by Ismail Kharoub, a self-taught coder and successful entrepreneur from Jaffa who was able to teach participants in Arabic, Hebrew and English. 

While some students hope that the course will represent their first step toward a tech career, others ultimately hope to start their own businesses building websites or their own applications.

Others aim to transfer their newly acquired knowledge to their respective communities, narrowing digital divides and expanding sought-after opportunities to enter a hi-tech industry that has remained resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic.

You can now find coding workshops all over the world. One of the best workshops I have been exposed to is General Assembly in New York. But you can find classes and mentors at community colleges and online everywhere. Founded by an Israeli, there is also a tuition-free degree and diploma program at University of the People. 

The post Refugees code their way to assylum appeared first on Green Prophet.

On a Monday night in Jaffa a few months ago, TV was passé: Israelis and African migrants and refugees opened their ears and hearts to one another at a local restaurant which shut its kitchen down to the public and opened it up to let the Africans do the cooking.

Sitting at my table was Dawit Damuz, a 30-something migrant from Senafe, Eritrea, a city close to the Ethiopian border. He has been in Israel since 2004. He told us that his life was made hell by the army who tortured him and other men that did not conform to army sanctions. There were strange practices called “helicoptering” which tortured men by hanging them from their legs. Men in the army simply go missing, there are extrajudicial killings, and incommunicado detentions.

Only four official religions can be practiced in the country, Damuz explained, and anyone who is meeting in groups larger than five people at a time are punished.

Now in Israel Damuz has become a local leader among the asylum seekers in Tel Aviv who are facing deportation by the authorities. While they claim refugee rights, some Israelis and their politicians say it is the burden of countries through which they passed to absorb the migrants.

If there is any doubt about the problems the Africans may face, according to Human Rights Watch, “Torture, arbitrary detention, and severe restrictions on freedom of expression, association, and religious freedom remain routine in Eritrea.”

But even if for small moments, politics could be brushed aside at the second Cook, Eat & Meet in Jaffa. Every day Israelis were invited to meet some of the faces of the African refugees who share their city.

Amnesty International organizes such events to show locals in some cities the plight of asylum seekers and refugees. Two new immigrants to Israel, one from the UK and one from America organized this event in Jaffa.

Earlier on the Israelis in the group, about 30 or 40 people, were chopping vegetables and sipping on a beer, tea or a glass of water. We sat around tables of about eight and talked with an asylum seeker.

We drank a Central African Republic warm pudding drink called popoto made with rice and peanut butter. The recipe was shared and as we sipped it seemed like every Israeli with roots elsewhere said it reminded them of a drink from “home”. For me it tasted like the local Arabian sahlab, a thick drink sprinked with peanuts made to warm your insides on cold winter nights in Israel.

And throughout the night African migrants and refugees shared their stories of home, obligatory army service, the lack of freedom of speech –– and food.

A stack of injera bread, with a hint of molasses and a bit sandy to the bite (from the desert?), waited by the service window as three readied pots of simple food, like alicha, with vegetables and lentils released smells not familiar to the Arabian city of Jaffa.

There were journalists, PR professionals, those from the startup community, and activists eager to “taste” the life and times of those less lucky in Israel. It was a time for people to get personal as we sat around round tables letting the Africans explain their life and times before Israel.

That night my home city of Jaffa, sometimes troubled, sometimes violent, but always interesting, seemed to be transformed. Whether it was the good will, and positive energy inside the Tarnagol Restaurant (that hosted this encounter) which transferred this vibe I cannot say.

All I can say is that the event brought some new life and hope to everyone there. We learned a few recipes that connected Israel directly to Africa, even if only by way of an imaginary border.

For upcoming events like this one, email refugeesandisraelis@gmail.com

The post Greet, meet, and eat with African asylum seekers in Israel appeared first on Green Prophet.

Finding her mission in water, former Israeli diplomat Ornit Avidar (pictured above and below on the left) is taking Israel’s “soft” water technology solutions — decentralized, simple to use and maintain, consuming little energy — and applying them all around Africa. Letters of intent are signed, companies have been chosen and projects are just beginning to roll out.

Avidar built connections and experience as a diplomat for Israel’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, and in high-tech when she was the CEO at Delta Three Israel, the first Internet telephony company later traded on NASDAQ.

Her current company, Waterways, is a channel for Africans to access Israeli technology and make it work for their lives. While she recognizes the importance of non-profits in Africa, she thinks it is time to update the model with sustainable businesses focused on the bottom line.

One of the companies she is working with is SunDWater, which cleans water in off-grid locations using condensation made from solar rays. Africans in remote locations know about the technology and are asking for it, she says.

Where have all the water-tech projects gone?

Around six years ago, Avidar started researching clean-tech and water, and saw that water solutions for rural areas have gone missing.

“When we started looking at the issue of water in rural areas, the most confounding statistics popped up,” she says.

“We found that some 50 percent of water projects in rural areas simply don’t exist after one year. For me, this is dollars going down the drain. If for each million dollars of funding, a year later half of that is gone, then there is no way that we are going to see results. This is not economical and not acceptable, and I thought, what we can do about that?”

She then started devising a comprehensive methodology that can help project managers not only get projects, but keep their projects working and running from day one. “We integrate the appropriate technological solutions with social ones,” she says.

And this is the launching pad she calls Waterways. Her models include VIC, or Village Income Center, which is a way to integrate soft water and support technologies into the livelihoods of villagers.

Life and Water Development Group Cameroon, a non-governmental organization that does water projects with groups like Engineers Without Borders, is cooperating with Waterways on the VIC, which has already started its pilot stage and is in a feasibility study now.

Another key partnership is with Water and Sanitation in Africa (WSA), which has never before partnered with any country outside of Africa. The Pan-African WSA represents 36 governments, and is already doing “fantastic projects,” Avidar says. So far, WSA has worked with five Israeli companies, totaling some $5 billion in transactions.

“They loved our concept in Israel as we went from water scarcity to over-capacity. ‘If you want it too, we can do it,’” Avidar told them.

“We found that some 50 percent of water projects in rural areas simply don’t exist after one year,” says Avidar.
“We found that some 50 percent of water projects in rural areas simply don’t exist after one year,” says Avidar.

She has 12 letters of intent signed by various governments in Africa. Israeli companies to be involved in deal flows, in addition to SunDWater, will include water resources management company Tahal and Anyway Solutions, a global leader in providing soil stabilization products to the infrastructure and development sectors.

She recognizes that in Africa, deals proceed more slowly than in the West: “There is a process in Africa. Things take time. You can’t get around it,” she says.

Waterways is based in Shoresh, west of Jerusalem, and employs four people. Founded in 2010, it is bootstrapping its way into Africa. “Obviously, we would love to get funding. Some see the use of soft solutions as not fundable, but that doesn’t deter us. We’re there,” says Avidar.

For more about Waterways, see http://www.water-ws.com/.

This story was first published on ISRAEL21c – www.israel21c.org

The post Waterways helps water tech make “soft” landing in Africa appeared first on Green Prophet.