State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Africa8

  • The Sahel Is Getting Wetter, But Will It Last?

    The Sahel Is Getting Wetter, But Will It Last?

    New research gives a unifying explanation of the Sahel’s past, present and future climate patterns.

  • With 1,000 Days Left to Reach MDGs, a Look Back and Forward

    With 1,000 Days Left to Reach MDGs, a Look Back and Forward

    The 1,000-day milestone to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) gathered professors Jeffrey Sachs, Prabhjot Singh, and Vijay Modi on April 4 for the Sustainable Development Seminar Series to take a critical look at how far the Millennium Villages Project (MVP) has come in the eight years since its founding and analyze what still needs…

  • Improving Seeds to Meet Future Challenges

    Improving Seeds to Meet Future Challenges

    Scientists and agronomists are racing to develop seeds that are higher yielding, more nutritious, and both drought and climate resilient to meet the challenge of feeding the world in the future.

  • Poor Ethiopian Farmers Receive ‘Unprecedented’ Insurance Payout

    Poor Ethiopian Farmers Receive ‘Unprecedented’ Insurance Payout

    Thanks to a groundbreaking new program that relies on advanced satellite technology, a weather index insurance payout of unprecedented scale will benefit poor African farmers.

  • Visualizing Malaria from Space

    Visualizing Malaria from Space

    Public health professionals are increasingly concerned about the impact climate variability and change can have on infectious diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and bacterial meningitis. However, in order to study the relationships between climate and …

  • Health Systems Expert Wins Young Leader Award

    Health Systems Expert Wins Young Leader Award

    Dr. Prabhjot Singh, an international health systems expert at the Earth Institute who helped design community health worker systems for the Millennium Villages Project across 10 African countries, has won a $40,000 Young Leader Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

  • A Forest Reserve Is Not an Island

    A Forest Reserve Is Not an Island

    Biologist Marina Cords has been studying monkey social behavior in western Kenya’s protected Kakamega Forest since 1979. Her work has led to insights about how primates manage conflicts, mate and carry out other social functions closely related to human behavior.

  • Investigating Impacts of Increased Fertilizer Use in Africa

    Investigating Impacts of Increased Fertilizer Use in Africa

    The rains came late this year in Kenya. I was there for several months in the winter and spring to conduct research for a post-doctoral fellowship, examining the consequences of increases in fertilizer use on soil fertility, maize yields, nitrogen gas emissions and nitrogen leaching losses.

  • New Grants to Extend Reach of Africa’s Green Revolution

    New Grants to Extend Reach of Africa’s Green Revolution

    Two new programs in Ethiopia and Tanzania will adapt modern technology such as an innovative “lab-in-a-box,” smartphones and web-based communications, along with training for agricultural extension workers, to broaden the reach of Africa’s “Green Revolution.”

  • The Sahel Is Getting Wetter, But Will It Last?

    The Sahel Is Getting Wetter, But Will It Last?

    New research gives a unifying explanation of the Sahel’s past, present and future climate patterns.

  • With 1,000 Days Left to Reach MDGs, a Look Back and Forward

    With 1,000 Days Left to Reach MDGs, a Look Back and Forward

    The 1,000-day milestone to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) gathered professors Jeffrey Sachs, Prabhjot Singh, and Vijay Modi on April 4 for the Sustainable Development Seminar Series to take a critical look at how far the Millennium Villages Project (MVP) has come in the eight years since its founding and analyze what still needs…

  • Improving Seeds to Meet Future Challenges

    Improving Seeds to Meet Future Challenges

    Scientists and agronomists are racing to develop seeds that are higher yielding, more nutritious, and both drought and climate resilient to meet the challenge of feeding the world in the future.

  • Poor Ethiopian Farmers Receive ‘Unprecedented’ Insurance Payout

    Poor Ethiopian Farmers Receive ‘Unprecedented’ Insurance Payout

    Thanks to a groundbreaking new program that relies on advanced satellite technology, a weather index insurance payout of unprecedented scale will benefit poor African farmers.

  • Visualizing Malaria from Space

    Visualizing Malaria from Space

    Public health professionals are increasingly concerned about the impact climate variability and change can have on infectious diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and bacterial meningitis. However, in order to study the relationships between climate and …

  • Health Systems Expert Wins Young Leader Award

    Health Systems Expert Wins Young Leader Award

    Dr. Prabhjot Singh, an international health systems expert at the Earth Institute who helped design community health worker systems for the Millennium Villages Project across 10 African countries, has won a $40,000 Young Leader Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

  • A Forest Reserve Is Not an Island

    A Forest Reserve Is Not an Island

    Biologist Marina Cords has been studying monkey social behavior in western Kenya’s protected Kakamega Forest since 1979. Her work has led to insights about how primates manage conflicts, mate and carry out other social functions closely related to human behavior.

  • Investigating Impacts of Increased Fertilizer Use in Africa

    Investigating Impacts of Increased Fertilizer Use in Africa

    The rains came late this year in Kenya. I was there for several months in the winter and spring to conduct research for a post-doctoral fellowship, examining the consequences of increases in fertilizer use on soil fertility, maize yields, nitrogen gas emissions and nitrogen leaching losses.

  • New Grants to Extend Reach of Africa’s Green Revolution

    New Grants to Extend Reach of Africa’s Green Revolution

    Two new programs in Ethiopia and Tanzania will adapt modern technology such as an innovative “lab-in-a-box,” smartphones and web-based communications, along with training for agricultural extension workers, to broaden the reach of Africa’s “Green Revolution.”