Bücher von Joseph Awange

This book is useful to those in water resources management and policy formulations, hydrologists, environmentalists, engineers and researchers. Exploiting advanced statistical techniques and the latest state-of-the-art multi-mission satellites, surface models and reanalysis products, this book provides the first comprehensive weighing of the changes in the Nile River Basin¿s (NRB: ~ 3,400,000 km2 ) stored waters' compartments, surface, soil moisture and groundwater, and their association to climate variability/change and anthropogenic impacts on the one hand. On the other hand, it argues on the need for equitable use of the NRB¿s waters by all 11 countries within its basin, and doing away with obsolete Nile treaties that were signed by Britain, Egypt and Sudan, which prohibit the use of the Nile by 8 upstream countries. With Ethiopiäs construction of Africäs largest dam (GERD; Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam) along the Blue Nile, which is expected to take several years to fill, the Nile is back on the news. Combined with Ugandäs Nalubaale, Kiira and Bujagali dams on the White Nile, these human-induced impacts (i.e., damming), coupled with those of climate variability/change, are expected to exacerbate tension with the low stream countries (Egypt and Sudan) fearing the cut in theNile¿s total volume. Furthermore, the Nile river, arguably the world¿s longest river (6800 km), impacts on the livelihood of over 300 million people of 11 countries within its basin. This population is expected to double in the next twenty-five years, thereby putting extreme pressure on its water resources. An in-depth analysis of changes in the Nile¿s stored waters, therefore, is essential to inform its management and sustainable equitable use. Owing to its sheer size, however, obtaining in-situ data from ¿boots on the ground¿ is practically impossible, paving way to the space-based weighing of the Nile River Basin using a suite of high spatio-temporal remotely sensed and reanalysis products, as well as those of hydrological models. ¿Arguably, the Nile River is the most unique river in the world. It spans extremes of rainfall from being measured by meters to being measured by centimeters, from the humid tropics to the driest of deserts. Yet, thirsty people live throughout this basin and therefore the demands on its water resources are uneven. Knowing the water amounts throughout the entire Nile Basin is a critical step for governments and international treaties to avoid the ¿Tragedy of the Commons¿. Africa can embrace this future through the leadership of Prof. Awange and others like him who have devoted their careers to Africäs waters¿ ¿Doug Alsdorf, Ph.D., Professor of Geophysics at the Ohio State University (USA).

This book will benefit users in food security, agriculture, water management, and environmental sectors. It provides the first comprehensive analysis of Greater Horn of Africa (GHA)¿s food insecurity and hydroclimate using the state-of-the-art Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and its Follow-on (GRACE-FO)¿s, centennial precipitation, hydrological models¿ and reanalysis¿ products. It is here opined that GHA is endowed with freshwater (surface and groundwater) being home to the world's second largest freshwater body (Lake Victoria) and the greatest continental water towers (Ethiopian Highlands) that if properly tapped in a sustainable way, will support its irrigated agriculture as well as pastoralism. First, however, the obsolete Nile treaties that hamper the use of Lake Victoria (White Nile) and Ethiopian Highland (Blue Nile) have to be unlocked. Moreover, GHA is bedevilled by poor governance and the ``donor-assistance¿ syndrome; and in 2020-2021 faced the so-called ``triple threats¿¿ of desert locust infestation, climate variability/change impacts and COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, climate extremes influence its meagre waters leading to perennial food insecurity. Coupled with frequent regional and local conflicts, high population growth rate, low crop yield, invasion of migratory pests, contagious human and livestock diseases (such as HIV/AIDs, COVID-19 & Rift Valley fever) and poverty, life for more than 310 million of its inhabitants simply becomes unbearable. Alarming also is the fact that drought-like humanitarian crises are increasing in GHA despite recent progress in its monitoring and prediction efforts. Notwithstanding these efforts, there remain challenges stemming from uncertainty in its prediction, and the inflexibility and limited buffering capacity of the recurrent impacted systems. To achieve greater food security, therefore, in addition to boosting GHA's agricultural output, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs suggest that its ¿inhabitants must create more diverse and stable means of livelihood to insulate themselves and their households from external shocks¿. This is a task that they acknowledge will not be easy as the path ahead is ¿strewn with obstacles namely; natural hazards and armed conflicts¿. Understanding GHA¿s food insecurity and its hydroclimate as presented in this book is a good starting point towards managing the impacts of the natural hazards on the one hand while understanding the impacts associated with extreme climate on GHA's available water and assessing the potential of its surface and groundwater to support its irrigated agriculture and pastoralism would be the first step towards ¿coping with drought¿ on the other hand.The book represents a significant effort by Prof Awange in trying to offer a comprehensive overview of the hydroclimate in the Greater Horn of Africa (GHA). Prof Eric F. Wood, NAE (USA); FRSC (Canada); Foreign member, ATSE (Australia).

This book employs a suite of remotely sensed products and advanced technologies to provide the first comprehensive space-based sensing of Lake Victoria, the world's second largest freshwater lake that supports a livelihood of more than 42 million people, modulates regional climate, but faces myriads of challenges.

Assembling a wealth of multi-disciplinary techniques for addressing environmental problems such as pollution and climate change, this volume features simplified presentation aimed at non-experts, demonstrating geoinformatics potency as a research toolkit.

It is in realization that such huge amount of data requires efficient and robust mathematical solutions that this third edition of the book extends the second edition by introducing three new chapters: Robust parameter estimation, Multiobjective optimization and Symbolic regression.

This book providesinformation on the distribution of the available energy resources throughoutthe continent and how it is linked to the development of individual states.