TY - JOUR A1 - Kalkuhl, Matthias A1 - Schwerhoff, Gregor A1 - Waha, Katharina T1 - Land tenure, climate and risk management JF - Ecological economics N2 - We analyze to what extent climate conditions affect the prevalence of sharecropping as a form of traditional land tenure. We investigate how sharecropping tenure is related to climate risk and how it interacts with fertilizer use and livestock ownership that both influence production risk. We first develop a stylized theoretical model to illustrate the role of climate for land tenure and production. Our empirical analysis is based on more than 9000 households with considerable heterogeneity in climate conditions across several African countries. We find that farmers in areas with low precipitation are more likely to be sharecroppers. We further find evidence for risk management interaction effects as sharecropping farmers are less likely to own livestock and more likely to use fertilizer. In economies where formal kinds of insurance are unavailable, sharecropping thus functions as a form of insurance and reduces the need for potentially costly risk management strategies. KW - traditional land tenure KW - climate KW - risk management KW - agriculture KW - Africa KW - sharecropping Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.106573 SN - 0921-8009 SN - 1873-6106 VL - 171 PB - Elsevier Science CY - Amsterdam [u.a.] ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mtilatila, Lucy Mphatso Ng'ombe A1 - Bronstert, Axel A1 - Vormoor, Klaus Josef T1 - Temporal evaluation and projections of meteorological droughts in the Greater Lake Malawi Basin, Southeast Africa JF - Frontiers in water N2 - The study examined the potential future changes of drought characteristics in the Greater Lake Malawi Basin in Southeast Africa. This region strongly depends on water resources to generate electricity and food. Future projections (considering both moderate and high emission scenarios) of temperature and precipitation from an ensemble of 16 bias-corrected climate model combinations were blended with a scenario-neutral response surface approach to analyses changes in: (i) the meteorological conditions, (ii) the meteorological water balance, and (iii) selected drought characteristics such as drought intensity, drought months, and drought events, which were derived from the Standardized Precipitation and Evapotranspiration Index. Changes were analyzed for a near-term (2021-2050) and far-term period (2071-2100) with reference to 1976-2005. The effect of bias-correction (i.e., empirical quantile mapping) on the ability of the climate model ensemble to reproduce observed drought characteristics as compared to raw climate projections was also investigated. Results suggest that the bias-correction improves the climate models in terms of reproducing temperature and precipitation statistics but not drought characteristics. Still, despite the differences in the internal structures and uncertainties that exist among the climate models, they all agree on an increase of meteorological droughts in the future in terms of higher drought intensity and longer events. Drought intensity is projected to increase between +25 and +50% during 2021-2050 and between +131 and +388% during 2071-2100. This translates into +3 to +5, and +7 to +8 more drought months per year during both periods, respectively. With longer lasting drought events, the number of drought events decreases. Projected droughts based on the high emission scenario are 1.7 times more severe than droughts based on the moderate scenario. That means that droughts in this region will likely become more severe in the coming decades. Despite the inherent high uncertainties of climate projections, the results provide a basis in planning and (water-)managing activities for climate change adaptation measures in Malawi. This is of particular relevance for water management issues referring hydro power generation and food production, both for rain-fed and irrigated agriculture. KW - meteorological drought KW - drought intensity KW - climate change KW - drought KW - events KW - Lake Malawi KW - Shire River KW - drought projections KW - South-Eastern KW - Africa Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2022.1041452 SN - 2624-9375 VL - 4 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - GEN A1 - Hering, Robert A1 - Hauptfleisch, Morgan A1 - Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie A1 - Stiegler, Jonas A1 - Blaum, Niels T1 - Effects of fences and fence gaps on the movement behavior of three southern African antelope species T2 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Globally, migratory ungulates are affected by fences. While field observational studies reveal the amount of animal–fence interactions across taxa, GPS tracking-based studies uncover fence effects on movement patterns and habitat selection. However, studies on the direct effects of fences and fence gaps on movement behavior, especially based on high-frequency tracking data, are scarce. We used GPS tracking on three common African antelopes (Tragelaphus strepsiceros, Antidorcas marsupialis, and T. oryx) with movement strategies ranging from range residency to nomadism in a semi-arid, Namibian savanna traversed by wildlife-proof fences that elephants have regularly breached. We classified major forms of ungulate–fence interaction types on a seasonal and a daily scale. Furthermore, we recorded the distances and times spent at fences regarding the total individual space use. Based on this, we analyzed the direct effects of fences and fence gaps on the animals’ movement behavior for the previously defined types of animal–fence interactions. Antelope-fence interactions peaked during the early hours of the day and during seasonal transitions when the limiting resource changed between water and forage. Major types of ungulate–fence interactions were quick, trace-like, or marked by halts. We found that the amount of time spent at fences was highest for nomadic eland. Migratory springbok adjusted their space use concerning fence gap positions. If the small home ranges of sedentary kudu included a fence, they frequently interacted with this fence. For springbok and eland, distance traveled along a fence declined with increasing utilization of a fence gap. All species reduced their speed in the proximity of a fence but often increased their speed when encountering the fence. Crossing a fence led to increased speeds for all species. We demonstrate that fence effects mainly occur during crucial foraging times (seasonal scale) and during times of directed movements (daily scale). Importantly, we provide evidence that fences directly alter antelope movement behaviors with negative implications for energy budgets and that persistent fence gaps can reduce the intensity of such alterations. Our findings help to guide future animal–fence studies and provide insights for wildlife fencing and fence gap planning. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 1308 KW - fence ecology KW - veterinary cordon fence KW - ungulate KW - movement speed KW - fence interaction KW - GPS KW - Africa KW - wildlife conservation Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-582672 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 1308 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hering, Robert A1 - Hauptfleisch, Morgan A1 - Kramer-Schadt, Stephanie A1 - Stiegler, Jonas A1 - Blaum, Niels T1 - Effects of fences and fence gaps on the movement behavior of three southern African antelope species JF - Frontiers in Conservation Science N2 - Globally, migratory ungulates are affected by fences. While field observational studies reveal the amount of animal–fence interactions across taxa, GPS tracking-based studies uncover fence effects on movement patterns and habitat selection. However, studies on the direct effects of fences and fence gaps on movement behavior, especially based on high-frequency tracking data, are scarce. We used GPS tracking on three common African antelopes (Tragelaphus strepsiceros, Antidorcas marsupialis, and T. oryx) with movement strategies ranging from range residency to nomadism in a semi-arid, Namibian savanna traversed by wildlife-proof fences that elephants have regularly breached. We classified major forms of ungulate–fence interaction types on a seasonal and a daily scale. Furthermore, we recorded the distances and times spent at fences regarding the total individual space use. Based on this, we analyzed the direct effects of fences and fence gaps on the animals’ movement behavior for the previously defined types of animal–fence interactions. Antelope-fence interactions peaked during the early hours of the day and during seasonal transitions when the limiting resource changed between water and forage. Major types of ungulate–fence interactions were quick, trace-like, or marked by halts. We found that the amount of time spent at fences was highest for nomadic eland. Migratory springbok adjusted their space use concerning fence gap positions. If the small home ranges of sedentary kudu included a fence, they frequently interacted with this fence. For springbok and eland, distance traveled along a fence declined with increasing utilization of a fence gap. All species reduced their speed in the proximity of a fence but often increased their speed when encountering the fence. Crossing a fence led to increased speeds for all species. We demonstrate that fence effects mainly occur during crucial foraging times (seasonal scale) and during times of directed movements (daily scale). Importantly, we provide evidence that fences directly alter antelope movement behaviors with negative implications for energy budgets and that persistent fence gaps can reduce the intensity of such alterations. Our findings help to guide future animal–fence studies and provide insights for wildlife fencing and fence gap planning. KW - fence ecology KW - veterinary cordon fence KW - ungulate KW - movement speed KW - fence interaction KW - GPS KW - Africa KW - wildlife conservation Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fcosc.2022.959423 SN - 2673-611X VL - 3 SP - 1 EP - 19 PB - Frontiers CY - Lausanne, Schweiz ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reinhardt, Julia A1 - Liersch, Stefan A1 - Abdeladhim, Mohamed Arbi A1 - Diallo, Mori A1 - Dickens, Chris A1 - Fournet, Samuel A1 - Hattermann, Fred Fokko A1 - Kabaseke, Clovis A1 - Muhumuza, Moses A1 - Mul, Marloes L. A1 - Pilz, Tobias A1 - Otto, Ilona M. A1 - Walz, Ariane T1 - Systematic evaluation of scenario assessments supporting sustainable integrated natural resources management BT - evidence from four case studies in Africa JF - Ecology and society : a journal of integrative science for resilience and sustainability N2 - Scenarios have become a key tool for supporting sustainability research on regional and global change. In this study we evaluate four regional scenario assessments: first, to explore a number of research challenges related to sustainability science and, second, to contribute to sustainability research in the specific case studies. The four case studies used commonly applied scenario approaches that are (i) a story and simulation approach with stakeholder participation in the Oum Zessar watershed, Tunisia, (ii) a participatory scenario exploration in the Rwenzori region, Uganda, (iii) a model-based prepolicy study in the Inner Niger Delta, Mali, and (iv) a model coupling-based scenario analysis in upper Thukela basin, South Africa. The scenario assessments are evaluated against a set of known challenges in sustainability science, with each challenge represented by two indicators, complemented by a survey carried out on the perception of the scenario assessments within the case study regions. The results show that all types of scenario assessments address many sustainability challenges, but that the more complex ones based on story and simulation and model coupling are the most comprehensive. The study highlights the need to investigate abrupt system changes as well as governmental and political factors as important sources of uncertainty. For an in-depth analysis of these issues, the use of qualitative approaches and an active engagement of local stakeholders are suggested. Studying ecological thresholds for the regional scale is recommended to support research on regional sustainability. The evaluation of the scenario processes and outcomes by local researchers indicates the most transparent scenario assessments as the most useful. Focused, straightforward, yet iterative scenario assessments can be very relevant by contributing information to selected sustainability problems. KW - Africa KW - global and regional change KW - integrated assessments KW - participatory research KW - sustainability science Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09728-230105 SN - 1708-3087 VL - 23 IS - 1 PB - Resilience Alliance CY - Wolfville ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wuster, Wolfgang A1 - Chirio, Laurent A1 - Trape, Jean-Francois A1 - Ineich, Ivan A1 - Jackson, Kate A1 - Greenbaum, Eli A1 - Barron, Cesar A1 - Kusamba, Chifundera A1 - Nagy, Zoltan T. A1 - Storey, Richard A1 - Hall, Cara A1 - Wuster, Catharine E. A1 - Barlow, Axel A1 - Broadley, Donald G. T1 - Integration of nuclear and mitochondrial gene sequences and morphology reveals unexpected diversity in the forest cobra (Naja melanoleuca) species complex in Central and West Africa (Serpentes: Elapidae) JF - Zootaxa : an international journal of zootaxonomy ; a rapid international journal for animal taxonomists N2 - Cobras are among the most widely known venomous snakes, and yet their taxonomy remains incompletely understood, particularly in Africa. Here, we use a combination of mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences and morphological data to diagnose species limits within the African forest cobra, Naja (Boulengerina) melanoleuca. Mitochondrial DNA sequences reveal deep divergences within this taxon. Congruent patterns of variation in mtDNA, nuclear genes and morphology support the recognition of five separate species, confirming the species status of N. subfulva and N. peroescobari, and revealing two previously unnamed West African species, which are described as new: Naja (Boulengerina) guineensis sp. nov. Broadley, Trape, Chirio, Ineich & Wuster, from the Upper Guinea forest of West Africa, and Naja (Boulengerina) savannula sp. nov. Broadley, Trape, Chirio & Wuster, a banded form from the savanna-forest mosaic of the Guinea and Sudanian savannas of West Africa. The discovery of cryptic diversity in this iconic group highlights our limited understanding of tropical African biodiversity, hindering our ability to conserve it effectively. KW - Integrative taxonomy KW - Africa KW - Naja melanoleuca KW - Naja guineensis sp nov. KW - Naja savannula sp nov. KW - Elapidae KW - systematics Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4455.1.3 SN - 1175-5326 SN - 1175-5334 VL - 4455 IS - 1 SP - 68 EP - 98 PB - Magnolia Press CY - Auckland ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gonzalez-Fortes, Gloria M. A1 - Tassi, F. A1 - Trucchi, E. A1 - Henneberger, K. A1 - Paijmans, Johanna L. A. A1 - Diez-del-Molino, D. A1 - Schroeder, H. A1 - Susca, R. R. A1 - Barroso-Ruiz, C. A1 - Bermudez, F. J. A1 - Barroso-Medina, C. A1 - Bettencourt, A. M. S. A1 - Sampaio, H. A. A1 - Salas, A. A1 - de Lombera-Hermida, A. A1 - Fabregas Valcarce, Ramón A1 - Vaquero, M. A1 - Alonso, S. A1 - Lozano, Marina A1 - Rodriguez-Alvarez, Xose Pedro A1 - Fernandez-Rodriguez, C. A1 - Manica, Andrea A1 - Hofreiter, Michael A1 - Barbujani, Guido T1 - A western route of prehistoric human migration from Africa into the Iberian Peninsula JF - Proceedings of the Royal Society of London : B, Biological sciences N2 - Being at the western fringe of Europe, Iberia had a peculiar prehistory and a complex pattern of Neolithization. A few studies, all based on modern populations, reported the presence of DNA of likely African origin in this region, generally concluding it was the result of recent gene flow, probably during the Islamic period. Here, we provide evidence of much older gene flow from Africa to Iberia by sequencing whole genomes from four human remains from northern Portugal and southern Spain dated around 4000 years BP (from the Middle Neolithic to the Bronze Age). We found one of them to carry an unequivocal sub-Saharan mitogenome of most probably West or West-Central African origin, to our knowledge never reported before in prehistoric remains outside Africa. Our analyses of ancient nuclear genomes show small but significant levels of sub-Saharan African affinity in several ancient Iberian samples, which indicates that what we detected was not an occasional individual phenomenon, but an admixture event recognizable at the population level. We interpret this result as evidence of an early migration process from Africa into the Iberian Peninsula through a western route, possibly across the Strait of Gibraltar. KW - palaeogenome KW - Africa KW - Iberia KW - mitochondrial DNA KW - gene flow KW - admixture Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.2288 SN - 0962-8452 SN - 1471-2954 VL - 286 IS - 1895 PB - Royal Society CY - London ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Ludolph, Lars A1 - Šedová, Barbora T1 - Global food prices, local weather and migration in Sub-Saharan Africa T2 - CEPA Discussion Papers N2 - In this paper, we study the effect of exogenous global crop price changes on migration from agricultural and non-agricultural households in Sub-Saharan Africa. We show that, similar to the effect of positive local weather shocks, the effect of a locally-relevant global crop price increase on household out-migration depends on the initial household wealth. Higher international producer prices relax the budget constraint of poor agricultural households and facilitate migration. The order of magnitude of a standardized price effect is approx. one third of the standardized effect of a local weather shock. Unlike positive weather shocks, which mostly facilitate internal rural-urban migration, positive income shocks through rising producer prices only increase migration to neighboring African countries, likely due to the simultaneous decrease in real income in nearby urban areas. Finally, we show that while higher producer prices induce conflict, conflict does not play a role for the household decision to send a member as a labor migrant. T3 - CEPA Discussion Papers - 26 KW - labour migration KW - food prices KW - climate KW - Africa Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-494946 SN - 2628-653X IS - 26 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Neiber, Marco Thomas A1 - Kahl, Sandra M. A1 - Wiggering, Benedikt A1 - Glaubrecht, Matthias T1 - Adding the West-African riverine component BT - Revision of the Recent freshwater snails belonging to Pseudocleopatra Thiele, 1928 (Caenogastropoda, Cerithioidea, Paludomidae) JF - Zootaxa : an international journal of zootaxonomy ; a rapid international journal for animal taxonomists N2 - While Africa’s lacustrine gastropod fauna, in particular of Lake Tanganyika, has received much attention, the continent’s riverine malacofauna has long been neglected. Pseudocleopatra is a relatively poorly known paludomid gastropod genus with species found throughout the lower reaches of the West African Volta and Congo rivers. In the course of ongoing systematic revisions of African paludomids, we present here a morphometric analysis and revision of the recent species assigned to the genus, i.e., P. togoensis, P. voltana, P. dartevellei and P. bennikei, to improve taxonomic acuity for this group. We use available museum material for geometric morphometrics, multivariate ratio analysis and comparisons of radular and opercular characters. Our results demonstrate that the four recent species of Pseudocleopatra are clearly distinguishable on the basis of ratios of shell measurements as well as radular and opercular characters. Pseudocleopatra has generic-level synapomorphies including: concentric opercula with relatively large paucispiral nuclei, and rachidian radular teeth with usually 13–20 cusps. On the basis of this characterisation, the nominal species Cleopatra broecki is transferred to Pseudocleopatra. Additionally, the nominal taxon P. bennikei is synonymized with P. broecki n. comb. The phylogenetic relationships of Pseudocleopatra are currently unknown, but the observed tendency of some fossil taxa assigned to Pseudocleopatra towards thalassoidism, i.e., the resemblance to marine gastropods, has led to the hypothesis that some of the thalassoid endemics in Lake Tanganyika may have originated from or be related to Pseudocleopatra. Should this hypothesis be correct, which is in need of testing by molecular genetic methods when suitable samples become available, Pseudocleopatra may play a crucial role in understanding of the evolution of thalassoidism in African Paludomidae. KW - Africa KW - Congo River KW - Volta River KW - thalassoidism KW - geometric morphometrics KW - multivariate ratio analysis Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4674.3.1 SN - 1175-5326 SN - 1175-5334 VL - 4674 IS - 3 SP - 301 EP - 328 PB - Magnolia Press CY - Auckland ER - TY - GEN A1 - Reinhardt, Julia A1 - Liersch, Stefan A1 - Abdeladhim, Mohamed Arbi A1 - Diallo, Mori A1 - Dickens, Chris A1 - Fournet, Samuel A1 - Hattermann, Fred Fokko A1 - Kabaseke, Clovis A1 - Muhumuza, Moses A1 - Mul, Marloes L. A1 - Pilz, Tobias A1 - Otto, Ilona M. A1 - Walz, Ariane T1 - Systematic evaluation of scenario assessments supporting sustainable integrated natural resources management BT - evidence from four case studies in Africa T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Scenarios have become a key tool for supporting sustainability research on regional and global change. In this study we evaluate four regional scenario assessments: first, to explore a number of research challenges related to sustainability science and, second, to contribute to sustainability research in the specific case studies. The four case studies used commonly applied scenario approaches that are (i) a story and simulation approach with stakeholder participation in the Oum Zessar watershed, Tunisia, (ii) a participatory scenario exploration in the Rwenzori region, Uganda, (iii) a model-based prepolicy study in the Inner Niger Delta, Mali, and (iv) a model coupling-based scenario analysis in upper Thukela basin, South Africa. The scenario assessments are evaluated against a set of known challenges in sustainability science, with each challenge represented by two indicators, complemented by a survey carried out on the perception of the scenario assessments within the case study regions. The results show that all types of scenario assessments address many sustainability challenges, but that the more complex ones based on story and simulation and model coupling are the most comprehensive. The study highlights the need to investigate abrupt system changes as well as governmental and political factors as important sources of uncertainty. For an in-depth analysis of these issues, the use of qualitative approaches and an active engagement of local stakeholders are suggested. Studying ecological thresholds for the regional scale is recommended to support research on regional sustainability. The evaluation of the scenario processes and outcomes by local researchers indicates the most transparent scenario assessments as the most useful. Focused, straightforward, yet iterative scenario assessments can be very relevant by contributing information to selected sustainability problems. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 930 KW - Africa KW - global and regional change KW - integrated assessments KW - participatory research KW - sustainability science Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-445784 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 930 ER - TY - THES A1 - Bibi, Faysal T1 - Paleoecology and evolution in the Afro-Arabian neogene T1 - Paläoökologie und Evolution im afro-arabischen Neogen N2 - This cumulative habilitation thesis presents new work on the systematics, paleoecology, and evolution of antelopes and other large mammals, focusing mainly on the late Miocene to Pleistocene terrestrial fossil record of Africa and Arabia. The studies included here range from descriptions of new species to broad-scale analyses of diversification and community evolution in large mammals over millions of years. A uniting theme is the evolution, across both temporal and spatial scales, of the environments and faunas that characterize modern African savannas today. One conclusion of this work is that macroevolutionary changes in large mammals are best characterized at regional (subcontinental to continental) and long-term temporal scales. General views of evolution developed on records that are too restricted in spatial and temporal extent are likely to ascribe too much influence to local or short-lived events. While this distinction in the scale of analysis and interpretation may seem trivial, it is challenging to implement given the geographically and temporally uneven nature of the fossil record, and the difficulties of synthesizing spatially and temporally dispersed datasets. This work attempts to do just that, bringing together primary fossil discoveries from eastern Africa to Arabia, from the Miocene to the Pleistocene, and across a wide range of (mainly large mammal) taxa. The end result is support for hypotheses stressing the impact of both climatic and biotic factors on long-term faunal change, and a more geographically integrated view of evolution in the African fossil record. N2 - Die vorliegende kumulative Habilitationsarbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Systematik, Paläoökologie und Evolution von Antilopen und anderen Großsäugetieren mit Schwerpunkt auf dem spätmiozänen bis pleistozänen Fossilbericht Arabiens und Afrikas. Die Untersuchungen reichen dabei von der Beschreibung neuer Arten bis hin zu großmaßstäblichen Analysen zur Diversifikation und Community-Evolution von Großsäugern über mehrere Millionen Jahre, mit besonderem Augenmerk auf der zeitlichen und räumlichen Evolution der für die heutigen afrikanischen Savannen charakteristischen Fauna und Umwelt. Eine der Schlussfolgerungen der vorliegenden Arbeit lautet, dass makroevolutionärer Wandel bei Großsäugetieren am besten auf der regionalen (subkontinental bis kontinentalen) Ebene sowie über lange zeitliche Skalen hinweg sichtbar wird. Umgekehrt scheinen davon abweichende Ergebnisse früherer Studien, welche häufig auf zeitlich und räumlich eingeschränkter Basis durchgeführt wurden, übermäßig von kurzfristigen Ereignissen beeinflusst worden zu sein. Ein besseres Verständnis für die methodischen Ursachen dieser unterschiedlichen Bewertungen ist von großer Bedeutung in Anbetracht der variablen Qualität des Fossilberichts und den Schwierigkeiten, derartige zeitlich und räumlich oftmals heterogenen Datensätze adäquat zu synthetisieren – letzteres war ein erklärtes Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit. Schlussendlich unterstützen die hier dargelegten Untersuchungen die Hypothese eines Einflusses von sowohl klimatischen wie biotischen Faktoren auf langzeitlichen Faunenwandel und bieten eine neue, integrierte Perspektive auf die Evolution der afrikanischen Großsäuger-Faunen. KW - Africa KW - Arabia KW - neogene KW - paleontology KW - mammals KW - Afrika KW - Arabien KW - Neogen KW - Paläontologie KW - Säugetiere Y1 - 2018 ER - TY - BOOK A1 - Becker, Peter A1 - Kopp, Alexander T1 - Transformationsziel Demokratie : Zivilgesellschaft und Dezentralisierung in Kamerun N2 - Die nachfolgende Länderstudie ist während eines längeren Arbeitsaufenthaltes im Rahmen der internationalen Zusammenarbeit in Kamerun entstanden. Mit ihr versuchen wir, unsere persönlichen Eindrücke und täglichen Beobachtungen in einem Land zu verarbeiten, in dem offenbar alle Hoffnung darauf beruht, dass der alternde Staatspräsident Paul Biya seinen Abschied von der politischen Bühne nimmt und damit ein autokratisches, korruptes Regime sein Ende findet. Diese Hoffnung scheint mit der Erwartung von Francis Fukuyama verbunden zu werden, der 1992 nach dem Zusammenbruch des Sowjet-Imperiums das „Ende der Geschichte“ erklärte, in der Überzeugung, dass das demokratische Gesellschaftsmodell bald überall Einzug halten würde. Bekanntlich hat sich diese Erwartung als zu optimistisch erwiesen. Mit unserer Untersuchung versuchen wir aufzuzeigen, warum sich die Hoffnung auf eine gerechtere Gesellschaft trotz langjähriger Bemühungen westlicher Geber um die Stärkung der Zivilgesellschaft und die Dezentralisierung staatlicher Aufgaben auch in Kamerun kaum erfüllen wird. Ein „Ende der Geschichte“ lässt sich auch für die Zeit nach Paul Biya nicht prognostizieren. N2 - After more the thirty years in office, the political career of the elderly Cameroon President Paul Biya seems to have come to an end. After gaining independence in 1960 Cameroon was quickly turned into a dictatorial police state under Paul Biya’s predecessor, Mr Ahmadou Ahidjo. A forced political liberalisation at the beginning of the 1990’s removed the existing one-party-system. However, in reality, little has changed regarding the country’s political situation as the newly granted democratic rights exist only on paper. Not only is Mr Biya the sole and unchallenged ruler of Cameroon, he is also the “glue” that binds the country together. Despite the country’s wealth of natural resources, government corruption and mismanagement has resulted in an elite with much wealth and a majority of people living in poverty. In spite of this, and even in face of ethnic and religious diversity, Cameroon is one of the most stabile countries in Africa. Civil war did not occur and Christians and Muslims live peacefully side by side. Therefore, the end of the rule of Paul Biya seems to offer both an opportunity as well as a threat to this nation’s future. The opportunity could be realized if democratically minded segments of the society succeed in installing a pluralistic regime that abolishes corruption and nepotism. In order to make this scenario more likely, western donors have begun to support the establishment of a civil society and, through decentralisation programs, strengthened the concept of democratic local self-governance. The treat is that with the disappearance of Paul Biya from the stage a dangerous political vacuum may result. As no successor seems to be in sight who is capable of leading the people and democratizing the country, there is a danger that Cameroon might follow the path of other African nations and fall into a state of turmoil and decay. This book offers an analysis of the mechanisms which have resulted in Cameroon remaining a fragile state even after fifty years of independence. At the same time - on the basis of examining the findings of transformation theories - the book explores the possibility of bringing about democratic changes to the country by critically examining the impact of the activities of the international donor community. Cameroon is often called the „Afrique en miniature“. This is why a great part of the results of this analysis are also useful for judging the political circumstances in other francophone countries in Africa. Therefore the significance of the book goes beyond the context of the situation in Cameroon. T3 - WeltTrends Thesis - 18 KW - Kamerun KW - Autoritarismus KW - Zivilgesellschaft KW - Afrika KW - Transformation KW - Cameroon KW - authoritarianism KW - civil society KW - Africa KW - transformation Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-71883 SN - 978-3-86956-304-6 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - GEN A1 - Mkandawire, Thandika T1 - The death of Mandela and Africa’s liberation struggle N2 - The name Mandela became first inscribed in the annals of African liberation as nothing particularly unusual at the time. The late fifties was an era of trials and detentions in the colonies. The Treason Trial, which took place from 1956 to 1961, was closely followed by those of my generation largely through Drum Magazine. KW - Africa KW - South Afrika KW - Nelson Mandela KW - Apartheid Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-69964 ER - TY - THES A1 - Waha, Katharina T1 - Climate change impacts on agricultural vegetation in sub-Saharan Africa T1 - Auswirkungen von Klimaänderungen auf die landwirtschaftliche Vegetation in Afrika südlich der Sahara N2 - Agriculture is one of the most important human activities providing food and more agricultural goods for seven billion people around the world and is of special importance in sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of people depends on the agricultural sector for their livelihoods and will suffer from negative climate change impacts on agriculture until the middle and end of the 21st century, even more if weak governments, economic crises or violent conflicts endanger the countries’ food security. The impact of temperature increases and changing precipitation patterns on agricultural vegetation motivated this thesis in the first place. Analyzing the potentials of reducing negative climate change impacts by adapting crop management to changing climate is a second objective of the thesis. As a precondition for simulating climate change impacts on agricultural crops with a global crop model first the timing of sowing in the tropics was improved and validated as this is an important factor determining the length and timing of the crops´ development phases, the occurrence of water stress and final crop yield. Crop yields are projected to decline in most regions which is evident from the results of this thesis, but the uncertainties that exist in climate projections and in the efficiency of adaptation options because of political, economical or institutional obstacles have to be considered. The effect of temperature increases and changing precipitation patterns on crop yields can be analyzed separately and varies in space across the continent. Southern Africa is clearly the region most susceptible to climate change, especially to precipitation changes. The Sahel north of 13° N and parts of Eastern Africa with short growing seasons below 120 days and limited wet season precipitation of less than 500 mm are also vulnerable to precipitation changes while in most other part of East and Central Africa, in contrast, the effect of temperature increase on crops overbalances the precipitation effect and is most pronounced in a band stretching from Angola to Ethiopia in the 2060s. The results of this thesis confirm the findings from previous studies on the magnitude of climate change impact on crops in sub-Saharan Africa but beyond that helps to understand the drivers of these changes and the potential of certain management strategies for adaptation in more detail. Crop yield changes depend on the initial growing conditions, on the magnitude of climate change, and on the crop, cropping system and adaptive capacity of African farmers which is only now evident from this comprehensive study for sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore this study improves the representation of tropical cropping systems in a global crop model and considers the major food crops cultivated in sub-Saharan Africa and climate change impacts throughout the continent. N2 - Landwirtschaft ist eine der wichtigsten menschlichen Aktivitäten, sie stellt Nahrungsmittel und andere landwirtschaftliche Produkte für weltweit 7 Milliarden Menschen zur Verfügung und ist in den Ländern Afrikas südlich der Sahara von besonderer Bedeutung. Die Mehrheit der afrikanischen Bevölkerung bestreitet ihren Lebensunterhalt in der Landwirtschaft und wird von Klimaänderungen stark betroffen sein. Die Doktorarbeit ist durch die Frage motiviert, wie sich von Klimamodellen vorhergesagte Temperaturerhöhungen und sich verändernde Niederschlagsverteilungen auf die landwirtschaftliche Vegetation auswirken werden. Die Forschungsfragen in diesem Kontext beschäftigen sich mit regionalen Unterschieden von Klimaänderungen und ihren Auswirkungen auf die Landwirtschaft und mit möglichen Anpassungsstrategien die mit geringem technischem Aufwand genutzt werden können. In diesem Zusammenhang wird schnell deutlich, dass Daten über die komplexen landwirtschaftlichen Systeme in Afrika südlich der Sahara häufig nur selten vorhanden sind, aus fragwürdigen Quellen stammen oder von schlechter Qualität sind. Die Methoden und Modelle zur Untersuchung der Auswirkungen von Klimaänderungen auf die Landwirtschaft werden zudem ausschließlich in Europa oder Nordamerika entwickelt and häufig in den temperierten Breiten aber seltener in tropischen Gebieten angewendet. Vor allem werden globale, dynamische Vegetationsmodelle in Kombination mit Klimamodellen eingesetzt um Änderungen in der landwirtschaftlichen Produktion auf Grund von Klimaänderungen in der zweiten Hälfte des 21.Jahrhunderts abzuschätzen. Die Ergebnisse der Arbeit zeigen einen mittleren Ertragsrückgang für die wichtigsten landwirtschaftlichen Pflanzen um 6% bis 24% bis 2090 je nach Region, Klimamodell und Anpassungsstrategie. Dieses Ergebnis macht deutlich, dass Landwirte die negativen Folgen von Klimaänderungen abschwächen können, wenn sie die Wahl der Feldfrucht, die Wahl des Anbausystems und den Aussaattermin an geänderte Klimabedingungen anpassen. Die Arbeit stellt methodische Ansätze zur Berechung des Aussaattermins in temperierten und tropischen Gebieten (Kapitel 2) sowie zur Simulation von Mehrfachanbausystemen in den Tropen vor (Kapitel 3). Dabei werden wichtige Parameter für das globale, dynamische Vegetationsmodell LPJmL überprüft und neu berechnet. Es zeigt sich, dass das südliche Afrika und die Sahelregion die am stärksten betroffenen Regionen sind, vor allem aufgrund von Niederschlagsänderungen, weniger aufgrund von Temperaturerhöhungen. In den meisten anderen Teilen, vor allem Zentral- und Ostafrikas bedingen Temperaturerhöhungen Rückgänge der Erträge (Kapitel 4). Diese Arbeit leistet einen wichtigen und umfassenden Beitrag zum Verständnis der Auswirkung von Klimaänderung auf die landwirtschaftliche Vegetation und damit zu einem großen Teil auf die Lebensgrundlage von afrikanischen Landwirten. KW - Klimawandel KW - Anpassung KW - Afrika KW - Pflanzenwachstum KW - Landwirtschaft KW - climate change KW - Africa KW - crop modeling KW - adapation KW - agriculture Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-64717 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Elsenhans, Hartmut T1 - Rentierstaat Algerien : Realität vs. konstruierte Wirklichkeit T1 - Rentier state Algeria : reality vs. constructed reality N2 - Vor 50 Jahren löste sich Algerien nach langem Kampf endgültig aus dem französischen Kolonialreich. Die anschließend durchgeführten Wirtschaftsreformen konnten das Land aber nicht befrieden, weil sie keine effektive Nutzung der Rente verwirklichten. Bis heute ist die Wirtschaft des Landes wenig diversifiziert und stark von Erdöleinnahmen abhängig. Ist eine exportorientierte Industrialisierung als Lösung der Probleme denkbar? KW - Algerien KW - Afrika KW - politische Ökonomie KW - Rentierstaat KW - Algeria KW - Africa KW - Political Economy KW - Rentier State Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-60463 ER - TY - BOOK A1 - Wernert, Yann T1 - Die Rolle der Afrikanischen Union in den Regionalkonflikten von Somalia und Sudan T1 - The role of the african union in the regional conflicts of somalia and sudan N2 - In der vorliegenden Arbeit analysiert Yann Wernert die Rolle der Afrikanischen Union im Rahmen von Regionalkonflikten in Afrika. Dabei wird insbesondere Wert auf die konkrete Vorgehensweise der Afrikanischen Union in den jeweiligen Konflikten gelegt. Untersucht wird der Bürgerkrieg in Somalia sowie die Versuche seitens der internationalen Gemeinschaft, eine stabile politische Ordnung wieder aufzubauen. Ebenfalls analysiert wird der Darfur-Konflikt im Sudan und die Möglichkeiten, den regelmäßig stattfindenden Massakern Einhalt zu gebieten. Der Untersuchungszeitraum erstreckt sich von 2003 bis 2007. N2 - The following work analyses the role of the African Union in regional conflicts in Africa. A focus has been laid on the concrete handling of each conflict by the African Union. Objects of analysis are the civil war in Somalia and the subsequent efforts to restore a stable political order in the country, as well as the Darfur conflict in Sudan. The years 2003 to 2007 have been examined. T3 - WeltTrends Thesis - 11 KW - Afrika KW - Afrikanische Union KW - Sudan KW - Somalia KW - Africa KW - African Union KW - Sudan KW - Somalia Y1 - 2011 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-53938 SN - 978-3-86956-154-7 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - BOOK A1 - Kaltschew, Kristian T1 - Das politische System Kenias : Autokratie versus Demokratie N2 - Kenia erlangt Anfang der 1960er seine Unabhängigkeit und wird in der Folge von den Präsidenten Kenyatta und später Moi autoritär regiert. Als Konsequenz des internationalen und nationalen Druckes werden 1991 wieder Mehrparteienwahlen zugelassen. Die Hoffnungen auf einen Trendwechsel werden zunächst aber nicht erfüllt. Präsident Moi bleibt bei den Wahlen 1992 und 1997 siegreich und versucht jeden möglichen Reformprozess aufzuhalten bzw. zu verlangsamen. Mit dem neu gewählten Präsidenten Kibaki entsteht 2002 die Hoffnung auf Veränderung. Aber als alter Wegbegleiter Mois erfüllt Kibaki nicht die internationalen und nationalen Erwartungen. Moi und Kibaki organisieren jeweils kontra-demokratische Eliten hinter sich und nutzen das mächtige Präsidentenamt, die stärkste Institution im politischen System Kenias, um den Status quo so lange wie möglich zu erhalten. Die Parteien werden weder durch die Regierung noch durch die Opposition zu starken Institutionen transformiert und das unstete Verhalten der Geberländer vermag den Einfluss der autoritären Führung nicht dauerhaft einzuschränken. T3 - WeltTrends Thesis - 10 KW - Kenia KW - Demokratie KW - Autokratie KW - Geschichte KW - Afrika KW - Kenya KW - democrazy KW - autocracy KW - history KW - Africa Y1 - 2010 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-47947 SN - 978-3-86956-097-7 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - GEN A1 - Martin, Paul T1 - Afrika im 21. Jahrhundert : eine zu schreibende Erfolgsgeschichte T1 - Africa in the 21st century : building a success story N2 - Afrika hat seinen berechtigten Platz auf der Weltbühne noch nicht gefunden. Ein wichtiger Grund dafür besteht darin, dass afrikanische Regierungen – im Gegensatz zu denen Chinas, Indiens, Brasiliens oder Indonesiens – nicht jene Maßnahmen ergriffen haben, die für das Entstehen eines Mittelstandes aus dem Gemenge von Millionen Armen wichtig sind. N2 - Africa has not attained its justifiable place on the world stage. One of the reasons for this is because unlike China, India, Brazil or Indonesia, Africa’s governments have not done what is necessary to permit a middle class to arise out of its teeming millions of poor. KW - Afrika KW - Wirtschaftspolitik KW - Africa KW - Economic Policy Y1 - 2010 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-46446 ER - TY - THES A1 - Audretsch, Andreas T1 - Zur Entstehung von Good Governance : Gründe, Muster und Bedingungen einer afrikanischen Entwicklung ; das Beispiel Ghana T1 - About the emergence of Good Governance : reasons, models and conditions of an african development ; the example Ghana N2 - Ghana ist ein Musterbeispiel dafür, dass ein Entwicklungsland den Weg zu Good Governance schaffen kann. In vielen Studien wird dem Land im afrikanischen Vergleich heute bescheinigt, hier ein Vorreiter zu sein. Dies ist Ausgangslage der vorliegenden Studie, die der Frage nachgeht „Welche Gründe, Muster und Bedingungen führen zur Entstehung von Good Governance?“. Im Zentrum der vorliegenden Studie steht, wie aus der erkenntnisleitenden Fragestellung hervorgeht, eine empirische Untersuchung zur Entstehung von Good Governance und damit ein Transformationsprozess. Dieser wird bewusst über einen sehr langen Zeitraum (über ein halbes Jahrhundert) untersucht, um auch langfristige Entwicklungen einbeziehen zu können. Die Studie wird mit Hilfe eines „Mixed-Methods-Ansatzes“ sowohl unter Rückgriff auf quantitative als auch auf qualitative Methoden durchgeführt, was sich im Rückblick als sehr ertragreich erwiesen hat. Zunächst wird die Qualität der Governance über den gesamten Zeitraum anhand von sechs Indikatoren gemessen. Danach werden qualitativ die Gründe für die Fort- und Rückschritte analysiert. Dabei lassen sich immer wieder Systematiken herausarbeiten, wie zum Beispiel zirkuläre Entwicklungen, die über viele Jahre den Weg hin zu Good Governance verhinderten, bis jeweils Ausbrüche aus den Kreisläufen geschafft werden konnten. Sowohl in der demokratischen und rechtsstaatlichen Entwicklung als auch bezogen auf die Versorgung der Bevölkerung mit öffentlichen Gütern und die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung. Auch wenn die verschiedenen Bereiche von Good Governance zunächst einzeln untersucht werden, so zeigen sich gleichzeitig deutlich die Wechselwirkungen der Komponenten. Zum Beispiel kristallisiert sich klar heraus, dass Rechtsstaatlichkeit sowohl auf die Stabilität politischer Systeme wirkt, als auch auf die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung. Ebenso beeinflussen diese wiederum die Korruption. Ähnliche Verknüpfungen lassen sich auch bei allen anderen Bereichen nachvollziehen. Die Entwicklung eines Landes kann also nur unter Berücksichtigung eines komplexen Governance-Systems verstanden und erklärt werden. Dabei können die Wechselwirkungen entweder konstruktiv oder destruktiv sein. Die Verflechtungen der einzelnen Bereiche werden in einem Negativ- und dann in einem Positiv-Szenario festgehalten. Diese Idealtypen-Bildung spitzt die Erkenntnisse der vorliegenden Arbeit zu und dient dem analytischen Verständnis der untersuchten Prozesse. Die Untersuchung zeigt, wie Good Governance über das Zusammenspiel verschiedener Faktoren entstehen kann und dass es wissenschaftlich sehr ertragreich ist, Transformationsforschung auf ein komplexes Governance-System auszuweiten. Hierbei werden die vielen empirisch erarbeiteten Ergebnisse zu den einzelnen Transformationen zu komplexen, in sich greifenden Gesamtszenarien zusammengeführt. Da es bisher keine explizite Good Governance-Transformationsforschung gab, wurde hiermit ein erster Schritt in diese Richtung getan. Es wird darüber hinaus deutlich, dass eine Transformation zu Good Governance nicht durch eine kurzfristige Veränderung der Rahmenbedingungen zu erreichen ist. Es geht um kulturelle Veränderungen, um Lernprozesse, um langfristige Entwicklungen, die in der Studie am Beispiel Ghana analysiert werden. In vielen vorangegangenen Transformationsstudien wurde diese zeitliche Komponente vernachlässigt. Ghana hat bereits viele Schritte getan, um einen Weg in die Zukunft und zu Good Governance zu finden. Die Untersuchung dieser Schritte ist Kern der vorliegenden Arbeit. Der Weg Ghanas ist jedoch noch nicht abgeschlossen. N2 - Ghana is a prime example that a developing country can forge the path towards Good Governance. According to various studies Ghana, compared to other African countries, is a front-runner in this respect. This study asks the question “what are the reasons, models and conditions which lead to Good Governance?”. At the heart of this study is an empirical analysis of the emergence of Good Governance in Ghana and the process of transformation. This process is studied over a long period of time (more than fifty years), in order to be able to judge the long-term developments as well as those in the short-term. The survey is conducted using a “Mixed Methods Approach”, both quantitative and qualitative analyses methods are used. In hindsight this approach proved to be very effective. Initially the quality of Governance is measured over the entire period of time using six different indicators. The improvements and setbacks are then qualitatively analyzed looking for reasons for these developments. This approach uncovered certain consistent systems i.e. circular developments which, for many years, were an obstacle on the road to Good Governance until Ghana was able to break out of the cycle eventually. Democratic change took place, rule of law was improved just as the provision of the population with public goods and the economic development. Even if the various aspects of Good Governance are studied separately at first, it becomes clear that these aspects are inter-related and influence each other. For example it has been shown, that the rule of law influences the stability of the political as well as the economic system and vice-versa. The development of a country can therefore only be understood and explained using a complex Governance-System. The interactions within this system can either be constructive or destructive. The linkages of the various fields are illustrated first in a negative and then in positive scenario which summarize the findings of this survey. At the same time they contribute to the analytic understanding of the processes analyzed. The study clearly shows how Good Governance emerges from an interaction between different factors. It also shows that it is scientifically very rewarding to consider a complex Governance-System in transformation research. In the study many different, empirically compiled, results concerning the particular transformations are brought together in comprehensive scenarios. As there are no surveys analyzing comprehensive Good Governance-transformations, this study takes the first step in this direction. It is clear that transformation towards Good Governance can not be achieved in a short period of time by changing the general framework. Instead, cultural change, learning processes and long-term development are what is important and these have been analyzed in this study using Ghana as an example. In many earlier studies on transformation this temporal aspect was neglected. Ghana has taken many steps towards Good Governance and the future. The analysis of these steps is core aspect of this survey. The country, however, still has a long way to go. KW - Governance KW - Ghana KW - Afrika KW - Demokratisierung KW - Korruption KW - Governance KW - Ghana KW - Africa KW - Democratisation KW - Corruption Y1 - 2010 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-42310 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Sabrow, Sophia A1 - Kanyeihamba, George W. T1 - Menschenrechte auch in Afrika! : WT-Interview mit dem ugandischen Richter George W. Kanyeihamba T1 - Human Rights for Africa! : WT-Interview with George W. Kanyeihamba, Ugandan Judge N2 - Im Rahmen der alljährlichen Potsdamer Frühjahrsgespräche, die die Stiftung Entwicklung und Frieden in Kooperation mit WeltTrends durchführt, hatten wir Gelegenheit zu einem Gespräch mit dem ehemaligen Richter am Afrikanischen Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte und die Rechte der Völker, George W. Kanyeihamba aus Uganda. KW - Afrika KW - Menschenrechte KW - Interview KW - Africa KW - Human Rights KW - Interview Y1 - 2009 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-33957 SN - 0944-8101 ER -