In March 2019 tropical Cyclone Idai made landfall near the Mozambique port city of Beira, ravaging the coastline and inland communities. The United Nations estimated that Cyclone Idai and the flooding that followed it killed more than 600 people, injured an estimated 1,600 and affected more than 1.8 million people. After more than $773 million of damage to buildings, infrastructure and crops, there were also disastrous economic ramifications, with GDP growth cut to 2.3% from a forecast 6.6%. Elsewhere on the continent, climate change and shifting weather patterns are exacting a heavy toll. Lake Chad has shrunk 90% since the 1960s and Lake Victoria, home to the world’s largest tropical freshwater ecosystem, could all but vanish in the next 500 years.
Despite contributing just 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, African countries are amongst the hardest hit by the impacts of climate change, where temperatures have risen on average 1°C more than other parts of the world. Studies conducted by the Department for International Development (DFID) show the economic impact of climate change in Nigeria is between 6 – 30% of GDP between $100 – $460 billion. This needs to be met with a robust response. Governments on the continent are spending between 2 and 9% of GDP on climate adaptation and mitigation initiatives but questions are raised over if this is enough.
Well-trained engineers are essential to maximising the impact of this important work, especially during a continental recession. Innovation in response to societal challenges is at an all-time high, providing access to sustainable solutions that can help people adapt to climate change and simultaneously address energy deficiencies. Engineers can help to provide life-saving support to the communities hardest hit by extreme weather patterns, such as floods or droughts, by improving infrastructure or developing technologies to assist in emergency response, such as drones, monitoring and transportation. For off-grid communities that are subject to frequent power outages, engineers can install energy alternatives that improve their livelihoods and help to build more sustainable societies.
The effects of the COVID19 pandemic are exacerbating climate-induced problems, impacting on local economies and communities, thus aggravating existing resilience. This is evident across Africa’s largest sector? – agriculture – where over half of the working-age population employ? ply their trade. The development of technology that enables climate-smart cultivation is helping to build resilience in these fragile livelihoods. By increasing agricultural output, people can build their financial independence and help feed a growing continent. This is particularly important when the proportion of the population who are undernourished has grown by 45% in drought-prone areas since 2012, as a consequence of climate change.
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Another critical area being addressed by engineers is access to energy. Households that are off the electricity grid or have only intermittent power can save 8% of their income by using renewable electricity and innovation in this space is essential to long-term development. For example, Olubanjo Olugbenga, founder of Nigerian Start-up Reeddi and shortlistee of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Africa Prize, designed a capsule system to provide clean, reliable and affordable electricity to households and businesses operating in the energy-poor communities of sub-Saharan Africa.
Reeddi capsules contain lithium-ion cells, improved by a proprietary battery optimisation algorithm to extend the lifespan of the capsule from two to four years, an increase from 500 to more than 1,200 charge cycles. Reeddi customers save up to 30% on their usual energy expenses with access to power anywhere, anytime. The Nigerian start-up recharges these capsules at a central location currently but intends to erect solar-powered energy charging stations in communities, allowing customers to recharge capsules themselves. It currently serves more than 600 households and businesses each month, aiming to increase to 10,000 monthly customers across Nigeria in 2021.
Ugandan start-up Innovex, shortlisted for the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation 2020, developed Remot, a system that enables users to monitor their solar photovoltaic panel installations, reducing maintenance and preventing power outages. Nearly 600 million people in Africa have no access to electricity and off-grid solar power offers a rapidly scalable option to provide communities with income-generating opportunities and devices that increase productivity and help to protect livelihoods.
Necessity has spurred innovation in addressing the climate challenge, but tasks like designing bespoke solar power installations require engineering expertise across a continent facing a chronic skills shortage in key areas. It is estimated that Africa needs an additional 2.5 million engineers to meet its Sustainable Development Goals. According to UNESCO’s Engineering Report 2010, Nigeria has one engineer for every 742,780 people in the country, in the UK that ratio is one to 1,100. Despite this, there is still unemployment amongst graduates who are not fully equipped to take professional roles.
Addressing the shortfall demands a holistic approach to build experience, enhance skills and promote diversity. By fostering partnerships between academia and industry and collaboration between African and UK engineering bodies, the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Higher Education Partnerships in sub-Saharan Africa (HEP SSA) programme provides practical learning opportunities aligned to local industry as well as community needs
As the continent closes its annual infrastructure spending shortfall – placed as high as $170 billion – the construction sector is expected to grow 6.7% annually making it imperative that such development is carried out as sustainably as possible. The Academy’s GCRF Africa Catalyst programme is working in partnership with the UK government’s Global Challenges Research Fund to build the capacity of engineering organisations across the continent, particularly in the infrastructure sector, to share best practice and help to drive sustainable development. At the University of Rwanda, engineers are developing a toolkit to help built environment professionals measure and reduce the country’s embodied carbon.
Africa is disproportionately exposed to the impacts of global warming and it is already confronting issues that other regions will not experience for some time. Being on the frontline of climate adaptation techniques will provide unique insights that could help the rest of the world to prepare and plan ahead. Amplifying African-based engineering expertise is therefore critical to improving the wider world’s defences against the increasing threat of climate change.
Akinola is a chartered engineer in the UK who has dedicated her work to developing sustainable water systems as well as promoting diversity in the industry on the continent. Yewande has won the Institution for Engineering and Technology’s Young Woman Engineer of the Year Award and AFBE’s Exceptional Achiever Award.
