Pilot project using drones to control desert locust launches in Kenya
A partnership between CABI and Astral-Aerial is piloting the use of drones for the control of desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria). Funded by UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) through the Frontier Technologies Hub, the approach targets roosting populations of small swarms that are not feasible to spray by other means such as aircraft, or…
Scientists recommend measures to contain rapid woody weed spread in Baringo County, Kenya
A team of international scientists, including CABI’s Dr Urs Schaffner, have recommended ways to manage the devastating spread of the woody weed Prosopis juliflora, where in Baringo County, Kenya, its coverage rapidly increased by 2,031 percent in just 28 years. PhD student Purity Rima Mbaabu, affiliated to the University of Nairobi and co-supervised by Simon…
Largest Invasive Alien Plant dataset is now published online!
By Samantha Garvin. Reblogged from JRS Biodiversity Foundation. CABI has published one of the most complete and current datasets on Invasive Alien Plants (IAP) in East and Southern Africa. This extraordinary dataset is already being translated into new research findings and conservation action on the ground.
Why Prosopis no longer ‘pays’ as a prospect for positive environmental and socio-economic productivity
In the late 1970s and early 1980s the group of closely-related woody plant species and hybrids known as Prosopis were seen as a ‘saviour’ for millions of pastoralists and agro-pastoralists in East Africa whose very livelihoods were threatened by the degradation of dryland ecosystems spurred on by overgrazing, and by deforestation and a shortage of…
Investigating the impacts of the invasive species Prosopis in Baringo, Kenya
[slideshare id=50591340&doc=woodyweedsbaringofieldvisit-150716111136-lva1-app6892] The Baringo district northwest of Nairobi is one of the regions in Kenya where a number of mesquite species, Prosopis spp., were introduced some 40 years ago as part of poverty alleviation efforts. The trees were intended to provide, among other benefits, additional income. Today Baringo is one of the most heavily invaded…
Ebola and IAS
A conversation with Dr Arne Witt The recent outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa made headline news around the world. During the outbreak this fatal disease, endemic to parts of Central and West Africa, rapidly spread from Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia to other countries in the region such as Nigeria, Mali and…
Green Invasion: Destroying Livelihoods in Africa [Video]
CABI, together with Tmax Productions, have produced a video called the ‘Green Invasion – Destroying Livelihoods in Africa.” The short film (approx. 7mins long) details how invasive weeds are impacting on the lives of rural communities in East Africa. Although a large number of non-native species have become invasive in the region, this film focusses on…