This report focuses on the risks of climate change to development in Sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia and South Asia. Building on the 2012 report, Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must be Avoided, this new scientific analysis examines the likely impacts of present day, 2°C and 4°C warming on agricultural production, water resources, and coastal vulnerability. It finds many significant climate and development impacts are already being felt in some regions, and that as warming increases from present day (0.8°C) to 2°C and 4°C, multiple threats of increasing extreme heat waves, sea-level rise, more severe storms, droughts and floods are expected to have further severe negative implications for the poorest and most vulnerable. The report finds that agricultural yields will be affected across the three regions, with repercussions for food security, economic growth, and poverty reduction. In addition, urban areas have been identified as new clusters of vulnerability with urban dwellers, particularly the urban poor, facing significant vulnerability to climate change. In Sub-Saharan Africa, under 3°C global warming, savannas are projected to decrease from their current levels to approximately one-seventh of total land area and threaten pastoral livelihoods. Under 4°C warming, total hyper-arid and arid areas are projected to expand by 10 percent. In South East Asia, under 2°C warming, heat extremes that are virtually absent today would cover nearly 60-70 percent of total land area in northern-hemisphere summer, adversely impacting ecosystems. This report is available at: 
This document is an update of the scientific knowledge, including main conclusions and key issues, on endocrine disruptors. It address concerns about the potential adverse health effects of chemicals on humans and wildlife.
The world is quickly reaching a Point of No Return for preventing the worst impacts of climate change. Continuing on the current course will make it difficult, if not impossible, to prevent the widespread and catastrophic impacts of climate change. The costs will be substantial: billions spent to deal with the destruction of extreme weather events, untold human suffering, and the deaths of tens of millions from the impacts by as soon as 2030. This article is available are http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/publications/climate/2013/PointOfNoReturn.pdf
The International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC) has published Arsenic in Groundwater: A World Problem, the report of a seminar held in Utrecht in 2006. The publication includes sections about sources and distribution of arsenic in groundwater and aquifers, geochemical experimentation and modelling tools for understanding the origin of arsenic in groundwater, a review of arsenic behaviour from groundwater and soil to crops and potential impacts on agriculture and food supply, and health effects of inorganic arsenic. You can find the full text of the publication online.
Seventeen University of Botswana undergraduate students completed their work for HOORC's Winter Course this week, wrapping up six weeks of research training and fieldwork assignments with presentations of the results of their research.
Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality, Second Addendum to the 3rd Edition Volume 1 - Recommendations was released online by the World Health Organization (WHO) in December 2008. This addendum adds to and supersedes information in the third edition of the Guidelines. In response to feedback received, the second addendum includes more guidance on household water management, rainwater harvesting, vended water, temporary water supplies, and pesticides used for vector control in drinking-water sources. It also includes a series of new microbial and chemical fact sheets. Expanded fact sheets are included for key chemical risks such as arsenic, fluoride and nitrate/nitrite. You can find the main volume in HOORC's Library and the addendum online.
Water resources management model for Okavango River Basin from Kiker, Munoz-Carpena, Wolski, Cathey, Gaughan and Kim articleThe same issue of Physics and chemistry of the earth, edited by HOORC researcher Dominic Mazvimavi, featured an article by Mazvimavi and HOORC environmental chemist Wellington Masamba, Impact on water quality of land uses along Thamalakane - Boteti river : an outlet of the Okavango Delta, calling for increased monitoring of fluctuations in water quality of the rivers flowing from the Delta.
You can find all these resources in HOORC's Library.
Nineteen University of Botswana undergraduate students completed their work for HOORC's Winter Course this week, wrapping up their fieldwork assignments with presentations of the results of their research. This year's work included economics studies from Mbakile P. Seabe - Household attitudes and willingness to pay for the conservation of Lake Ngami, Botswana -- Kaelo Galeage - The impact of Foot and Mouth Disease on livelihoods in Habu -- Bonang Keagakwa -- Firewood trade as a livelihood activity in the greater Maun area, and Charlotte Masiangwako -- Benefits and challenges facing community participation in CBNRM.
nitude and distribution of malaria in Maun.
Sampling aquatic invertebrates
