Water and Environmental Change

As mentioned in my introductory post, there are differing human and environmental conditions across the continent of Africa. The variability of these conditions often influence or are influenced by water presence. I thought it would be interesting to get a better picture of the variability within Africa so I created a visual mind map:  Variability in Africa, a Mind Map  (Click on the map to see it in more detail) Citations:  A leman et al, 2016 ;  Almazroui et al, 2020 ;   Cartwright, 2015 ;    MacDonald et al, 2012 ;   Masih et al, 2014 ;   United Nations, 2015;  United Nations Environment Programme, 2010 For me, this mind map is a great way to picture how varied the continent is and also reminds me of how much needs to be considered when discussing environmental change and water in Africa. I also noticed how interconnected each branch is, for instance  the presence of a particular biome is influenced by precipitation and water availability which in turn can be influenced by physical

Hello and Welcome! In this blog I will be exploring the relationship between water and environmental change with a focus on the African continent. I believe that we humans are intrinsically linked to the physical environment and that our development as a species is reliant on this connection.  Water, especially freshwater, is now being shaped by humans more than ever before and the time we live in now is more increasingly being recognised as  'the age of humans'- the  Anthropocene .  A concept that puts the relationship between humans and the environment into perspective is The Doughnut of Social and Planetary Boundaries, developed by   Kate Raworth(2017) . This framework combines both the Earth's planetary boundaries  ( Rockstrom et al., 2009 )  and the  UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs ) .  The SDGs are the global standard that is to be achieved when looking at development, they outline the targets that need to be met to ensure the wellbeing of the planet and its