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Author Archives: Namaara MacMoragh

How Zimbabwe’s Rainwater Harvesting Strategies Can Be Applied in the US

Posted on 20 February 2023 by Namaara MacMoragh Posted in Green News

Zimbabwe has dealt with recurring droughts and destructive floods for decades. But farmers there are adapting to the changing climate by implementing rainwater harvesting strategies. These same low-cost, scalable methods can be used to reduce the impact of droughts and floods by large- and small-scale farmers in the US.

Homegrown Harvesting Efforts

Since the devastating 1991-1992 drought, Zimbabwe, a landlocked country in Southern Africa, has been hit by several droughts—the most recent taking place in the 2021-2022 farming season. Experts have warned that by 2100, arid and semi-arid regions across Africa are expected to expand by five to eight percent. And in Zimbabwe, temperatures have risen by one degree Celsius over the past 40 years, while annual rainfall has decreased by 20 to 30 percent.

A 2019 study revealed that climate change had worsened the already precarious living conditions of many smallholder farmers who depend on rain-fed agriculture in Zimbabwe and surrounding countries. With limited technologies, rain-fed agriculture was the bastion of small-scale farming in the country. But now, more than 70 percent of the country’s population is in jeopardy as they rely solely on agriculture or rural economic activities.

Chitora, a sprawling small-scale farming community in Eastern Zimbabwe, was unable to sustain any meaningful rain-fed farming due to climate change. But a small thriving banana farm stands along the edge of a dusty road there. That’s because Blessing Zimunya, the farm’s owner and a local village leader, turned to rainwater harvesting in 2018 to access sustainable and reliable irrigation for his crops.

Alongside Zimbabwe’s increasingly longer droughts, rainy seasons are becoming shorter and, in most cases, are accompanied by extremely heavy rains. Most of that rainwater is lost through surface runoff as there was little infrastructure to catch that water for when it is most needed: during dry spells.

To combat this, Zimunya dug infield trenches alongside his crops to collect runoff, allowing the surrounding soil to retain moisture for longer periods of time and reducing reliance on rainwater. Besides minimizing water loss, the infield trenches reduce flooding by holding excess water and allowing that water to infiltrate the soil at a slower rate.

To further his water collection efforts, Zimunya built a 95,000-liter underground water tank to hold rainwater for irrigation. Soon, the tank will be connected to water pipes that will push water from the tank to Zimunya’s crop field. But he didn’t stop there; Zimunya also installed plastic tanks on the roof of his home to collect rainwater for non-drinking domestic uses.

Blessing Zimunya’s new underground water tank.

In the neighboring Gutaurare Village, another farmer, Elliott Nzarayebani, has also had good results with rainwater harvesting. As Nzarayebani notes, rainwater harvesting completely changed his farming yields, which were dangerously low due to ongoing droughts. He built deep contours—locally called zvimbuyambuya—which act like trenches, capturing and reducing water runoff. He also dug large ponds to store rainwater for future uses. “I can now grow various crops all year round [due to having more available water]. Right now, I have yams, bananas, tomatoes, and leafy vegetables,” says Nzarayebani.

Eliot Nzarayebani in his banana farm in Gutuarare.

Rainwater Harvesting and Food Security

The largest food supplier in the US is California, which produces over 400 food commodities annually. Like Zimbabwe, the state is home to primarily small-scale farms that are bearing the brunt of climate change. California’s diminishing groundwater table has triggered a series of water restrictions “meant to avert water insecurity,” reports Zack Boyd for Stanford University’s By & the West. However, these restrictions are primarily geared to the state’s few large industrial farms and do not account for how small-scale farms will be impacted by even slight water restrictions. It is therefore crucial for small-scale farmers to implement low-cost and minimally invasive strategies, such as those being used in Zimbabwe.

Indeed, nonprofit organizations across Zimbabwe have already recognized the importance of climate change adaption and, in response, are spearheading grassroots rainwater harvesting efforts. Much of the country’s success in rainwater harvesting is due to the late Zephaniah Phiri Maseko, who was a rainwater harvesting pioneer based in the Zvishavane district. The district is one of the most resource poor areas in Southern Africa, but by studying rainfall patterns, Maseko devised irrigation practices that enabled subsistence farmers living in the district to sustainably produce abundant food through soil and water management strategies. Today, organizations, such as the Muonde Trust in Central Zimbabwe, are building on Maseko’s work by teaching a wide range of water-harvesting techniques to local communities.

In Southeastern Zimbabwe’s Zaka district, the nonprofit, Bopoma Villages, has been heading rainwater harvesting projects across 15 villages. The entity helps thousands of people by providing nutritious food, better health programming, and farming skills to the broader community.

“We teach simple strategies that consist largely of digging strategically located trenches and soak pits,” said Natalie Watson, managing director of Bopoma Villages. Soak pits, she explains, are porous walled, covered chambers that allow water to soak slowly into the ground. These pits help to temporarily raise the water table, which often gets very low during dry spells. Once the pit is full, the weight of that water loosens the soil beneath it to recharge the area’s groundwater, which is essential to water security and drought resilience. In warmer drought-stricken climates, like Zimbabwe’s, soak pits slow down water evaporation and nourish crops beyond the rainy season.

Towards Sustainable Use of Resources Organisation and PORET are two other organizations in the country’s eastern Chimanimani district that are working with communities to rehabilitate springs and wetlands. The organizations assist farmers in building small dams along gullies—a trench naturally worn into the earth by running water—to capture rainwater as it runs off the slopes.

One of the most experienced water conservation and management organizations in Zimbabwe is Dabane Trust, based in the Southwestern Bulawayo Province. The trust works with communities to map water catchments in their areas. (A water catchment zone, or “watershed,” is an area of land that channels rain runoff or snowmelt into a particular lake, stream, aquifer, wetland, or other body of water.)

The trust also helps farms and households repair soil erosion using catchment methods such as bunds and gabions. Bunds are semicircular shallow depressions that are dug into slopes. The ends of the bund face upward to catch and slow down runoff during heavy rains. Gabions are low, leaky barriers placed perpendicular to the flow of water. Vertical poles are driven 0.5 to 1 millimeter into a flow of water and held together by interwoven branches. By slowing down water flow, gabions minimize erosion and allow the soil to retain organic matter. Both catchment methods are effective in easing downstream flooding.

Another goal of the Dabane Trust is to provide holistic farming support. Most farmers seeking support want to practice conservation farming—a regenerative way of farming that prevents further damage to arable land as it promotes minimum soil disturbance. Conservation farming also focuses on the value of crop diversification, which advances plant biodiversity. In addition, the trust helps farmers with livestock grazing management and agroforestry—a land management method that involves planting trees alongside crops—and stream bank and wetland protection. Conversation farming, grazing management, and agroforestry are all mitigation and adaptation strategies that help farmers increase their ability to thrive despite the impacts of climate change.

Beyond Zimbabwe

New water conservation practices, including mulching and dead-level contours, are popping up in other regions across the African continent. Mulching—or covering the soil with organic matter, such as leaves and wood chips—reduces soil evaporation, controls soil temperature, and increases healthy soil microbial activity. Similar to channels but less deep, dead-level contours are trenches dug into flat land. Such contours reduce water loss from the soil through evaporation as water can sit inside them for up to five weeks. With these methods, smallholder farmers can irrigate their land, gardens, and even orchards between rains, producing enough food for their families.

Farmer Nzarayebani summed it up when he said: “With proper rainwater harvesting practices, farmers will never go wrong.”

Meanwhile, in 2019, UN Environment Program and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization launched a new smart phone app that calculates the amount of rainwater that can be harvested from the roofs of houses. The app, which uses meteorological data collected from weather stations across Africa, can be used anywhere on the continent and has been successfully deployed in parts of Kenya and Algeria. The data is specific to locations closest to weather stations, which the app presents as the nearest city, UN Environment said.

“This app is practical for individuals as well as communities, local governments, and other actors who are planning to install rainwater harvesting systems in Africa,” Juliette Biao, director of the UN Environment’s Africa Office, was quoted as saying. “The app is a concrete example of how science and innovation can be packaged to solve day-to-day needs of households in Africa.”

Recognizing the power of rainwater harvesting on their own properties, a few people affected by atmospheric river storms in California bought cisterns and industrial barrels to harvest rainwater from their roofs, The Guardian reports. Meanwhile, according to Arizona Public Media, Tucson, AZ, plans to implement rainwater harvesting in its forthcoming 80-year water master plan.

Small-scale farming in the US is slowly starting to adapt as conservation farming has become a growing practice across the country. In 2018, Congress passed the Agriculture Improvement Act to broaden programs for farmers and ranchers looking to improve water quality and local wildlife habitat populations. As individuals and localities in the US make such changes, they can learn a lot from communities in countries like Zimbabwe, which are already effectively adopting these techniques.

 

This article originally appeared in the Nonprofit Quarterly. See the original article here.

harvesting rainwater sustainability sustainable Zimbabwe

Plastics. Jon Oliver Does It Again.

Posted on 24 March 2021 by Namaara MacMoragh Posted in Virtual News

At Etopia we know that while there’s a lot we can do to reduce our personal footprint, there’s a lot that isn’t.

Controlling personal plastic consumption is. For example, we can choose to shop at food cooperative or other store that offers bulk-buying (which btw can be done correctly even during a pandemic) or buy and store items in glass (reusable and will save you tons of money).

What happens to the plastic already out there and the continued production of the stuff isn’t. And that’s where this terrific video from Last Week Tonight’s Jon Oliver is a must watch. You will, however, have to click the “Watch On YouTube” link to view it.

 

Earth environment plastic video water

Gosau Dachstien SL Offers More than Holiday Shopping

Posted on 10 December 2020 by Namaara MacMoragh Posted in Uncategorized

I don’t often write about other regions, but this place is AMAZING!

Gosau am Dachstein in SL has all the elements of a perfect winter experience.

There’s a fun little market when you first land. Santa stands there with his list and checking it twice. The market booths have traditional and fun gift ideas along with some standard SL fare. I especially enjoyed the treats and holiday spirit of the market. The fun thing is that there is someone nearby to welcome you, share information about the real Gosau am Dachstein in Austria, and to answer questions.

As I strolled through the village I found myself stopping by the petrol station’s store. It wasn’t an empty filler building. Instead, it was a well thought-out community shop (again with treats I enjoyed). I took in every detail from the postcard stand at the register to the meats hanging by the butcher counter. And I admit this has motivated me to create a similar experience for the Etopia Food Co-op.

From the shop, I continued along the road, grabbed a pair of skis, and made my way up the hill to explore the alpine setting behind the village. There’s a first aid station, skiing trails, and a real “in the mountains” feeling. You can imagine yourself standing on the crest of a slope, ready for the exciting ride down the mountainside as you breathe in the crisp winter air of the Austrian Alps.

The homes I saw were traditional alpine style homes. Some even had snowy vehicles parked outside. These touches – vehicles, recycle and trash bins, a snow shovel by the door – are the little things that make the visit feel special. As always, when visiting communities in SL, it’s best to stay out of homes.

I’ve been to many winter wonderlands in Second Life. Visiting Gosau am Dachstein ranks as one of my absolute favorite places to enjoy the season. I look forward to see what they do for the summer. Gosaukamm cable car? Zwieselalm mountain pasture?

Harvest Party With Our Etopia BESTies!

Posted on 28 November 2020 by Namaara MacMoragh Posted in Etopia Updates

We know that because of COVID many Americans could not spend the Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends as in past years. So, we hosted the BEST Etopia Harvest Celebration in Second Life.

Friends of BEST and Etopia came from across the grid and around the world to celebrate friendship, the bounty of our harvest, and the preciousness of life. Guests from across the US shared how enjoyable it was to spend time with friends because otherwise, they would have been alone and isolated.

Some people in our community who logged in and joined us for the festivities live in Europe, Canada, and Australia. Even though Thanksgiving is an American holiday they loved coming together in appreciation of all that we have and for one another.

The day was filled with fun things to do so everyone had an appetite for dinner. We started the morning with Tai Chi at Serenity Park to relax our minds, limber our muscles, and let the feeling of gratitude fill our bodies and hearts.

There was a carnival with rides, games, food, and souvenirs. We set it next to Ginny’s Arcade because they’ve got the best pinball machines around!

We had a drumming circle with dancing and singing and sharing of things we are grateful for. After that, we gathered at Tsidel’s for a dinner buffet packed with harvest goodies, fine wine, and more than a few desserts.

The event was such a success we’re excited about the upcoming Holiday Dance to celebrate the winter solstice, the holidays, and the new year.

2020 events

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