Africa’s freshwater ecosystems are impacted by many threats due to climate change and several anthropogenic activities. In Côte d’Ivoire, the economy relies mostly on agriculture, which covers around 64% of the land surface. The study aimed to investigate Côte d’Ivoire fishermen’s perception of climate change, its drivers and other anthropogenic activities impacting freshwater fish biodiversity. The fish species locally threatened in the Ivorian freshwater ecosystems were also investigated. Face to face interviews and a structured questionnaire were used. The data obtained were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, means, and standard deviation, minimum and maximum. The multinomial logit regression was also applied to test factors that influence fishermen’s awareness and perception of climate change and their perception of change in fish abundance. The results show that around 72.7% of fishermen were aware of climate change. Decreases of precipitation (87.9%) and increases of temperature (76.1%) were observed by fishermen. Also, a significant decrease in fish quantity was observed by respondents. Climate change and anthropogenic activities such as gold mining, water withdrawal, use of small-mesh fishing nets, overfishing, industrial waste pollution, pesticides use for agricultural purposes along watersheds, obnoxious fishing practices and population growth, were highlighted as the main reasons for this decline. Species such as Lates niloticus, Heterotis niloticus, Parachanna obscura, Malapterurus electricus, Sarotherodon galilaeus, Tilapia zillii, Polpyterus endlicheri and Labeo coubie were listed by fishermen as locally threatened within Ivorian freshwater ecosystems. Actions and policies are needed to be taken by local authorities to ensure the sustainability of fisheries resources. The information obtained from this study constitutes a prerequisite for developing and implementing studies or policies aimed at mitigating and combating the negative effect of climate change and anthropogenic activities on the Ivorian freshwater ecosystem.

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Climate change has posed serious health threats on both man and animals. This ranges from effects of progressive temperature rises from global warming to extreme weather events and anthropogenic activities and this has affected insect-vector distributions worldwide. Tsetse fly species transmit Trypanosomes but relative significance depends largely on the strength of their interactions with susceptible hosts. Tsetse flies are the main vectors of Trypanosomiasis and their existence pose a threat to the survival of cattle, small ruminates and equines in The Gambia. It is known to be one of the most vital parasitic diseases affecting livestock productivity in The Gambia and equines are very susceptible. Central River Region is mainly infested with the tsetse fly Glossina morsitan submorsitan a major vector of Trypanosomiasis among animals in the country and it is mainly found in dry, canopied, savannah woodland. Glossina palpalis is also present, but are more limited to riverine vegetation in the area. This work seeks to show the havoc caused by trypanosomiasis and the urgency for more studies to investigate the patterns of transmission of this disease especially in the context of climate change in other for a better control program for this zoonosis in The Gambia.Keywords: Climate Change, Glossina, Trypanosome, Cattle, Equine.

Environmental economics studied has become increasingly most popular in local and international community. In this paper, we empirically tested the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis by analysis the relationship between growth of environmental quality and growth of per capita income. The panel estimation such as fixed effect and random effect were applied. From the results, the fixed effect model for growth for CO 2 revealed that growth for population density, growth of per capita income, growth of per capita income squared, growth of trade openness, growth of exchange rate, and growth of agriculture valued added were statistically significant. The results further indicated that growth of trade openness lead to an increases in growth of environmental quality. The growth of population density has positive and significant effects on the growth rate of environmental quality and has the a-priori expectation in our model.

Food has been recognized globally as a necessity of life and organization such as World Health Organization (WHO) have made attempts at addressing the global food scarcity crisis. One of the attempts is the introduction of Genetically Modified crops (GM crops). Agricultural productivity is low in Nigeria due to reliance on rainfall and other related factors like poor agronomic practices and crop losses from pest and disease. The benefits of GM crops include increase or improved yield, adoptability to specific abiotic and biotic stresses such as drought, pest and disease among others. Nigeria as a nation is slow in adopting GM crops due to the political debate and public opinion and concerns over public health and safety. The Nigeria National Assembly and Nigerian Academy of Science (NAS) has since declared that GM crop is safe for consumption. However, the commercialization of GM crops in Nigeria still remains to be the challenged. There is need to convince the population on the safety of GM crops based on evidence of success stories of empirical studies for the formulation of regulations and policy guidelines that will promote the development, adoption and commercialization of GM crops for food sufficiency and sustainable development.

Background. In Africa, it has been estimated that 50 million cattle and 70 million sheep and goats are at risk of animal African trypanosomiasis, and three million cattle die annually. Methods. This study was conducted in all the regions of The Gambia except Kombo Saint Mary Island (Banjul). Structured questionnaires were administered to 440 randomly selected livestock owners and 23 livestock assistants, and 7 focus group discussions were held for both livestock owners and livestock assistants. The data were analyzed mainly using descriptive statistics and content analysis methods. Results. A total of 94.5% and 75% of livestock owners reported having seen tsetse and horse flies, respectively, while 100% of livestock assistants reported having seen tsetse flies. Forty-seven percent of the livestock owners indicated a positive attitude toward control measures, while 42% of them had no idea how to control tsetse flies. On the other hand, 57% of livestock assistants believe that tsetse and horse flies are the main reasons why AAT is still in their community. There was a statistically significant difference between all the respondents’ characteristics and the practices done by livestock owners to prevent AAT vectors from biting their animals. Conclusion. This study shows that trypanosomiasis is still a major problem for livestock health and production in The Gambia, and it requires disease and vector control.

A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted in six administrative regions of The Gambia, in order to assess livestock owners' perceptions on climate variabilities changes and their impact on livestock rearing in The Gambia. A total of 440 study participants were interviewed and six focal group discussions were undertaken. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's chi-squares analysis and Binary logistic regression were used to analyze the data. Among them 351 (80%) were males, while 89 (20%) were females. This result reveals that, middle-aged farmers from 40-49 years old had (P value =0.035), livestock owners in NBR (P value=0.006), CRR-S (P=0.038), and CRR-N (P=0.001) were the main factors significantly influencing livestock owner’s perception on rainfall. As for temperature, livestock owners residing in WCR (P <0.001), NBR (P=0.006), CRR-S (P <0.038), CRR-N (P <0.001) and Herdsmen (P <0.003) and crop farmers (P <0.004) were highly associated with knowledge on changes in temperatures The research also revealed farmers were faced with low milk production and poor-quantity meat as they attributed it as the cause of climate change. Finally, the research has shown that, livestock owners are very much aware of climate change and the consequences it has on their livelihood.

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