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How geoscientists help strengthen food and water security in Africa

In 2021, Cyclone Idai hit Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. Idai was one of the most powerful cyclones to hit the southern hemisphere in two decades. Food and water insecurity connected to extreme events like cyclones, droughts, and floods, can force entire communities and regional populations to be displaced. Such population movements are evident in agriculture-dependent locations like Ghana in western Africa. How can applied geosciences help solve the population displacement problem within the global climate crisis and […]

Uncovering hidden water resources to save lives: A tale of two villages

This current GWB project is located at Angwan Fulani and Angwan Rimi, two villages in Sabon-Gari Local Government Area in Kaduna State, Northern Nigeria. These two villages (each with a population of approx. 20,000) suffer from extreme water scarcity, especially during the dry season. Community members reported that they spent numerous hours daily sourcing unsafe water for domestic use. This takes their time away from education and economic activities. They also fall sick frequently. Children […]

Nepal project troubleshoots earthquake warning systems

The overall aim of the NepalEEW project is to test the feasibility of an Earthquake Early Warning system in Nepal. If successful, the system would detect early stages of an earthquake, issue alerts, and provide critical time for users to seek cover or exit a building before the shaking arrives. During two field trips in winter 2021 and spring 2022 the team deployed 37 seismic instruments in a densely populated area in central Nepal between […]

The importance of understanding groundwater potentials: Anambra State, Nigeria

In 2022, a water project was initiated to investigate the groundwater potentials and aquifer vulnerability in select rural communities. The project utilized geological and geophysical field data to assess the water resources in the area. The project team carried out geological field mapping, surface traversing, contact identification and tracing, and detailed outcrop studies and description. They also conducted rock and water sampling and analysis to identify and characterize the lithology in the area. Vertical Electrical […]

Geoscientists without Borders® (GWB): Improving global community resiliency with sustainable water supplies

by Katie Burke (Managing Director- SEG Foundation) and Pallavi Bharadwaj (Program Manager, GWB-SEG) Water is a fundamental part of all aspects of life. The United Nations 2023 Water Conference this month is aimed at uniting the world for water. According to Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), the world has not managed to take decisive action to tackle the global water crisis, and many issues discussed at the first UN conference on freshwater back in 1977 […]

Stories from the field-Uganda: Rural Water Supply Development in Northern Uganda

After waiting out two years of COVID-19 — and then an outbreak of the Sudan Ebola virus — five team members, an astrophysics student, a photographer, and Paul Bauman (Project Lead) are back in Northern Uganda 20 days after the country was declared Ebola free. And while for 20 years the White Nile offered a physical barrier and some protection for Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army (the LRA), from Ugandan forces to the […]

Low-cost Geophysical Instrumentation for Groundwater Investigation: A GWB Experience

Since 2018, geophysics faculty from the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) in partnership with hydrogeophysics faculty at the Université d’Abomey-Calavi (UAC) in Cotonou, Benin have been working with Geoscientists without Borders (GWB) on a humanitarian geophysics project to develop “Low-cost Geophysical Instrumentation for Groundwater Management in West Africa.” Over the past four years, CSM graduate and undergraduate students have led the development and testing of low-cost DC resistivity, EM induction, and seismic nodal systems. These […]

New Project: Western Desert, Egypt

Toward the end of 2022, the GWB Committee selected two new projects for funding. One of the selected projects is in Egypt. About the project Egypt has the third-largest population in Africa and the largest population in the Arab World and North Africa. While the amount of water allocated to Egypt from the Nile River did not increase since 1959, the population increased from 26 to 102 million as of 2021. The growing population, climate […]

Stories from the Field: Zambia

This project aims to improve the productivity of Lake Tanganyika’s fishery in Zambia, by securing food resources and improving the health of thousands of villagers in the vicinity of the Nsumbu Tanganyika Conservation Project co-management area.