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Africa AlertNet insight

Victims of Senegal floods face dire conditions two months on
18 Nov 2009 17:52:00 GMT
Author: George Fominyen

DAKAR (AlertNet) - Crouching on the roof of her house, 48-year-old Ossida Diatta pins up a mosquito net in a shelter made of used sheets and plastic bags. The makeshift dwelling is home to Diatta and her eight children, along with her late husband's second wife and her seven offspring.

They have been living on the roof since August when heavy rains flooded their neighbourhood in Pikine, an impoverished suburb of the Senegalese capital Dakar.

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Protecting soils to help combat climate change
17 Nov 2009 11:31:00 GMT
Author: AlertNet correspondent

By Georgina Smith

LUSAKA, Zambia (AlertNet) - A Zambian conservation initiative that goes against conventional farming methods has tripled maize yields in some areas of the country, and shows promise both in protecting yields from extreme weather and in sequestering carbon emissions to help curb climate change, agricultural experts say.

Africa is expected to face increasing difficulty producing enough food as climate change brings more frequent droughts and floods.

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Conflict, migration hinder birth registration in African states - UNICEF
16 Nov 2009 18:47:00 GMT
Author: Katherine Baldwin

LONDON (AlertNet) - Conflict and mass migration in some African states pose huge challenges to efforts to register children at birth, a move seen as key to securing children's rights, UNICEF said on Monday.

In countries like Ethiopia, fighting, famine and issues of land tenure mean huge swathes of the population are constantly on the move and thousands of babies go unregistered because of a lack of basic services in many areas, said UNICEF child protection officer Joanne Dunn.

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