211 research outputs found
Paolo Bacci
No full textVideo interview with Paolo Bacci as part of the Italian Cinema Audiences projec
Multi-hazard Risk Analysis under Climate Change: West Africa Case Studies
No full textL'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen
Tracking climate change vulnerability at municipal level in rural Haiti using open data
No full textIn least developed tropical countries, vulnerability to climate change (CC) at local scale follows an indicator-based approach and uses information gathered mainly through household surveys or focus groups. Conceived in this way, the vulnerability assessment is rarely repeatable in time, cannot be compared with those carried out in other contexts and usually has low spatial coverage. The growing availability of open source information at municipal level, routinely col-lected, now allows us to switch to vulnerability tracking (continuous, low cost, consistent with global monitoring systems). The aim of this chapter is to propose and verify the applicability of a VICC-Vulnerability Index to Climate Change on a municipal scale for Haiti. The chapter identifies open source information on na-tional, departmental and municipal scale, selects the information on a municipal scale on the basis of quality, identifies the indicators, evaluates the robustness of the index and measures it. The index consists of 10 indicators created using infor-mation relating to monthly precipitations, population density, flood prone areas, crop deficit, farmers for self-consumption, rural accessibility, local plans for CC adaptation, irrigated agriculture and cholera incidence. This information is gath-ered for the 125 mainly rural municipalities of Haiti. The description and discus-sion of the results in followed by suggestions to improve the index aimed at do-nors, local authorities and users
Multihazard risk assessment for planning with climate in the Dosso Region, Niger
No full textInternational aid for climate change adaptation inWest Africa is increasing exponentially,
but our understanding of hydroclimatic risks is not keeping pace with that increase. The aim
of this article is to develop a multihazard risk assessment on a regional scale based on existing
information that can be repeated over time and space and that will be useful during decision-making
processes. This assessment was conducted in Dosso (Niger), the region most hit by flooding in the
country, with the highest hydroclimatic risk in West Africa. The assessment characterizes the climate,
identifies hazards, and analyzes multihazard risk over the 2011–2017 period for each of the region’s
43 municipalities. Hazards and risk level are compared to the intervention areas and actions of
6 municipal development plans and 12 adaptation and resilience projects. Over the past seven years,
heavy precipitation and dry spells in the Dosso region have been more frequent than during the
previous 30-year period. As many as 606 settlements have been repeatedly hit and 15 municipalities
are classified as being at elevated-to-severe multihazard risk. The geographical distribution of the
adaptation and resilience projects does not reflect the risk level. A third of the local development
plans examined propose actions that are inconsistent with the main hydroclimatic threats
Multi-Hazard Risk Assessment at Community Level Integrating Local and Scientific Knowledge in the Hodh Chargui, Mauritania
No full textHydro-climatic risk assessments at the regional scale are of little use in the risk treatment decision-making process when they are only based on local or scientific knowledge and when they deal with a single risk at a time. Local and scientific knowledge can be combined in a multi-hazard risk assessment to contribute to sustainable rural development. The aim of this article was to develop a multi-hazard risk assessment at the regional scale which classifies communities according to the risk level, proposes risk treatment actions, and can be replicated in the agropastoral, semi-arid Tropics. The level of multi-hazard risk of 13 communities of Hodh Chargui (Mauritania) exposed to meteorological, hydrological, and agricultural drought, as well as heavy precipitations, was ascertained with an index composed of 48 indicators representing hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and adaptive capacity. Community meetings and visits to exposed items enabled specific indicators to be identified. Scientific knowledge was used to determine the hazard with Climate Hazards Group Infra-Red Precipitation with Station (CHIRPS) and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) datasets, Landsat images, and the method used to rank the communities. The northern communities are at greater risk of agricultural drought and those at the foot of the uplands are more at risk of heavy rains and consequent flash floods. The assessment proposes 12 types of actions to treat the risk in the six communities with severe and high multi-hazard risk
Agrometeorological Forecast for Smallholder Farmers: A Powerful Tool for Weather-Informed Crops Management in the Sahel
No full textAgriculture production in Nigerien rural areas mainly depends on weather variability. Weather forecasts produced by national or international bodies have very limited dissemination in rural areas and even if broadcast by local radio, they remain generic and limited to short-term information. According to several experiences in West Africa, weather and climate services (WCSs) have great potential to support farmers’ decision making. The challenge is to reach local communities with tailored information about the future weather to support strategic and tactical crop management decisions. WCSs, in West Africa, are mainly based on short-range weather forecasts and seasonal climate forecasts, while medium-range weather forecasts, even if potentially very useful for crop management, are rarely produced. This paper presents the results of a pilot initiative in Niger to reach farming communities with 10-day forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—Global Forecast System (NOAA-GFS) produced by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). After the implementation of the download and treatment chain, the Niger National Meteorological Directorate can provide 10-day agrometeorological forecasts to the agricultural extension services in eight rural municipalities. Exploiting the users’ evaluation of the forecasts, an analysis of usability and overall performance of the service is described. The results demonstrate that, even in rural and remote areas, agrometeorological forecasts are valued as powerful and useful information for decision-making processes. The service can be implemented at low cost with effective technologies making it affordable and sustainable even in developing countries. Nonetheless, the service’s effectiveness depends on several aspects mainly related to the way information is communicated to the public
Field survey data on the effectiveness of agrometeorological services for smallholder farmers in Niger
No full textThe dataset contains the answers of smallholder farmers to a semi-structured field survey and the 2020 yield plot measurements conducted in 8 municipalities of the Dosso and Tillabéri regions in Niger. It is a systematic sampling of about 320 questionnaires and 192 yield plot samples equally distributed in eight municipalities of intervention. The dataset contains several pieces of information about the uptake and the impacts of a tailored climate service (CS) produced by the National Meteorological Service (NMS) and disseminated through a network that involves Ministry of Agriculture extension services at the municipal level developed in the context of the AdaptatioN Au changement Climatique, prévention des catastrophes et Développement agrIcole pour la sécurité Alimentaire du Niger (ANADIA) Project. The material gathered by the survey gives a picture of the preferences of local farmers in the broadcasting of climate services information and their consequent strategical and tactical decisions in farm practices. Moreover, the survey investigates the preferences regarding the information that farmers would like to receive during the cropping season. Furthermore, the measurement of yield and its relation to the farmers’ access to climate information and participation in training initiatives gives an indication of the impact of the CS on agricultural production in these regions.The dataset could benefit further studies and investigations about CSs for smallholder farmers in semi-arid regions.This article is a co-submission of the article: “Effectiveness of agrometeorological services for smallholder farmers: the case study in the regions of Dosso and Tillabéri in Niger” submitted to the journal Climate Services. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cliser.2023.10036
Flood risk assessment at municipal level in the Tillabéri region, Niger
No full textThe Tillabéri region (population 2.7 million, 97,250 km2) is the hinterland of the Niger's capital city and the second most susceptible region to flooding of the country, with 416 settlements hit from 2008 to 2013. This chapter aims to present the potential benefits of flood risk assessment at municipal scale: a tool that can help local authorities in disaster risk reduction. Risk (R) is considered here a function of Hazard (H), Exposure (E) and Damages (D) according the equation R = H * E * D. Risk is measured using six indicators. The probability in each year to have e rain causing settlement flooding is measured for each municipality using daily rainfall from meteorological stations (1981-2010) and three-hourly Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) datasets by NOAA (1998-2011). Settlements flooded (E), people affected, homes destroyed, fields flooded and livestock killed (D) are sourced from Niger's early warning system and disaster prevention unit (EWS DP), all errors corrected and units of measurement standardised. From the results, it emerged that 765 settlements have been flooded between 1998 and 2013. Contrary to what one might expect, the floods caused by the swelling of the River Niger hit few settlements. Most of the areas susceptible to flooding are located in the vast Bosso and Maouri dallols, two fossil rivers that run from Mali towards Niger for over 300 km. The right-bank tributaries of the Niger and along the minor hydrographic network are the next most affected areas. 95 settlements were hit more than once and 19 flooded in two or more consecutive years. Seven municipalities out of 41 are at very high or high risk of being flooded. These are crossed by the River Niger or by its main tributaries on the right bank, by the Ouallam intermittent creek or the Bosso dallol. Seven municipalities show damage in three areas (people, dwellings, fields)
Autenticazione di opere di oreficeria limosina mediante analisi FORS e analisi multivariata
No full textLe opere di oreficeria con smalti vetrosi su metallo costituiscono un settore molto importante dell’arte medievale. Una ricca collezione di oggetti di questa tipologia è conservata in Piemonte, in gran parte legati alla figura del Cardinale Vercellese Guala Bicchieri che le raccolse in tutta l’Europa e le portò in Italia. Insieme a queste opere vi sono oggetti di incerta autenticità, frutto di produzioni ottocentesche e novecentesche create sull’onda di un rinnovato interesse per il Medioevo. Per poter distinguere gli originali medievali e le copie moderne è stato sviluppato un metodo che prevede l’analisi spettrofotometrica in riflettanza diffusa con fibre ottiche (FORS) degli smalti presenti sulle opere, e il trattamento dei dati spettroscopici così ottenuti mediante tecniche di analisi statistica multivariata e in particolare di pattern recognition. L’applicazione ha permesso una netta discriminazione tra smalti limosini di epoca medievale e smalti moderni, confermata in seguito dall’analisi elementare eseguita
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