By Emilio Godoy
PANAMA, Aug 9 2024 – In 2021, the Panama Canal welcomed a French experimental ship on a world tour, the Energy Observer, the first electric vessel powered by a combination of renewable energies and a hydrogen production system based on seawater.

The vessel exemplifies Panama’s aspiration to become a regional hub for hydrogen, the most abundant gas on the planet, but faces the existential decision of whether to generate it from renewable energy or fossil gas.

This Central American nation of just over four million people is developing, albeit belatedly, the first phase of its roadmap to materialise the National Green Hydrogen and Derivatives Strategy, approved in 2023.

For Juan Lucero, coordinator of the Ministry of the Environment’s National Climate Transparency Platform, green hydrogen would be the best option, given its renewable energy, strategic position and the influence of international policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in sea transport.

“Panama has natural gas, and companies are interested in taking part in this business, in this case blue hydrogen. If Panama wants to be a hub, then blue is a good option,” he told IPS.”For Panama, it has always been a priority to provide services, to be an energy hub. We have tradition, experience, history, as a hub for supplying bunker ships. The idea is to achieve that transition”: Juan Lucero.

He stressed that “for Panama, it has always been a priority to provide services, to be an energy hub. We have tradition, experience, history, as a hub for supplying bunker (a petroleum distillate) ships. The idea is to achieve that transition.”

The production of hydrogen, which the fossil fuel industry has been using for decades, has now been transformed into a coloured palette, depending on its origin.

Thus, “grey” comes from gas and depends on adapting pipelines to transport it.

By comparison, “blue” has the same origin, but the carbon dioxide (CO2) emanating from it is captured by plants. Production is based on steam methane reforming, which involves mixing the first gas with the second and heating it to obtain a synthesis gas. However, this releases CO2, the main GHG responsible for global warming.

Meanwhile, “green” hydrogen is obtained through electrolysis, separating it from the oxygen in water by means of an electric current.

The latter type joins the range of clean sources to drive energy transition away from fossil fuels and thus develop a low-carbon economy. Today, however, hydrogen is still largely derived from fossil fuels.

In its different colours, Panama joins Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay in having national hydrogen policies.

Penonomé wind farm, located in the central Panamanian province of Coclé. Credit: Emilio Godoy / IPS

Ambition

In 2022, the Panamanian government created the High Level Green Hydrogen and Green Hydrogen Technical committees to drive the roadmap in that direction.

But it has not made progress in the creation of free zones for trade and storage of green hydrogen and derivatives; updating regulations; and encouraging port activities to use electric vehicles, install decentralised solar systems, introduce energy efficiency and generate heat through solar thermal energy.

The green hydrogen strategy approved in 2023 includes eight targets and 30 lines of action, foreseeing the annual production of 500,000 tonnes of this energy and derivatives, to cover 5% of the shipping fuel supply by 2030.

In 20 years, the estimate rises to the supply of 40% of shipping fuels.

But this potential would require 67 gigawatts (Gw) of installed renewable capacity, which is a substantial deployment in a country whose economy is highly dependent on the activity of the inter-oceanic canal between the Pacific and the Atlantic, inaugurated in 1914 and expanded a century later, in a project that doubled its capacity and came into operation in 2016.

In 2023, the Panamanian energy mix relied on hydropower, gas, wind, bunker, solar and diesel, with an installed capacity of 3.47 Gw at the start of 2024. Panama currently has at least 31 photovoltaic plants and three wind farms.

Electricity generation accounted for some 24 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2021, with the largest contributors being energy (70%) and agriculture (20%).

But in 2023, the country declared itself carbon neutral, i.e. its forests capture the pollution released into the atmosphere, having a negative balance in GHG emissions.

The national strategy includes the construction of a 160 megawatt (MW) solar plant and an 18 MW wind power farm in the centre-south of the country, as well as a second 290 MW photovoltaic plant in the northern province of Colón.

In this province, a green ammonia production plant is planned to supply the future demand for shipping fuel, with an annual production of 65,000 tonnes and an investment of US$ 500 million.

The global shipping sector considers hydrogen, ammonia and its derivative, methanol, to be viable. The latter, which is also used to make fertilisers, explosives and other commodities, can be obtained from green hydrogen.

A demand of up to 280,000 tonnes of green ammonia per year is projected by 2040, which would require the installation of 4.2 Gw of electrolysis.

Leonardo Beltrán, a non-resident researcher at the non-governmental Institute of the Americas, told IPS about the process of building strategies, institutional vision, and short, medium and long-term goals.

“They have taken giant steps in a relatively short period of time. They already have the infrastructure, the canal. If that demand is met, it could be a game changer. If you can connect the canal to other ports, to the United States or Europe, they could very well have that (green) corridor that would anchor a relevant demand. That would boost on-site and also regional generation,” he said from Mexico City.

With support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Panama is developing pre-feasibility projects on the production of green hydrogen, its conversion to ammonia and the installation of an ammonia dispatch station as a clean shipping fuel, and on the production of green aviation paraffin.

The roadmap found to be more feasible the production of hydrogen in Panama, the import of green ammonia and the processing of green shipping fuel.

Panama aspires to become a regional hub for green hydrogen, obtained from water and renewable energy sources, including gas and ammonia production plants. Infographic: National Energy Board

Also, the country is considering manufacturing green paraffin for aviation, given that it hosts an air transport hub in the region, although testing is in its infancy and involves a much longer process than in the case of shipping.

Harmonisation

The hydrogen strategy is a function of Panama’s logistical, energy and climate change needs.

Panama currently has 10 tax-free fossil fuel areas, with storage capacity of more than 30 million barrels (159 litre) equivalent and one liquefied fossil gas area, which are tax exempt and could be the model for future hydrogen generation areas.

In 2021, the country shipped 42.79 million tonnes of fuel to more than 44,000 vessels, a figure that will grow by 2030. By comparison, hydrogen passing through the canal would total 81.84 million tonnes in 2030 and 190.96 million in 2050.

In its voluntary climate contributions under the Paris Agreement, Panama pledged to reduce total emissions from the energy sector by at least 11.5% in 2030, from its 2019 level, and by 24% in 2050.

In parallel, as of 2021, the Panama Canal, through which 6% of world trade passes, is implementing its own Sustainable Development and Decarbonisation Strategy.

The autonomous Panama Canal Authority’s plan includes the introduction of electric vehicles, tugboats and boats using alternative fuels; the replacement of fossil electricity with photovoltaics and the use of hydropower, to become carbon neutral by 2030, with an investment of some US$8.5 billion over the next five years.

The canal reduces some 16 million tonnes of CO2 each year.

Tolls and shipping services are its biggest sources of revenue, and thus the importance of developing shipping fuels based on clean hydrogen.

In the first nine months of 2023, 210.73 million long tons (1,016 kilograms) went through the interoceanic infrastructure, down from 218.44 million in the same period in 2022.

Of the total cargoes, one third are fossil fuels. Container, chemical, gas and bulk carriers are the main transports.

Lucero said the country is looking for investments in renewable energy, particularly green hydrogen.

“This market has to be developed in an orderly way. Demand has to be driven; otherwise, the investment will not be profitable. There are uncertainties, but the line that has been taken is that hydrogen is the future and we want to break away from being followers to become leaders, to seize the moment to develop and be prepared when the boom arrives,” he stressed.

For expert Beltrán, if the government that took office on 1 July follows this route, it would send a strong signal to the sector and thus pull the shipping sector toward energy transition.

“Replacing imports with local product is more convenient, and the way would be with the available, renewable resource. That would impact local development and contribute to the energy transition agenda,” he said.

By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI, Pakistan, Aug 9 2024 – The over 20 million residents of Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, in Sindh province in particular, have been experiencing brutal heat since May. But they are not the only ones bearing the brunt of high temperatures and humidity.

Up to 15,000 cattle died due to scorching heat mixed with high humidity which Shakir Umar Gujjar, president of the Cattle and Dairy Farmers Association, Pakistan, said was “no joke”.

Mubashir Abbas, owner of 170 heads, lost eight cows and five buffaloes to the “extreme heat” in the last week of June, which translates to a loss of Rs 5.5 million (USD 19,800) for him.

“Three more are running high fever and I will have to sell them to cut my losses,” he told IPS over phone from Bhains Colony, in Karachi’s Landhi district. “I will fetch no more than Rs 40,000 (USD 143) a piece, when the market rate for each healthy one is valued between Rs 1.5 and 2 million (USD 5,300–7,000),” he estimated. Every now and then, in the last 23 years, he would lose a few to disease, but he had never “seen a healthy animal dying from heat.”

Livestock, the largest sub-sector in agriculture, contributed 60.84 percent to agriculture and 14.63 percent to the country’s GDP during 2023-2024, according to the Pakistan Economic Survey. More than eight million rural families are engaged in livestock production, accounting for 35-40 percent of their total income.

About 15,000 cattle died due scorching heat mixed with high humidity in Sindh province, Pakistan. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

“From June 23 to 30, Karachi experienced a heatwave with temperatures ranging between 40 and 42 °C. The ‘feel-like’ temperature went up to 54 °C due to high humidity,” said Dr. Sardar Sarfaraz, chief meteorologist at the Pakistan Meteorological Department.

Dr. Nazeer Hussain Kalhoro, director general at the government’s Sindh Institute of Animal Health in the Livestock and Fisheries Department in Karachi, attributed extreme heat to the death of livestock, especially exotic and crossed breeds.

The temperature was still lower than the deadly 2015 heatwave temperature of 44.8 °C that claimed over 2,000 human lives when the feel-like heat index exceeded 60 °C, said Sarfaraz. “A much bigger number of animals died then, and many young animals had to be slaughtered,” said Gujjar.

The heat had adversely affected the milk production of the over 800,000 cattle in Karachi, said Gujjar. “When an animal is in stress and discomfort, due to extreme heat, its intake of regular amount of fodder decreases, which can result in decrease in milk production,” said Kalhoro.

“I was getting between 1,400 and 1,480 kg in a day; it is not more than 960 kg now. I lose 0.11 million rupees (USD 400) daily,” said Abbas.

Communication Gap

The lack of engagement with the farmer by the government was the reason. Gujjar said the communication gap between the ministry of national food security and research at the federal level and the livestock departments at the provincial departments meant the uneducated farmer was on his own.

“The biggest tragedy is that our farmer is not educated and also unaware of how to prepare or protect the animal from the vagaries of climate,” said Gujjar, adding: “They do their own traditional treatment of their animals, which results in even more avoidable deaths.”

Similar is the plight of small farmers who remain in the eye of the climate storm. “They are continuously in a reactive mode,” said Mahmood Nawaz Shah, president of a farmers’ group, the Sindh Abadgar Board, with “government policies not conducive to them”.

Giving examples, Shah said the minimum price of cotton was fixed and notified at Rs 8,500/kg (UAD 30) but growers received Rs 5,200/kg (USD 18); a 50-kilo bag of urea increased from Rs 1,700 to Rs 4,600 (USD 6 to 16) in just three years; and the artificial shortage for the same last year meant the farmer had to pay Rs 5,500 for the same bag from the black market.

“We had recommended to the government to develop a climate endowment fund and compensate small farmers by involving insurance companies as soon as extreme events lead to crop and livestock losses,” said Shah.

Both the farmers, Gujjar and Shah, have hit the nail on the head on why Pakistan, one of the most vulnerable to climate crises, is unable to manage it effectively. The disconnect and lack of coordination between different federal and their related provincial government bodies is found across the spectrum and is highlighted in the 2024 Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) as a major reason that hampered policy implementation, placing Pakistan on the 30th position among 63 countries and the EU, which collectively account for over 90 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. “Improved cooperation between different levels of government would be a step in the right direction,” it concluded.

Similarly, the 2024 Environmental Performance Index that assesses the progress of effectiveness of 180 countries in mitigating climate change, relying on historical greenhouse gas emissions data, put Pakistan three rungs down at 179^th rank this year from the 176^th position it held in 2022.

Indifference and Apathy

Both the CCPI and the EPI are a clear giveaway of government’s nonchalance. The latter index has especially pointed to areas like air pollution, wastewater treatment, protected areas management and climate mitigation.

“The country is slipping on most environmental indicators,” agreed former climate change minister, Malik Amin Aslam, pointing to the weak air pollution control measures, non-adherence to the electric vehicles transition and failure to promote renewables.  From being a country championing the global green cause in 2022 to now “ignominiously slipping down the environmental performance ladder” should certainly raise alarm bells for our current green policy makers, warned Aslam.

The 2022 floods, which should have acted as a wake-up call for the government, he said, failed to move the government towards preparedness and improving the health of the environment.

Maha Qasim, CEO of Zero-Point Partners, an environmental management and consulting firm, said: “No significant effort had been made in building climate-resilient infrastructure like roads, drainage systems and flood management facilities like levees or reservoirs.

The EPI has pointed towards Pakistan’s use of coal as a driver.

Putting things in perspective, Qasim said that in 2021, only around 14% of Pakistan’s energy mix was based on coal, while it figured 45 percent and 63 percent in India’s and Estonia’s energy mix. But in the last two years, Pakistan’s overall GHG emissions as well as CO2 have declined, due to “Pakistan’s overall performance capita emissions from fossil fuels and industry have declined due to stagnant economic growth,” she said.

Thus, Pakistan is well within its carbon budget and has met its Nationally Determined Contribution commitments to the UNFCCC.

The updated NDCs of 2021 have pledged to reduce emissions by 50%, shifting to renewable energy by 60 percent and 30 percent to electric vehicles by 2030, and a complete ban on importing coal.

Poor transport fuel regulations, old and inefficient vehicles on the road, mass cutting down of trees to make way for rapid urbanization, burning of agricultural residue and poor solid waste management have also been mentioned for Pakistan’s poor score.

Aslam, however, said the index failed to “register or recognize” Pakistan’s efforts on reforestation—the Billion Tree Tsunami Afforestation Project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, followed by 10 Billion Tree Tsunami Programme across the country. “The EPI ranking can certainly enhance its acceptability and credibility by improving these areas,” he said.

Weak Governance

Sobia Kapadia, a humanitarian aid practitioner, added factors like “weak governance, turning to fire-fighting and ad-hoc measures” whenever a climate crisis arises, thereby destroying the symbiosis.

“Heat, rain and floods are all connected to the core issue of human-induced development; but blaming heat and humidity on climate change is like blaming the naughtiest child,” said Kapadia, citing resorts being constructed in the mountains by cutting trees.

In yet another recent report that gives insights to investors and helps governments in setting carbon market-friendly policies, Pakistan comes 39th out of 40 countries.

Khalid Waleed, an energy economics expert at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), was quoted by media saying “for the first time in budget history, the government has tagged projects worth Rs53 billion under climate change adaptation and Rs225 billion under climate change mitigation,” referring to the budget presented earlier this month. However, he added that the budget was not climate change project-specific but had been tagged for their climate benefits.

Zia ul Islam finds the budget allocation “rather tricky” to understand as it not only indicates development projects from the Ministry of Planning Development & Special Initiatives, but foreign-funded projects and projects under various ministries and provinces.

Environmental and public policy analyst Dawar Butt, comparing the country’s miniscule environmental spending to India and Bangladesh, said climate did not seem to be a priority. He further added that the climate change allocation has been “cut down by one billion rupees from what finally got approved in this year’s budget.”

Handling Climate Change on Piecemeal Basis

But it is not just how the government is handling climate change. Referring to a climate risk awareness survey conducted by GIZ Pakistan, Qasim highlighted that while many organizations are beginning to acknowledge the impact of climate change on their business models, their approach towards dealing with it was “incomplete and fragmented with a focus on climate mitigation” to meet external requirements of clients or regulators rather than on long-term business sustainability.

Due to the funding fatigue, Zia ul Islam suggested the “begging attitude” may be replaced by capacity building of concerned authorities, bringing in necessary improvements in the legal instruments and effective implementation.”

Good News

If Pakistan can somehow link smooth governance with climate finance and showcase to the world that it can fund its own climate solutions, it will give local and international companies the confidence to invest in the country. This year’s Financing Climate Action  report by Transparency International states Pakistan has a huge potential to “dollarize climate adaptive and mitigative projects” provided climate governance is improved.

Flood insurance initiatives for farmers, for example, said Qasim, at very low markup rates, have the potential to be “scaled up across the country to increase flood resilience.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?’http’:’https’;if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+’://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js’;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, ‘script’, ‘twitter-wjs’);  

By Jamison Ervin and Anna Giulia Medri
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 9 2024 – This year’s Equator Prize winners are the antidote we need in a world of crisis. Earlier this year, the World Economic Forum released its annual Risk Report. The key findings highlighted the inescapable trend over the past decade that we are facing a global polycrisis, in which problems of biodiversity loss, climate change, inequality, water scarcity and conflict are increasingly indivisible, simultaneous, and systemic.

The term polycrisis is increasingly starting to show up in global discourse. The Financial Times cited “polycrisis” as the ‘year in a word’ for 2023.

The linkages between nature and climate are particularly intertwined. If protected, restored and well-managed, nature can provide more than a third of our climate mitigation needs, and is essential to be able to adapt to climate impacts.

On the other hand, current practices of forestry, land conversion and conventional agriculture are responsible for up to a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions. Simply put, there is no chance of achieving a 1.5C degree future without a reset in how we think about, value, and manage nature.

To tackle our nature and climate crisis, we need integrated, multi-faceted solutions that restore our planet, tackle climate change, and help people thrive. We need signposts — practical examples — to show how we can implement integrated solutions that protect and restore nature, keep carbon in the ground, buffer communities, and sustain livelihoods, water security and wellbeing.

Integrated solutions for nature and climate are especially critical for the more than three billion people who depend on nature directly for their livelihoods and daily needs, who are at the frontlines facing the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss, and who are best positioned to effect local solutions.

The theme of this year’s Equator Prize was “Nature for Climate Action.” The 11 winners, selected from more than 600 nominations, exemplify the transformative potential of Indigenous and locally-led nature-based solutions in combating the climate crisis.

Hailing from Brazil, Bangladesh, Colombia, Iran, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal, and Zambia, they champion initiatives that not only protect, conserve, and restore ecosystems but also integrate nature into planning frameworks, enhance resilience to the impacts of climate change, and promote a fair, inclusive, and circular green economy.

In Brazil, the União dos Povos Indígenas do Vale do Javari, an Indigenous-led non-profit organization representing Brazil’s second largest Indigenous territory in the 8.5-million-hectare Javari Valley, is working to defend constitutional rights, preserve traditional knowledge, and safeguard their shared territory.

In Colombia, the Federación Mesa Nacional del Café (FEMNCAFÉ) comprises 28 coffee associations, championing the economic, social, and community reintegration of signatories of the Colombian peace agreement alongside local communities.

By reducing inequality among coffee farmers, democratizing technical knowledge, and promoting climate-resilient agriculture, they tackle agrarian disparity, stimulating rural economies, and confronting the challenges of climate change head-on.

In Kenya, the Indigenous Livelihoods Enhancement Partners (ILEPA) focuses on environmental conservation and sustainable development for the Maasai community, expanding land rights advocacy, addressing climate change and biodiversity loss, and promoting nature-based livelihoods.

And in Bangladesh, the Sundarbans Eco Village in Bangladesh, is restoring mangrove forests, securing fisheries livelihoods, expanding ecotourism and strengthening climate resilience.

The Equator Prize winners show the world how to implement integrated solutions that deliver on nature protection, restoration, and management, tackle our climate crisis, and attain local sustainable development goals. But we also have an unprecedented global opportunity to follow their lead.

Over the next 18 months, nearly every country will be refining both their national biodiversity plans and their national climate plans, with the opportunity to align these plans and make bold advances in both nature and climate.

If the ‘word in a year’ for 2023 was polycrisis, let’s hope that the ‘word in a year’ for 2025 is “polysolutions,” where at every level, from local to national to global, the world recognizes, champions and implements solutions, plans, commitments and actions that are integrated, multi-faceted and aligned, delivering on nature, climate and people.

This year’s Equator Prize winners are already showing us the way forward!

Jamison Ervin is Manager, Global Programme on Nature for Development, UNDP; Anna Giulia Medri is Senior Programme Officer, Equator Initiative, UNDP.

Source: UNDP

IPS UN Bureau

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?’http’:’https’;if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+’://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js’;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, ‘script’, ‘twitter-wjs’);  

By Esther Ngumbi
URBANA, Illinois, US, Aug 9 2024 – Tropical Storm Debby has resulted in record-setting rain and flooding events across several States, including Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and parts of Georgia and left a trail of damage including leaving Florida crops flooded.

Record-breaking rain, flooding events, and other weather impacts people and our ability to grow crops successfully, including wheat, soybeans, maize, and vegetable crops such as tomatoes, which we depend on to meet human food security and nutrition needs.

In the US Midwest, for example, flooding events of 2019 resulted in economic impacts exceeding 6-8 billion USD. In 2023, weather-related disasters resulted in over $21 billion in crop losses. On the African continent, a recent study found that record-breaking rainfall and flooding events contributed to food insecurity.

Predictably, like humans, plants, including maize, soybeans, and tomatoes, are sensitive to flooding. I have seen firsthand the detrimental impacts flooding has on crops such as maize and tomato as a child growing up on a farm in Kenya and today as a University Professor and a researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign working on a flooding field study that the United States Department of Agriculture funds.

Future climate projections reveal that record-breaking flooding events will happen more frequently. We must build a comprehensive understanding of flooding. Investing in research and involving all stakeholders is the way forward

During flooding, plant growth and development are impacted by the deprivation of oxygen, an essential and indispensable element that powers all critical below-and-aboveground plant life-sustaining metabolic and physiological processes, including respiration and photosynthesis.

Ultimately, depending on several factors, including crop genetics, soil and agricultural management practices, temperatures, and crop stage, when flooding happens, plant development and growth are impacted with consequences for yield crop supply and food nutrition and security.

There is an urgent need to understand flooding’s impacts on agriculturally relevant crops. Importantly, actionable plans and strategies must be implemented to strengthen crops’ resilience to record-breaking events. What can then be done?

To implement actionable strategies against flooding and its detrimental impacts on plants, federal funding agencies, including the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Science Foundation, must invest in flooding research.

First, we must understand the short and long-term impacts of flooding on all crops. How do diverse crop varieties grown today across different environments respond to flooding? Such research would be instrumental in picking out flooding-resistant varieties and unpacking the characteristics and traits, including crop genetics, that underpin flooding resilience.

Such intelligence would then be used to breed climate-resilient crop varieties that can tolerate flooding and thrive under other climate-associated stressors now and into the future.

Second, we must understand the impacts flooding has on soil health, soil biology, and below-ground microorganisms that underpin plants and soil health. Healthy soil is a dynamic matrix that houses microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi, that play diverse functions, including nutrient cycling, nitrogen fixation, promoting plant growth, and suppressing disease-causing pathogens.

Emerging research has revealed that during flooding, in response to declining oxygen levels, soil undergoes dramatic changes in its physical, chemical, and biological properties, including soil pH and nutrient concentrations.

Further, research evidence reveals the accumulation of toxic compounds such as manganese and hydrogen sulfide that can harm soil microbial communities. How long these flooding-induced and associated soil changes last and their impacts on beneficial soil microbe communities across different environments remain largely unknown.

In parallel, we need to understand the role that crop and soil management practices touted as regenerative play in mitigating flooding impacts on plants.

Ultimately, flooding research should be steered towards coming up with flooding solutions. What target solutions can be implemented after flooding to steer soils, soil microbiomes, and plants toward recovery? It will require a transdisciplinary approach, collaborative research, and the participation of all stakeholders- farmers, researchers, funding agencies, the private sector, government, and humanitarian organizations.

To be sure, short-term aid efforts that have traditionally occurred when flooding occurs, including actions taken by Florida, are necessary. Still, to face the reality of more flooding in the future, we need more research.

Future climate projections reveal that record-breaking flooding events will happen more frequently. We must build a comprehensive understanding of flooding. Investing in research and involving all stakeholders is the way forward.

Esther Ngumbi, PhD is Assistant Professor, Department of Entomology, African American Studies Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign