Institute of Geography and Development Studies

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://dspace.njala.edu.sl/handle/20.500.144402/147

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Start date: 2020

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 45
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    Rice biophysical parameter retrieval with optical satellite imagery: a comparative assessment of parametric and non-parametric models
    (Taylor & Francis, 2022-05-30) Mansaray, Lamin R.
    This article presents a comparison of parametric and non-parametric models in rice biomass and leaf area index (LAI) retrieval using optical satellite imagery. Four parametric models including the linear, quadratic, logarithmic and exponential models, and four non-parametric models that include RF, SVM, kNN, and GBDT were applied, respectively, on the optical satellite dataset. GBDT produced the most accurate biomass estimates (RMSE of 191.8 g/m2) before heading and the quadratic model produced the most accurate biomass estimates (RMSE of 364.7 g/m2) after heading. RF registered the most accurate LAI estimates (RMSE of 0.79 m2/m2) before heading, whereas the quadratic model recorded the most accurate LAI estimates (RMSE of 1.04 m2/m2) after heading. Non-parametric models outperformed their parametric counterparts at before heading, whereas the reverse is the case after heading. These findings provide a guide to the optimal choice of empirical models for rice biomass and LAI retrieval with optical imagery.
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    A state-of-the-art examination of disaster management in Sierra Leone: the implementation drawbacks, research gaps, advances, and prospects
    (Springer Nature, 2022-11-03) Turay, Bashiru
    Unfolding events have shown that Sierra Leone is enduring various disasters at a worrying rate. While progress is being made in disaster management, activities that degrade the fragile ecosystem, exacerbated by climate change, poverty, and bad governance, remain growing concerns. Amid these concerns, there is inadequate information to take appropriate actions. The authors wish to provide a solution by examining 35 publications from various scholarly and grey literature and raw data sources, following a critical review process designed to expose the implementation drawbacks, research gaps, advances, and prospects in disaster management in Sierra Leone. The study results show that lapses in data management, fewer professionals, and inefficiencies in communication are the most pressing considerations for improving disaster management in the country. Inadequate funds to implement management plans remain pervasive. Following these findings, we recommend that all first responders be routinely exposed to international tabletop exercises and simulated disaster response training to help them build their capacities and learn from other countries. Students in the relevant disciplines should be encouraged to participate in these exercises to facilitate early learning. Also, management initiatives should consider gender equity, the situations of the disabled, and other vulnerable groups at all levels of planning and implementation of activities. Future studies should assess the influence of social media on disaster management research and practice in the country.
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    Propagation of Meteorological Drought to Agricultural and Hydrological Droughts in the Tropical Lancang–Mekong River Basin
    (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 2023-12-09) Feng, Ganlin
    In the past several decades, drought events have occurred frequently around the world. However, research on the propagation of drought events has not been adequately explored. This study investigated the drought propagation process from meteorological drought to agricultural drought (PMAD) and from meteorological drought to hydrological drought (PMHD) using a 72-year reanalysis dataset in the tropical Lancang–Mekong River Basin. Firstly, we used a new method—Standardized Drought Analysis Toolbox—to construct drought indices. Then, a linear method (Pearson correlation analysis) and a nonlinear method (mutual information) were used to investigate the drought propagation process. Cross-wavelet analysis and wavelet coherence analysis were employed to explore the statistical relationship among the three drought types. Finally, the random forest method was applied to quantify the major factors in drought response time (DRT). The results revealed the following: (1) both linear and nonlinear methods exhibited strong temporal and spatial consistency for both PMAD and PMHD, with linear relationships being stronger than nonlinear ones. (2) The DRTs of PMAD and PMHD were around 1–2 months and 3–5 months, respectively. Significant differences existed in the DRT between the dry season and the rainy season. (3) A divergent spatial pattern of the proportion of DRT was observed between PMAD and PMHD. (4) Significant statistical correlations between meteorological drought and agricultural drought and between meteorological drought and hydrological drought were observed in specific periods for each sub-region; (5) Hydrometeorological factors contributed the most to DRT, followed by terrain factors and the land cover types. The findings of this study deepened our understanding of the spatial–temporal relationship of multiple drought propagation types in this transboundary river basin.
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    Socioeconomic Characteristics of Child-Bearing Mothers and Feeding Practices of Under-Five Children in Kori Chiefdom, Sierra Leone
    (Scientific Research Publishing, 2022) Blango, Victoria Nancy
    **Introduction:** The use of proper feeding practices is key for the overall development of children. Generally, breastfeeding and complementary feeding make up the diet and therefore the nutritional status of children. However, the degree to which mothers adhere to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) regarding breastfeeding and complementary feeding is key to the nutritional status of children. Again, the adherence to this dietary recommendation is contingent on the socio-economic conditions of the child-bearing parents, especially the mothers. Here in this study, the socio-economic characteristics were analyzed along with the feeding practices of children not more than five years old in rural Sierra Leone. **Method:** Data were collected in 2017 on representative mothers with children within 0 - 5 years old. A total of 10 communities and 200 respondents were randomly covered in the Kori Chiefdom of Moyamba District, Sierra Leone. The data collection instruments included structured questionnaire, inter-personal interaction, personal observation and experience. The collected data were analyzed in Microsoft Excel and SPSS and the results presented in simple graphs. **Results:** A large number of the respondents were married teenage mothers with 1 - 2 children and living under extreme hardship by the United Nations (UN) standard. Also, most of the mothers were illiterate and started breastfeeding their children within the very hour of birth. Because complementary feeding was started all too early, exclusive breastfeeding last for not more than two months for most of the respondent mothers. Also, because rice is by far the most widely eaten the staple food in Sierra Leone, complementary food was mostly powdered rice mixed with salt and oil. Hardly was protein food supplement used as complementary food, probably due to the economic conditions of the poor rural women. **Conclusion:** The study has thrown sufficient light on the socio-economic characteristics and adopted feeding practices of children in poor rural Sierra Leone. In this sense, the study has laid the basis for sufficient for in-depth correlativity studies on the factors driving feeding practices of children and how it in turn impacts nutritional status of children in poor rural Africa. From here, practically adoptable recommendations can be advanced for the attention of the governments, public institutions, the private sector and the individuals of the society.
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    The “slow anatomy of change”: urban knowledge trajectories towards an inclusive settlement upgrading agenda in Freetown, Sierra Leone
    (SAGE Publishing, 2022-07-28) Macarthy, Joseph Mustapha
    This paper examines the dominant knowledge paradigms that have underpinned planning over time in Freetown, Sierra Leone and their implications for urban equality. Looking at the history of the informal settlement upgrading agenda, it presents this analysis through a historical mapping, outlining the knowledge paradigms that have informed planning approaches from the colonial era to the present day. It then outlines three strategic moments over the past 13 years, in which organized informal settlement residents and wider coalitions have mobilized diverse forms of knowledge. By engaging both with long-term trajectories and the intimacy of more recent experiences, it outlines what we refer to as the “slow anatomy of change” through which diverse knowledges have been consolidated. The paper offers reflections on the temporalities and geographies of change; the role of knowledge production as a historical site of power disparities; and what these strategies tell us about the negotiation of power and knowledge through planning towards urban equality.
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    The Environmental Impact of Mining on Local Communities in Tankoro Chiefdom, Kono District, Sierra Leone
    (2023-07-19) Mansaray, Hassan Elsan
    To effectively determine the environmental and social impacts of mining on local communities in Tankoro chiefdom, the researcher applied a mixed methods research methodology to perform the study. The study applied methods in the data collection that consist of, questionnaire interviews through Kobo Collect and focus group discussion. The sample size was 393 respondents. The study discovered that the local communities where the mining activities are carried out suffer negative effects on the environment together with the society. Nevertheless, Koidu Holdings had tried to decrease the negative impacts of mining operations on the affected communities due to uncompromising concerns among the affected communities. It had also constructed new markets, a Primary Health Unit (PHU), building of relocated schools, renovation of old schools, provided scholarships to students at all academic levels and has supported schools with educational resources as well as dug some boreholes, mainly in Kanniya resettlement community, which served as a drinkable water, to help reduce the sternness of water crisis.
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    Drivers of land-use and land-cover change in rural landscapes; a case in Eastern Sierra Leone
    (Taylor & Francis, 2022-09-28) Lahai, Morrison K.
    This study provides the first attempt at assessing the drivers of LULC change in eastern Sierra Leone where settlement expansion is as eminent as the proliferation of the primary industrial sector, notably agriculture and artisanal mining. For this purpose, using Landsat images at 1986, 2000 and 2020, LULC maps of the study area were obtained. The principal drivers of LULC change were identified based on field observations and interviews with local residents. Additionally, population and climate data were obtained to better understand LULC changes. Vast changes were observed in Shrub/Fallow, Grass/Cropland, Wetland and Built/Barren. Moderate changes were observed in Trees/Forest and Open Water. The drivers of LULC change are attributable to population growth as the main underlying driver and agricultural expansion and infrastructural development as the main proximate or direct drivers. Moreover, the declining rainfall in tandem with rising temperatures can be linked to the shrinking Wetland and Open Water.
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    “Emancipatory Circuits of Knowledge” for Urban Equality: Experiences From Havana, Freetown, and Asia
    (Cogitatio, 2022-06-02) Butcher, Stephanie
    Feminist, Southern, and decolonial thinkers have long argued that epistemological questions about how knowledge is produced and whose knowledge is valued and actioned are crucial in addressing inequalities, and a key challenge for planning. This collaborative article interrogates how knowledge is mobilised in urban planning and practice, discussing three experiences which have actively centred often-excluded voices, as a way of disrupting knowledge hierarchies in planning. We term these “emancipatory circuits of knowledge”—processes whereby diverse, situated, and marginalised forms of knowledge are co-produced and mobilised across urban research and planning, to address inequalities. We discuss experiences from the Technological University José Antonio Echeverría (CUJAE), a university in Havana, Cuba, that privileges a fluid and collaborative understanding of universities as social actors; the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre, a research institute in the city of Freetown, which curates collective and inclusive spaces for community action planning, to challenge the legacies of colonial-era planning; and the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights, a regional network across Asia, which facilitates processes of exchange and co-learning which are highly strategic and situated in context, to advance community-led development. Shared across these “emancipatory circuits” are three “sites of impact” through which these partners have generated changes: encouraging inclusive policy and planning outcomes; shifting the planning praxis of authorities, bureaucrats, and researchers; and nurturing collective trajectories through building solidarities. Examining these three sites and their challenges, we query how urban knowledge is produced and translated towards epistemic justice, examining the tensions and the possibilities for building pathways to urban equality. Shared across these ‘emancipatory circuits’ are three layered ‘sites of impact’ through which these partners have generated changes: encouraging inclusive policy and planning outcomes; shifting the planning praxis of authorities, bureaucrats and researchers; and nurturing collective trajectories through processes of building solidarities. Examining these three sites and their challenges, we query the ways in which urban knowledge is produced and translated towards epistemic justice –examining the tensions and the possibilities for building pathways to urban equality.
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