Graz/Vienna, December 22, 2015.  ANDRITZ HYDRO, part of international technology Group ANDRITZ, has received orders to refurbish two hydropower plants in New Zealand and Malawi. The total order value for the two hydropower stations is just over 50 million euros.

Mighty River Power Ltd., New Zealand, placed an order with ANDRITZ HYDRO for design, delivery, installation and commissioning of three generators, Francis turbine components including model test, and turbine governors for the Aratiatia hydropower station located some 14 kilometers downstream of the town of Taupo, New Zealand. Refurbishment of the three 31-megawatt hydropower units, which were operational for over 50 years, will result in a significant increase in the efficiency and reliability of the hydropower plant. Mighty River Power is one of New Zealand’s largest electricity companies and covers about 17% of the country’s electricity needs. More than 90% of its electricity production comes from renewable, clean energy sources.

Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), Malawi, has ordered the refurbishment of Nkula A hydropower station, with a total capacity of 38 MW, from a consortium headed by ANDRITZ HYDRO. Nkula A is located some 50 km northwest of the city of Blantyre on the Shire River and has been in operation since 1966. ANDRITZ HYDRO’s scope of supply includes modernization of the intake structures and gates, penstocks, and power house, new turbine runners and non-rotating turbine components, generators, as well as a completely new high-voltage hybrid switching station, the SCADA system, and the related civil work.

Both plants will begin commercial operations in 2018. These contracts once again underline ANDRITZ HYDRO’s leading expertise in refurbishment of existing hydropower stations.

The ANDRITZ GROUP

ANDRITZ is a globally leading supplier of plants, equipment, and services for hydropower stations, the pulp and paper industry, the metalworking and steel industries, and for solid/liquid separation in the municipal and industrial sectors. The publicly listed technology Group is headquartered in Graz, Austria, and has a staff of almost 25,000 employees worldwide. ANDRITZ operates over 250 sites worldwide.

ANDRITZ HYDRO

ANDRITZ HYDRO is one of the leading global suppliers of electromechanical equipment for hydropower plants. With over 170 years of accumulated experience and more than 30,000 turbines installed, totaling about 420,000 megawatts output, the business area provides the complete range of products, including turbines, generators, and additional equipment of all types and sizes – “from water to wire” for small hydro applications to large hydropower plants with outputs of more than 800 megawatts per turbine unit. ANDRITZ HYDRO is also well positioned in the growing modernization, refurbishment, and upgrade market for existing hydropower plants. Pumps (for water transport, irrigation of agricultural land, and applications in various industries) and turbo-generators for thermal power plants are also allocated to the business area.

The post ANDRITZ receives refurbishment contracts for hydropower stations in New Zealand and Malawi appeared first on Core Sector Communique.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND AGRICULTURE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA: New book helps region understand what might be in store and what to do about it

September 3, 2013, Maseru, Lesotho—The southern region of Africa could be the hardest hit by rising temperatures from climate change, leaving many to wonder what this means for agriculture. Will some areas become unsuitable for farming? Will farmers face lower yields, or turn to new crops? Will climate change threaten food security? These are challenging questions for policymakers, who must plan for the future without available information and analysis.

A new book, published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and released today by three research organizations, starts to fill this information gap. Southern African Agriculture and Climate Change offers an analysis of the impact of climate change on the area’s agriculture, including full-color maps illustrating a variety of scenarios for eight of the region’s countries : Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

“National climate change adaptation policies are not informed by robust research evidence combining socioeconomic and biophysical models,” said Sepo Hachingonta, program manager for the Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), a regional agricultural research and development organization. “This book offers that evidence but also urges additional and extensive cost-benefit analysis research on climate change adaptation alternatives.”

The book is the result of a collaboration between IFPRI, the CGIAR research program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), FANRPAN, and scientists from each of the countries. Using sophisticated modeling and available data to develop future scenarios and explore a range of climate change consequences for agriculture, food security, and resource management, the book offers recommendations to national governments and regional agencies.

Some findings from the book:

• Wheat is particularly vulnerable to high temperatures in most of the tropics, but in relatively temperate South Africa, yields could increase.
• Maize and sorghum yields, on average, will decline, yet some areas are bright spots and will see a rise, such as southern Mozambique.
• Crop yields might struggle to keep pace with anticipated population growth, but this could be offset by a projected doubling of incomes across the region.
• Migration patterns could change as people migrate out of areas hard hit by climate change to cities or to areas favored by climate change.
• Successful agricultural adaptation to climate change is not just about better seeds and practices, but building better roads and education systems, which give farmers greater access to markets and the background necessary to make fully informed decisions about new agricultural practices.

 “Having data available in one place will provide national and regional policymakers with the necessary information to inform policy and decisionmaking,” said Tim Thomas, IFPRI research fellow. “The book serves as a compendium of scenarios looking at the impacts of climate change on agriculture in southern Africa and how it will affect farmers,” he added.

Southern African Agriculture and Climate Change is one of a three-part series examining climate change and agriculture in three regions of Africa: West Africa, East Africa, and southern Africa.  It will be launched today at the FANRPAN High-Level Food Security Multi-Stakeholder Policy Dialogue, which is focused on scaling up agriculture best adapted to climate change. West African Agriculture and Climate Change was launched in April; East African Agriculture and Climate Change will be launched in Burundi at the 2nd Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa General Assembly and Scientific Conference in December.

For more information, including country-specific reports, please visit: http://www.ifpri.org/pressroom/briefing/coping-climate-change-southern-africa

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) seeks sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty. IFPRI was established in 1975 to identify and analyze alternative national and international strategies and policies for meeting the food needs of the developing world, with particular emphasis on low-income countries and on the poorer groups in those countries. It is a member of the CGIAR Consortium. www.ifpri.org.

The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) is a strategic partnership of CGIAR and Future Earth, led by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).  CCAFS brings together the world’s best researchers in agricultural science, development research, climate science and Earth System science, to identify and address the most important interactions, synergies and tradeoffs between climate change, agriculture and food security. www.ccafs.cgiar.org.

The Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) is a multi-stakeholder, multi-national policy network that supports the development and implementation of better food, agriculture and national resources (FANR) policies in Africa. Its members include universities, research institutes, the business sector, farmer groups and other civil society organizations that have a stake in FANR policies. FANRPAN’s membership is organized into national nodes in sixteen countries, with a national secretariat hosted by an existing national institution that has a mandate for agricultural policy research and advocacy. FANRPAN also has a mandate to work Africa wide.  www.fanrpan.org.

The post CLIMATE CHANGE AND AGRICULTURE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA appeared first on Core Sector Communique.

• Young Global Leaders programme tackling child malnutrition will be rolled out in primary schools in Myanmar, followed by South-East Asia
• Table For Two encourages people in the developed world to eat healthily while paying for children’s school meals in developing economies
• Over 300 YGLs from across the world are in Myanmar with the World Economic Forum on East Asia

Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, 6 June 2013 – The Young Global Leaders (YGLs), a community of the World Economic Forum, today announced that a programme that tackles child malnutrition will expand into South-East Asia, starting with Myanmar. Table For Two (TFT) is a Japan-based non-profit initiative created by YGLs in 2007. It confronts the contrasting epidemics of obesity and hunger by encouraging people in the developed world to eat healthily while paying for children’s school meals in developing economies.

Since it was founded, TFT has served 20 million meals to school-age children in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. It is now supporting meal programmes and sustainable school gardens at primary schools in Myanmar in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Children in Myanmar will be the first TFT beneficiaries before the programme is rolled out elsewhere in South-East Asia. The project will provide a long-term, sustainable source of nutrition for children in Myanmar by funding the development of fruit and vegetable gardens at schools. Across the region, economic disparities and rising food prices are putting pressure on families living in poverty. TFT aims to encourage an economy of self-sufficiency at the “base of the pyramid”.

TFT has more than 600 corporate and organizational partners taking part on the funding side, spanning 12 countries across Asia, North America and Europe. The mechanism is simple: every time someone eats a healthy TFT meal at a participating restaurant or company cafeteria, a percentage is donated to fund a school meal in a developing country. The TFT model has been applied to vending machines (through snacks and drinks), coffee, healthy drinks and retail products. In Japan, a smartphone application calculates calories and nutritional content from a simple photograph of a meal.

Daniel Goldstein, Founding Member and Director, Table For Two International, said: “In Myanmar, access to adequate and nutritionally balanced food is a major challenge for the poor. Close to 3 million people are considered food-poor, according to the World Food Programme, and the prevalence of stunting among children under five is 35%, indicative of malnutrition. This is an integrated approach for a problem facing much of Asia and we are surrounded by people who can implement it right away – health experts to draw up menus, business leaders to offer it to large companies, and the aid workers who are on the ground and know how best to spend the money.”

David Aikman, Senior Director and Head of the Forum of Young Global Leaders, said: “The Forum of Young Global Leaders is the voice of an optimistic future and an energetic catalyst for change. Table For Two is one the community’s most successful task forces, and we are very encouraged to see it in South-East Asia, a region where 10% of the population – some 65 million – are undernourished, according to the FAO.”

Over 900 participants from 55 countries are taking part in the World Economic Forum on East Asia, held for the first time in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. The meeting welcomes over 100 public figures representing 15 countries, including the heads of state or government of Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam. More than 550 business leaders, over 60 Global Growth Companies and nearly 300 young leaders from the Young Global Leaders and Global Shapers communities, together with other members of civil society, academia and media are convening to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing Myanmar and East Asia today.

The Co-Chairs of the World Economic Forum on East Asia are: Helen E. Clark, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), New York; Anthony F. Fernandes, Group Chief Executive Officer, AirAsia, Malaysia; Yorihiko Kojima, Chairman of the Board, Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan; Indra Nooyi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo, USA;Subramanian Ramadorai, Vice-Chairman, Tata Consultancy Services, India; and John Rice,Vice-Chairman, GE, Hong Kong SAR.

Sky Net is the host broadcaster of the 2013 World Economic Forum on East Asia.

The post Young Global Leaders Announce Programme to Tackle Child Malnutrition in Myanmar appeared first on Core Sector Communique.