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africa
22 options + summer 2016 www.iiasa.ac.at
regional focus
A crime buster: Making the grade in South Africa
Up to 49 people are murdered every day in South Africa, according to the government’s
own figures. Between April 2014 and March 2015 17,805 people were killed. Tackling
the country’s appalling crime rate has been a stated aim of all post‑Apartheid
governments but progress is elusive. Now an IIASA study establishes a strong link between
disengagement from education and engagement in crime.
“Even after controlling for ethnicity and race we show that it is those who have not
completed grade 12 who are more likely to be in jail,” says IIASA researcher AnneÂ
Goujon.
In a paper from November 2015 Goujon and colleagues conclude that South African crime
fighting measures should include an increase in school retention.
They also raise questions about the quality of education. OutÂ
of 100 pupils who start school
50 will drop out before grade 12 (the last year of high school), failing to gain the literacy
and numeracy skills required for the workforce. For these individuals, mostly young men,
“crimeÂ
might seem like the only opportunity to escape poverty,” concludesÂ
Goujon.
The research also finds that education influences the type of crime with the probability
of committing “contact crimes” including vandalism, threat, assault, and injury decreasing
with years of education. On the other hand, the likelihood of white‑collar crimes, such
as tax fraud, increases with years of education. TheÂ
research does not take into account
people who have committed crimes but have not been caught. “It would be interesting
to see how educated those are,” jokes Goujon. KS
Further info Jonck P, Goujon A, Testa MR, Kandala J (2015). Education and crime engagement inÂ
South Africa:
A national and provincial perspective. International Journal of Educational Development 45:141–151
[doi:10.1016/j.ijedudev.2015.10.002].
Anne Goujon goujon@iiasa.ac.at
Preventing drought turning into famine
When a devastating drought struck
the Horn of Africa in 2011 a million
people were driven from their homes
and a severe food crisis spread across several
nations. Aid agencies and international donors
were slow to respond despite warnings of a
crisis that were given as early as August 2010.
Weather forecasts beyond one month
are currently inaccurate and this is unlikely
to change in the near future, making
long‑range drought forecasting difficult.
However, evidence of deficits in soil
moisture, either at the beginning of,
or during, crucial parts of the growing season, can provide useful early warning
information says IIASAÂ
researcher Linda See.
Drought forecasting can become more
effective if the full potential of satellite soil
moisture measuring is exploited, she says.
“Vegetation status is a response to soil
moisture so measuring anomalous behavior in
soil moisture through remote sensing provides
extra time for early warning purposes.”
In a IIASA paper See and fellow researchers
argue that there’s a gap between scientific
findings and the use of those findings.
Closing that gap in Africa could prevent
drought turning into famine, they write. The key to success, says See, “isÂ
working
with stakeholders such as Doctors Without
Borders to really understand their information
needs.” The tools can then be developed
to ensure that the science and technology
feed decision making processes ensuring
early warnings are acted upon. KS
Further info Ennkel M, See L, Bonifacio R,
Boken V, Chaney N, Vinck P, You L, Dutra E,
Anderson M (2015). Drought and food security
—Improving decision-support via new technologies
and innovative collaboration. Global Food Security
4:51–55 [doi:10.1016/j.gfs.2014.08.005].
Linda See see@iiasa.ac.at
zurĂĽck zum
Buch options, Band summer 2016"
options
Band summer 2016
- Titel
- options
- Band
- summer 2016
- Ort
- Laxenburg
- Datum
- 2016
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC 4.0
- Abmessungen
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Seiten
- 32
- Kategorien
- Zeitschriften Options Magazine