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The 2017 Global Risk Report ranked water crisis third among the top six global risks that greatly impact society. While the water crisis is disproportionately distributed worldwide, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) hasmore people (most of whom are women) who face water problems compared to other regions worldwide. Through the application of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol version 2020, a systematic review examining the connection between gender and water security, rights, and water conflicts in SSA was done. A total of 24 out of 229 articles made it into the final analysis. Previous research studies on gender politics in the water sector have done so in a fragmented way, focusing on specific water security parameters. The emerging findings show that 14 years after the adoption of an enforceable human right to water and about 6 years prior to the cut-off date for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, matters of gender and water in SSA are far from being addressed. Rural people, especially women, still face multiple water- related challenges and conflicts, including discriminatory practices upholding male hegemony in water governance. It is recommended that actors in the water sector precede the implementation of water projects by understanding contextual settings that influence gendered water security. Furthermore, the implementation of the water Sustainable Development Goal (SGD 6) should be done in the context of SDG 5 (Gender Equity) and the prioritization of procedural water justice and governance, access to technical skills, and water conveyance technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As this article was being finalised, the world was left with less than 7 of the 15 years of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implementation to 2030. There were still huge gaps in the attainment of the SDGs in institutions of higher learning globally, especially that COVID-19 brought a barrier leading to a known pushback. However, the pandemic did not imply there was no work done prior, during and after COVID-19. This article investigates the extent to which the University of South Africa's academic staff activated and mainstreamed the SDGs in their core mandates between 2016 and 2022. Data was generated through a survey (n = 121), participatory action research, and document analysis. It emerged there is a greater degree of awareness of the SDGs, with 78% of academic respondents confirming this. However, the percentages drop across the four core mandate areas when it comes to SDGs implementation. About 52.6% of academics indicated they were promoting SDGs in their teaching, research (63.3%), community engagement (55.5%) and academic citizenship (54.5%). Findings further reveal key enabling institutional policies like the SDGS Localisation Declaration, and the Africa-Nuanced SDGs Research Support Programme. Large gaps remain on the publication front, where over 60% of the responding academics had not published an article explicitly on SDGs. There is also bias in publications towards certain SDGs. The work recommends that University of South Africa management continue raising awareness on the SDGs and systematically address barriers identified in the main article to enhance the mainstreaming of the SDGs across all core mandate areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate-related extreme flooding at airports is commonly associated with sea level rise. However, more and more airport floods occur on these tourism assets, even inland. On November 9 2016, the Oliver Reginald (OR) Tambo International Airport experienced one of its worst floods, and the impact of this event deserves comprehensive documentation. A systematic review was done, and PRISMA augmented content analysis to ascertain the gaps and depth covered by research on OR Tambo International Airport floods. Twenty-four studies and ten grey literature, like newspapers and websites, focused on OR Tambo International Airport and floods in November 2016. The result reflects that severe storm flooded access roads to OR Tambo International Airport. The floods affected Aviation activities, including flight delays, fuelling and maintenance. With such extreme weather events likely to recur, this study explores the documented impact of this great OR Tambo International flood on air and on-the-ground traffic, human capital, management interventions, and other remedial measures to deal with such weather extremes. The present study only presented gaps in the extant literature, which are to be addressed by the ongoing empirical research, leading to limiting the limitation around the absence of empirical study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hailstorm research in tourism remains scant despite growing evidence of increasing hailstorms and associated damages to destinations and attractions due to climate change. This study examined hailstorm occurrence, damage and loss, preparedness and adaptation, recovery and resilience resilience-building at the Sun City Resort in South Africa. Data was collected from a staff survey (n=131), staff interviews, guest comments, and relevant Sun City Resort secondary documentation such as storm recovery and annual reports. It emerged that the 2018 hailstorm caused significant damages, yet no effective early warning systems were in place. This led to significant economic and non-economic losses, such as damage to infrastructure, cancelled activities and negative publicity. There was also no long-term strategy towards hailstorm resilience, with the resort adopting a reactive rather than proactive approach. The study contributes to climate change-induced hailstorm research in tourism while informing tourism destination resilience-building practices. Suggestions are made linked to building back and forth better in terms of hailstorm risk preparedness by the Sun City Resort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implications of climate change are dire for household food security and poverty reduction in rural northern Ghana, where agriculture is mainly rain-fed. This paper explores how smallholder farmers interface indigenous and scientific practices for crop farming in northern Ghana. This is necessary because much attention of research has mostly focused on how farmers adapt to climate change through indigenous knowledge with little focus on how they interface scientific and indigenous knowledge and practices for crop farming. The study adopted mixed method research approach, drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data. A household survey was conducted with 305 household heads using a questionnaire to generate quantitative data. Qualitative data were also generated through in-depth interviews with 29 participants, 18 focus group discussions and field observations. The results showed that smallholder farmers were interfacing farm topographies and distances for sustainable farming; combining use of indigenous and scientific sources of weather and agricultural information and combining use of indigenous and improved crop varieties to diversify crop cultivation. The paper concludes that there is good interface of indigenous and scientific practices in crop farming in northern Ghana. It advocates for participatory approach to effectively interface indigenous and science-based practices to achieve climate-resilient agriculture and food security in Ghana. The paper contributes to the understanding of interfacing indigenous and scientific practices and the need to strengthen efforts at integrating local modern practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to climate change's effects, protected areas, particularly national parks, face conservation challenges, negatively impacting tourism. Sustainable tourism requires understanding the climate and conservation challenges in national parks and their implications for tourism. Marakele National Park in South Africa faces climatic and conservation challenges. A purposive and snowball sampling strategy was used to select study participants. An in-depth interview was conducted with the employees of South African National Parks, including top managers, scientists, field, section, honorary rangers, conservationists, and hospitality staff. A perception survey involving 871 tourists was conducted along with field observations, archival data, and an analysis of archival data. The study results indicate that rainfall levels in the national park vary greatly from season to season and are declining. A warm climate and high rainfall were also observed, and increased drought episodes. The observed climatic extremes led to several ecological challenges, including bush thickening and encroachment, intense soil erosion, wetland degradation and an increased frequency of wildfires. The environmental challenges impact the park's aesthetic value, affect tourist comfort and perceptions, and cause employee discomfort. The paper recommends that the park develops anticipatory action plans for the identified climatic and tourist attraction risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The year 2020 will be synonymous with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) for many global citizens. Millions have died from and tens of millions more have been infected globally by the COVID-19 pandemic. This has led to an urgent search for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments by the scientific and political communities and civil society. Through elements of events study and document and critical discourse analysis, this paper investigates the COVID-19 vaccines' regulatory emergency use authorisation and/or conditional marketing authorisation (regulatory authorisation) regimes and the contestations thereof. The key finding is that there was a regulatory authorisation rush, with at least 62, mostly high-income countries, doing so in 40 days from 2 December 2020–10 January 2021. This has led to one senior USA official describing the United Kingdom pioneer regulatory authorisation of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as 'too quick'. Regulatory authorisation regimes took place amid severe civil society contestations and appropriate political pressure. The paper recommends that as the COVID-19 vaccines' regulatory authorisation continue in 2021, national vaccines and treatments regulatory bodies must be informed by science, with governments, civil society, politicians and other key stakeholders taking responsibility to educate the masses and continue taking the necessary precautions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]