Spotlight on African Women In Science Mitigating the Effects of Climate Change: Meet Dr Stella Kabiri-Marial
| DR STELLA KABIRI-MARIAL (Uganda) SCIENTIST. The National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) in Uganda. @KabiriStella Photo credit: The African Academy of Sciences |
The projected impact of 2 degrees global warming is more dangerous than initially thought and brings the world, Africa included, closer to several critical tipping points. As a planet, we collectively only have 12 years of drastic action, to have any chance of achieving the 1.5 degree target.
Dr Kabiri-Marial is contributing towards avoiding this climate disaster through her work and scientific research, which focuses on the production of low-cost fertilizers using air, which is a more environmentally friendly way as the process produces fewer emissions. Her work and research, therefore, provide climate-smart, affordable, green-made Nitrogen fertilizers to local small-scale farms, and because this green energy-driven technology solution also supports on-site fertilizer production, it, therefore, curtails the need for expensive imports.
“Uganda is a landlocked country, and fertilizers have to be imported and are really expensive. Ordinary farmers cannot afford them. So we have had to find ways where we are solving a problem, but also not creating a negative environmental footprint. Even Africa can mitigate against climate change. There’s a whole world of research that climate scientists can do in Africa. If the African scientists came together, [and with] funding, can go a long way into solving and creating solutions for the current problems of climate change in Africa. My science and research have become known in Africa, the CR4D and the African Academy of Sciences,” she explains in a video shared by the African Academy of Sciences, summing up the rationale behind her work.
She adds: “I would love to see a poor African farmer producing their own fertilizer and their premises, all collectively as a village but in a way that is sustainable to the environment.
Full Bio
Dr Stella Kabiri-Marial, a senior research officer and program Leader at the National Agricultural Research Organization in Uganda, is one of the 40 candidates selected for the fifth cohort of the African Academy of Sciences Affiliates Mentorship scheme, who will receive substantial support to develop into outstanding research leaders in their professional fields.
Stella, who is based at the Mukono Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute, is a trained Scientist in Production Ecology and Resource Conservation, with a PhD from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Her study focused on preparing African rice farmers against parasitic weeds in a changing environment. She has a Msc. in Geo-information Science and Earth Observation from the University of Twente, the Netherlands and her field work focused on genetic remote sensing crop models of rice systems of the Mekong Delta, of Vietnam. Stella has a BSc. in Agriculture from Makerere University, Uganda.
Stella is currently a grantee and a Post Doc. of the Climate Research for Development (CR4D) grant for Climate research, at the African Academy of Sciences. Her research revolves around the development of a Zero carbon process of fertilizer production using air as a raw material, to illustrate a way out of the current fertilizer production process that consumes a lot of energy and in the process emits alarmingly enormous greenhouse gases, responsible for global warming. (Bio Source: The African Academy of Sciences)
