We are pleased to announce that six Degrees Modelling Fund (DMF) projects will be continuing their research until the end of 2023. These DMF projects started in 2018 and they have already begun to change the face of global SRM research. Since 2018, DMF projects have been responsible for the first scientific studies of SRM in the Caribbean, South America, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Least Developed Countries, and Small Island Developing States. The projects were due to finish in early 2021 but when Covid-19 forced us to cancel four major international workshops in 2020, we reallocated the money to DMF continuation grants. Now the teams based in Argentina, Benin, Indonesia, Iran, Jamaica and South Africa will be continuing their studies as follows:
Argentina
The team based at the University of Buenos Aires and CONICET will continue their research into how SRM might affect the La Plata river basin. This will include understanding impacts on the water levels of the Iberá wetlands (the second largest wetlands in the world) and the urban climate of Buenos Aires (the second largest metropolitan area in South America). The team welcomes three new researchers: Rafael Santiago Seoane (independent researcher, recently retired from INA & CONICET), Ana Belén Sanchez Schutze (University of Buenos Aires & CONICET) and Malena Sol Lozada Montanari (University of Buenos Aires & CONICET).
Benin
The Benin DMF project, based at the ICMPA-UNESCO Chair at the University of Abomey-Calavi, was responsible for the first SRM research paper to come from a Least Developed Country. In the next phase of their research they will turn their attention to the Gulf of Guinea, examining how SRM could affect oceanic processes influence rainfall, coastal erosion, fisheries and floods across West Africa.
Indonesia/Malaysia/Vietnam
The Indonesia DMF research project will expand its geographical focus during the next phase of its research. It will investigate how SRM could affect climatic extremes – such as rainfall, floods, droughts and heatwaves – across three river basins in Southeast Asia: the Bengawan Solo basin in Indonesia, the Kelantan river in Malaysia and the Vu Gia-Thu Bon basin in Vietnam. The team membership will expand to reflect this new focus. It welcomes Dr Mou Leong Tan from Universiti Sains Malaysia, who connected with the project at a Degrees workshop in Bali, and also Dr Hong Do from Nong Lam University in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Iran
The first SRM research project in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) will continue its analysis of how SRM could affect this arid, climate-sensitive region. During its next phase it will explore potential SRM impacts on extreme weather events and agricultural and meteorological drought – a critical environmental concern in an area of such limited water resources. The project is based at the Center for Research in Climate Change and Global Warming (CRCC) of IASBS in Zanjan, Iran, and Dr Abolfazl Rezaei will be joining the team.
Jamaica
The Jamaica DMF project will focus on how SRM could affect livelihoods in the Caribbean. In the first phase of their work, they explored how sunlight reflection might affect the region’s climate in general. In this new phase they will zoom in on agriculture, with a case study of impacts on crops in Jamaica. This approach will link SRM impacts to important livelihoods in the region. The team welcomes two new scientists: Dr Roxann Stennett-Brown and Dr Dale Rankine, both from the University of the West Indies.
South Africa
In the next phase of its work, the South African DMF project will evaluate how SRM could affect agricultural production over southern Africa. This is a natural progression of their past DMF research on rainfall and temperature extremes. The team, based at the University of Cape Town, will examine the projected climatic changes under low and high emission scenarios with and without SRM, and will quantify the impact of SRM on maize and wheat – two important crops in the region.