will examine all the documents which shed light on how the archaeological finds from Uruk (Warka Iraq) were divided between Germany and Iraq and the circumstances of their acquisition by the Vorderasiatisches Museum (VAM) in Berlin between 1912 and 1939 digitalised and indexed according to their content the project will also actively support the reconstruction of archives relating to the division of the finds in the Iraqi Museum of Baghdad research historians in Iraq will be able to study the German archaeological excavations in Uruk (Warka) the agreements reached at the time about the sharing of finds and the export of items of archaeological cultural heritage from Uruk (Warka) to Germany which took place on the basis of these agreements appraisal and publication of the share-agreement documentation partnership-based dialogue between Germany and Iraq in the areas of ancient historical research and cooperation between museums can be improved and a foundation laid for all future cooperation in these areas The results of the provenience research into the archaeological objects from Iraq which have belonged to the collections of the Vorderasiatisches Museum since the beginning of the 20th century should also establish transparency in regard to the acquisition practices of the museum in the first half of the 20th century a particular cultural-political desideratum especially given the institution’s international connections The research project is financed by funds from the German Foreign Office Markus Hilgert Funding / Project partner: Auswärtige Amt Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Samsung waxa uu soo saaray cusbooneysi cusub oo cusub abka SmartThings in version for Android Samsung soo saaray cusbooneysiin cusub abka SmartThings in version for Android Waxa ay keentaa wadar ahaan shan astaamood oo cusub ama horumarin kuwa jira kaadhadhka kontoroolka aaladaha horumarsan iyo gurmad unug dhexe oo toos ah SmartThings Hub kaas oo lagu dhawaaqay horraantii bishan intii lagu jiray shirkii horumarinta Samsungu wuxuu ku tusi doonaa dhammaan waxyaabaha muhiimka ah ee ku saabsan gurigaaga caqli-gal ah muuqaal ahaan Waa waxa ugu horreeya ee aad aragto marka aad furto app-ka Waxay tusinaysaa dhammaan digniinaha muhiimka ah iyo soo koobida AI ku shaqaynaysa ee ku saabsan gurigaaga smart (iyo qalabkiisa) kooban ayaa hadda laga heli karaa Koonfurta Kuuriya iyo Maraykanka oo keliya waxay soo bandhigaysaa macluumaadka muhiimka ahmace sida isticmaalka tamarta qalabkaaga ama tayada hawada gudaha Qalabka qaarkood Galaxy widget ka mid ah guddigan sidoo kale waa la heli karaa taas oo kuu ogolaanaysa inaad abuurto xeerar otomaatig ah Waxaad hadda u habayn kartaa hawlahaaga joogtada qaybo sifo cusub oo la yiraahdo Jadwalka Maalinlaha ah ayaa diyaar ah (maalin walba joogtada ah) mahad taaso waxaad dejin kartaa xaalado badan oo wakhti ah oo ku saabsan hawlahaaga joogtada ah uma baahnid inaad abuurto laba hab oo joogto ah si aad si toos ah u damiso nalka subaxdii iyo fiidkii waxay soo bandhigaysaa tabsiyada la ballaariyay ee lagu xakameynayo aaladaha Markaa marka aad furto app-ka SmartThings oo aad tag Devices tab waxaad arki doontaa koontaroolada aaladaha badan adiga oo aan ku xidhin magaceeda Samsung waxay sheegaysaa in kaadhadhka fidsan ay diyaar u yihiin qaboojiyaha nadiifiyaha vacuum nadiifiyaha iyo dhawaaqyada Hal-abuur kale oo faa'iido leh ayaa ah marka aad u dhawaato qalabka guriga Samsungu laga bilaabo sanadkan in guddi degdeg ah ee aad smarttelefoonka ama tablet-ka Galaxy sGuddiga xakamaynta degdega ah ayaa soo muuqan doona Iyadoo tan mini Waxaad si dhakhso ah ugu koontarooli kartaa qalabkaaga kontoroolka fogaanta Habkani waxa uu taageerayaa hobsiyada waaweyn ee Kuuriya foornooyinka iyo talaajadaha la bilaabay 2024 Telefishinadu waxa ay taageereen sifadan muddo sanado ah Haddii aad leedahay unugyo dhexe oo guri oo badan sida SmartThings Hub lagu dhex dhisay TV-yadaada abka SmartThings Hadda waxay si toos ah u dejin kartaa mid ka mid ah aasaasiga ah tusaale ahaan dhibaatooyinka xiriirka ama koronto la'aan awgeed kan kale ayaa la wareegaya dhammaan xakamaynta Cusboonaysiinta cusub ee SmartThings waxaad kala soo bixi kartaa dukaanka Galaxy Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Soomaaliya – Madaxweynaha Soomaaliya Xasan Sheekh Maxamuud ayaa waxaa soo ifbaxaysa inuu ku kacayo dhamaan falalkii uu ka didsanaa maalmihiisii mucaaradnimada mudadii u dhaxeysay 2017 illaa 2022 warsidaha Garowe Online ayaa waxa uu soo koobaya dhacdooyinka uu Xasan Sheekh horey uga gadoodsanaa balse waqti-xaadirkan oo uu xukunka hayo ku kacayo isaga oo iska-indhatiraya xasuusihiisii shalay u yaallay Ku tumashada dastuurka iyo baalmarida sharciga ayuu maalmihii uu mucaaradka ahaa u aqoonsanaa diilin gaduudan oo lama dhaafaan ah haatan waxaa walba walba muhiimsan sidii uu xukunka kusii haysan lahaa Madaxwayne Xasan Sheekh markii uu dibad-joogga ahaa wuxuu aaminsanaa in mucaaradka ay xaq u leeyihiin in laga talogeliyo go’aanada masiiriga ah Balse hadda uu talada hayo wuu iska diidey Dastuur-jebin iyo ku tumasho xuquuqda muwaadinka ayuu u arkayay markii uusan ahayn mas’uulka dalka ugu sareeya Haatan waa mid kamid xeeladaha u uku aamusiyo codadka kasoo horjeeda Xoolaha dadweynaha oo loo adeegsado in lagu aamusiyo lagu dacaayadeedyo ama lagu sumcad-dilo mucaaradka ayuu u arkayay dambi weyn Laakiin haatan wuxuu abaalmariyaa dadka sidaas sameeya mar haddii madaxwayne Xasan Sheekh Maxamuud uu dib u sameynayo khaladaadkii uu shalay ka qaylo-dhaaminayay ma munaafaqnimo mise daruufaha ku xeeran ayaan ka awood badinaya haatan Advertise with GaroweOnline and expose your brand to a global audience of loyal visitors from across the world Digniintan ayaa sababtay in Soomaaliya ay dib uga dagto dhaqan-gelinta qeyb kamid ah is-fahamkaas Soomaaliya waa dal dhowr kun oo qof u coddeeyaan baarlamaan ka wakiil ah qaranka dadkiisu ku dhow yihiin 16.3 milyan Copyright © GAROWONLINE All Rights Reserved The community of low-impact homes and water-harvesting towers built and occupied by a pygmy rainforest community known as Bibambi II, could become a model for sustainable development.  By: Justin R. Wolf Photography: Courtesy Warka Water In the Congo Basin Rainforest of southern Cameroon—one of the wettest and most bio-diverse pockets on the globe—a team led by Italian architect Arturo Vittori has created the “Warka Village,” a community combining hyper-local materials with an ancient water harvesting technology with several applications that can be reproduced and customized for different meteorological environments As a “design philosophy,” as Vittori calls it the village is a product of its place and people fundamental resources that the environment is giving us With principal funding from Vittori’s U.S.-based non-profit Warka Water the roughly one-acre village and its components are being built by local carpenters and artisans to accommodate up to 100 Pygmy peoples from the rainforest community known as Bibambi II each with a footprint of about 260 square feet and designed with naturally insulated flooring and rain tight roofs There are also designated areas for an atelier The heart of the village comprises three “Warka Towers” (the last is still under construction) Together they can harvest and store up to 100,000 liters of fresh water otherwise known as the “lotus effect,” which allows rainwater and condensation droplets to maintain their elasticity and form at which point gravity takes over and the water is piped into a nearby storage and filtration tank accessible via a standard spigot.   More than a dozen older versions of Vittori’s Warka Tower (developed as part of the Warka Water organization’s first pilot project in southern Ethiopia have a leaner form and can be erected and dismantled by local crews in a matter of hours but their common trait is a bio-based polyester mesh wrap that’s designed to harvest atmospheric water from fog and dew once there’s a critical volume of moisture water droplets simply fall into storage.) This harvesting solution makes better sense in Ethiopia’s tropical monsoon climate where annual rainfall is less than in the Congo Basin but heavy humidity tends to linger in the troposphere What truly separates the Warka Towers is not their design or even methodology and pair of hands used to make each tower is local “Previous civilizations have done this well,” he continues “It’s not inventing something new; it’s returning to living in a more adaptable way.”  With permission from Bibambi II’s community chief Biang Martin Yves, whose family donated the 5,000-square-meter plot for Warka Village, and the Pygmy community’s chief Djamba Simon, plus additional support from the Shining Hope Foundation, water technology company DAB Group the collective project officially got underway in 2020.  “We have joined forces to support a population living in extremely difficult conditions,” says Barbara Guassen “[The] Village is a pilot project; our vision is to achieve more The idea for Warka first came to Vittori in 2012 while attending a conference in Addis Ababa he recalled witnessing “women and children walking many miles” from their homes to collect potable water This compounded a stark reality: the issue wasn’t a lack of water it’s not climate conditions putting the species at risk Vittori began to ponder machine-based and aerospace solutions for water harvesting, such as hydropanels and future maintenance of such tools would have greatly compromised his vision The solution had to be low impact and vernacular in nature—something that could return to the earth once it stopped being useful “then we are more attuned” to our energy and consumption needs relative to where we live If adaptability is the core tenet of the Warka philosophy treating water as a commodity is what it sees as a cardinal sin Vittori abhors practices associated with water privatization and water rights “We need to integrate everything,” he says everything at a regional scale.” This can be applied on a scale appropriate for just a few families or several large settlements operating in concert Warka Village is set to operate well within its gross water capacity and then some the village can easily support agricultural activities the (adaptable) replicability of this model should be on everyone’s minds from one continent and climate zone to the next other communities and more self-sustaining village models are very much on Vittori’s mind fundamental resources that the environment is giving us,” says Vittori “Everywhere in the world we should be tapping into this.” Would you like to comment on this article? Send your thoughts to: [email protected] The Herta Mohr building showcases how resourceful reuse can transform a legacy structure into a sustainability paradigm and Wilsonart offer some of the most transparent surfacing products on the market Heartland Whole Health Institute weaves together nature and architecture to reimagine how we care for the body and mind Subscribe to our mailing list to receive the latest updates subscription deals delivered straight to your inbox all images courtesy of warka water/architecture and vision installing his first pilot tower in a rural village in south ethiopa the warka water tower is intended to support remote communities vittori got the idea after visiting small isolated villages on a high plateau in the north east region of ethiopia there he witnessed villagers who lived in environments often without running water he observed how women and children had to walk miles to shallow unprotected ponds where water is often contaminated with animal and human waste the bamboo structures positioned to collect and harvest rainwater vittori’s proposal was a lightweight and infrastructure independent system like warka. comprising a bamboo frame that supports a mesh polyester material inside condenses against the cold surface of the mesh forming droplets of liquid water that trickle down into a reservoir found at the bottom of the structure a fabric canopy shades the lower sections of the tower to prevent the collected water from evaporating performance is weather dependent but each tower has the capability of providing a community with up to 100 liters of water per day vittori and his team got inspiration from several sources, including bio-mimicry and the warka tree which is a giant wild fig tree native to ethiopia. warka water is designed to be owned and operated by the villagers a key factor that facilitates the success of the project the tower not only provides a fundamental resource for life – water – but also creates a social place for the community where people can gather under the shade of its canopy for education and public meetings diagram detailing the structure of warka water tower it costs between $500-$1000USD to set up a tower—less than a quarter of the cost of the gates toilet which costs about $2,200 to install and more to maintain and because its design is basically parametric the warka tower can be easily tailored and implemented in variety of different situations a bamboo frame supports a mesh polyester material inside the design concept for the warka house cameroon that warka water inc with the design firm architecture and vision is developing for the mvoumagomi’s pygmy community in the tropical rainforest of cameroon efforts in cameroon include living facilities in addition to water towers several variations of the warka water tower have been designed including the warka house that centers water collection around a living space W-garden proposes a system that uses harvested water for food production as can be seen here W-toilet for the improvement of sanitation and hygiene AXOR presents three bathroom concepts that are not merely places of function but destinations in themselves — sanctuaries of style LBV Magazine English Edition Thanks to the latest computer game technology a digital twin has been created for one of the world’s most important archaeological sites: Uruk The method presented by Max Haibt (Department of the Orient of the German Archaeological Institute) involves the efficient three-dimensional recording of 40 square kilometers using a long-range UAV as well as the development of a virtual research environment where the high-resolution 3D model is available in real-time The high resolution and spatial accuracy allow for scientific use such as the precise determination of points for remote drilling sample extraction or for planning cultural conservation and site management The digital twin of Uruk provides important remote sensing data for previously unexplored areas of the vast territory and raises new research questions about the interaction of the city with its environment especially regarding the ancient river and canal systems Uruk-VR also offers new opportunities for knowledge transfer and educational work the method can significantly improve geographical and archaeological studies can be directly integrated into the extensive landscape model The creation of the digital twin was achieved using modern drone technology and innovative 3D image processing methods The aircraft used has a longer range than other models and an especially long operating time more than 32,000 aerial images of the ancient city and its surroundings were taken Each image was precisely geotagged and fused into a single georeferenced model using 3D photogrammetry software The result was a digital twin with a detailed triangulated mesh containing a billion triangles and 1024 texture files at an 8k resolution Rendering in a game engine and applying the novel Nanite and Virtual Texture Streaming technologies this massive dataset can be visualized in real-time This is possible because Nanite can efficiently compress and transmit 3D data with consistent quality and various types of spatial data will be integrated The high-resolution landscape model also provides the basis for contextualizing information gathered over a century of archaeological research “guided tours” of the model will initially be offered Uruk-VR will also be open to the public for independent exploration Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email while the Byzantine Empire was mired in a succession crisis sought to take advantage and launched his conquest Archaeologists from universities in the United States and Denmark found deep within the Actun Uayazba Kab cave in Belize two small stone tools dated between 250 and 900 AD that… men and women gathered to play a game called Cuju A team of researchers has succeeded in recreating for the first time in a laboratory experiment a phenomenon that until now only existed as a theory in the realm of… the Cantonal Archaeology of Aargau carried out a rescue excavation between early May 2024 and the end of March 2025 The Egyptian archaeological mission affiliated with the Supreme Council of Antiquities announced the discovery of a group of defensive structures and a system of moats that could indicate… In the southeastern area of the city of Rome archaeologists excavating inside the Triton Baths within the monumental complex of the Villa di Sette… Why did some animals from ancient eras become fossils while others simply disappeared without a trace A recent study on the cave paintings of the Altamira Cave in Santillana del Mar Cantabria (Spain) has concluded that some of the artworks it contains could be much older… A team of paleontologists from the University of Leicester has managed to decipher one of the many enigmas of the dinosaur era—the exact moment when pterosaurs Receive our news and articles in your email for free You can also support us with a monthly subscription and receive exclusive content Situated in Mvoumagomi, about 40 km from Kribi in the south region of Cameroon, the Warka village is destined for the Pygmy community, a gathering of villagers who live in groups of 30 people on average, 100 people at most. Deep in the tropical rainforest, this community is often cut off from nearby towns because of dangers from flooding. Courtesy of Warka WaterWith already 30 individuals living and working on the premises, the village is taking shape, addressing the daily needs of the villagers. Ensuring rural infrastructure, agriculture, health, water, and sanitation, the project, under construction for the past 18 months, seeks to provide essential living services. In fact, protecting the community is protecting the rainforest, according to Arturo Vittori. Courtesy of Warka WaterShortly after, the non-profit realized that similar issues were unfortunately present in other communities in different geographical areas. Currently active in Cameroon where they are constructing the Warka Village the team is also undertaking the first steps to bring help to different isolated communities in places such as Haiti You'll now receive updates based on what you follow Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors If you have done all of this and still can't find the email Every town and village in Ethiopia has its own adbar which Wolf Leslau’s ‘Concise Amharic Dictionary’ defines as ‘tree or trees consecrated to spirits (people make scarifies to them’) an indigenous tree resembling the sycamore and distinct for its massive and magnificent size is said to embody a spirit and often used as a gathering place the Wodajja (ritual sacrifice) of Muslim communities in Wollo is held under warka tree which is considered sacred by Islamic cultures The deep shade produced by the tree makes it a favoured site for meetings and centre of social activity—from markets to traditional court sessions It could also serve as points of orientation There are Warka trees reputedly between five hundred and thousands of years old which are known for supporting a high level of biodiversity bees and other animals depend on it for survival Leaves of the tree can be used for feeding cattle in the dry season This one was photographed in Gheralta region of Tigray Even for the highly touted biggest mass tree-planting campaign held in July the seedlings of indigenous trees such as warka and Kosso (Hagenia abyssinica) a tree with redwood were not on offer gravila and other three species were planted in his area even if eucalyptus and gravila are popular with farmers they tend to dry the area because of their higher water consumption and inefficiency for holding the soil and Warka was much better for this purpose who has devoted his life to the mission of sustainably bringing potable water and proper sanitation and hygiene to some of the world’s most isolated communities designboom spoke with vittori to learn about why he decided to dedicate his career (and life) to harvesting water from the air the past and current difficulties he has faced and how he sees himself in the next ten years images courtesy of warka water / arturo vittori designboom (DB): why did you decide to dedicate your career to harvesting water from the air arturo vittori (AV): harvesting water from the air is one of my architectural principles with my practice ‘architecture and vision’ we have developed concepts of ‘active buildings’ designed to collect water from the air I have always been very interested in finding the most sustainable solutions to produce the fundamental resources needed to support life even in extreme environments and where there is no access to infrastructure buildings that — rather than consuming resources and producing pollution — create resources such as clean air my interest in social and development projects has been growing I believe that everybody has to bring a contribution to improve the place where we live especially helping the most vulnerable people and destitution are still a reality in our wealthy society — how can we ignore it this here I witnessed for the first time the dramatic reality of children and women traveling for very long distances to transport water and only a small part of the population has access to drinking water to find solutions to this dramatic situation this is when the warka water concept started warka water was a research project developed by my design office and it was self-financed I have been involved in several projects in different fields: outer space I learned a lot working in all these different contexts you have to make the most efficient use of the fundamental resources to support human existence but it is especially difficult to guarantee in a place where accessing those elements is not obvious.  officially constituted in 2016 in the united states I was motivated by the desire to personally participate in supporting isolated communities in need of drinking water and other fundamental resources also observing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic DB: do you see an evolution in the technique the technique of harvesting water from the air is not something new previous ancient civilizations were very advanced in that and entire cities were supported by water cached from the air this precious know-how has been forgotten with the introduction of alternative technologies evidence of those skills is still visible in different countries around the world I rediscovered some passive technique that our predecessors had been using and implementing integrating them with cutting-edge technologies such as parametric design software I believe that more and more people will join this challenge and more finance will be available for research harvesting water from the air is a sustainable approach DB: do you see an evolution in the participation of local communities AV: I can see that local communities are participating more and more actively to support our actions something we learned working on developing cooperation projects is that for the success of the initiative the local community must be engaged and integrated from the very beginning people cannot be forced to ‘participate’ in projects that affect their lives but we give them the opportunity where possible identify the common threads of problems that they experience in their lives DB: what are the difficulties you had to overcome at the beginning it was difficult to persuade people that harvesting water from the air was an actual possibility there is a stereotype in our minds that drinkable water comes from the ground the initial development has been very challenging — technically only after the construction of the first functioning prototypes the public trust has been slowly rising and the interest in our work has been growing the greatest difficulty consists in the fact that we are operating in complex contexts due to emergency health and hygiene situations and social tensions living in improvised shelters made with rusted metal sheets DB: are you collaborating with the local government we collaborate with the local government and also with local organizations that are already operative and established in the territory we operate this is very important because those places where we operate are often complex environments where corruption DB: do you approach investors?  AV: we haven’t approach investors so far — we have 3 main supporters in partnership with us the association ‘shining hope’ based in luxembourg; ‘dab pumps‘ an international company with headquarters in italy; and the british ‘rainforest foods’ we plan to expand our network and approach more potential supporters we will dedicate resources to be more present in social media documentaries and TV programs to reach more people AV: warka water inc is committed to the design and construction of innovative and eco-sustainable serving the basic needs of disadvantaged populations located in remote rural locations our vision is to develop truly sustainable projects following the design model of the warka tower our work is based on an in-depth study of local culture and then using traditional techniques that make use of local natural materials the community is actively involved in participating one of the aims of the project is to create an opportunity for collaboration and exchange between architects the community is also involved from the point of view of manual work giving them the opportunity to learn new construction techniques the construction of the various structures of the village is not only a sustainable work from the point of view of the materials or techniques used can become an instrument of rebirth and cooperation DB: what is the goal and the challenge of the warka village sanitation and hygiene represent our highest development priorities our challenge today is to ensure access while safeguarding the rights of affected communities and meeting all of our competing needs sustainably this is why we are developing the warka village from the pigmies and other local ethnic groups from cameroon in need it will become a cultural center of social aggregation with quality spaces an example of how to collaborate with the local community using techniques and materials that respect the cultural identity of the place — also showing how we can live in harmony with nature an ambitious approach with a high symbolic value essential for raising public awareness of the cause we are defending: the cultural disappearance of the pygmy ethnic group it is important to show the importance of good ideas and the determination to put them into practice AV: my dream is to bring our support to more and more people and to create a new trend of beautiful and sustainable projects that are socially needed and useful and also to inspire the new generation of designers to follow this path DB: how people can support warka water initiative AV: at warka water, we finance our activities through donations. on our website, there is a simple and secure donation system, this is the link to the page: http://www.warkawater.org/donate/ is already operative with around 30 people including both workers and pygmy peoples — hunter-gatherers of the tropical rainforest — living on site called the ‘warka village’, the ambitious development builds on arturo vittori’s previous work in the area, which saw him awarded THE DESIGN PRIZE 2019 in the category of ‘SOCIAL IMPACT’ ‘this is a project for an integrated village constructed only by using local and natural materials and ancient local construction techniques,’ arturo vittori tells designboom the ‘warka village’ aspires to transform the landscape of comprehensive human development high-impact multi-sector development interventions that are tailored to the village’s specific needs.’ which has been under construction in the congo basin for 18 months — the largest tropical rainforest in the world — will eventually form a community for local artisans serving as an example of how to live with nature the village comprises seven ‘warka houses’ inspired by the region’s vernacular dwellings; two ‘warka towers’ designed to collect and harvest potable water from the air; ‘warka santiation’ composting toilets that operate without flushing water; a ‘warka pavilion’; and a modular edible ‘warka garden’ that provides food for residents made from bamboo and other natural materials the seven ‘warka houses’ reference ancient local traditions while offering a higher standard of hygiene and comfort for the villagers of such rural communities the two ‘warka towers’ will provide the community with an alternative water source the towers’ water-harvesting capacity depends on the meteorological conditions and aims to distribute between 40 to 80 liters (10 to 20 gallons) of drinking water every day.  as issues of sanitation and hygiene still remain one of the main concerns for developing countries ‘warka sanitation’ provides composting toilets which operate without flushing water and energy the resultant composting materials can be used as fertilizer for the ‘warka garden’ the term ‘warka’ is derived from the warka tree the ‘warka tower’ — the team’s first project — serves as important cornerstone for the community and the future ‘warka village’ to come Traveling from Italy to Ethiopia was like visiting a whole new world for Italian architect he spotted a woman struggling to carry a large container of water but the size and weight of the container was almost unmanageable He was shocked by her ability to carry the container for several miles Vittori continued to see many women traveling with these large containers despite the fact that many natural sources of water are often contaminated with parasites and human and animal waste women and children often have no choice but to travel long distances to collect water for their families Some of the natives are even unaware that the bacteria in the water can make them sick causing water borne illnesses to run rampant among Ethiopian communities Seeing with his own eyes the living conditions of a community that lacks water and other essential resources made Vittori start to think about how the situation could be improved He wondered if there was a way to make purified water more accessible so women could take care of their homes and so children could get an education This project was very unique compared to his previous work as an architect: the environment was different Almost three years since his first trip to Ethiopia Vittori and his team have implemented the first Warka Water 3.2 tower in Ethiopia is designed to provide water through three methods: rainwater The Warka Water team designed the towers to fit in with the natural landscape of Ethiopia and to utilize local materials The design derived from traditional Ethiopian basket-weaving techniques as well as from studying the structures of several plants and animals such as Namib beetle’s shells and lotus flower leaves The Warka Water towers are constructed mainly with natural and biodegradable materials such as bamboo They are designed to be environmentally friendly by not causing any pollution or harm to the ground they are built on The Warka Water team hopes the towers will also be able to benefit the environment by providing water for irrigation stands at 31 feet tall and weighs 176 pounds can be easily transported and fixed with hemp ropes there are eight fixation points that attach ropes to the tower The ropes are all made locally with natural fibers from banana tree leaves The last part of the tower is a canopy that provides shade and allows the tower to serve as a gathering place the tower can be easily constructed in ten days This makes it exceptionally easy for locals to build their own towers after receiving proper instruction on how to do so The team hopes to train locals in each community who can then build towers in surrounding villages thereby creating jobs and boosting the local economy The tower is designed to collect water from the air and fog allows air to pass through and captures the falling water droplets sits below the mesh and stores the water droplets as they roll off A smaller funnel filters the water from the collector to an 800-gallon water tank The tower is expected to garner 13 to 26 gallons (50 to 100 liters) of water per day People are able to retrieve this water by gathering at the base of the tower and pouring it out of a spigot The Warka Water team hopes the towers will have many lasting impacts Their goal is not only to provide clean water but also to improve the lives of the Ethiopians by creating opportunities for growth and development Their hope for the future of Warka Water is to be able to mass-produce the towers so that they can be implemented in rural communities all over the world Another potential future development of the Warka Water towers may be to incorporate an Internet connection point that will help connect the community to outside information Inventions such as the Warka Water towers raise questions of how water-relief systems can help to end the water crisis around the world Other methods of obtaining water such as water-well drilling may be effective but they can also be costly and harmful to the environment Perhaps by replacing hazardous methods of retaining water with more natural the water crisis can be solved and the lives of people affected by water shortages and contamination can be saved some may question the effectiveness of inventions such as the Warka towers Even after three years of working on this project the Warka team is still learning and experimenting Questions may be raised about whether or not the collector is able to catch the average rainfall and if the structure of the tower will be able to withstand harsh weather Some may also worry the tower won’t be able to provide water throughout the entire dry season Vittori and his team believe their tower will be effective even in the worst conditions Impakter informs you through the ESG news site and empowers your business CSRD compliance and ESG compliance with its Klimado SaaS ESG assessment tool marketplace that can be found on: www.klimado.com Impakter is a publication that is identified by the following International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is the following 2515-9569 (Printed) and 2515-9577 (online – Website) is shaped like a vase and has a giant orange shape inside of it If you answered the future of water sources Of the seven billion people on this planet about 783 million of them do not have access to clean water As the global population continues to expand and environments continue to degrade because of pollution and climate change this chronic water shortage is predicted to worsen Unless we can find a way to draw water from thin air Italian industrial designer Arturo Vittori and his colleague Andreas Vogler have invented a device which can do just that The Warka Water Tower relies on condensation to provide water Named after an Ethiopian fig tree and built of flexible bamboo or juncus stalks and plastic mesh similar to produce bags the tower has often been compared to something out of a science fiction novel or a Pier One catalog But this mysteriously artistic artifact could be the key to providing plentiful clean water to struggling communities The Warka Water Tower has collected over 25 gallons of potable water a day in field trials instead relying on the inherent natures of the materials and shapes of its structure The flexible bamboo lattice allows lots of air to pass through while the mesh net on the inside acts as a scaffold for condensing dew the dew drips down the mesh into a wide collection basin at the bottom of the tower Attempts to provide new water sources for rural developing areas have proven short-lived There is a long list of failed projects meant to revolutionize water sources from the PlayPump that was meant to pump water as children played on it which made human waste completely potable again As Toilets for People founder Jason Kasshe put it “If the many failed development projects of the past 60 years have taught us anything If the fatal flaw of the past projects was their complexity The Warka Water Tower only costs about $550 much less than the thousands required for previous technologies It is simple to build and can be made by local workmen A trained four-person team can erect one in less than a week without special tools The water towers are also far easier to maintain than their high-tech predecessors It is far simpler to mend a mesh net or replace a bamboo rod than it is to replace a motherboard or sharpen a drill bit Ethiopia is expected to be the first country to receive Warka Water Towers later this year Ethiopia has very little infrastructure in rural areas and in some places it takes six-hours to find drinking water coupled with climate-change induced droughts make the necessity of a new water source abundantly clear Most water sources would require a well drilled deep into the earth to access the ever-sinking water table a water table or even electricity to function as sources for potable water But perhaps solutions like the Warka Water Towers can at least give developing areas a fighting chance which can collect drinking water from moisture from the air (Credit: Warka Water)Attempts to conjure water ‘from thin air’ might offer relief for drought-ridden regions – and it could even help the rest of us go off-grid All air, from arid deserts to humid cities, contains water vapour – globally, an estimated 3,100 cubic miles (12,900 cubic kilometres) of water is suspended as humidity in the air around us That’s more than all the water in Lake Superior the largest lake in North America (11,600 cubic km) or five Lake Victoria’s (Africa’s great lake Or a whopping 418 times the volume of Loch Ness This is the humidity in the air we breathe that reappears as beads of water on the side of a cold drink And a technological race is underway to harvest it as drinking water If the emerging ‘water from air’ (WFA) devices can crack it it could go a long way towards solving the world’s freshwater problem reaching 391 billion litres sold in 2017 (that’s more than 150,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools) off-grid source of freshwater is both desperately needed to reduce sickness and poverty Pulling water from thin air is hardly a novel concept – you may have a dehumidifier machine at home that does just that. But the water it captures is not clean, doesn’t contain the minerals we need and the energy required is not realistic to meet a household’s water requirements adapting dehumidifier technology for drinking water Mechanical dehumidifiers contain chilled metal coils filled with a refrigerant gas which create an artificial ‘dew-point’ (the temperature at which water vapour in the air saturates like the beads on the side of your ice-cold drink) Water vapour entering a WFA machine condenses on a chilled coil in the same way and stored in a food-grade tank ready to drink Consider the South African firm Water from Air which makes a WFA water cooler for homes that is capable of producing 32 litres of water a day The advantage over traditional water coolers being you don’t need to constantly replace the plastic water barrels – this one keeps replenishing itself from which sells a range from small units to large truck-sized models “ideal for villages [and] gated communities” some important conditions for many of these devices to function at their best often depends on the relative humidity – the amount of water present in air as a percentage of the amount needed to reach saturation that figure is above 60% for optimal functioning is entering the market later this year (2018) with a unit literally the size of a shipping container and it can reportedly function at a relative humidity of just 15% The prototype produces 2,000 litres a day in humid conditions and no less than 500 litres even in dry climates Another solution may come from entirely different WFA technology a ‘desiccant’ material absorbs water from the air like a chemical sponge Such technology has only recently emerged from R&D into commercial products says Wahlgren: “Desiccant systems can be made of less expensive materials so the price point for the same water production capacity has the potential for being lower… [and can] work with lower humidity than mechanical dehumidifiers.” Zero Mass Water was founded by Cody Friesen associate professor of materials science at Arizona State University uses a desiccant inside a small rooftop solar panel he calls a ‘hydropanel’ “Our desiccant was developed inside my research group at Arizona State University” whose childhood in the Arizona desert gave him a natural affinity for water preservation “You need something that absorbs water at ultra-low humidity Now imagine an engineered material that does that very fast.” but he can say it includes a mixture of lithium chloride and organic ions The solar panel itself contains some photovoltaic material which runs a small fan to pull air through the system but it is largely solar thermal – this evaporates the water back out of the ‘chemical sponge’ in order to be condensed and collected It doesn’t need a chilled coil to condense because it can use the outside ‘ambient’ temperature which is cooler than the heat inside the solar thermal Source produces an average 3-5 litres per day far fewer than the mechanical refrigerants requiring only 100 watts of off-grid solar power (compared to say the Water From Air water cooler which needs 500W of mains power and humidity levels of 80-95% to produces 25-30 litres-a-day) Friesen wants Source to appeal to those consumers already spending hundreds of dollars a year on bottled water “Half a trillion litres of bottled water are sold globally every year “The carbon footprint associated with that the average price per litre from Source is around 16 cents replacing some 30,000 500ml plastic bottles Its biggest buyers so far have been rural homesteads in US and Australia an orphanage in Lebanon and a fire station in Puerto Rico “After the military goes away… the only potable water we’ll have is gonna be this.”) “When you design for such an extreme environment as outer space you have to bring water from Earth and then recycle and reuse the water in a closed system” “The same thing happens on planet Earth – the water cycle does this naturally for us.” The first Warka Tower was erected in Ethiopia in 2015 “But even when there is no rain and no fog “The capacity of [our] water tank ranges from 1,600 litres up to 100,000 litres.” The tower was built by local villagers using traditional methods and bamboo we are experimenting with [other] local materials… including palm leaves.” The Warka Tower is “a different approach” to WFA he says: “it is understanding the local traditions and materials … It is much more than a machine delivered on the back of a truck Wahlgren argues that this approach – also known as “radiative cooling” – is “extremely site specific… there are only a limited number of sites on Earth that are suitable” the Warka approach is admirable – it is easy to maintain using the same local skills and materials used to put it up Vittori hopes that local craftsmen will go on to build more in surrounding towns and villages without his input But if the end goal is to serve the 2.1 billion people without access to clean water then Warka Towers could never be a solution on their own Vittori estimates a single (smaller) tower meets the water needs of around 50 people, for an upfront construction cost from $3,000 (for a 5m tower) would cost $30,000 and could supply roughly 250 people (though clearly that would involve a significant change to the landscape) can constantly harvest water at a much greater volume – they may not be zero energy but solar solutions such as Zero Mass Water’s can be energy-neutral and off-grid They could be major freshwater providers in the near future And there may be many more innovations to come The international XPRIZE innovation competition – that in previous years has encompassed AI and suborbital spaceflight – is currently offering $1.75m (roughly £1.4) for the best new invention to "harvest fresh water from thin air" There are even suggestions that WFA could be scaled up to the size of desalination plants Could it affect local rainfall and cloud formation Even if every single person owned a WFA device it wouldn't even use up all the water vapour that comes from traffic fumes “so we don't have a problem of coming anywhere close to impacting weather systems” chemical sponges and giant bamboo towers collecting water from air seem strange now But our current groundwater system is failing Join 900,000+ Future fans by liking us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter or Instagram If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called “If You Only Read 6 Things This Week”. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Culture, Capital, and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday. How a village in the Himalayas was entirely relocatedAs the river dried up, life in Samdzong became impossible. So the locals built a new village from scratch. Earth's transformation in satellite imagesLandsat satellites provide the longest continuous global record of the Earth's surface. Melting glaciers reveal Viking pass hidden for centuriesMelting glaciers are revealing thousands of ancient Viking artefacts covered up by ice and snow until recently. Why heatwaves have become the number one 'silent killer'Extreme heat is the number one weather-related cause of death in the USA. Why extreme heat makes air quality worseMore than 100 million US citizens have been put under air quality warnings, with millions more facing heatwaves. Are tornadoes in the US getting worse?They are largely unpredictable and unforeseeable but are twisters becoming a more serious threat? Wave power lights up Africa’s biggest portMorocco’s Tanger Med port is one of the largest in the world and a massive energy consumer. What if we all lived on two tonnes of carbon?To address climate change, those of us with big carbon footprints will need to hugely cut them down. Earth Day: Four ways you can reduce your carbon footprintWhat can we do at home to reduce our carbon footprint? How an aquatic organism could be key to net-zero aviationCould giant kelp become a viable alternative to fossil fuels and power our planes? The hidden costs of a vegan dietVeganism is rapidly growing in popularity across the world, but are there long term impacts we should consider? The flat-pack water heater that fights climate changeA simple water heater powered just by the Sun is being tried out in Africa. This plug socket tells you if your energy is greenA power socket that helps you save electricity and tells you if it's from renewable sources. What if we all stopped flying tomorrow?What would happen if all planes were suddenly grounded and we had to make do with other forms of transport? Bangladesh: Enduring urban heat day and nightLiving climate change means just going to work risks fainting from the heat Bangladesh: How salt water affects human healthLiving climate change means water is all around you, without a drop fit to drink. How climate change is harming pregnant women in KenyaLiving with climate change in some countries has led to an increase in miscarriages and stillbirths. The untold impact of climate change on mental healthThe sudden changes in livelihood caused by extreme weather conditions can take a severe toll on mental health. Nepal: A Himalayan village’s struggle with a new pestLiving climate change means being exposed to diseases you’ve never encountered before. The water firm says there are no plans for a ban despite the increasingly warm weather. SWW says iron in the water is not a risk to health but a water main is due to be replaced. Welsh Water says it is asking for people to help preserve its resources after a dry spring. According to Yorkshire Water, reservoir levels are almost 15% lower than average for spring time. The Cuyahoga River was so polluted it regularly went up in flames. Images of one dramatic blaze in 1952 shaped the US's nascent environmental movement, long after the flames went out. Archive TECHNOLOGY the tree-shaped ‘warka water’ tower developed by architecture and vision is a vertical system that collects drinking water from the air by condensation based on traditional ethiopian craftsmanship and shelters the triangular mesh structure is made of natural materials such as junco and can be built by local village inhabitants the 9m tall piece consists of a bamboo framework with hanging fabric spanned in tension on the inside used for harvesting natural liquid the lightweight form weighs only 60 kg with five modules that are installed from the bottom to the top that can be lifted and assembled by four people without the need of scaffolding ‘warka water’ can collect up to 100 liters of drinking water per day ‘in ethiopian culture the ‘warka tree’ is an institution the shade is used for traditional public gatherings these trees are a very important part of the ecosystem and culture of ethiopia and its disappearance seems unfortunately unavoidable ethiopia suffered a deforestation of 60% only in the last 40 years.’ says architecture and vision ‘in mountain regions of ethiopia women and children walk every day for several hours to collect water from sources often unsafe that they share with animals and are at risk of contamination this situation makes their life even more difficult together with the endless household chores resulting in lacking education.’ says architecture and vision installed at MAXXI – national museum of the 21st century art warka water exhibited at the cité des sciences et de l’industrie view of the triangulated structure image © gabriele rigon textile detail 13th international architecture biennale arturo vittori & andreas vogler collaborators: raffi tchakerian tadesse girmay textile design: precious desperts communication: gianni massironi support: italian cultural institute designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here at the helm of this important project is its founder ‘warka tower’ version 3.2 was successfully installed in march 2015 vittori and his team soon realized that in addition to a lack of potable water there were several important issues to be solved warka water has evolved to develop projects such as W-solar which are currently well into development in different parts of the world designboom spoke with vittori about the mission of warka water the activities he’s currently engaged in and how people can help contribute to the organization’s monumental undertakings the dorze project was the first ‘warka tower’ pilot to be deployed in a rural community designboom (DB): what initially called you to nonprofit work arturo vittori (AV): during a trip to ethiopia in february 2012 while visiting rural isolated communities up on a high plateau in the northeast region of the country I witnessed a dramatic reality: the lack of potable water the villagers live in a beautiful natural environment women and children walk every day for miles towards shallow and unprotected ponds where the water is often contaminated with human and animal waste they collect the water using dry carved gourds and carry the water back in old plastic containers I made it my mission to find an alternative solution and help these people this was the genesis of the design of warka tower: an environmentally and financially sustainable solution for potable water ‘warka tower’ is an alternative water source for rural populations that face challenges in accessing drinkable water AV (continued): it started as a voluntary initiative in 2012. since then, my architecture office, architecture and vision and a group of collaborators have designed and constructed several prototypes on different scales to test various aspects of the project we reached an important milestone with the construction of our first pilot prototype on site in dorze a rural isolated community in southern ethiopia the canopy creates a shaded social space where the community can gather for education and public meetings DB: how would you describe the mission of warka water to someone you just met AV: to provide sustainable solutions for rural and isolated communities to access one of the most important resources for human life — potable water especially reaching the history and traditions of ethnic groups DB: how many different projects does warka water comprise AV: warka water provides various services such as: clean water (warka tower) daily water collection trips in dorze are arduous and unrelenting — made primary by women DB: what are some of the aesthetic inspirations that the structures draw from AV: warka tower is inspired by nature and lost ancient traditions many plants and animals have developed singular ‘skills’ to enable them to collect water from the air and survive in the most hostile environments on earth some key examples include the namib beetle’s shell spider web and the fog collection and water storage system in cactus we are identifying specific materials and coatings that can enhance dew condensation water flow and storage capabilities.  has a pygmy community that lives deep in the tropical rainforest AV (continued): the construction techniques are inspired by local vernacular architecture and its use of local and biodegradable materials to design a structure that complements the natural landscape and can be built easily by hand with the collaboration of villager warka tower is constructed with natural and local materials for social and environmental sustainability the recently-constructed ‘warka house’ provides substantially better shelter with an insulated floor and proper roof DB: what can other architects learn from warka water in the design of sustainable and socially-impactful projects AV: warka tower is demonstrating that we can harvest water from the sky so water doesn’t only come from the ground this not a new invention but an ancient knowhow that we have lost several cultures have been adopting different strategies to collect water in a sustainable way from the air warka will also help to rediscover some of these lost traditions inspiring a new generation of architects to incorporate these techniques in contemporary design the example of warka tower is showing that by using local materials and a passive system we create active architecture that is able to harvest renewable resource the structure is constructed using ancient local traditions and natural materials by the villagers themselves DB: what goal is warka water working towards right now with the construction of warka sanitation; and in cameroon we are working with 5 pygmy communities constructing integrated villages the dwelling will offer higher standards of hygiene and comfort for the villagers of this isolated community what impact has working on this project had on you so far AV: the fact that I am directly involved in the field activities gives me a much more clear understanding of the situation — there is so much we can do an important change has been being more attentive to the real issues of our contemporary sociality and dedicating time to finding better solutions to help these situations providing a sustainable solution for easily accessible drinking water is imperative for the people of mvoumagomi DB: what are you afraid of regarding the future AV: I always see the future with enthusiasm and opportunity waiting for us I am not afraid of something in particular by the fact that more and more people are appreciating and supporting what we do this makes me think that people’s interests are shifting slowly to important social issues and there is a desire to make thing better — also for ourselves to live in a better planet has nearly nonexistent road networks that make its access almost impossible what is the best way for people to contribute to the project AV: the best way to support our activities is through a donation directly from our official website: http://www.warkawater.org/donate/ the construction of the ‘warka toilet’ in kpékpéta has recently kicked off the community is fully involved in the project with women and men from the village working on the excavation women are mainly responsible for finding and collecting water families sometimes walk up to 14 kilometers (round-trip) before reaching even a poor quality water source arturo vittori, founder of warka water, accepts THE DESIGN PRIZE for social impact, handed over by paola antonelli discover all the winners of THE DESIGN PRIZE 2019 on designboom here edison, one of the largest energy companies in italy, has been a partner and promoter of the initiative since its inception in 2017. this year, edison continues its collaboration with THE DESIGN PRIZE the international award dedicated to project culture which is also a virtuous expression of co-planning based on the efficient use of resources for the construction of a sustainable future and 130-year-long history in the energy sector to the design prize helping foster a horizontal approach to design together with the leading professionals and architects edison proposes intelligent solutions for cities and people in favor of a more evolved and sustainable lifestyle Being the first well drilled in production licence 891 well 6507/5-10S is operated by ConocoPhillips and partnered by Pandion Energy at 20% Read more about the Warka discovery here The well is located in the Revfallet Fault Complex The well closest to 6507/5-10S is 6507/5-7 the primary objective of this well was to prove oil in the Middle Jurassic Garn Formation with the Ile Tilje and Åre formations being secondary targets Although all four formations proved to have good quality reservoirs the Miocene directly overlies the Upper Jurassic Only five kilometres to the west of 6507/5-10S lies the Ærfugl field which was discovered in 2000 and currently produces as an extended well test since 2013 whilst the field is further developed Ærfugl mainly produces gas that is piped onshore whilst the oil finds its way to the nearby Skarv FPSO The reservoir of Ærfugl consists of the Upper Cretaceous Lysing Formation Without more information at hand as to what the target of the current well is based on the setting described above it is expected that the target is similar to the Middle and Lower Jurassic sandstones as found in Shrek As it is likely that the Cretaceous and hence the Lysing Formation are present too with a pinch out probably taking place directly to the east against the Sør High this may be a secondary target of the well Henk KombrinkHenk.Kombrink@geoexpro.com+44 77 8899 2374 Sales DirectorIngvild Ryggen CarstensSales Enquiries+47 974 69 090 This work, First Iraqi bank on American base opens at JBB, by SGT Ryan Twist, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright As water shortage is a serious issue in many parts of the world a means of efficiently harnessing safe drinking water from thin air without the need of expensive infrastructure could be a real lifesaver Italy's Architecture and Vision is developing an off-grid bamboo tower called Warka Water that promises just that: the firm says it could collect an annual average of up to 100 liters (26.4 US gallons) of water per day Warka Water will rise to a height of 10 m (33 ft) and be secured to the ground with eight guide ropes The tower consists of a lightweight woven bamboo structure while an inner plastic mesh retains water droplets from passing fog which fall into a collector and a large tank Any rainwater and overnight dew also collects in the tank Warka Water will sport a canopy that offers shade to people drawing the collected water and a series of rotating mirrors which Architecture and Vision says will be sufficient to keep birds away No electricity is required for any part of the passive water-harnessing process and the firm says the bamboo structure will take six people four days to construct On-site assembly should take four people just three hours without the need for cranes or any other building machinery It's going to be a long road until that point The essential idea behind Warka Water appears sound but its success will hinge on overcoming a long list of other concerns including the quantity and quality of water drawn it will require locals to be trained and made responsible for maintenance and while the estimated cost of under US$1,000 may seem relatively cheap compared to standard water supply infrastructure it's still a lot of dough for an impoverished area It also remains to be seen if it could harness as much water as the company estimates – and on this note we'd encourage all-due skepticism though Architecture and Vision has produced a small working prototype the first full-scale field test won't take place until the necessary funds have been raised by a recently-launched Kickstarter campaign "It is first and foremost an architecture project WW should not be considered as the solution to all water problems in developing countries but rather as a tool that can provide clean water in selected areas," says the firm "Particularly in mountainous regions where conventional pipelines will never reach and where water is not available from wells." If you'd like to try and help the team overcome these hurdles as of writing its Kickstarter campaign still has 18 days to go Raised funds will go toward developing a working unit and promised rewards include Warka Water-related apparel Architecture and Vision will eventually seek further donations for Warka Water units to be installed in select locations in Ethiopia before potentially rolling out the system worldwide The video below shows a little more information on the project Sources: Architecture and Vision, Kickstarter Each tower (about 33 ft high) is composed of two layers: an exoskeleton built out of bamboo tied together with hemp ropes and an internal plastic mesh made of nylon and polypropylene fibers Dew adheres to this scaffold and is then channeled down into a basin at the base of the structure from which the water can be harvested.  The goal is to collect an annual average of 50 to 100 liters of potable water a day which can be used as drinking water or stored for other purposes experimental phase—only a handful of pilot tests have been built—it could end up being an alternative water infrastructure for the area (It doesn't hurt that the towers look like beautiful totemic sculptures punctuating the landscape.)  Formally, the structure combines biomimicry with the aesthetics of traditional Ethiopian basket-weaving techniques and local vernacular architecture. "Many plants and animals have developed unique micro- and nano-scale structural features on their surfaces that enable them to collect water from the air and survive in hostile environments," explains Vittori spider web threads and the integrated fog collection system in cactus we are identifying specific materials and coatings that can enhance dew condensation and water flow and storage capabilities of the mesh The termite hives have influenced the design of Warka's outer shell Though the complex geometry of the structure required some high-tech parametric design software the final product is designed to be easily constructed by locals with readily available tools such as bamboo splitters All of the elements required to build a Warka tower come in a kit and take a small team roughly one hour to assemble The tower can be maintained without using any special tools or heavy machinery the locals can easily build and maintain the Warka tower," says Vittori "This local know-how can then be transferred to surrounding communities with villagers helping install other towers in the area and creating an economy based on the assembly and maintenance of the towers." the project draws on the significance of the Warka tree a local species with abundant foliage that draws people under its shade to meet The latest versions of the design include a similar canopy at the tower's base gathering the community around a common goal and serving as a symbol of the project's larger educational and social aspirations To use Warka as a catalyst for growth and development the team is working on a water management training system workshops that teach the principles of permaculture and also hopes to equip each canopy with internet connection in the future.  —the fact of the matter is, incorporating technology-based systems into remote rural villages is not a practical solution.Dean Kamen's Slingshot system have done installations in similar rural areas to great success  Not sure why you don't consider it practical.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slingshot_(water_vapor_distillation_system) How is an Ethiopian farmer going to maintain this Test it out; it only takes a single click to unsubscribe BMD is a multidisciplinary brand and design studio we are here to move organizations forwar.. Formation is a product design + development company focused on human centered design innovation Project Duo brings proven innovation and key assets to clients of all sizes Zack Group is an award winning brand & package design firm specializing in visual revitalization of .. Datum3D is a one-stop shop product development company located in the Greater Boston Area Formally, the structure combines biomimicry with the aesthetics of traditional Ethiopian basket-weaving techniques and local vernacular architecture. \"Many plants and animals have developed unique micro- and nano-scale structural features on their surfaces that enable them to collect water from the air and survive in hostile environments,\" explains Vittori the locals can easily build and maintain the Warka tower,\" says Vittori \"This local know-how can then be transferred to surrounding communities with villagers helping install other towers in the area and creating an economy based on the assembly and maintenance of the towers.\" Don't have an account? Join Now Already have an account? Sign In Please enter your email and we will send an email to reset your password The tower in the image above might look like art but the strange 30-foot gourd shape is an incredibly practical device that can pull water out of the air — up to 25 gallons a day works even in the desert and costs less than $700 for materials The beauty of the structure is its low-tech simplicity The Warka Water, a product from Architecture and Vision is biodegradable and can be set up without mechanical tools in less than a week The primary ingredients are bamboo — which can be bought or harvested where local conditions allow — and mesh Architecture and Vision Director Arturo Vittori told Business Insider Vittori created the Warka with Andreas Vogler The exoskeleton of each Warka is made of bamboo and is designed for stability and ease of airflow the droplets of water make their way down the mesh to a container at the bottom The water that is collected is drinkable as is as long as the local air conditions are not too polluted "and some basic hygienic rules are respected" Exactly how much water is produced depends on seasonal and climatic conditions such as humidity The Warka Water is not the first mesh device designed to harvest water from the air It creates more water at a lower cost than its predecessors obtaining drinking water means a six-hour journey Constructing a well close by often requires drilling a 1,600-foot hole — an expensive undertaking "We can say a Warka could provide drinking water for a small rural community of 40 inhabitants," Vittori said pointing out that that number would vary based on climate Vittori hopes each one will last four to eight years with regular maintenance providing more than 25 gallons of water in a day Because it relies on temperature differences between day and night It should get even cheaper as components are mass produced Vittori said. Maintenance requires only that the mesh and container are cleaned regularly and broken parts are fixed "We are looking for funding to complete the design phase and built three or four test structures in different parts of central Africa," said Vittori The testing phase should cost less than $280,000 to complete The project involves the modernisation of the 42.75 km Warka-Radom section of Poland’s railway line 8 level 2 European Train Control System (ETCS) equipment – the automatic train protection component of the European Rail Traffic Management System – will be installed on the 92.45 km of the line between Warsaw Okęcie and Radom Modernisation includes addition of a second track between Warka and Radom and building or rebuilding of five rail and two road viaducts Located in the south of the Mazowieckie region the line is part of the comprehensive trans-European Transport Network The works will allow maximum speeds of 160 km/h for passenger trains and 120 km/h for goods trains and maximum loads of 221 kilonewtons/axle Certain stations and passing loops will be converted into passenger stops platforms will be adapted to the needs of persons with reduced mobility grade separation with roads will be introduced in places with high traffic volumes some 67 level crossings and 15 pedestrian crossings will be modernised and 18 level crossings and 23 pedestrian crossings will be closed modern computer signalling equipment and automatic systems will be put in place The latter will be managed from the local control centre will be replaced and three substations will be built at Grabów nad Pilicą power installations for signalling and lighting will be modernised The upgrades will bring the railway into conformity with technical specifications for interoperability related to infrastructure and accessibility for persons with disabilities This will ensure non-discriminatory access to Polish railways for operators from other countries steps will be taken to better integrate the railway with other modes of transport This will include reorganisation of the regional bus network to strengthen connectivity provision of park-and-ride facilities at stops and stations and introduction of an integrated tariff system A main objective of the project is to develop railway infrastructure that provides fast frequent and punctual passenger and freight connections at regional and local levels and between major economic centres Achieving this will widen accessibility for potential passengers and boost the competitiveness of the railways in relation to other transport modes Greater competitiveness should lead to a modal shift which reduces the negative environmental impact of transport in line with EU and national sustainability goals shortening journey times and boosting capacity with the construction of a second track will help attain these objectives Further aims are to increase provision of information for passengers and freight carriers to improve safety on the railway and for road traffic at crossings and to rationalise operating and maintenance costs Total investment for the project “Works on railway line no with the EU’s Cohesion Fund contributing EUR 127 818 309 through the “Infrastructure and Environment” Operational Programme for the 2014-2020 programming period The investment falls under the priority “Development of railway transport in Poland”.  Ministerstwo obsługujące ministra właściwego ds PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe Spółka Akcyjna (Polish Railway Lines) lies the pygmee bagyeli community of the village mvoungangomi the village is located about 40 kilometers from the port town of kribi by canoe and requires an additional half hour walk through thick bush to access making transportation and communication nearly impossible the village faces increased dangers from flooding vittori also shared with us the story of pygmy peoples and his intention to fuse local knowledge and resources and ancient traditions to help the inhabitants of this community in cameroon ‘warka house’ has been built for the pygmy community of mvoumagomi who live in the south province of cameroon the pygmy peoples of central africa are the principal hunter-gatherers of the tropical rainforest inhabitants live in communities of 30 people on average — 100 at most — and establish temporary camps comprising huts constructed from bent and woven branches wrapped in large leaves everyone plays an important role in the community ecosystem the dwelling provides substantially better shelter for the village’s inhabitants  they disperse a chemical created from crushed plant material downstream — a non-toxic substance which deprives fish of oxygen and makes them float to the surface to be easily collected removing water from a dammed area and collecting the fish from the exposed riverbed children and adolescent girls often accompany them and help watch over the infants women are also largely responsible for cultivating plants the structure is constructed using ancient local traditions a simple communal shelter serves as a main camp for the villagers they collect water in basins and buckets to keep the bare dirt floor dry it is common for the group to move and set camp within the forest where men hunt from dawn until dusk and women gather fruits the villagers will remain in one area until it is hunted out; then it abandons the camp and settles down in a different part of the forest local knowledge and resources meets visionary design and architecture the pygmy peoples of south cameroon are semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers their world is increasingly diminishing — they have been squeezed between conservation areas and land handed over to companies for oil palm and rubber tree exploitation as mosquitoes are rife among the plantations andtheir general nutrition has suffered radically due to compromised access to their traditional forest foods the pygmy people of central africa are the principal hunter-gatherers of the tropical rainforest villagers must make a half hour trek to the lobe river — a task that falls primarily to women they walk barefoot through thick forest to reach the river careful not to slip into crocodile infested water while storage — in open pots or buckets in the camp — also poses problems the community is in constant dangers of consuming contaminated water this makes warka water’s mission so pertinent: providing a sustainable solution for easily-accessible drinking water for mvoumagomi ‘warka house’ has an insulated floor and proper roof that prevents rainwater from dripping inside the community uses the forest ‘when nature calls’ — a practice which poses health risks the presence of toilets is urgently needed to provide sustainable sanitation but an essential necessity for good hygiene and disease prevention for the entire community the dwelling will offer higher standards of hygiene and comfort for the inhabitants of the community provides substantially better shelter with an insulated floor and proper roof that prevents rainwater from dripping inside the structure is constructed using ancient local traditions of working with bamboo and other natural materials by the villagers themselves the upgraded dwelling will offer higher standards of hygiene and comfort for the inhabitants of this isolated community natural materials have been used in the construction of the roof  sustainable materials indigenous to the region — earth palm leaves and wood — and built using local techniques two separate sides provide facilities for men and women liquid waste and solid waste are separated and soil is added to the hole so that excrement dries out quicker the resulting manure becomes a natural fertilizer for the ground leaves are carefully woven to create a solid and rain-proof roof  ‘the fact that I am directly involved in the field activities gives me a much more clear understanding of the situation — there is so much we can do,’ vittori tells us and dedicating time to finding better solutions to help these situations.’ see how you can contribute to the project, and support warka water’s mission on its official website, here.  bamboo has been used to create a rigid and secure structure  the villagers have worked with bamboo and other natural materials in the construction of the house people typically live inside huts constructed from bent and woven branches wrapped in large leaves (left) ‘warka house’ is one of the two projects warka water is working on in cameroon Soomaaliya - Itoobiya iyo Soomaaliya ayaa waxaa ka dhaxeeya muran dhul iyo mid siyaasadeed oo soo jireen ah kaasoo ka dhashay dhul balaarsi ay Boqortooyada Itoobiya isugu fidisay dhulka ay Soomaalidu degto ee Ogaadeenya dhamaadkii qarnigii 19-aad oo sidoo kale loo yaqaan Dagaalkii Itoobiya iyo Soomaaliya wuxuu ahaa dagaal millatari oo dhexmaray Soomaaliya iyo Itoobiya intii u dhaxaysay July 1977 ilaa March 1978-kii Soomaaliya waxa ay u burburtay fowdo ka dib markii la afgambiyay taliskii milatariga ahaa ee Madaxweyne Siyaad Barre 1991-kii taas oo abuurtay gobolo ay maamulaan maleeshiyo beeleedyo iyo kooxo Islaami ah Markii ugu horreysay ee ay Itoobiya soo gasho xuduudda Soomaaliya waxay billaabatay 1997-kii si ay u taageerto malleeshiyada Soomaalida ee xulafada la ah kuna sugan gobolka Gedo ee dalka si ay uga adkaadaan kooxda Islaamiga ah ee Al-Itixaad Al-Islaamiya Waxay mar kale soo galeen Soomaaliya sanadkii 2006-dii xilligaas oo ay dalka ka curteen Midowgii Maxaakiimta oo muddo lix bilood ah ka talinayay gobollo badan oo dhaca Koonfurta iyo Bartamaha Soomaaliya Dhowr kun oo askari oo ka tirsan ciidamada Itoobiya oo wata dabaabaadka dagaalka iyo saanad milateri oo aad u badan ayaa gudaha u galay magaalada Baydhabo ee gobolka Baay iyagoo sabab uga dhigay arrimo la xiriira amniga qaranka oo looga hortagayo abuuritaanka maamul Islaami ah oo adag ka dib markii muqaawamada islaamiga ah ay ku guulaysteen xukunka dalka intiisa badan Ciidamada ayaa markaasi ku fiday dalka oo dhan waxaana ay dagaal lagu hoobtay kula galeen Islaamiyiin iyo kooxihii qaranka ee ku sugnaa caasimadda dalka ee Muqdisho Isagoo markaas ka hadlayay magaalada Addis Ababa ayaa Ra'iisul Wasaarihii Itoobiya Meles Zenawi wuxuu sheegay in aan dib loo laaban doonin waxaanan ka shakisanahay in ciidamadeenu ay doonayaan inay isaga baxaan iyagoo aan ku degdegin," ayuu yiri Zenawi Ciidamada Itoobiya ayaa dib u soo galay Soomaaliya bishii Janaayo ee sanadkii 2012 waxayna qeyb ka noqdeen howlgalka Midowga Afrika ee ATMIS ugu yaraan 3,000 oo askari oo Itoobiyaan ah ayaa si rasmi ah uga howlgala qeyb ka ah howlgalka nabad ilaalinta Midowga Afrika ee dagaalka kula jira Al-Shabaab balse 5,000 ilaa 7,000 oo askari oo kale oo Itoobiyaan ah ayaa ku sugan gobollo dhowr ah sida uu dhigayo heshiis laba geesood ah Ethiopia — Water scarcity is a pivotal issue in developing countries nearly one billion people lack access to a safe The heightening water crisis has drawn the attention of renowned philanthropists such as Matt Damon These millionares have funded research for complex technologies and solutions to provide impoverished populations with sufficient water where only 26 percent of the population has access to drinking water a practical and convenient product has emerged: Warka Water a structure that extracts gallons of fresh water from the air As one of the poorest countries in the world Ethiopia suffers from frequent droughts and famines with 84 percent of the population residing in rural areas and depending on subsistence farming finding and collecting water is a six-hour journey a task that adds up to a grueling total of 40 billion hours a year for people in the region Hundreds of Ethiopians suffer from fatal diseases due to contaminated water collected from ponds or lakes that contain infectious bacteria Poor water quality damages harvests and decimates livestock The situation also causes social problems for Ethiopian women who are responsible for the long trek to fetch water and cannot attend school or participate in community life the Ethiopian government launched an ambitious national program that aimed to achieve 100 percent water accessibility in all regions by 2012 organizations have collaborated to provide clean water access in Africa through high-tech solutions failed due to its high cost of $14,000 and consistent upkeep and maintenance issues building wells have proved to be an equally difficult challenge since they require drilling 1,600 feet into the ground and spare parts for frequent pump malfunctions But when Italian designer Arturo Vittori and Swiss architect Andreas Volger first visited Ethiopia they proposed an unthinkable solution for the global water challenge: simply pulling water out of thin air a majestic 30-foot-tall palm-like structure that is biodegradable and can be constructed without mechanical tools in less than a week which is named after a native Ethiopian fig tree consists of a bamboo frame designed for stability and ease of airflow a mesh net that attracts water condensation and a container that collects water droplets from the mesh The water in the container then passes through a tube that functions as a faucet carrying water to the people on the ground The Warka Water produces 26 gallons of water each day which is enough to provide drinking water for a small rural community of 40 inhabitants given that the local air conditions are not polluted and productivity is dependent on seasonal and climatic conditions such as humidity the bamboo and mesh are accessible in the region easy to clean and do not require extensive maintenance The low-tech design of the Warka Water makes it economically attractive to the local Ethiopians many of whom live in extremely impoverished conditions less than a quarter of the cost of similar high-tech solutions for water production This price will continue to drop if the company begins mass-producing them With the simplicity of the Warka Water and needlessness for special machinery or scaffolding Vittori plans to teach the locals how to build Warka Water towers and spread this knowledge to other villages throughout Ethiopia While the structure is still in its testing stages Vittori has already begun developing new features for the product an upgraded version that will include solar panels and LED bulbs to provide light after dark “It’s not just illnesses that we’re trying to address Many Ethiopian children from rural villages spend several hours every day to fetch water time they could invest for more productive activities and education,” said Vittori “If we can give people something that lets them be more independent they can free themselves from this cycle.” effective and affordable solution to the global water crisis and it will hopefully improve the lives of those most affected Who knows if the idea for Italian Arturo Vittori's engineering feat came when he experienced the discomfort of a sultry summer day Vittori writes on his web site about his project which is already providing water for several villages in Ethiopia The plan is to spread this initiative to other parts of the globe in the many regions where access to drinking water is a priority that's been shamefully ignored for so long in order to help their brothers and sisters to have this resource it’s not the only solution: There are also those like Vittori There are 2.2 billion people in the world who don't have access to the precious and—and necessary—resource of clean water Vittori’s inspiration came from observation and You can’t help but be moved by the sight of entire communities suffering from thirst and disease because they don’t have access to clean water sources for their most basic needs In many Ethiopian villages—and not only there—this is still one of the most painful problems It’s unacceptable that thousands of women and children (it always seems to fall to them) are forced to walk for hours every day to fill their vessels at pools of dirty water can only be moved with compassion to remedy this injustice If it's the ingenious brain of an architect it will probably set about designing a solution The website Ohga! reports: This tower that captures water from the air was invented by copying the wonderful tricks nature uses to survive (biomimicry). Vittori explains, on the urbanNext website: The Warka Water project (that name demands an explanation but we’ll get to that later) came about following a trip by architect Vittori to Ethiopia Seeing how poorly and inadequately the communities were obtaining such a precious commodity he decided to contribute to improving their conditions with a project Thus was born the tower capable of extracting water from the air at the cost of just $1,000 for construction made from local and natural materials such as bamboo collects both rainwater and evaporated water from the atmosphere by extracting it from humidity and condensation produced by temperature changes It’s filtered before reaching the village for distribution a canopy to retain the dew and a cistern to collect the water The villagers construct it themselves by hand and as such will pass from one generation to the next one of the several goals of the project leader is to respect and promote the traditions of the communities he helps the fig tree—warka—plays a special role: it serves as a refuge and meeting place for local communities Under its shade the people of the village can gather for social Now that the project has become consolidated it has been enriched with solar panels so that—like any western citizen but with a completely different view—the villagers served by a Warka Water can recharge tablets and other devices View on Instagram but also wash themselves and thus reduce the transmission of diseases Most of us have much more than just drinking water at our disposal seeing that some people are only now achieving this goal can teach us to look at this resource and the many others that Creation offers us with a new and different attitude The custody of Creation and the measured use of the resources it offers us is one of man's fundamental duties and a sure way to build peace Articles like these are sponsored free for every Catholic through the support of generous readers just like you Please make a tax-deductible donation today Help us continue to bring the Gospel to people everywhere through uplifting Catholic news Sign in Join now, it's FREE! Like the native Ethiopian fig tree that is its namesake, The Warka Tree restaurant in Guelph opened five years ago to extend its branches and encompass those that gather under it Hailu Wakasha opened the restaurant with his wife Sentayehu Tessema in 2016 The two had a vision to bring the warm culture of Ethiopia through the social aspect of its food where people eat from the same plate and bond together as family Wakasha believes that the social aspect of the food resonated with the local community in Guelph so much that when the restaurant closed during the provincial lockdowns it was the food’s culture that saved the place.  we actually gained more customers,” said Wakasha Traditional Ethiopian food like that served in the restaurant includes injera a sponge-like bread made from a grain unique to Ethiopia and several varieties of vegetables Wakasha said Ethiopian food truly brings people together and is incredibly diverse the restaurant opened up a patio outside and even began offering take-out for its customers.  You eat with your hands,” said Wakasha “I think people really enjoy that.” An incense that smells like lemon-pine derived from an Ethiopian plant greets visitors into a cozy setting with handmade curtains and historic wall art that add a house-like feel to the restaurant.  benches and chairs are hand carved with designs of the rock hewn churches in Lalibela and the Axumite dynasty beef and vegetarian dishes and even quick and easy breakfast and lunch dishes.The most popular dish in the restaurant is the Warka platter which includes lamb or beef injera and a variety of vegetables generously placed across the plate the family doesn’t sell or consume pork.  When Wakasha and his wife opened the restaurant they hadn’t the slightest doubt that the people of Guelph would like it.  “We knew the demand that was coming to us it was amazing how many people were lined up,” said Wakasha The couple also owns the Hasty Market on Waterloo Avenue Tessema began selling simple and easy to grab Ethiopian food at the store The couple immediately noticed that the food was attracting a diverse crowd whether it was university students people with an Ethiopian background or locals in the city who tried the food for the first time.  People were saying ‘this food should go into a restaurant,’” said Wakasha Tessema came from a family of culinary experts in Ethiopia who ran numerous restaurants “She kind of grew up with it so she always had training for how to open a restaurant,” said Wakasha After opening a restaurant in Downtown Guelph for a brief period Wakasha describes the restaurant as the warka tree itself a wild fig tree in Ethiopia that provides food even at times of scarcity.  This story was made possible by our Community Leaders Program partner Thank you to JL's Home Hardware for helping to expand local news coverage in Guelph. 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Reveal is public radio’s first one-hour radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting A weekly program presented by the New Yorker magazine’s editor killer beats and the edgiest new talent in storytelling come together for a weekly show that straps audiences into an audio rollercoaster Radiolab is known for its deep-dive journalism and innovative sound design Created in 2002 by former host Jad Abumrad the program began as an exploration of scientific inquiry Over the years it has evolved to become a platform for long-form journalism and storytelling Radiolab is hosted by Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser Two people were killed and four others were hurt in a crash March 29 Five people were killed in a pair of fiery wrong-way crashes early Monday on the Eisenhower Expressway One crash involving three vehicles happened downtown about 1:40 a.m A wrong-way driver on an eastbound ramp from I-290 collided head-on with another driver state police spokeswoman Gabriela Ugarte said in an emailed statement Both drivers and a passenger of the struck vehicle died at the scene One of the deceased drivers was a 51-year-old Skokie man The deceased passenger was a 24-year-old Chicago woman She was identified as Warka Jabbar of the Edgewater Beach neighborhood by the Cook County medical examiner’s office Another driver was identified as 44-year-old Rafael Delgado according to the medical examiner’s office Autopsy results found the 51-year-old and Jabbar died of multiple injuries from the crash and ruled their deaths accidents The driver and two passengers of a third car struck by the crashing vehicles went to hospitals with minor injuries They were three Chicago women in their 20s The eastbound exit from I-290 was closed until 6:15 a.m. another fatal wrong-way crash happened on I-290 near west suburban Forest Park a wrong-way driver in the eastbound lanes hit a car near Des Plaines Avenue The medical examiner’s office identified the drivers as Alejandra Smierciak A 26-year-old man riding as a passenger in the struck vehicle was hospitalized with injuries that weren’t life-threatening Media reports showed vehicles on fire in the crash All eastbound lanes were closed until 6:10 a.m. Terms of UsePrivacy NoticeCookie PolicyTerms of Sale Designer Arturo Vittori believes the solution to this catastrophe lies not in high technology but in sculptures that look like giant-sized objects from the pages of a Pier 1 catalog "WarkaWater is designed to provide clean water as well as ensure long-term environmental, financial and social sustainability," says designer Arturo Vittori. Exposure to this horrific scene motivated Vittori to take action. "WarkaWater is designed to provide clean water as well as ensure long-term environmental, financial and social sustainability," he says. "Once locals have the necessary know how, they will be able to teach others villages and communities to build the WarkaWater towers." Each tower costs approximately $550 and can be built in under a week with a four-person team and locally available materials. A more obvious solution to a water shortage would be digging a well, but drilling 1,500 feet into Ethiopia's rocky plateaus is expensive. Even when a well is dug, maintaining pumps and ensuring a reliable electrical connection makes the proposition unlikely. Though the structure is made from organic material, Vittori designed it using traditional CAD tools. Vittori hopes to have two WarkaTowers erected in Ethiopia by 2015 and is looking for financial rainmakers who'd like to seed these tree-inspired structures across the country. It is the essential source of information and ideas that make sense of a world in constant transformation The WIRED conversation illuminates how technology is changing every aspect of our lives—from culture to business The breakthroughs and innovations that we uncover lead to new ways of thinking Discover our collection of visually stunning infographics and data-driven insights to guide your decisions Get access to everything you need to make sense of Ethiopia's Innovative Economy Explore all the data and resources you need on digital financial services in Ethiopia Determine the correct VAT rate for your goods and services Get an instant estimate of your income tax Easily convert dates between the Ethiopian and Gregorian calendars an incubation program focused on climate solutions Center for African Leadership Studies (xHub Addis) in partnership with the British Embassy the program mainly focused on ideas relating to climate change received more than 280 startup competitors The winners will receive a four-month incubation program with xHub Addis and secure 100,000 birr seed funding for their business Among the winners are Mahi Energy Weed Charcoal Mahider Solomon founded Mahi Energy to produce and distribute charcoal from an invasive weed called Prosopis julilora The use of Prosopis juliflora for charcoal can deter the weed from occupying lands that could be utilized for farming and grazing Three biotechnologists co-founded THUR Biotech in February 2021 to supply Ethiopian farmers with productive bio-fertilizers and healthy bio-control agents They aim to reduce the consumption of chemical inputs that are causing environmental Bookmark Team Shega Team Shega Post a commentYour Email Address Will Not Be Published Ethiopian Software Company Bets On Rent-to-Use SaaS Model with Monthly Subscriptions Starting at 5,000 ETB $1M Immunization Fund Opens for Innovators Tackling Zero-Dose Challenge in Ethiopia, Nigeria Ethiopia Set to Legalize Foreign Ownership of Real Estate, Pending Parliamentary Approval Tina Mart Secures $150K Seed Investment from Singapore-Based Penantran Group Documents Agency, Ethio-Post Partnership Shakes Up Internet Cafes, Stationery Shops Built Around Old System PM Abiy Bets on Mesob: Ethiopia’s Latest Push for a Paperless Public Sector More Than Half of Addis Ababa’s MSEs Likely Operate Without Digital Tools, Study Shows From Birr to Bytes: Ethiopia's Central Bank Aligns with Global Financial Messaging Standards Ethiopian Software Company Bets On Rent-to-Use SaaS Model with Monthly Subscriptions Starting at 5,000 ETB Currency Devaluation, Customer Rage, Layoffs: is DSTV Having a Rough Ride in Ethiopia? Can Ethiopia’s Live Streaming Boom Move Beyond Stunts? Latest Stories Layoffs: is DSTV Having a Rough Ride in Ethiopia Ethiopia Set to Legalize Foreign Ownership of Real Estate $1M Immunization Fund Opens for Innovators Tackling Zero-Dose Challenge in Ethiopia Can Ethiopia’s Live Streaming Boom Move Beyond Stunts Ethio-Post Partnership Shakes Up Internet Cafes More Than Half of Addis Ababa’s MSEs Likely Operate Without Digital Tools This post is also available in: Spanish, Italian Warka Water was announced as the winner of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) World Design Impact Prize Warka Water had been voted in as one of three finalists accepted the award on the night at WDC 2016 Design Gala in Taipei co-founder and director of the architecture and design team Architecture and Vision The idea behind the Warka Water concept is to build towers that house a plastic mesh net As the temperature falls during the night water condenses onto the net and rolls down to a reservoir at the bottom of the tower The large surface area of the nets allows a sufficiency of water to collect under the desert-like conditions of the places where the structure is destined for us The Warka Water tower is named after a fig tree native to Ethiopia and depends for its success on the wide ranging temperature differences typical of deserts ICID awards the World Design Impact Prize biennally to an industrial design-driven project aiming to benefit society. More information about the prize may be found at: www.worlddesignimpact.org Warka Water was exhibited at the Colorado College I.D.E.A (InterDisciplinary Experimental Arts) Hydrologic exhibit with Arturo Vittori the Featured Artist in Residence He delivered the keynote address at the opening event and led a workshop to construct a Warka Water tower with those in attendance The Hydrologic exhibition and events focussed on artists and architects who are actively changing the landscape of water availability through art and design to find creative new approaches to water scarcity around the world the Warka Water team came back from a trip to India where Warka Water 5.0 was planned to be installed at a new pilot site sometime in 2016 More information on this award and its recognition can be found here: http://worlddesignimpact.org/ Enter your e-mail address to subscribe to our daily news service Support our Peace and Nonviolence journalism with your donation PressenzaAn international news agency dedicated to news about peace and nonviolence with offices in Athens We use cookies to analyse our traffic and to embed third party content Millions of people have to walk four to six hours and struggle daily to find clean drinking water it’s usually contaminated with animal and human waste Unfortunately, the water crisis may only worsen with Africa’s ever-increasing population, which is already over 1.2 billion. Likewise, for the rest of the world, over one billion people are currently affected by water scarcity. The issue has drawn the attention of big-name philanthropists (like Bill Gates), inventors who have tackled the problem with innovative solutions One such designer is architect Arturo Vittori of Warka Water Inc – a USA-based non-profit limited liability company. He invented the Warka Water Tower quick-to-assemble bamboo structure that collects (harvests) potable water from ‘thin air’ (the atmosphere) without using electricity This invention could solve many people’s water problem Vittori was moved after visiting small isolated villages in Ethiopia where he witnessed first-hand people living in environments without electricity He saw women and children walking for miles to shallow unprotected ponds for water that is often contaminated Visiting small isolated communities up on the high plateau in the North East region of Ethiopia I witnessed this dramatic reality: the lack of potable water The villagers live in a beautiful natural environment but often without running water Ever since to bring safe water has become our mission and the project from the first concept has been developed and tested with several full-scale prototypes He and his team got the inspiration for the design from local traditions and the Warka tree – a giant wild fig tree native to the country and considered sacred because it provides fruit and shade The easy to sustain bamboo structure relies on gravity and evaporation to harvest water out of the atmosphere The tower consists of a bamboo frame supporting a mesh polyester material inside and dew condense against the mesh and trickle down a funnel into a reservoir at the structure’s base A fabric canopy shades the lower sections of the tower to prevent the collected water from evaporating The 30-foot easy-to-construct structure is a lightweight infrastructure-independent system made of locally-sourced Warka Water is hoping to help isolated communities in Brazil The tower can produce up to 25 gallons (100 liters) of clean water a day It’s intended to be owned and operated by the villagers to facilitate the success of the project It can be a special place for the community to gather under its shady canopy and provides a fundamental resource for life Log in to leave a comment showcasing a range of innovative projects and the diverse materials and unconventional forms employed in their construction You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed Slagugle, with an upside of around 200 MMBoe, was certainly the biggest discovery of 2020 and for that reason the operator was awarded “Explorer of the Year” And in contrast to most current drilling activity in the Norwegian Sea well 6507/5-10S targeted a Jurassic reservoir it wasn’t the classic Middle Jurassic sandstones of the Garn Ile and Tofte formations that were proven to be oil-bearing It was the underlying Åre Formation where a 270 m gross oil column was found with a total of 90 m of sandstone with good reservoir properties The seismic section below nicely illustrates the structural setting of Slagugle within the so-called Revfallet Fault Complex Slagugle sits significantly shallower than ConocoPhillips’ other recent Norwegian Sea discovery Warka which is in Cretaceous Lange Formation sandstones Hear more about the Warka discovery at the upcoming NCS Exploration – Recent Discoveries Conference taking place 8 & 9 June in Oslo the company is also planning to drill the Peder prospect in PL1064 (see map above) which may be an attempt to further prove the Cretaceous play near Warka 2022 promises to be an important year for ConocoPhillips in the Norwegian Sea forces invaded the country 15 years ago this week—and left behind a booming trade in looted artifacts De Agostini / Getty / Mega Pixel / Shutterstock / Katie Martin / The AtlanticMarch 19 2018 ShareSave She can’t remember the exact date of her kidnapping But it was springtime when the blur of bodies burst into her home Someone rushed at her with outstretched hands She was whisked outside—brief breeze of warm spring air!—then stuffed into a car A man carried her to the back of a farm and buried her It was months before the dirt above her face began to shift Another pair of hands grabbed her head and pulled also known as the Mona Lisa of Mesopotamia A priceless Sumerian artifact dating back to 3100 B.C. it’s the earliest known representation of the human face It was looted from the museum in Baghdad—along with 15,000 other antiquities—in the chaotic aftermath of the U.S a tip from an Iraqi informant led American and Iraqi investigators to raid a nearby farm Other artifacts have not been as lucky. Fifteen years after U.S. forces toppled Saddam Hussein, ushering in a period of instability that led to the plunder of the museum while ignoring pleas to secure the building some 7,000 looted items have been returned And that’s only counting the items that were stolen from the museum thousands of other artifacts were taken directly out of the ground at archeological sites auction websites generally don’t require sellers to make this certification available upfront to prospective buyers “It is so, so easy to fake the provenance,” said Oya Topçuoğlu, a lecturer at Northwestern University who specializes in Mesopotamian archeology. “You can say, ‘My grandfather bought this when he visited the Middle East in 1928 and it’s been sitting in our attic since then.’ Or ‘This belongs to the collection of a Swiss gentleman who bought it in the ’50s.’ No one can prove otherwise, and no one will be any the wiser.” Topçuoğlu discovered that the majority of the items listed on the site are being sold out of London which has long been a hub for trade in Mesopotamian artifacts it’s very hard to prove that any given item was looted from the National Museum of Iraq partly because many of the items stolen from the museum’s storage facility hadn’t yet been inventoried and numbered “None of the things I’ve seen on Live Auctioneers—and I’ve looked at approximately 2,000 seals that were offered over the last 10 years—have museum numbers on them,” she said you’re really limited to what the seller puts up on the website as a photograph You don’t have the option to turn it around and look at it from every imaginable angle.” Iraqi archeologist Abdulameer Al-Hamdani noted that, whereas you might find artifacts selling for $400 online, the properly documented artifacts he encounters tend to sell for closer to $400,000. It’s not that the cheaper ones are counterfeits; alarmingly, they tend to be real “These Iraqi antiquities are very cheap because people want to get rid of them,” he said “Maybe because they don’t have documentation for them.” Most of the Iraqi antiquities sold online are small Of the large items stolen from the museum in 2003 Many Iraqis who looted these items quickly realized they couldn’t sell them because they were too recognizable and took advantage of the amnesty that the museum offered for anyone returning stolen goods Some iconic items were swept up in raids or got caught at customs as smugglers tried to export them New York is a major hub for the antiquities market given the city’s many galleries and auction houses.) and others caught with culturally significant artifacts they brought home from the war there largely aren’t prosecuted.” It’s not known how many Americans brought home artifacts as souvenirs or war trophies but one expert suggested to the Tribune that the known cases—a defense contractor who brought back gold-plated items from Saddam’s palaces; a U.S employee who shipped home an Iraq government seal; a Marine who bought eight ancient looted stone seals off the street—are just “the tiniest tip of the iceberg.” were far removed from governmental oversight “so lots of people just went off and dug holes,” she said a member of the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage was working at the Nasariyah Museum in the south when the U.S One day he showed up at work to find that Marines had taken over the museum as headquarters he persuaded them to join him in patrolling the nearby archeological sites “We don’t know how many artifacts have been looted from there—that’s the hidden story,” he told me “I myself was able to restore almost 30,000 stolen artifacts from the hands of the looters and smugglers between 2003 and 2006.” He said he did this by working first with American and then with Italian forces But if he was able to restore 30,000 artifacts how many more thousands must have slipped through his fingers The war forced archeologists to stop work at their sites and leave behind hundreds of impoverished locals whom they’d trained and employed as excavators these locals began to earn an income the only way they knew how: by excavating—and selling their finds looters spread the word that a religious fatwa had been issued saying that it was permissible to steal and sell non-Islamic antiquities especially if the money was used to fund an insurrection against the U.S This was a lie: No such religious ruling had been issued Al-Hamdani had to go to the revered Grand Ayatollah Al-Sistani and convince him to write a real fatwa forbidding looting from archeological sites About 300,000 square meters were covered with gravel Several dragon figures on the Ishtar Gate were damaged dispersing brick fragments bearing cuneiform inscriptions One area was flattened to make a landing pad for helicopters; another made way for a parking lot; yet another “It is regrettable that a military camp of this size should then have been established on one of the most important archaeological sites in the world,” the study noted “This is tantamount to establishing a military camp around the Great Pyramid in Egypt or around Stonehenge in Britain.” To say it’s “regrettable” is an understatement to someone like Al-Hamdani who noted that because civilization got its start in Mesopotamia its archeological heritage represents the origins not only of Iraqis amounts to “looting the memory of humankind.” Yet he was optimistic that his native country will eventually get its stolen treasures back “wants to help Iraq recover the artifacts.” who has watched what she suspects are looted Iraqi artifacts get scooped up online for a few bucks a pop “I really don’t think we’ll be able to find them.” Embassy to Ethiopia and Partners Launch “Warka: The Big Debate,” a TV Series to Encourage Peaceful and Constructive Discussions among Ethiopian Youth Through Debates Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, April 30, 2021 – The U.S. Embassy to Ethiopia in collaboration with the International Republican Institute is pleased to announce the TV debate series “Warka: The Big Debate,” which will air on Kana TV on Sundays from May 2-23 Similar to the way Ethiopians used to gather under a Warka tree 16 Addis Ababa University students will gather to trade ideas and solutions through respectful moderated dialogue on “Warka: The Big Debate.” “Warka” is a debate competition showcasing eight teams of two individuals across eight The show builds on the structure and culture of Ethiopian traditional debates to encourage Ethiopian youth to be peacefully involved in discussing key political and social issues that affect their lives and their communities The show will also air on Ahadu radio on Mondays at 10AM and on Saturdays at 3PM starting on May 3 “Warka: The Big Debate” aspires to increase Ethiopians’ confidence in expressing their opinions and engaging constructively and peacefully with opposing views It will also provide viewers with an opportunity to enhance their knowledge of diverse topics facing Ethiopia by watching and hearing these talented teams present various angles of contemporary issues from social media monitoring to climate policy to continental trade agreements the audience will see first-hand examples of constructive debate while watching students contemplate a range of factors that should be considered when discussing an issue and making policy decisions The program also aspires to encourage students to nurture the culture of respectful debate both in schools and in the community These teams of student leaders featured on the show demonstrate the importance of encouraging dialogue and the value of youth engagement in the constructive discussion of issues facing Ethiopia.  The 16 debate participants were selected out of 200 students who originally auditioned in 2020 the students were provided training and mentorship The show is produced by Lapis Communications and Kana TV.  __Join the conversation. Like borkena on Facebook and get Ethiopian News updates regularly. As well, you may get Ethiopia News by following us on twitter @zborkena "Le projet Warka Water (Biennale d'architecture 2016, Venise)" by Jean-Pierre Dalbéra is licensed under CC BY 2.0 Thank you for signing up.Expect to hear from us very soon Soomaaliya - Wasaaradda Arrimaha Dibadda Mareykanka ayaa xaqiijisay inay kala hadashay xildhibaanada iyo guddoonka baarlamaanka Soomaaliya arrimaha la xiriira dib-u-eegista Dastuurka Soomaaliya War qoraal ah oo lagu daabacay xafiiska Mareykanka ee Afrika ayaa lagu sheegay in dhinacyadda ay ku booriyeen in geeddi-socodka dib-u-eegista lagu wajaho si wadar ogol ah oo daahfuran Tani ayaa imaanaysa xilli Villa Soomaaliya ay muujinayso dedaal ku aaddan in si degdeg ah loo socodsiiyo dib-u-eegista Dastuurka iyadoo uusan jirin heshiis siyaasadeed oo ballaaran Guddoomiyaha Golaha Shacabka baarlamaanka federaalka ah ee Soomaaliya ahna Ku-simaha Madaxweynaha Sheekh Aadan Maxamed Nuur (Madoobe) ayaa la kulmay madax sarre oo ka socotay Mareykanka Xubnaha oo la shiray ayaa kala ah; Kaaliyaha Xoghayaha Arrimaha Dibadda Mareykanka ee Afrika Molly Phee Ergeyga Gaarka ah ee Geeska Afrika Micheal Hammer iyo Amb Shane Dixon oo ah Siihayaha Danjiraha Mareykanka ee Soomaaliya "Kulanka oo looga hadlayey xoojinta xiriirka iyo wadashaqeynta labada dal ayaa inta uu shirka socday waxay isla soo qaadeen heshiis beenaadkii ay wada-galeen Ra'iisul Wasaaraha Ethiopia iyo Madaxweynaha Maamulka Soomaaliland ayuu Guddoomiyuhu tilmaamay in madax banaanida dhuleed iyo badeed ee dalka aan lagu soo xadgudbi karin waxaana ay masuuliyiintu sheegeen in Dowladda Mareykanka ay mowqif adag ka taagan tahay Ilaalinta madaxbanaanida iyo midnimada Soomaaliya Dhanka kale Mareykanka ayaa xusay in uu taageeraayo dhameystirka Dastuurka KMG ee Soomaaliya," ayuu yiri xafiiska Aadan Madoobe Qoraalka ayaa intaas ku daray: "Guddoomiye Sheekh Aadan ayaa uga mahadceliyay  taageerada Dowladda Mareykanka ay siineyso  Soomaaliya waxaana uu sidoo kale boggaadiyay sida ay ula shaqeeyaan wadamadda beesha caalamka iyo taageerada Soomaaliya ay siiyaan isagoona xusay in Dowladda Federaalka Soomaaliya ay ku talaabsatay horumaro kala duwan gaar ahaan dhinacyada amniga iyo kobcinta dhaqaalaha" Faragelinta xukuumadda Washington ee doodaha ka taagan dastuurka ayaa waxa ay kusoo hagaagaysaa xilli si weyn looga cabsi qabo in haddii Madaxtooyadda ay qaab aan wadagadal ahayn ku meelmariso ay horseedi karto fowdo