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Soils have recently received attention in the policy area due to their various connections to climate change, human health and their key role in sustaining human societies in general. In this context, agricultural production and healthy nutritious food are linked to soil health and the diversity of their (micro-)biome, which depend on organic carbon materials as an energy and nutrient source. In this paper, we review the evidence showing that carbon-rich soils improve the resilience of human societies to pandemics and other crises. We indicate pathways for how the loss of soil carbon due to farming could be reversed by transformations within our food systems. Moreover, we argue that soil carbon has a strong role to play in enhancing environmental and human health in addition to mitigating and adapting to climate change. This multifaceted role requires a transdisciplinary dialogue and multi-stakeholder collaboration.

Soil degradation and salinization caused by inappropriate cultivation practices and high levels of saltwater intrusion are having an adverse effect on agriculture in Central Senegal. The residues of Piliostigma reticulatum, a local shrub that coexists with crops, were recently shown to increase particulate organic matter and improve soil quality and may be a promising means of alleviating the effects of salinization. This study compared the effects of inorganic fertilizer and P. reticulatum residues on microbial properties and the ability of soil to withstand salinity stress. We hypothesized that soils amended with P. reticulatum would be less affected by salinity stress than soils amended with inorganic fertilizer and control soil. Salinity stress was applied to soil from a field site that had been cultivated for 5 years under a millet/peanut crop rotation when microbial biomass, phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) community profile, catabolic diversity, microbial activities were determined. Microbial biomass, nitrification potential and dehydrogenase activity were higher by 20%, 56% and 69% respectively in soil with the organic amendment. With salinity stress, the structure and activities of the microbial community were significantly affected. Although the biomass of actinobacteria community increased with salinity stress, there was a substantial reduction in microbial activity in all soils. The soil organically amended was, however, less affected by salinity stress than the control or inorganic fertilizer treatment. This suggests that amendment using P. reticulatum residues may improve the ability of soils to respond to saline conditions.

Perovskite is certainly the material of the future of photovoltaics for terrestrial applications. With high efficiencies and advances in stability, perovskite solar cells, modules and mini-modules have already made their appearance in the laboratory and are being tested under real-world conditions to evaluate their real performance. In our study, we predict the performance of perovskite-based photovoltaic panel technology under the conditions of the Sub-Saharan African region by simulation. We started from the current-voltage characteristic of a real perovskite-based module to extract the cell parameters through MATLAB analysis software. These parameters were used to model a cell and then a module in the LTSpice XVII software for simulation. The impact of temperature is studied to evaluate the performance ratio (PR) of a clear day. This study allowed us to evaluate the PR of the perovskite solar module. Displaying PR reaching 90%, perovskite is a future candidate with high potential in the list of the most suitable technologies for our sub-region.

Locusts and other migratory grasshoppers are transboundary pests. Monitoring and control, therefore, involve a complex system made up of social, ecological, and technological factors. Researchers and those involved in active management are calling for more integration between these siloed but often interrelated sectors. In this paper, we bring together 38 coauthors from six continents and 34 unique organizations, representing much of the social-ecological-technological system (SETS) related to grasshopper and locust management and research around the globe, to introduce current topics of interest and review recent advancements. Together, the paper explores the relationships, strengths, and weaknesses of the organizations responsible for the management of major locust-affected regions. The authors cover topics spanning humanities, social science, and the history of locust biological research and offer insights and approaches for the future of collaborative sustainable locust management. These perspectives will help support sustainable locust management, which still faces immense challenges such as fluctuations in funding, focus, isolated agendas, trust, communication, transparency, pesticide use, and environmental and human health standards. Arizona State University launched the Global Locust Initiative (GLI) in 2018 as a response to some of these challenges. The GLI welcomes individuals with interests in locusts and grasshoppers, transboundary pests, integrated pest management, landscape-level processes, food security, and/or cross-sectoral initiatives.

In this work, recent advances in various silicon nanostructures used in crystalline silicon solar cells for antireflection and light trapping are reviewed. Simulations and optimizations are also performed for the most relevant of these nanostructures. The results showed that nanocones and nanoparaboloids outperform nanopillars and give almost the same antireflective performance, reducing the average reflectance of the crystalline silicon surface below 2% in the wavelength range 300-1100 nm and under normal incidence. This reflectance is also found to stay below 4% for angles of incidence lower than 60° and for the averaged s and p light polarization. As a result, short-circuit current densities of 41.62 and 41.96 mA/cm², can be expected for a silicon solar cell decorated with these two nanostructures, respectively. Finally, we described the formation of silicon nanocones via nanowires by metal assisted chemical etching.

In this work, impacts of temperature and dust cleaning on photovoltaic module performance operating in sub-Saharan's climate are investigated. Two single junction technologies, monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon, and one micromorph (amorphous/micrystalline) thin film silicon tandem technology are considered. We have recorded at the same time under real operating conditions, the module temperature and the current versus voltage characteristics of each module, and the local solar irradiation. All the measurements were performed with the outdoor monitoring and test facility located at Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. The results show the drop of generated power of dusty modules for the same irradiation level. Between April and June (where temperatures are higher) a significant drop of output power is observed, despite a daily cleaning. Furthermore, performance losses are observed for all technologies compared to that under standard test conditions. However, the micromorph silicon tandem technology with low temperature sensitivity present the less losses in performance compared to the monocrystalline and the polycrystalline single junction modules, even if the modules are not cleaned.