Engineering and the Challenges Facing Development

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Engineering and the Challenges Facing Development

• S.I.K. AMPADU

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Challenges facing the world
Challenges
Climate Change
Rapid increase in population and urbanization
Poverty Reduction
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Climate Change- causes
negative consequences of the path of development

• It is a non deniable fact that burning oil and
  gas during the last decades, starting with the
  industrial revolution, has and is increasing the
  greenhouse effects which has led to a global
  warming effect with serious consequences

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Climate Change-Melting of ice

• In less than 30 years the arctic ice presented a
  melting of 950,000 square kilometers, which
  represents a loss of 20 of its surface
• Leading to rising seal levels posing dangers to
  coastal cities

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Climate Change-effects

• weather patterns,
• More regions affected by droughts.
• Increased numbers of heavy daily rainfall
• Increases in intensity and duration of tropical
  storm and hurricanes.
• changing currents
• Receding ice,
• Rising sea levels

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Climate Change and Weather Patterns
stormy weather due to climate change has
dramatically increased during the last decade in
several parts of our planet,

• causing
• great damage to cities,
• infrastructure and
• even loss of life

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Climate Change Effects

• changes species distribution due to increasing
  acidification

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Increasing Population and Urbanization

• Increasing waste management problems
• Increasing traffic problems
• Urban slums (Sodom and Gomorrah)
• Increasing crime

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Global Poverty

• Despite this
• in 2008, the World Bank estimated that 2.6
  billion people lived on less than US2 a day
• in 2005, 1.4 billion people lived below US1 a
  day
• From 2007-2009, Africa
• Unemployed increased from 23.6million to 27
  million in 2009 (sub-Saharan)
• Working poor (ltUS1.25per day) increased from 168
  to 205 million (Africa)
• Vulnerable employment 211 to 236 million (Sub
  Saharan)

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The Millennium Development Goals
Poverty challenges are summarized in MDGs adopted
by the Millennium Assembly in 2000
The 8 Millenium Development Goals Goal 1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Goal 2 Achieve universal primary education Goal 3 Promote gender equality and empower women Goal 4 Reduce child mortality Goal 5 Improve maternal health Goal 6 Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases Goal 7 Ensure environmental sustainability Goal 8 Develop a global partnership for development
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Issues facing Engineers

• How to engineer the world so as to prevent an
  environmental catastrophe caused climate change,
  and
• How to engineer our cities to make them liveable
• How to engineer the large proportion of the
  worlds increasing population out of extreme
  poverty, disease and environmental degradation

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Engineering the Solutions

• Engineers use scientific knowledge and
  mathematics to create technologies and
  infrastructure to address human, social and
  economic issues, and challenges on the other

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Solutions to Challenges
Challenges Solutions
Climate Change -INNOVATION
Rapid increase in population and urbanization Sustainable Infrastructure-SUSTAINABILITY
Poverty Reduction TECHNOLOGY
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Solutions to Climate Change
Problem Burning fossil fuel causes greenhouse
effects leading to global warming

• make use of natural energy sources such as
• wind,
• tides,
• waves,
• ocean currents and
• sun energy

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Engineering and Society

• The overall aim of the course is
• to inculcate in students an appreciation of the
  fact that the purpose of engineering is to solve
  societal problems.
• encouraging students to draw a link between their
  chosen field of Engineering and the application
  of this field to the issues that confront the day
  to day lives of people

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Fieldwork

• Identify study community, (preferably the
  community which students come from)
• Identify one development challenge/issue facing
  the community
• Investigate the nature, characteristics and scope
  of the development challenge
• Investigate what your chosen programme of study
  actually entails including the different
  applications of their chosen field
• Indicate how you will solve the problem with
  your chosen field of engineering

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Analysis

• Students should analyze the information collected
  
• and draw a link between how to use the knowledge
  in their programme of study in the University
  (i.e. chosen field of study) to address the
  community challenge.

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Reporting

• Students should then prepare a report on their
  findings. The report should have a clear
  structure
• an introduction,
• description of the community and the problem,
• description of how the problem may be solved
  using knowledge from their programme of study
• conclusion and recommendations.

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Submission and Defense

• School reopens on 16th August
• Submit your bound report on 26th August 2013 to
  your HoD
• Prepare a power point of your report and make a
  presentations of the results of their fieldwork
  to staff and students between 27-30th August
  2013