Climate change threatens mental health via increasing exposure to the social and economic disruptions created by extreme weather and large-scale climatic events, as well as through the anxiety associated with recognising the existential threat posed by the climate crisis. Considering the growing levels of climate change awareness across the world, negative emotions like anxiety and worry about climate-related risks are a potentially pervasive conduit for the adverse impacts of climate change on mental health. In this study, we examined how negative climate-related emotions relate to sleep and mental health among a diverse non-representative sample of individuals recruited from 25 countries, as well as a Norwegian nationally-representative sample. Overall, we found that negative climate-related emotions are positively associated with insomnia symptoms and negatively related to self-rated mental health in most countries. Our findings suggest that climate-related psychological stressors are significantly linked with mental health in many countries and draw attention to the need for cross-disciplinary research aimed at achieving rigorous empirical assessments of the unique challenge posed to mental health by negative emotional responses to climate change.

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The demand of water for irrigation purposes in Tanzania outstrips the amount of water available for irrigation and other demands. On the other hand, the demand for more food to feed the growing population is increasing, calling for the need to have technologies and farming practices that ensure more food production while minimizing water uses. Rice is among cereal crops grown in Tanzania, and it can assist in meeting the food demand for the nation. Majority of rice producers in Tanzania and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are subsistence farmers and they practice continuous flooding, a technique that requires much water. In addition to using large amounts of water, the conventional practices of growing paddy using local varieties transplanting process are implemented when seedlings are more than 21 days old, and 3 -4 seedlings are transplanted in one hole. This practice results in low yields, and low water productivity and water use efficiency. The system of rice intensification (SRI) on the other hand, is a promising new practice of growing paddy rice that has proven to be very effective in saving water and increasing rice yields in many parts of the world. SRI practice is spreading fast and it has been adopted in many countries. The SRI practice has been introduced in Tanzania during the last 3 years as such it is not widely practiced. This paper reviews SRI practice at global, regional and country (Tanzania) level, and evaluates the challenges, opportunities and implications for its adoption in Tanzania. Knowledge gaps at each level have been identified and discussed as well as suggestions for researchable areas.

A study was conducted to assess the adoption and scaling-up of Conservation Agriculture in Arumeru district, Arusha region, northern Tanzania and Chamwino and Dodoma Urban districts in Dodoma region, Central Tanzania. The study employed structured questionnaire survey and key informant interviews as the main data collection methods. Data analysis was done descriptively to determine factors that influence the adoption. Results showed that farmers in Arusha have highly adopted terraces, minimum tillage and cover cropping whereas their counterparts in Dodoma have highly adopted large planting pits, minimum tillage, and rippers. The intensity of adoption in Arusha is higher for the wealthy compared to the poor while in Dodoma the wealth status was not a factor that influenced adoption of the Conservation Agriculture (CA) technologies. The process of technology adoption should include the use of various participatory methods including farmer field schools, experimental plots, farmer exchange visits, and training of trainers among others. Use of farmer groups, incentives, and support instruments such as Savings and Credit Cooperative Society (SACCOS) or warehouse receipts systems are also important to ensure that farmers realize some acceptable profits from their efforts. Involvement of various stakeholders is also very important including local governments and agricultural change agents at national, regional, district, ward and village levels. Hence, the intention to promote CA technologies should not only look at the economic importance, but also its socioeconomic importance to the local people in the area. Their desire to adopt and out-scale a technology should be among the most important investment factors that the government and development partners should consider.

Agronomic practices such as transplanting age, plant spacing, and water application regimes in irrigated paddy production can have a significant impact towards the performance in rice growth and yield. A study was conducted to investigate the optimum transplanting age for maximum rice productivity under the systems of rice intensification (SRI) technology. The study treatments adopted were three representing 8, 12 and 15 days old seedlings replicated 3 times each. The experiment was set in randomized complete block design (RCBD) and transplanted at spacing 25 cm × 25 cm between rice hills. The rice variety tested was TXD 306 Super SARO, which was recommended by the ministry of Agriculture in Tanzania. Data was collected throughout the growing season in two mixed short rains and dry season of September 2013/2014 and September 2014/2015. Data collected included biomass at vegetative, flowering and harvesting stages, total number of tillers per hill, number of productive tillers per hill, number of grains per panicle and rice grain yield at the end of the season. Data was analyzed using SAS software version 9.1. The results suggested that transplanting at younger age of 8 to 12 days was recommended for Mkindo area in Mvomero Distirct, and other areas with similar soil conditions and agro ecological characteristics.