International research shows that in 2012, global oil consumption reached an all-time high, the number of workers in vulnerable employment exceeded 1.5 billion people, and physical water scarcity affected some 1.2 billion people.

Africa, Asia and Latin America being one of the regions that experience the worst effects of these latest trends.

The study also captures the impacts of these alarming trends and the increasingly risky state of humanity in Vital Signs: Volume 20, the latest compilation from the Institute’s respected Vital Signs project.

Michael Renner, Worldwatch senior researcher and director of the Vital Signs project said, “Our economic systems and theories are programmed to squeeze ever more resources from a planet in distress.”

“A mixture of population growth, consumerism, greed, and short-term thinking by policymakers and business people seems to be inexorably driving human civilization toward a showdown with the planet’s limits.”

However, some of the trends highlighted in Vital Signs: Volume 20 are positive.

Globally, sanitation and water access for 227 million people was improved between 2000 and 2010 to the point where these individuals are no longer considered slum dwellers. Within the agriculture sector, efficient irrigation methods have increased more than sixfold over the last two decades, and organically certified agricultural land has more than tripled since 1999.

Meanwhile, socially sustainable ways of doing business continue to emerge: about 1 billion people in 96 countries belong to a co-operative, whether as a worker, consumer, producer, or purchaser. Similarly, the emergence of so-called “benefit” corporations offers a more socially and environmentally responsible model for private firms.

“There is no shortage of alternatives to change the destructive trajectory that humanity finds itself on,” said Renner.

“Renewables and efficient irrigation are two practical options among many others. But we need to get serious about these tasks instead of consigning them largely to the margins.”

Vital Signs: Volume 20 analyzes the above-mentioned trends and many more, using straightforward language and easy-to-read charts and graphs to explain global trends to governments, businesses, and consumers, helping them to make more informed decisions for our future.

Further highlights from the report:
Coal: Global coal production increased by 6,941 million tons in 2011, making coal the fastest growing fossil fuel. Spurred mainly by rising demand in China and India, coal’s share in the global primary energy mix reached 28 percent in 2011—-its highest point since record-keeping began in 1971.
Wind power: Global wind power capacity grew by 21 percent in 2011—-lower than the 2010 rate of 24 percent and markedly lower than the 2009 rate of 31 percent.
Automobile production: Passenger car production rose from 60.1 million vehicles in 2010 to 62.6 million vehicles in 2011—-and 2012 brought a new all-time record of 66.1 million vehicles.
Meat production and consumption: Global meat production surpassed 300 million tons for the first time in 2012; annual meat consumption increased just 0.4 percent to 42.5 kilograms per person.
Women farmers: Women farmers produce more than half of all food worldwide and currently account for 43 percent of the global agricultural workforce, yet women own just 2 percent of global farmland.
Natural disasters: During 2011, a total of 820 natural catastrophes were documented, causing an estimated 27,000 deaths and costing a record $380 billion in economic losses.
Wage growth: Among the global workforce, wage growth has slowed from an average of 3 percent in 2007 to 2.1 percent in 2010 and 1.2 percent in 2011.
Water scarcity: Some 1.2 billion people—-almost one fifth of the world—-lives in areas of physical water scarcity, which occurs when annual supplies per person fall below 1,000 cubic meters.

“Smart metering has a place in Africa. It has the potential of meeting the needs and specific challenges of Africa’s utilities and electricity consumers. However, utilities must select the right technology from the outset.”

This is according to experts who also believe that Africa is ready for smart metering technology. “However, smart choices must be made when faced with the options.”

Experts further reveal that less than 10% of Sub-Saharan (SSA) rural households have access to electricity, with an overall access rate below 25%.

It could be thought that capacity and low access rates would be at the top of utilities’ to-do lists. So why are so many African utilities finding the time to explore smart metering technology? This is a question that has been asked before. Surely this is for overseas markets that have got the basics right?

According to the experts, smart metering can offer all utilities numerous benefits as long as they carefully select technology that will meet their area’s specific needs.

Peter Verstergren Akesen, Solutions Manager at Kamstrup, recently explained that utilities often choose technology without first checking that the functionality is appropriate to an area’s requirements.

He advises utilities to understand their needs first before ordering the technology as this will save a great deal of time and finance. He also added, “Utilities must take a step back and ask what it is they wish to achieve or measure. The technology should then be chosen to deliver on those needs only.”

Akesen further suggested that utilities investigate the technology thoroughly before making a final decision. Details on installation, operation, maintenance, total costs, and service level agreements should be well understood. Imraan Mohamed, Marketing Manager for Itron-Sub-Saharan Africa, suggested that utilities segment their customers in order to appropriately assess area needs before purchasing smart meter equipment.

He explains, “Do rural customers need smart meters, for instance? Perhaps all they require is grid connection. Demand response and fancy smart metering equipment may not be suitable for this sector. If a proper segmentation is not carried out, it’s possible that the full benefits of smart technology will not be attained.” He adds: “Smart metering is not about the meter, it’s about the knowledge gained. If you put the right technology in place, you will obtain useful data.”

But is Africa really ready for smart metering? Akesen said yes. He also notes that Africa is at a huge advantage as its utilities can learn from decisions made by overseas markets which are perhaps more developed.

Furthermore, Akesen explained that although Africa’s infrastructure is ageing and perhaps not ready to accept the wide range of smart metering technology, utilities can explore wireless solutions. According to Akesen, all consumers (across all segments) can benefit from smart metering as most of the smart functions will help resolve Africa’s unique challenges such as accurate billing, integration of renewable power, energy efficiency, non-technical losses, and customer engagement with utilities. Smart meter technology will also help customers to use power more efficiently.

Mohamed concluded that the collaboration of stakeholders-utilities, and companies involved in metering, green generation and telecommunication- will help when choosing appropriate smart technology. This will go a long way to enhancing business processes, utility operations and particularly, customer services.

We would spare a thought for those who can’t access a basic human right like water.
With the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa (IWMSA), in solidarity with the focus on World Water recently declaring that water is essential to all life on earth, and applauding South African municipalities for their continued monitoring of, and attention to, the quality of the countries drinking water.
According to the Groups studies, SA has the distinction of being one of only twelve countries in the world where it is safe to drink our tap water.
“As of 2012, the good news is that the quality of South African tap water is ranked as third best overall.
Also noted is that South African municipalities have wholeheartedly embraced the international Blue Drop certification programme. This is an incentive-based initiative that is used to regulate water services bodies worldwide in order to improve and maintain the quality of tap drinking water. Blue Drop certification covers a multitude of aspects of water management.
Deidre Nxumalo-Freeman, President of the IWMSA comments, “In South Africa, our constitution dictates that access to safe drinking water is a basic human right. The Department of Water Affairs instituted the Blue Drop programme in 2008 and since then, we have largely seen continuous improvement in the rankings of our municipalities in respect of drinking water quality.”
“The IWMSA is strongly focused on education and training, and has worked effectively with a number of municipal bodies in order to better equip them with an understanding of the importance of effective wastemanagement issues from the ground up. As such we believe in the efficacy of getting a message across, particularly to those working at grass roots level, in order to engender a greater appreciation of the importance of their various functions.
Nxumalo-Freeman concludes “Whilst our local and district municipalities are responsible for ensuring that we have access to safe drinking water, the quality of which must be regularly monitored and measured to see whether it matches up to national drinking water standards; we must all assist in the process and we believe that the IWMSA has an important role to play in creating awareness along with empowerment through information.”

International development experts strongly emphazize that Africa’s growth means global growth.

And the world’s biggest economy, the US, is wisely tapping in to this potential, they add.
Furthermore, they find that the African continent desparately needs power.

According to expert’s research, Africa is home to almost 17% of the world’s population yet it produces only 4% of the world’s generated power.

“Over 66% of Sub-Saharan Africans do not have electricity despite living in a region where the economy is growing rapidly. The continent plays host to six of the 10 fastest-growing countries in the world.
It is also found that Africa’s Growth Domestic Product (GDP) can grow by 10% if power generation increases by 16%.
“There are even predictions that the average African economy will eventually outpace China. It is therefore essential that the electric infrastructures in African countries support this growth.

Also revealed is that the US has recognized this growth potential and has already shown interest by investing millions. A joint US government and private sector initiative will see a total investment of US$16-b (this
includes contributions of US$7-b from the state and US$9-b from the
private sector for clean energy projects).
And this recent commitment will bring power to 20 million households in six sub-Saharan African countries including Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria and Liberia. The funds, which will be paid out over a 5 year period, will go a long way in assisting these African countries that have been struggling to raise enough finance to develop power generation
projects.
Although Africa has abundant clean energy resources, there is often a lack of support to cover project development costs. It is for this reason that the US State Department OPIC and the US Trade and Development Agency developed the U.S.-Africa Clean Energy Finance Initiative (US-ACEF).

The initiative, which has already contributed US$20-m to help African
countries complete power projects, assists with:
* Project preparation assistance
* Feasibility studies
* Pilot projects
* Technical assistance
* Study tours
* Reverse trade missions

The US Agency for International Development (USAid) will also be providing US$285-m in technical assistance, grants and risk mitigation to advance private sector energy transactions and help governments adopt and implement policies, regulations and reforms required to attract private sector investment in the energy and power sectors.

Cape Town Tourism is looking to grow the number of visitors to the region through the recently launched Cape Town Toolkit.

The tool kit is a digital toolkit that showcases and sells Cape Town as a top tourist destination to the global village.

According to the Group, the toolkit includes diverse itineraries, high-quality images and information about Cape Town that allows registered users in the travel, tourism and marketing trade to access promotional material and resources at the touch of a button. Users can select specific elements, download packaged information and put together customised itineraries, using Cape Town Tourism collateral. Users are also able to share content in accordance with Cape Town Tourism’s new marketing theme: “You don’t need a holiday, you need Cape Town!”
The digital Facebook campaign is aimed at speaking to the rapidly growing social media market and which will connect more would-be travellers than ever to Cape Town. Cape Town Tourism will also be collaborating with four top international travel bloggers on an international destination marketing campaign during August.
By March of this year there were 835 million Facebook users (Internet World Statistics), while 79.8% of the world’s population owned a mobile (cellular) phone as of last year (Gartner) and by 2011, the global smart phone penetration sat at 27% of the population (Visionmobile).
Meanwhile, China recently surpassed the USA as the number one country by volume of smartphones. In fact, according to eMarketer, adults now spend more media time on mobile devices than newspapers and magazines combined.
People are using smart phones to browse the web, check information, compare costs and services, navigate, purchase and share. A study (by Tradedoubler and Forrester Consulting) focused on Sweden, Germany, France and the UK found that 53% of smartphone users are now buying goods and services on their devices, while 71% are researching potential purchases via their handsets. In the USA alone, mobile was responsible for $2.6 billion in travel booking value in 2011. This number is projected to exceed $8 billion by 2013. (PhoCusWright January 2012).
The potential for e-commerce aside, digital platforms represent massive potential for marketing at a fraction of the cost of a global television or print campaign. It’s with a smart-spend attitude that Cape Town Tourism has chosen to invest significantly in the digital media platform to promote its “You Don’t Need a Holiday, You Need Cape Town” campaign.
Mariëtte du Toit-Helmbold, Cape Town Tourism CEO remarks “Digital media and social platforms are truly changing travel – and the behaviour of travellers – as they dream, experience and share.

Cape Town provides us with an endless supply of alluring, interesting and authentic material, which we use on our own platforms (such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs and web) and through strategic alliances such as the one we recently undertook with National Geographic’s digital nomad, Andrew Evans. It is through these windows that people are starting to see Cape Town, digital windows that are immediate, relevant and honest.”

Earlier this year, Quintica, added to the list of companies that are making Cape Town, an extended home.

Quintica, a Pan-African ICT specialist company, offers integrated services and technology solutions into the enterprise and MobileNetwork Operator markets.

The move to the Capewas in-line with a bid to meet the growing demand for its consulting and training services in the area. Hence the group’s decision to open an office in South Africa’s oldest modern city, to service client’s training, consulting and technology needs.

Business is good and group recently launched the Q-Campus in Cape Town.

According to the company, “The launch of the new offices coincides with growing demand from companies within the Caperegion for internationally recognized ITIL, ISO, COBIT, risk and governance training, as well as service management for their ICT projects.

Kerry Evans, MD of Quintica commented, “We are experiencing exponential growth in the Capeand our customers are no longer content to send their staff to Gautengfor training, it is with this that we have launched the Cape Town Offices.”

She also stated, “Outside of the delivery of training from our Q-Campus arm we will also be providing customers the ability to access the full length and breadth of Quintica services that include consulting products, integrated BSM solutions, technology and outsourced managed services into the telecommunications, financial services, insurance and resources industries, to mention a few.”

Quintica is also officially recognised by APMG-International as an accredited training organisation. APMG-International accredits training and consulting organisations to deliver courses, exams and consulting activities as well as managing certification schemes for professionals.

Essentially, only accredited training organisations and their affiliates can provide accredited courses and exams in APMG-International’s qualification schemes.

Speaking at the Quintica Cape Town launch event, Nigel Mercer from APMG-International also announced their intention to open their own offices in South Africa, spoke of the importance of internationally accredited training and commended Quintica in the work they have been doing as a leading member of the APMG-International
Accredited Training community, championing raising standards across southern Africa with globally recognised qualifications in ITIL.

“At Quintica we approach your business through understanding your people, the technology and the processes you require. Our view is to take a holistic approach to organisational needs before merely implementing technologies.

Evans concluded, “It is the success of this approach that has driven the demand for the opening of our Cape Townoffices and we are delighted to now be providing a direct conduit to these services to our customers in this region.”