Environment

Gabon to host African environment ministers for biodiversity conference

Wednesday, 01 September 2010 14:08

Gabon will host the first African High-Level Conference on Biodiversity from 12-17 September 2010 to formulate a common African position ahead of a UN biodiversity conference in New York at the end of September.

(1 Vote)

Tags: African High-Level Conference on Biodiversity - UN biodiversity conference - BIodiversity and the fight against poverty; Opportunities for Africa - Rufin Pacome Ondzounga - 10th Conference of Parties on the Convention on Biodiversity - Ali Bongo Ondimba - Copenhagen Summit - Congo Basin - International Year of Biodiversity - Gabon

Drought tolerant maize to hugely benefit Africa: study

Friday, 27 August 2010 13:18

Distributing new varieties of drought tolerant maize to African farmers could save more than $1.5 billion dollars, boost yields by up to a quarter and lift some of the world's poorest out of poverty, a study found.

(2 Votes)

Tags: Agriculture - drought tolerant maize - International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre - Mexico - Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa - drought - maize - Kenya - Zambia - Zimbabwe - Africa

Rare Tanzanian toads flown home from US

Monday, 23 August 2010 13:16

Tiny Tanzanian toads that had been declared extinct only a few years after their discovery have been sent home to replenish stocks after being reared in U.S. zoos.

(1 Vote)

Tags: Kihansi Spray Toad - World Bank - Kihansi Gorge - Tanzania

UN launches campaign against advancing deserts

Tuesday, 17 August 2010 14:56

Launching a 10-year campaign to halt the advance of deserts, the U.N. environment programme (UNEP) said land degradation in dry places had affected 3.6 billion hectares (8.9 billion acres) - a quarter of the world's land area - and a billion people.

(1 Vote)

Tags: United Nations Environment Programme - land degradation - desert - Africa

Kofi Annan calls for united effort to boost African Green Revolution

Monday, 16 August 2010 12:35

African heads of state, industry representatives, the international donor community and farmers will meet in Ghana at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in the first week of September. Delegates will create an action plan on the acceleration of a Green Revolution in Africa. Chaired by Kofi Annan, chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), this is the first time the forum will be held in Africa. It is expected to be one of the continent's major gatherings of both public and private players to focus solely on agriculture development.

(1 Vote)

Tags: African Green Revolution Forum - Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa - Kofi Annan - NEPAD - Ibrahim Assane Mayaki - Clive Tasker - Standard Bank Africa - Rockefeller Foundation - Judith Rodin - Mali - Mozambique - Tanzania - Ghana

South Africa's Zuma to co-chair UN panel on climate change

Thursday, 12 August 2010 19:00

South African President Jacob Zuma has been requested to serve as co-chair of the United Nations Second Panel on Climate Change Sustainability.

(1 Vote)

Tags: Climate Change - United Nations Second Panel on Climate Change Sustainability - Ban ki Moon - Jacob Zuma - Tarja Kaarina Halonen - Finland - South Africa

Cactus could feed East African livestock, say scientists

Friday, 30 July 2010 14:53

A succulent, wild-growing cactus that has been widely dismissed as a noxious weed could sustain African livestock during drought, according to scientists at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute.

(1 Vote)

Tags: Kenya Agricultural Research Institute - cactus - livestock - farming - food - security - drought - Kenya

FAO works to reduce human-wildlife conflict in rural Africa

Friday, 23 July 2010 08:03

Rural Africans often face problems trying to co-exist with wildlife. Baboons steal food. Elephants stampede through their crops. And the animals are also under stress, as their habitat is lost to human settlement.

(1 Vote)

Tags: United Nations - FAO - Forestry and Wildlife Officer - Rene Czudek - Conflict Mitigation Tool Kit - Elephant - Baboon - crops - snake sandwich - Mozambique - Zimbabwe

Africa looks to vast forests for carbon credit

Tuesday, 20 July 2010 13:50

They inhabit a polluted part of Ivory Coast's main city with few jobs and a swelling population, but residents of Abidjan's slums have a rare respite: a stretch of pristine rainforest.

(2 Votes)

Tags: Rainforest - Congo Basin - Logging - Elvis Ngolle - Gree3n Wall - REDD - United Nations - Ali Bongo - Gabon - Ghana - Congo Republic - Cameroon

Virus-resistant cassava could be available by 2015

Thursday, 15 July 2010 14:27

Cassava breeds that are resistant to two major viruses could soon be available to farmers in Africa. Cassava mosaic disease and brown streak disease stunt the growth and rot the roots of crops, respectively.

(1 Vote)

Tags: Cassava - Genetic Engineering - Donald Danforth Plant Science Center - Claude Fauguet - Morag Ferguson - Biosafety laws - Kenya - Tanzania - Uganda

'Holistic grazing' wins sustainable practice award

Wednesday, 14 July 2010 16:36

A project hoping to reverse desertification through 'holistic management' of livestock has been awarded US$100,000 prize in a global competition on sustainable practices.

(1 Vote)

Tags: Holistic grazing - Operation Hope - grasslands - Africa Center for Holistic Management - Buckminster Fuller Challenge - USAID - John Thackara - Doors of Perception - Zimbabwe

African observatories will gather biodiversity data

Thursday, 08 July 2010 11:38

Scientists are pooling remote-sensing satellite data and geographical information services for two pan-African digital observatories that will provide accurate and readily accessible information on biodiversity and forest cover for policymakers.

(3 Votes)

Tags: pan-African digital observatories - European Commission Joint Research Centre - EuroScience Open Forum - Observatory for the Forests of Central Africa - Paolo Roggeri - Alan Belward - Central Africa

10-year plan to save Africa's chimps

Friday, 02 July 2010 10:07

Seven countries in East and Central Africa have developed a 10-year action plan to save the eastern chimpanzee, one of humankind's closest relatives, from hunting, habitat loss, disease and other threats.

(1 Vote)

Tags: Eastern chimpanzee - Wildlife Conservation Society - International Union for Conservation of Nature - Eastern Chimpanzee: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan 2010-2020 - Andrew Plumptre - Liz Williamson - Central African Republic - Democratic Republic of Congo - Sudan - Rwanda - Burundi - Tanzania - Uganda

Baby gorillas named in Rwanda

Friday, 25 June 2010 11:47

Rwanda's annual baby gorilla naming ceremony took place earlier in June, with 18 of the endangered primate babies receiving names.

(2 Votes)

Tags: Mountain Gorillas - Virunga mountains - Kwita Izina - UNEP - Paul Kagame - Achim Steiner - Don Cheadle - World Environment Day - Rose Mukantabana - Karisoke Research Centre

Kenya hopes to become Africa's carbon trade hub

Thursday, 24 June 2010 13:56

Kenya has announced plans to establish a regional carbon emissions trading scheme to steer Africa's carbon market.

(1 Vote)

Tags: Carbon emissions trading - Africa carbon market - Uhuru Kenyatta - environmental conservation - Fredrick Njau - Green Belt Movement - Kenya

World Cup will create more jobs in South Africa: Zuma

Tuesday, 22 June 2010 14:38

South African President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday he was confident the Soccer World Cup, hosted for the first time in Africa, will boost job creation and economic growth in his country.

(1 Vote)

Tags: FIFA 2010 World Cup - Jacob Zuma - Eskom - unions - infrastructure - unemployment - Grant Thornton - economic growth - tourism - South Africa

Nigeria president appoints head of power task force

Tuesday, 22 June 2010 14:01

Nigeria's president on Monday appointed an ex-minister of science to lead a special task force responsible for transforming the OPEC member's dilapidated power sector, considered a major hindrance to economic growth.

(1 Vote)

Tags: Barth Nnaji - Power task force - power - Oil exports - Nigeria

Chad: Green wall starts to grow

Friday, 18 June 2010 11:44

Heads of states from African countries are concluding a meeting in Chad's capital N'Djamena to launch a transcontinental 7,000-km tree planting project, from Senegal to Djibouti in east Africa.

(2 Votes)

Tags: Green wall - tree planting - Hassan Térap - Abakar Mahamat Zougoubou - Senegal - Mauritania - Mali - Burkina Faso - Niger - Nigeria - Sudan - Ethiopia - Eritrea - Djibouti - Chad

Scientists find cure for Kenya's toxic maize

Tuesday, 08 June 2010 21:30

In Kenya, at least 2.3 million bags of maize are this year rendered unfit for consumption and trade due to high toxic levels produced by a fungus. Scientists now try to prevent future contamination.

(1 Vote)

Tags: maize - toxic - prevention - contamination - fungus - science - Kenya

Rescue ecosystems to save trillions of dollars-UN

Friday, 04 June 2010 10:43

A few million dollars invested by governments in restoring nature could prevent multi-million dollar losses of the free services that ecosystems provide to people around the world, a U.N. report said on Thursday.

(1 Vote)

Tags: United Nations Environment Programme - Wetlands - Tim Kasten - Dying Planet - Living Planet - South Africa - Rwanda - Democratic Republic of Congo - Uganda - Kenya

Maghreb emerging from record dry century

Tuesday, 01 June 2010 10:42

A research team, with members from the US, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, figured out northwest Africa's climate history by using the information recorded in tree rings. The oldest trees sampled contain climate data from the medieval period.