South Africa: Langa Zita Appointed Agriculture DG Former Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Langa Zita, has been appointed Director General in the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

Kenya: 400 Families Displaced By Floods More than 400 families have been rendered homeless in South Rift and North Rift by floods.

South Africa: Acid Mine Water 'Needs Rapid Response' The government is in a race against time to come up with a plan to halt acid mine drainage within the next 17 months before the polluted mine water reaches the critical level of 150m below the streets of Johannesburg.

Eritrea: Dieda Inhabitants Strive to Maintain Environment Sanitation The inhabitants of Dieda, Logo-Anseba sub-zone, are making unremitting endeavors to maintain environment sanitation so as to combat communicable diseases. They said that they have decided to build latrines in the area following the initiatives taken by the administrative areas of Sosona and (...)

Eritrea: General Public Called Upon to Enhance Participation in Promoting Environmental Sanitation The head of environmental sanitation in the Health Ministry, Dr. Kesete Araya, called on the general public to step up contribution towards promoting sound ecology.

Africa: New Maize Could Prepare Farmers for Climate Change New varieties of drought-tolerant maize could deliver a US$1.5 billion gain in food and income in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as helping smallholders cope with the effects of climate change, according to a study carried out in 13 countries in the (...)

Kenya: Woman Researcher Tackles Aflatoxin Poisoning Despite a bumper harvest of maize just a few months ago, many residents in the eastern part of Kenya are facing hunger and starvation. While granaries in the region may be full, the grain cannot be freely sold, let alone eaten.

Zambia: Reckless Waste Disposal Worries Environmental Council THE Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) has expressed concern at the reckless disposal of waste by passengers using public transport, and warned that such behaviour would continue affecting the environment.

Africa: Biofuels and the Scramble for Farmland The European Union has been urged to drop its pledge to produce 10 per cent of all transport fuels from biofuels by 2020 because of the effect this has had on the purchase of African land by multinational companies.

Zimbabwe: Wetlands Threat, Ballantyne Residents Take Council Head-on Once considered to be some of the best preserved wetlands in the region, Harare’s famed swamplands are slowly losing their lustre.

Kenya: Adamson - the Pride of Kora In Africa you do not ask how far a place is, you ask how long will it take to get there.

Nigeria: AIAE, NPC Partner On Nigeria's Business Environment Report Efforts towards making research findings veritable tools for policy making has been boosted as National Planning Commission (NPC) has embraced the second circle of the Business Environment and Competitiveness Across Nigerian States (BECANS (...)

East Africa: Why Are Our Cities Left to Be Filthy? Bujumbura and Kigali streets are cleaner than most other cities in East Africa. Its no wonder, they both have general cleaning days.On these days, the general public clean their areas of abode, the drainage, the roads leading to their homes, etc, and the city is also given a thorough (...)

Tanzania: Jakaya Kikwete Promises Flood Victims New Houses The Chama Cha Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) presidential candidate, Mr Jakaya Kikwete has said the government will construct permanent houses for residents of Kilosa district whose houses were destructed during floods earlier in the year.

South Africa: Cape to Take Over Table Mountain The City is looking at taking back the management of the Table Mountain National Park, including lucrative money-spinners such as Cape Point and Boulders Beach.

Nigeria: Aero Loses Offshore Oil and Gas Operations to Caverton Aero Contractors rotary wing, which carries out over 35 per cent of offshore shuttle services for oil and gas companies, has lost a major Shell contract to Caverton Helicopters and multibillion naira major services in the off-shore (...)

Africa: South Still Battling to Stop North's Biopiracy The United Nations declared 2010 the Year of Biodiversity. But 17 years after the Convention on Biological Diversity was adopted at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the issue of biopiracy is still pitching North against South.

South Africa: Experts to Assess Extent of Acid Mine Drainage A team of experts is expected to assess the extent of acid mine drainage in the country and report back to an inter-ministerial committee appointed by Minister of Water Affairs Bulelwa Sonjica.

Nigeria: UN Body Apologises Over Claims on Ogoni Oil Spills The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) involved in investigating the extent of oil spills in Ogoniland has apologised for what it called a mistake on the part of one of its officials who relied on the Federal Government figures on the causes of spills to pass a judgment on the (...)

Uganda: Commercial Fish Farming Enjoying Ready Market Fish farming is slowly becoming one of the commercially rewarding business ventures, thus the trade has drawn itself a niche from both Uganda and international entrepreneurs.

Namibia: Insight Into Routes of Migratory Birds MIGRATION is a fascinating topic that has posed research questions for decades. Although the how, where, when and why of navigation and routing continues to interest scientists, a newer urgent question, concerning the effects of climate change on biodiversity and animal migration, must be (...)

Kenya: Country Starts Talks With Dar to Stop Serengeti Road Project Kenya has started negotiations with Tanzania to stop plans to build a highway through the Serengeti National Park, a project that would disrupt the annual wildebeest migration.

Kenya: UN Environment Agency Backs Action to Regulate E-Waste Kenya is set to become the first East African nation to regulate the management of electronic waste, also known as "e-waste", following a conference run by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

South Africa: Wits Gumtree to Receive Champion Tree Status A massive gum tree, measuring more than 38 metres from side to side, is to become the latest edition to South Africa’s list of Champion Trees.

South Africa: Guarding Against Disaster in the Benguela LOUISIANA is a long way from Langebaan, but the environmental disaster that unfolded in the Gulf of Mexico following the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig has important lessons for SA and its neighbours.

Uganda: Lightning Kills Six Children in Alebtong, Apac Lightning killed six pupils and destroyed property worth millions of shillings in Apac and Alebtong districts over the weekend. Joel Olute, the LC3 chairman of Abongomola sub-county in Apac, said at least four children were killed in his area on (...)

Africa: UN Joins "One Day On Earth" The United Nations joins "One Day on Earth" to capture people’s stories across the globe.

Ghana: Outcomes From the African Green Revolution Forum Closing the inaugural African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Accra, Ghana, AGRF chair, Kofi Annan, praised the efforts of public and private institutions, development organisations, the donor community and farmers, to accelerate the green revolution in (...)

Africa: Organisation Slams World Bank Stance on Biofuels Commenting on a new World Bank report published today in which the Bank backs the practice of nations selling vast agricultural lands to foreign investors, Mariann Bassey, African food and agriculture coordinator for Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (...)

Uganda: Manafwa Farmers Pay for Environment Sins Images taken in 1980s and 2010 shows that most hills in Manafwa District have lost theirforest cover in the last two decades. When Patrick Wasonsi was a young man, he could stand in the garden of his father on a clear, cloudless morning and stare at the forests at a distance. But last week, the (...)