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Both the UK and Congo think they’re climate leaders – COP26’s fallout shows how far adrift they are / Irène Wabiwa Betoko
From the fall-out of the pandemic to the interlocking cost of living and energy security crises currently gripping the world, it has been fascinating to see the world’s richest governments bending over backwards to help fossil fuel companies. Meanwhile households are battling a cost of living crisis and the climate crisis is raging on, threatening…
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Whose interest does the Kenyan seeds law protect?
Seed is the source of life. It is critical in food production, nutrition, agricultural development, rural livelihoods and agrobiodiversity. Farmers across the globe have saved and exchanged indigenous seeds freely, for centuries. Seed sharing forms the culture and tradition of many communities and it has been key in sustaining local farming communities and livelihoods for…
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Biodiversity talks in Nairobi must put Indigenous Peoples first
The world is waking up to a tragic fact, year on year: deforestation is happening on a scale and at a rate that amounts to nature collapsing. Some rainforests are already emitting more carbon dioxide than they absorb, further destabilising the global climate. At current trends, all primary rainforest in the Congo basin – the…
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Africans are fighting to protect our oceans, food and jobs
What a difference six months makes. Last December, there was a surge of environmental optimism when Olaf Scholz became Germany’s Chancellor after pledging to “halt man-made climate change”. Germany has…
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CLIMATE CHANGE IS A GENDER ISSUE: KZN FLOODS THREATEN TO DERAIL WOMEN’S DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES
The early lockdown measures imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus at the beginning of 2020 led to a spike in domestic gender-based violence incidence. South Africa saw a 37% spike in GBV reports during the first week of lockdown. This was a consequence of the South African government’s siloed approach to crisis management,…
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FSO SAFER OIL TANKER OFF YEMEN
I am writing to you with concern over the threat posed by the tanker the FSO Safer, moored off the coast of Yemen with an estimated 1.1 million barrels of oil on board (140,000 tonnes). With close proximity to Africa’s eastern shorelines, this poses an imminent threat to the Red Sea, the biodiversity and the…
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Empty pledges to plant more trees will not save the Congo Basin
UN General Assembly has proclaimed 21 March as the International Day of Forests. It serves as an opportunity for both ordinary people and governments to profess their love for forests and their commitment to their protection.
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Joint letter to the Secretariat and Board Members of the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) and members of the Inter-donor Group for the Environment in DRC (GIBE)
We are writing in response to the General Inspectorate of Finance’s (IGF) audit of industrial logging concessions in DRC published by the Environment Ministry on April 1, and to ask that you take swift and appropriate measures to address its damning findings, including that the national logging moratorium be extended indefinitely.
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Gwede Mantashe betrays his legacy
South Africans ushered 2021 out the door with a momentous victory when the Makhanda High Court in Grahamstown ordered Shell to cease their seismic blasting along the Wild Coast. But the challenge to Shell's activities made Gwede Mantashe see red.
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NDC Write-up for Zutari Report
Global greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in the atmosphere are rapidly increasing as a result of anthropogenic activities. Due to their radiative properties, GHGs are attributed to global warming and climate change.
