Climate talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, scheduled to wrap up on Friday, will continue through at least Saturday, according to Egyptian media outlets citing Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. Shoukry said he remains concerned about many outstanding issues at the COP27 United Nations Climate Change Conference. Shoukry met with United Nations…
The catastrophic rains that fell this year on West Africa were made more likely because of climate change, according to a new climate attribution study from World Weather Attribution. Scientists from 10 nations, including Nigeria, Cameroon and South Africa, analyzed data about flooding rains that occurred between May and October…
As the COP27 climate conference begins in Egypt, participants in the “Running Out of Time” relay are closing in on their final destination of Sharm el-Sheikh with a message of urgency on climate action. The relay route has covered 18 countries, beginning in Glasgow, Scotland—site of COP26 last year—and winding…
With the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) set to begin in Egypt, global public health experts are focusing on the climate impacts to human health, especially on the African continent. Flooding in South Sudan, food insecurity across the Sahel, and spikes in Ebola and other disease outbreaks are…
As the world’s education ministers gathered in New York at the Transforming Education Summit they took stock of progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4): equitable quality education for all. It’s understood that achieving this Goal will require intensified efforts, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. In sub-Saharan Africa, one-fifth of primary-aged children…
Hard-hit Nigeria is by no means the only African nation dealing with severe impacts from climate change. A new assessment from the World Food Program (WFP) identifies 19 countries in Central and West Africa dealing with floods caused by excessive rainfall. Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Gambia and Chad are…
African heads of state aren’t the only ones heading to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. Young climate activists from across the continent, along with their global peers, are again calling for action on climate change through various events aligned with UNGA. The Youth4Climate initiative, along with other…
As East Africa faces its ongoing drought challenges, the dwindling resources can sometimes cause unusual impacts to wildlife. That was the case in Kenya last week, when two elephants got stuck in the mud that was left behind as water levels became low at a dam near the Tanzanian border….
Sudan is in the midst of yet another round of severe floods, even as much of the Horn of Africa struggles with catastrophic drought. The Save the Children organization says 83 people have died and another 146,000 have been affected by the flooding. Whole villages have been submerged, with nearly…
Algerian authorities say they’ve mobilized all resources to combat wildfires that have claimed at least 38 lives in the El Tarf and Setif districts of the country’s northeast. The month of August has seen at least 106 different fires reported through Wednesday, with hundreds more people injured and homes and…
Kenyans were still waiting for election results on Friday, with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) urging citizens to reject disinformation about the results and trust the vote counting and reporting process. Officials with the IEBC reminded Kenyans that by law, there is a seven-day window in which to…
On the whole, communities on the African continent have made greater strides in life expectancy than in any other region of the world, according to a new assessment report from the World Health Organization (WHO). The life expectancy of Africans went up by an average 10 years per person between…
Malaysian authorities say they’ve made the largest seizure of elephant ivory and other illegally trafficked wildlife parts in the nation’s history. The Royal Malaysian Customs Department (JKDM) statement said the agency found US$18 million in tusks, rhino horn, pangolin scales and related items while tracking a shipment of timber to…
Outbreaks of the Ebola virus, monkeypox, and other diseases caused by animal-to-human infection in Africa have spiked by 63% across the last decade, much of that rise occurring in 2019 and 2020 alone. That’s according to a new analysis from the World Health Organization that compares the decade between 2012…
Mauritania is facing its worst drought conditions since 2012, and faring more poorly than all Sahel nations that have seen rainfall deficits across the last decade, according to a new report from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). At least 34 of 48 regions are…