The heightened rhetoric following Saturday’s attack on Saudi Aramco oil infrastructure seemed more heat than light, as the United States accused Iran of being responsible – which Iran denies – and threatened retaliation in keeping with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s wishes. It’s still uncertain how much structural damage was…
At least 164 people across the globe were killed in 2018 while seeking to protect their land, water and other environmental rights, according to a Global Witness report released this week. That works out to more than three people each week, with the greatest losses in the Philippines and the…
President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya was on hand Friday for the launch of the Lake Turkana wind energy project, which is expected to increase the country’s electricity supply by an estimated 13 percent. The project, the largest in Africa, has an installed capacity of 310 megawatts of clean renewable energy,…
The Democratic Republic of Congo will begin forcibly removing some 10,000 artisanal miners from the Glencore mines where nearly four dozen people died last week, according to Bloomberg. A military commander said President Felix Tshisekedi has ordered the removal to “put an end to the theft of minerals in the…
Two human rights and environmental advocacy groups warn that implementing a new forestry policy in Côte d’Ivoire – however valuable in fighting deforestation – could cause evictions of some of the 1.5 to 2 million cocoa farmers living in protected forests and parks there, and in neighboring Ghana. The policy…
This week, Senegal’s justice ministry ordered an inquiry into the management of the country’s energy contracts after a BBC report alleged that the brother of President Macky Sall profited illegally from the award of two lucrative oil and gas concessions. Sall, who like his brother vehemently denies any wrongdoing, has…
Arnaud is a French freelance writer with an African heart who has lived in 10 different Sub-Saharan countries in the past decade. He is currently based in Paris.
What would it cost to totally eliminate child labor from cocoa production in Ghana? An increase in cocoa price of nearly 47 percent, according to the authors of a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE. The study, from three scientists at the University of Arkansas and Kansas State University…
As Bolloré Group heads to its annual shareholder meeting this week, the company is facing a new lawsuit against its Socfin interests, filed on behalf of Cameroonian palm oil workers by a group of NGOs demanding better working conditions for them. According to the alliance of Cameroonian and European advocacy…
The entire board of the Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (BERA) has been suspended, following an independent investigation launched after reports of alleged misconduct among its members. Eric Molale, Botswana’s Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security, said the board suspension takes effect immediately. It will continue during a…
Environmental defenders in mining areas of South Africa face harassment, intimidation, and violence, according to a joint report issued Tuesday by four advocacy organizations including Human Rights Watch. “The attacks and harassment have created an atmosphere of fear for community members who mobilize to raise concerns about damage to their livelihoods from…
A four-year investigation by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) advocacy group traced illegally sourced timber from the forests of Congo Brazzaville and Gabon, to discover what it says are extensive holdings by a Chinese firm linked to bribery, corruption, tax evasion and ecosystem destruction. “According to evidence collected by EIA,…
The conditions in Democratic Republic of Congo’s artisanal mines were front and center on Thursday, as Nordic Electric Vehicle (EV) Summit in Oslo focused on the future of clean-energy vehicles that rely on lithium-ion batteries. That’s because Amnesty International highlighted concern over the ever-increasing demand for cobalt and other minerals…
Eskom customers in South Africa are enduring yet another round of load shedding this week. The beleaguered public utility, seeking a bailout for its massive debt and caught up in South Africa’s “state capture” corruption drama, started cutting power to customers again on a rotating basis. On Monday, Stage 4…
Burkina Faso and Kenya are among eight nations to participate in a new USD$180 million program to support mercury-free artisanal and small-scale gold mining in the developing world. Led by the United Nations and backed by the Global Environment Facility, the GEF GOLD program seeks to phase out mercury use…
South Africans are looking at another round of load-shedding on Wednesday, as struggling utility provider Eskom will implement Stage 3 restrictions from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m. – a level that allows for 3000 MW of the national power load to be reduced, cutting it off to customers in two-…