As the world marks United Nations World Environment Day, there are more than 1,000 events planned across the African continent as countries and their citizens embrace the #beatplasticpollution theme. “Our world is swamped by harmful plastic waste,” said UN Secretary General António Guterres in a video marking the June 5 event….
Asfawossen Asrat is professor of geology, School of Earth Sciences at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. Nelson Torto is executive director at The African Academy of Sciences in Nairobi, Kenya. What they have in common – along with 10 other scientists from the Global South – is a concern over…
If you ask most tourists what defines Southwest Florida, a top United States vacation destination, they’ll likely point to the seashells of Sanibel Island or the tony Naples community. They come for the beaches and the golf courses, they stay for the winter or, for thousands of them, they come…
With the stroke of a pen, African heads of state gathered in Kigali, Rwanda on March 21, 2018, signed off on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) deal – which some pundits have characterised as the largest free trade agreement since the World Trade Organization. This signing comes at…
Dr. Richard Munang is currently the United Nations Environment Africa Regional Climate Change Programme Coordinator.
It isn’t climate change that will increase the frequency of civil war in Africa as a result of food scarcity, according to a study recently published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. Rather, it’s the abundance of food that attracts armed actors and creates an incentive for controlling resources. “Understanding…
Malawi launched its new five-year development plan on Tuesday during a ceremony at Kamuzu Palace, the State House in Lilongwe. The Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) III emphasizes climate priorities, alongside agriculture and water resources, in a vision that runs through 2022 and builds on the previous version. It…
Journalists from Africa’s mainland Least Developed Countries (LDC) or island nations are invited to submit work to the United Nations on how sustainable energy is improving their communities – and potentially receive an expenses-paid invitation to cover the Sustainable Energy for All Forum in Portugal in May. The contest is designed…
Protesters are marching for change in Togo, where President Faure Gnassingbé has held office since 2005 after following a father who had been in office since 1967. Human trafficking in Libya has shocked the conscience of the world, while Islamic extremists across the Sahel remain a grave security concern. Last…
In Morocco, independent filmmaker Nadir Bouhmouch is making a documentary on what is the country’s longest protest – now in its seventh year. The people of Imider and its seven villages set up camp on Mount Alebban in August 2011 in order to protect their water resources. Their homes are…
There’s troubling news for sub-Saharan Africa on climate change, as a new report from a British green-tech company looks at preparedness and resilience levels in nations across the world. It again highlights the urgent need for global commitments to assist the developing world on climate. Each year, the London-based Eco…
There’s one thing readers and viewers can count on as the year winds down, and that’s a deluge of “Year in Review” stories and posts. The political changes, the celebrity news, the economic issues – media outlets contribute their take on what shaped our days and the shared history of…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Scientist Gualbert Séraphin Dorego of Senegal has – for the second time – signed an open letter calling the world to action on climate change and the protection of the planet’s environment. That’s because Dorego was one of more than 1,700 scientists who signed an original letter in 1992, issued…
Climate activists gathered at COP23 in Bonn, Germany, walked out Monday as the United States government made an official presentation touting the role of coal in a sustainable energy future. Activists with SustainUS who coordinated the protest said more than 100 people walked out of the U.S. session. “This White…
African climate activists attending the COP23 conference in Bonn are vocal about condemning United States President Donald Trump and the U.S. pullout from the 2015 global Paris climate agreement. The U.S. is now the only country on earth refusing to honor the accord, which went into effect last October after…
As climate leaders prepare for COP23 in Bonn, Germany, next week, a new UN assessment shows that national pledges will deliver only a third of the carbon emissions reduction needed to meet 2030 climate targets. That means that even under the best of circumstances – for example, the United States…