Africa Climate Week begins in Nairobi on Monday, with leaders from across the continent arriving in Kenya to discuss ways to meet climate targets while expanding access to energy and ensuring that economic development remains sustainable. “It comes as temperatures in Africa are rising faster than many other parts of…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
There’s not a lot of fashion news covered here at AT, but there’s a good reason when the African Development Bank (AfDB) and its partners announce a Fashionomics Africa contest to advance the circular economy. The inaugural online contest invites African fashion designers and brands to submit their “best sustainable…
An estimated 1 million animal and plant species are at risk of extinction within decades and the threats to their survival are accelerating, according to a much-anticipated report on biodiversity from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem…
The weeklong United Nations Environment Assembly began in Nairobi on Monday with a moment of silence for the 157 victims aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302, which crashed near its origination at Addis Ababa on Sunday with dozens of UN staffers, global delegates and participants on board. Acting UN Environment director…
On Monday morning at 10 a.m., the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) based in Nairobi will begin the first plenary session of the UN Environment Assembly – and they’ll do so with empty seats. That’s because according to estimates, up to 50 passengers aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302, which crashed…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
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…
The United Nations Environment Program on Tuesday issued the latest in what’s been a flurry of reports on climate change and global greenhouse gas emissions progress, ahead of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) meeting in Poland next week. The “emissions…
The surprise resignation of Erik Solheim, the former United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) executive director, took effect Thursday with Tanzanian scientist Joyce Msuya tapped as acting director. The departure of the Nairobi-based Solheim followed a UNEP audit that determined he was rarely in Kenya. A draft of the audit, leaked…
Angola’s Ministry of Environment is launching a new wildlife conservation initiative to assess the impact of poaching, and strengthen legal protections and enforcement. Aristófanes Fontes, the director of the National Institute of Biodiversity and Conservation Areas, tells state news agency ANGOP that national training, a licensing program and a law…
African dust has been getting a lot of media attention in Europe and the United States, as it contributes to everything from the yellow-tinged skies of Portugal during the recent Iberian Peninsula heat wave to the suppression of storm formation in this year’s slow Atlantic Ocean hurricane season. It is…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Following a Dutch investigation into low-quality and highly toxic fuel blends shipped from Europe to West Africa, the United Nations Environmental Program has called on other countries to follow suit. “The shipping of dirty fuels to West Africa has been nothing short of an environmental and public health scandal. The…
Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo announced Monday the deaths of five park rangers and a staff driver killed during an ambush in the park’s central sector. “A sixth ranger was also wounded,” the park said in its statement, adding that additional information will be released as…
An initiative designed to protect environmental defenders around the world from threats, intimidation, harassment and murder was launched Tuesday by the United Nations Environment Program. The UN Environmental Rights Initiative was introduced in Geneva with guests on hand including John Knox, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment;…
President Uhuru Kenyatta addressed more than 4,000 participants on Tuesday at the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi, highlighting his country’s success with a nationwide plastic bag ban and tying the program and his remarks to this year’s theme of tackling pollution. “The world gathers here today because we have learnt an…
Mali has become the first country to ratify the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, a commitment to reduce the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and their impact on global warming. “We urge more countries to follow suit in order to protect our climate,” said Erik Solheim, Head of United Nations Environment, in…