Africa > Environment Projects

Environment Projects in Africa

  • How Can Sierra Leone Learn From Mudslide to Avert Future Deaths?

    SIERRA LEONE, 2017/08/18 "Freetown and other precarious cities need safer urban planning and land use initiatives" A mudslide which devastated Sierra Leone's capital Freetown this week, killing about 400 people and leaving more than 3,000 homeless, has raised questions about deforestation, urban planning and disaster preparedness in the West African nation. The Thomson Reuters Foundation asked aid organisations, land rights activists and researchers what lessons Sierra Leone can learn from the mudslide to avert such crises in the future.
  • Solar energy powers clean water, business opportunities for refugees

    TANZANIA, 2017/07/19 Sadick Thenest remembers how his 8-year-old daughter had a narrow brush with death two years ago, at the same time as she contracted cholera next drinking contaminated water. “She was so gaunt, weak and had terrible diarrhoea,” said the refugee from Burundi. “A slight delay in rushing her to hospital would have meant something else - but with God’s grace she survived.” The father of four, aged 35, is part thousands of refugees grappling with frequent outbreaks of waterborne diseases in the crowded Nyarugusu camp in western Tanzania, due to poor sanitation.
  • Benin moves to save part of West Africa's last big wildlife refuge

    BENIN, 2017/07/19 Benin is hiring scores of additional park rangers and bringing in conservation scientists to rehabilitate a part of West Africa's major wildlife reserve, which contains large cats and thousands of elephants that have largely died out elsewhere in the region. The W-Arli-Pendjari (WAP) complex is the region's biggest remaining expanse of savannah, covering additional than 30,000 sq km of Benin, Niger and Burkina Faso.
  • Plastic-Eating Caterpillar Could Hold Key To Tackling Plastic Pollution

    WORLD, 2017/05/04 Plastic waste fouls the ocean, poisons marine life, defaces the environment and clogs gutters and landfills; sticking around for years without breaking down and with no viable solution in sight. That was until the recent discovery that a caterpillar commercially bred for fishing bait has the ability to biodegrade polyethylene: one of the toughest and most used plastics in the form of store and supermarket shopping bags.
  • Egypt boosting its electricity capacity through renewables

    EGYPT, 2016/12/25 n a bid to boost Egypt’s power generation capacity, government officials are looking to increase production from solar and other renewable energy sources. To this end, the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy (MERE) has laid out a plan to increase the all of power generated from renewable energy sources from the current level of 12% to 20% by 2022. Solar on the rise In November the government announced it had signed power-purchase agreements (PPAs) worth some €600m ($662m) for approximately 400 MW of solar power capacity.
  • World Bank to Earmark $16 Billion for African Clean Energy Projects

    AFRICA, 2016/11/28 Clean energy projects will be flying high across Africa as the World Bank is planning to raise $16 billion for solar, hydro, and geothermal energy projects. Practice Manager for Energy and Extractives at the World Bank, Charles Cormier, said at a side event held at the African Pavilion at the COP 22, that the move is part of the Africa Climate Business Plan which was presented at the COP 21.
  • Morocco on Pace To Run on 100 Percent Green Energy by 2050

    CASABLANCA, 2016/11/02 Morocco is set to become one of the initial African nations to run on 100 % green or renewable energy. According to the Morocco World News, a study carried out by a team of researchers from Stanford University shows that Morocco could go completely green by the year 2050.The research studied the energy prospects of 139 different nations with the aim of developing a feasible and hypothetical green energy scenario for each country.
  • Global trade in wild African Grey Parrot banned, U.N. meeting rules

    BOTSWANA, 2016/10/03 The United Nations has banned world trade in wild African Grey Parrots, prized for their ability to imitate human speech, to help counter a decline in numbers caused by trafficking and the loss of forests. The highly coveted species was placed on the convention's "Appendix I", which prohibits any cross-border movement in the birds or their body parts for commercial purposes. The decision, made at the same time as members of the U.N.'s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) held a secret ballot for the initial time ever, came at a two week-long convention in Johannesburg.
  • Nigerian Girls Build Robots to Tackle Waste

    NIGERIA, 2016/02/27 The Odyssey Educational Foundation is a Nigerian NGO that works with children in 15 national schools in Abuja to offer a rich learning experience in robotics, computer programming and the four STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering and maths. The foundation aims to encourage additional children, particularly girls, to think about pursuing science and technology careers. The organisation was set up by Esther Uzochukwu-Denis in 2013, next she travelled to India to complete an MSc. Set on pursuing a career in the telecommunications industry, she changed her mind at the same time as she discovered that school clubs in India taught children programming and provided additional STEM tuition. Inspired by the experience, she returned home determined to offer the same service to Nigerian children.
  • Global wildlife agency hails Sino-U.S. deal to save elephants

    CHINA, 2015/09/29 A world wildlife conservation organization on Monday lauded agreement reached between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama committing to take swift action to protect elephants. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) CEO Azzedine Downes said the agreement reached on Friday would play a key role in ending the poaching crisis across the globe. "President Xi has delivered a tremendous victory in the battle to save elephants. China has slammed the door in the face of all those who are profiting from the slaughter of elephants," Downes said in a statement released in Nairobi.