insert_link Environment Snakebites: we thought we’d created a winning new antivenom but then it flopped. Why that turned out to be a good thing A Bothrops asper is prepared for its venom to be milked to use in making antivenom. Jon G. Fuller/VWPics/Universal Images Group By Christoffer Vinther Sørensen, Technical University of Denmark; Andreas Hougaard Laustsen, Technical University of Denmark; Bruno Lomonte, Universidad de Costa Rica, and Julián Fernández, Universidad de Costa Rica Snakebites kill over 100,000 people each year, and hundreds of thousands of survivors are left with long-term disabilities such […] todayMarch 18, 2024 53
insert_link Environment Sewage leaks put South Africa’s freshwater at risk: how citizen scientists are helping clean up By Jim Taylor, University of KwaZulu-Natal and Mark Graham, University of KwaZulu-Natal Across South Africa, sewage systems are leaking and contaminating the country’s freshwater. Involving the affected communities can help prevent this pollution hazard, as a group of 15 citizen scientists in KwaZulu-Natal province have shown. Their community water monitoring programme, working with municipal authorities, has managed to prevent raw sewage from flooding into rivers. The young, unemployed […] todayMarch 15, 2024 43
insert_link Africa El Niño threatens Zimbabwe’s corn production Zimbabwe has warned that farmland planted with corn has shrunk by 12% because of scorching El Niño weather patterns, threatening the nation’s food staple and potentially triggering surging prices and social unrest. We contacted Eddie Cross an economist from Zimbabwe for his comment. todayMarch 14, 2024 56
insert_link Environment Opuwo hosts commemoration of World Wetlands Day and World Water Day 2024 The Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Land Reform, together with its partners, will join the rest of the world in commemorating World Wetlands Day and World Water Day. This year's commemoration of these two significant days will be hosted in Opuwo from March 12th to March 14th. Here’s Ministry spokesperson Simon Nghipandulwa. todayMarch 12, 2024 43
insert_link Environment Impunity for Cambodia’s exotic pet owners as trade outpaces legislation By Gerald Flynn On the outskirts of the western Cambodian city of Pursat, some 180 kilometers, or 110 miles, north of Phnom Penh, tourists and travelers stream out of minivans parked in the forecourt of a PTT gas station. The Cambodian subsidiary of Thailand’s state-owned oil and gas conglomerate, PTT stands out as one of the country’s more modern gas station chains, sporting retail outlets popular in […] todayMarch 12, 2024 47
insert_link Africa Lagos bans single-use plastics – why I think Nigeria should have taxed them instead By Kehinde Allen-Taylor, Technical University Braunschweig Waste pollution is a huge problem in Nigeria, with serious impacts on the environment. In response, the Lagos state government has banned styrofoam (a type of plastic widely used as food containers) and other single-use products. Following a three-week moratorium for producers and sellers to mop up styrofoam containers, enforcement began on 4 March 2024. In 2019, Nigeria was estimated to […] todayMarch 12, 2024 27
insert_link Environment Technology to protect South Africa’s oceans: experts find that a data-driven monitoring system is paying off A fishing boat launching into South African waters at dawn. Justin Klusener Photos Marjolaine Krug, University of Cape Town Nine years ago South Africa put in place an innovative information management system designed to monitor and protect its seas. The country is surrounded by the Atlantic and Indian oceans on its southern, eastern and western borders. The oceans are an important source of income and employment. The ocean economy contributed […] todayMarch 12, 2024 52
insert_link Africa East Africa must prepare for more extreme rainfall during the short rainy season – new study By David MacLeod, Cardiff University; Erik W. Kolstad, Uni Research; Katerina Michaelides, University of Bristol, and Michael Singer, Cardiff University East Africa has recently had an unprecedented series of failed rains. But some rainy seasons are bringing the opposite: huge amounts of rainfall. In the last few months of 2023, the rainy season known as the “short rains” was much wetter than normal. It brought severe flooding to […] todayMarch 11, 2024 59
insert_link Africa In climate-related flooding, a Ugandan river turns poisonous By Ashoka Mukpo Uganda’s Nyamwamba river, in the Rwenzori Mountains, has begun to flood catastrophically in recent years, partly due to climate change. Along the river are copper tailings pools from an old Canadian mining operation, which are becoming increasingly eroded by the flooding. According to a series of studies, these tailings have been washing into the water supply and soil of the Nyamwamba River Basin, contaminating human tissue, food […] todayMarch 11, 2024 68