insert_link Environment Medicinal plants help keep children healthy in South Africa: 61 species were recorded By Tshepiso Ndhlovu, University of Mpumalanga; Abiodun Olusola Omotayo, North-West University; Adeyemi Oladapo Aremu, North-West University, and Wilfred Otang-Mbeng, University of Mpumalanga In 2021, almost 33 of every 1,000 South African children under five years old died. This under-five mortality rate is far worse than in similar middle-income countries such as Brazil (14.4 per 1,000 births), Cuba (5 per 1,000), India (30.6), Indonesia (22.2) and Egypt (19.0). […] todayFebruary 13, 2024 31
insert_link Africa Morocco dinosaur discovery gives clues on why they went extinct By Nicholas R. Longrich, University of Bath 66 million years ago, the last dinosaurs vanished from Earth. We’re still trying to understand why. New fossils of abelisaurs – distant relatives of the tyrannosaurs – from north Africa suggest that African dinosaurs remained diverse up to the very end. And that suggests their demise came suddenly, with the impact of a giant asteroid. The causes of the mass […] todayFebruary 13, 2024 12
insert_link Africa Black rhinos moved to Kenya’s Loisaba Conservancy as species recovers A black rhino in Loisaba Conservancy. Image courtesy of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. By Graeme Green via Mongabay Twenty-one critically endangered black rhinos have been safely delivered to Loisaba Conservancy in northern Kenya from other parts of the country, part of a wider mission to secure the long-term future of the species in Kenya. “It’s been a massive operation,” says Tom Silvester, CEO of Loisaba Conservancy, who oversaw the […] todayFebruary 13, 2024 22
insert_link Environment Heavy rainstorm destroys homes in Oshikoto and Ohangwena region Heavy rainstorms have destroyed homes in Oshikoto and Ohangwena regions. According to councillor Ferdinand Shifidi of Endola constituency on Sunday, heavy storms coupled with rain and wind affected about 200 houses in Onepandaulo village, in the Ohangwena region, where the roofs of most structures were ripped off. Separately, Iikokola village headman I-Ben Nashandi says the storm uprooted homes, schools, and trees, a situation which left the residents in the Oshikoto […] todayFebruary 12, 2024 22
insert_link Environment Global warming tops 1.5°C for the first time The average global temperature has for the first time breached the 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels mark for an entire year - as 2024 saw the hottest January on record. Professor Morgan Hauptfleisch, an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Natural Resources and Spatial Sciences at Namibia University of Science and Technology, reacts to the news. Meanwhile, other scientists say the world is now closer to breaching the […] todayFebruary 8, 2024 27
insert_link Environment UK’s opposition Labour Party scraps environmental pledge The UK's opposition Labour Party is scrapping a flagship environmental pledge after months of uncertainty. It's stepping back from a promise to spend £28bn a year on green investment. Here’s Deputy political editor at the Financial Times Jim Pickard. todayFebruary 8, 2024 20
Africa Ghana: Kumasi city’s unplanned boom is destroying two rivers – sewage, heavy metals and chemical pollution detected By Stephen Appiah Takyi, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and Owusu Amponsah, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Ghana’s urban population has more than tripled in the past three decades, from 4 million to nearly 14 million people. Competition for land in cities has increased among various land uses. These trends have led to encroachment in ecologically sensitive areas such as wetlands. Kumasi, […] todayFebruary 8, 2024 14
insert_link Environment Orca whales trapped in drift ice in northern Japan About 10 Orca whales are trapped in drift ice in far northern Japan. According to local officials, the pod was seen through a small gap in the ice about one kilometer off the coast of Hokkaido. todayFebruary 7, 2024 24
insert_link Africa Livelihoods at stake as Lake Victoria’s papyrus swamps come under pressure: Photos By Patrick Newcombe, via MongaBay The papyrus swamps at the edges of Lake Victoria in East Africa have for generations provided a livelihood to communities living here. While some harvest reeds to make into mats, baskets, and handicrafts, others catch the plentiful fish that nurse in the shelter of the reedbeds. The swamps are also home to birds that have become specialized to live amidst the papyrus reeds in a […] todayFebruary 7, 2024 22
