Environment

EU to introduce 10-year prison terms for environmental crimes

The European Union has become the first international body to criminalise the most serious cases of environmental damage that are “comparable to ecocide”. Ecosystem destruction, including habitat loss and illegal logging, will be punished with tougher penalties and prison sentences of up to 10 years under the EU’s updated environmental crime directive. Here is local Ecologist Peter Cuningham.

28 February, 2024

Environment

Swakopmund residents protest radioactive facility plans

Swakopmund residents are outraged over plans for a radioactive material storage and handling facility in the coastal town’s industrial area. According to residents, the facility, if approved by the town council, puts the lives of residents at risk, as toxic matter will be stored near their homes. We contacted former Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr. Bernard Haufiku for his take.

28 February, 2024

Environment

2 Men convicted of killing Run-DMC’s Mizell

The godson of Run-DMC star Jason Mizell has been convicted of his murder in New York City, more than 20 years after the rap star's death. Mizell, known as Jam Master Jay, was fatally shot in 2002 in his music studio. He's credited with helping hip-hop break into the pop music mainstream in the 1980s - with hits including 'It's Tricky'. The Associated Press reports that an anonymous Brooklyn federal […]

28 February, 2024

Environment

Small-scale fishers could be allowed to catch new species

photo: Ashraf Hendricks By Liezl Human via GroundUp Small-scale fishers in the Western Cape could be allowed to catch new species, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has said. The Department is finalising policy for the small-scale sector in the Western Cape. Small-scale fishing cooperatives must be sustainable, Abongile Ngqongwa, deputy director of small-scale fisheries management, told Parliament on Tuesday. He said most resources had been declining and […]

28 February, 2024

Environment

We’re losing species faster than we can find them

De Winton’s Golden Mole, found in June 2021. Photo courtesy of JP Le Roux. By Liz Kimbrough via Mongabay “We did it!” Doka Nason shouted as he stared at the screen of a camera trap in Papua New Guinea. He and his team had just captured a long-sought image: that of the black-naped pheasant-pigeon (Otidiphaps nobilis insularis). Believed to be extinct, this rare ground-dwelling bird was photographed as part of […]

28 February, 2024

Environment

U.S. natural gas expansion would surrender world to fatal warming

Specially designed vessels are required to transport LNG, which needs to be cooled to minus 162 °F (minus 260° F) in order to liquify and compress the gas while in transit. At destination terminals, the LNG is returned to its gaseous state and carried via pipeline to distribution companies. Image by photozou.jp via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.1 JP). By Shanna Hanbury via Mongabay As U.S. politicians, the oil industry and environmental […]

28 February, 2024

Africa

Norwegian salmon farms gobble up fish that could feed millions in Africa

A salmon farm in Finnmark, Norway. Image by Ninara via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). By Francesco De Augustinis via Mongabay Norwegian salmon farms are taking huge amounts of wild fish from West Africa, mining the food security of the region, according to a report from the U.K.-based NGO Feedback. The analysis comes as the industry faces a wave of public opposition after revelations of high mortality rates and the sale of fish […]

28 February, 2024

Environment

Japan to release more Fukushima water into Pacific

Japan will begin a fourth discharge of treated, radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean from Wednesday. The owner of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant, TEPCO, has been releasing the water in batches since August last year. Chris Gilbert reports from Tokyo.

27 February, 2024