Environment

Cape fishers worried about declining fish populations

Mario Jacobs has been doing commercial fishing for decades. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks By Liezl Human via GroundUp Mario Jacobs is worried. He has had a commercial fishing license since 1998, and has an annual quota for catching sardines and anchovies. But sardine stocks have been in poor shape for years and 2023 was the worst year on record for anchovy stocks. Jacobs, who is from Hangberg in Hout Bay, says his […]

24 January, 2024

Business / Economics

We need a better understanding of how crops fare under solar panels, study shows

Farmers in Bihar, India, growing crops amidst solar panels. Image by C. de Bode/CGIAR via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). By Ruth Kamnitzer via MongaBay The dream of agrivoltaics is to generate your electricity and eat your edamame too. But a recent study in Agroforestry Systems shows that agrivoltaics — growing food beneath solar panels — is not so simple. Research published in September finds that overall crop yields decrease when paired with solar panels and offers […]

24 January, 2024

Environment

South Africa’s Agulhas long-billed lark: adapting and surviving despite farming taking over their nesting grounds

By Robert Leslie Thomson, University of Cape Town The Agulhas long-billed lark (Certhilauda brevirostris) is only found in South Africa. It builds nests on the ground mainly in Renosterveld fynbos, a type of vegetation filled with grasses and wild spring flowers that is critically endangered by agricultural expansion. The University of Cape Town’s FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology recently published the first study into the nesting practices of […]

23 January, 2024

Environment

‘Hold Developed States to Account for Climate Justice’, Secretary-General Urges in Remarks to Group of 77 Plus China Summit

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Third South Summit of the Group of 77 and China, in Kampala: It is a pleasure to join you for this very important summit. I thank the Government of Uganda for its hospitality and congratulate it on the leadership of the Group of 77 (G77) plus China. Sixty years ago, recognizing the need for unity and solidarity in the face of […]

23 January, 2024

Environment

Conservationists aim to save South America’s super tiny wild cat, the guina

Image courtesy of Jerry Laker/Fauna Australis. By Petro Kotzé via MongaBay For more than 200 million years, the ancient Valdivian Temperate Forest in southwestern Chile has been a refuge for plant and animal species found nowhere else on Earth. This global biodiversity hotspot is home to monkey puzzle trees (Araucaria araucana), the endangered chinchilla (Chinchilla lanigera), threatened southern pudu (Pudu puda) — the world’s smallest deer — and two critically endangered species: the […]

23 January, 2024

Africa

Lagos bans single-use plastics

Nigeria's Lagos state will start implementing a ban on Styrofoam and other single-use plastics. The State's environment commissioner told the BBC that non-biodegradable plastics were a major pollution problem, and were clogging drains. State officials say they'll use a dormant 2009 law to fine or jail culprits. Lagos is one of Africa's most populous cities. International experts estimate Nigeria generates 2.5 million tonnes of plastic waste annually.

22 January, 2024

Africa

Congo’s blackwater Ruki River is a major transporter of forest carbon – new study

River Ruki. Photo by Matti Barthel, Author provided Travis Drake, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich; Johan Six, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, and Matti Barthel, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich The Congo Basin of central Africa is well known for its network of rivers that drain a variety of landscapes, from dense tropical forests to more arid and wooded savannas. Among the Congo River’s large tributaries, the […]

22 January, 2024

Environment

Why are floods in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal so devastating? Urban planning expert explains

By Hope Magidimisha-Chipungu, University of KwaZulu-Natal The devastation caused by the recent floods in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa demonstrates again that the country is not moving fast enough to adopt appropriate urban planning. It should be integrating risk assessment and management in the design and development of cities. This is becoming more urgent as the frequency of floods increases. Most South African cities were built a long time ago, before […]

22 January, 2024

Business / Economics

Risks posed by the proposed In Situ Leach Mining of Uranium in the Stampriet Artesian Basin, southeastern Namibia.

Open Letter to the Members of Cabinet, Members of Parliament, Standing Committees, Regional Governors, Councilors, Traditional Authorities and the Namibian Public More than 99 percent of Earth's water is deemed unusable by humans and many other living organisms. It seems extraordinary that the water supporting all terrestrial life on our planet is so scarce (Source: National Geographic; North American and Australian groundwater databases). The water that sustains life falls […]

19 January, 2024