Environmental Impact

Hydropower damages river systems in Africa: how more solar and wind power can solve this problem

By Angelo Carlino, Carnegie Science; Andrea Castelletti, Polytechnic University of Milan, and Rafael Schmitt, Stanford University Across the African continent, more than 300 new hydropower projects are planned to meet the growing demand for electricity. Some of these will require big dams, which can have major negative environmental impacts. Another looming problem with hydropower is that the water cycle is affected by climate change. Water […]

7 June, 2024 46

Environment

Analysis: Michelin’s no-deforestation claims in Indonesia rubber plantation a stretch

Rubber manufacturer Michelin claims to have avoided millions of tons of carbon emissions and saved thousands of hectares of primary forest in a sustainable rubber plantation project in Indonesia. Michelin joined the project in 2014 after buying a stake in the Indonesian rubber company RLU, which in 2018 raised $95 million in green bonds. In 2022, Michelin became RLU’s sole shareholder, and repaid the green bonds raised by the project. […]

30 May, 2024 47

Health / Medical

Cancer drug pollution is a growing global concern

Cytostatic drugs help treat a range of cancers but may also pose a threat to ecosystems. (Shutterstock) By Valérie S. Langlois, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) and Diana Castañeda-Cortés, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) As incidence of cancer increases globally, the use of cancer drugs is also growing at a rate of approximately 10 per cent per year in developed countries. Pharmaceuticals significantly […]

22 May, 2024 32

Environment

Great white sharks off South Africa’s coast are protected by law, but not in practice. Why this needs to change

By Enrico Gennari, Rhodes University; Neil Hammerschlag, University of Oregon, and Sara Andreotti, Stellenbosch University In less than eight years, white sharks in South Africa have all but disappeared from their historical hotspots in False Bay and Gansbaai, on the Western Cape coast. These areas were once known as the “white shark capital of the world” and were home to a flourishing ecotourism industry. One possible […]

6 May, 2024 58

Environment

7 Billion tonnes of plastic waste threaten environment

Since the 1950s, 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced, seven billion tonnes of which have become potentially toxic waste. Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, Executive Secretary of the international negotiating committee secretariat that is focused on curbing the scourge told UN News that if no action is taken, plastic pollution could triple by 2060.

2 May, 2024 113

Africa

Climate change could cost Africa billions by 2030

Africa currently loses between $7 billion and $15 billion a year because of climate change. If that trend continues, African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina tells the Zero podcast, that number could reach $50 billion by 2030. That’s why Adesina is focusing the bank’s efforts on financing climate adaptation, which he describes as the “forgotten cousin” of climate mitigation.

2 May, 2024 68

Environment

Report links H&M and Zara to major environmental damage in biodiverse Cerrado

A report by U.K. investigative NGO Earthsight links supply chains of fashion giants H&M and Zara to large-scale illegal deforestation, land-grabbing, violence and corruption in Brazil. The country’s Cerrado region, home to a third of Brazil’s species, has already lost half of its vegetation to large-scale agriculture and is under increasing pressure from a booming cotton industry. The two major producers linked to illicit activities, SLC Agrícola and Grupo Horita, […]

23 April, 2024 38

Africa

Locals slam Zimbabwe for turning a blind eye to Chinese miner’s violations

By Tatenda Chitadu At the end of November last year, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Sinomine Resource Group chair Wang Pingwei walked into a lithium processing plant, construction hats firmly on. With a crowd of policymakers, company workers and press looking on, they hailed the mining group’s $300 million investment into processing plants. The facilities will process the ore that the company unearths at its Bikita mine and […]

2 April, 2024 23

Africa

Under the shadow of war in the DRC, a mining company’s actions face impunity

Land grabbing, lack of consultation, communities wiped off maps, and impunity. These are the serious accusations made against the mining company Alphamin Bisie Mining SA by the Indigenous communities of Banamwesi and Motondo, which oversee community forest concessions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Years of complaints by these communities and civil society organizations have been met with no reaction from provincial government officials or […]

28 March, 2024 25