SUSTAINABILITY - The African Mirror

Apr

16

2025

South Africa finally has a masterplan for a renewable energy industry: here’s what it says

SUSTAINABILITY

ABOUT 85% of South Africa’s electricity is produced by burning coal. The country’s move to renewable energy means that the coal industry will be phased out. To this end, the South African cabinet recently approved the country’s first renewable energy masterplan, which sets out what’s needed to establish new renewable energy industries. Ricardo Amansure of the Centre for Sustainability Transitions researches the move towards renewable energy and how communities can benefit from this. He explains what the masterplan aims to achieve, what problems it might face, and how it can succeed. What is the South African Renewable Energy Masterplan? It…

Apr

12

2025

By MELANIE MURCOTT

South African court said no to new coal-fired power: what’s behind the ruling

SUSTAINABILITY

THREE South African environmental and climate justice organisations took the South African government to court in November 2021, to challenge the authorisation of new coal-fired power as part of the country’s energy mix. Three years later, the court ruled that the government’s new coal plans were unlawful, invalid, and against the country’s constitution. Therefore, these plans cannot go ahead. Environmental law specialist Melanie Murcott researches how courts consider the risks and impacts of climate change and environmental and human rights violations in their judgments. In this article, she discusses the #CancelCoal case. Why was the #CancelCoal case brought to court?…

Apr

10

2025

By GABRIEL OKELLO

Uganda’s boda boda bikes are deadly polluters: study models how going electric could save lives

SUSTAINABILITY

IN Uganda, motorcycles known as boda bodas are a key part of the transport system. The country has over 1.5 million boda bodas on the road, amounting to roughly 70% of all vehicles. Boda bodas are crucial in providing last-mile transport for people and goods on short trips because they can nip through heavy traffic fast. But their exhaust fumes also pollute the air. Gabriel Okello researches air quality and air pollution in Africa and examines how life would improve if Uganda’s boda bodas all went electric. What public health problems do boda bodas cause? Most boda bodas run on…

Apr

08

2025

By TIMOTHY NEAL

Global warming of more than 3°C this century may wipe 40% off the world’s economy, new analysis reveals

SUSTAINABILITY

THE damage climate change will inflict on the world’s economy is likely to have been massively underestimated, according to new research by my colleagues and I which accounts for the full global reach of extreme weather and its aftermath. To date, projections of how climate change will affect global gross domestic product (GDP) have broadly suggested mild to moderate harm. This in part has led to a lack of urgency in national efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, these models often contain a fundamental flaw – they assume a national economy is affected only by the weather in that…

Apr

01

2025

By DOUG SPECHT

Only 15 countries have met the latest Paris agreement deadline. Is any nation serious about tackling climate change?

SUSTAINABILITY

THE latest deadline for countries to submit plans for slashing the greenhouse gas emissions fuelling climate change has passed. Only 15 countries met it – less than 8% of the 194 parties currently signed up to the Paris Agreement, which obliges countries to submit new proposals for eliminating emissions every five years. Known as nationally determined contributions, or NDCs, these plans outline how each country intends to help limit average global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, or at most 2°C. This might include cutting emissions by generating more energy from wind and solar or adapting to a heating…

Mar

27

2025

By ASTRID R.N. HAAS

Wealthy nations owe climate debt to Africa – funds that could help cities grow

SUSTAINABILITY

WEALTHY nations fuelled their industrial growth and urbanisation by burning fossil fuels. This was the biggest cause of climate change, which now affects every country in the world, even developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa which are responsible for less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Wealthy nations owe a climate debt. Africa is urbanising too and needs funds to house nearly a billion additional people by 2050 and to start adapting its cities to climate change. Urban economist Astrid Haas reviews a new report by the non-governmental organisation Action Aid on climate debt. She discusses the climate debt owed…

Mar

21

2025

By SIMON HOYTE

Cameroon’s Baka people say they are part of the forest: that’s why they look after it

SUSTAINABILITY

THE Congo Basin’s hunter-gatherer people have the secret to living well with the forest. While doing fieldwork in 2020, I remember walking with Indigenous elders Ferdinand Mbita and Félix Mangombe up the small, winding path into their forest in Cameroon, jumping over highways of vicious black ants, shadowed by grand trees. We almost always encountered monkeys chattering when venturing down this path. Once we came across the prints of a gorilla. This path, near the Dja River in the south region of Cameroon, lay next to the small village of Bemba. The village folk, Baka hunter-gatherers, used the path regularly…

Mar

20

2025

By ELHAM MOSHK BID; CHRIS ZHANG; DUNCAN CREE and LORI BRADFORD

Plant-based plastics could help reduce the millions of tonnes of medical waste hospitals generate each year

SUSTAINABILITY

HOSPITALS around the world generate millions of tonnes of plastic waste annually. Much of this waste comes from single-use items such as face masks, surgical gloves, syringes, IV tubes and sterile packaging materials. What’s worse is that many of these medical plastics aren’t biodegradable. This means they can persist in landfills or oceans for centuries. Eventually, they break down into micro and nano-sized particles, which pose many risks to the environment and our health — including endocrine disruption and cell damage. Incinerating plastic medical waste also releases harmful chemicals into the atmosphere. This contributes to poor air quality and potentially…

Mar

19

2025

By LISA ALLYN DALE and JOLA AJIBADE

Rwanda has moved people into model ‘green’ villages: is life better there?

SUSTAINABILITY

AFTER the devastating 1994 genocide, Rwandans returning from the violence established homes and began farming where they could find land. Since then, the Rwandan government has aimed to bring people scattered across rural parts of the country into grouped settlements which they have called “model villages”. These are intended to provide extra support for highly vulnerable residents, such as the homeless and those who are living in “high-risk zones” – areas prone to floods, drought and mudslides, and which are likely to be affected by climate change in the future. Rwanda has a population of 14.5 million. An estimated 62,000…

Mar

13

2025

By JAKE BROOKER and ZANNA CLAY

Inside the sex lives of chimpanzees: it’s about much more than just reproduction

SUSTAINABILITY

DOUG was the leader of his chimpanzee group. He had quickly gained a reputation from human observers as a fair and tolerant alpha male. One day he was separated from the group for some health checkups along with a young, confident male, Vis, and Vis’s ally, Zsabu. We couldn’t see what was happening from our vantage point, but you could hear it. Screaming and banging. Something was kicking off. Doug had been ambushed by the two males and had to be released hastily by the keepers. When he emerged he wasn’t badly injured, but was clearly distressed – this giant…