SUSTAINABILITY - The African Mirror

Jul

08

2020

Climate woes growing for women, hit worst by displacement and migration

SUSTAINABILITY

MEGAN ROWLING FROM sexual violence in displacement camps to extra farm work and greater risk of illness, women shoulder a bigger burden from worsening extreme weather and other climate pressures pushing people to move for survival, a global aid group has said. Scientists expect forced displacement to be one of the most common and damaging effects on vulnerable people if global warming is not limited to an internationally agreed aim of 1.5 degrees Celsius, CARE International noted in a new report. "This report shows us that climate change exacerbates existing gender inequalities, with women displaced on the frontlines of its…

Jul

27

2020

By The African Mirror

Why wind and solar would offer the DRC and South Africa better energy deals than Inga 3

SUSTAINABILITY

GRACE C WU, Smith Conservation Fellow, University of California, Santa Barbara RANJIT DESHMUKH, Assistant Professor in the Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara SEVEN years ago the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) proposed the Inga 3 – a 4.8GW hydropower project on the Congo River – with great fanfare. Third, in a series of dams that would form the Grand Inga complex on the Congo river, the project was touted as a solution to southern Africa’s energy deficit woes and a way for the DRC to participate in regional economic development. Seven years later, development of Inga 3 has…

Jul

25

2020

By The African Mirror

Kenyan recycling firm mixes kitchen waste to boost urban farming

SUSTAINABILITY

EDWIN WAITA KENYAN urban farmer Francis Wachira credits a soil recycling company with keeping him afloat financially during the coronavirus crisis: it helped him to start producing herbs and vegetables on his tiny Nairobi plot. The locally-owned company, Sprout Organic, mixes animal bone meal, seeds, foliage, dry leaves, twigs and kitchen waste like banana peels, to concoct a composite that is then sold to urban farmers like Wachira to grow food in small spaces. Wachira, 71, used to make a living by renting out tiny tin shacks he built, but the coronavirus pandemic meant his tenants could no longer pay…

Jul

22

2020

By The African Mirror

Fight to save Senegalese capital’s coast gains momentum

SUSTAINABILITY

FROM the top of a ladder, a Senegalese girl struggles to catch a glimpse of the beach hidden by a swanky hotel's sprawling ocean frontage - a stunt for a music video that highlights growing grassroots efforts to save Dakar's coast from hungry developers. The video shows the threat that unregulated construction poses to the Senegalese capital's eroding shoreline, which provides a cherished escape for residents of the crowded and often polluted city. "Where will our children play tomorrow?," raps activist hip-hop artist Malal Talla, also known as 'Fou Malade', as drone footage shows the concrete husks of half-built buildings…

Jul

20

2020

By The African Mirror

Kenya fishermen say they are squeezed by Ethiopian mega-dam

SUSTAINABILITY

BAZ RATNER FISHERMEN on the shores of Kenya's Lake Turkana, the world's biggest desert lake, have no doubt about what is to blame for their dwindling fish stocks: a giant hydroelectric dam built by Ethiopia on the River Omo, which feeds the lake. "We are now seeing Nile perch stocks drastically reduce," said fisherman Fitbo Lalukol. He says boats must sail much further out into the lake to get a good catch. Officials at Ethiopia's ministry of water, irrigation and energy did not respond immediately to a Reuters request for comment on the fishermen's claims. Complaints about the Omo dam…

Aug

08

2020

By The African Mirror

Central African states seek to make forests work for people and planet

SUSTAINABILITY

MEGAN ROWLING COUNTRIES home to the Congo Basin rainforest, including Gabon and the Republic of Congo, are working on ways to harness their majestic trees to benefit their people while maintaining climate protection and other natural services the forests provide. This week, the Republic of Congo - also known as Congo-Brazzaville - officially published a new law, approved by the president in July, to ensure more sustainable management of the country's vast forests. Gabon, meanwhile, hopes to have a new forest law in place by next summer, marrying efforts to safeguard the climate and biodiversity with creating jobs in forestry,…

Aug

01

2020

By The African Mirror

Solar beats salt, bringing clean water to coastal Kenyans

SUSTAINABILITY

BENSON RIOBA MIRIAM Bahero Musa sat on a yellow 20-litre jerrycan, a smaller white one in her hand, as she lined up with 20 other women to collect water at the Kiunga desalination plant on Kenya's coast. The solar-powered water farm converts salty seawater to clean water for drinking and washing. "Water is scarce in the area," said Musa, adding that local people are pretty much used to shortages. "We only get a temporary reprieve during rainy seasons," she added. The plant in Lamu County, near the border with Somalia, about 470 km (292 miles) east of Nairobi, is fitted…

Aug

10

2020

By The African Mirror

Grounded Mauritius ship operator apologises for oil leak

SUSTAINABILITY

THE operator of a Japanese bulk carrier which ran aground off Mauritius in the Indian Ocean apologised on Sunday for a major oil spill which officials and environmentalists say is creating an ecological disaster. The MV Wakashio, operated by Mitsui OSK Lines, struck the reef on Mauritius' southeast coast on July 25. Fuel started leaking from the cracked vessel on Thursday. "We apologise profusely and deeply for the great trouble we have caused," Akihiko Ono, executive vice president of Mitsui OSK Lines said at a new conference in Tokyo. He added that the company would "do everything in their power…

Aug

12

2020

By The African Mirror

Mauritius prepares for the worst as vessel at centre of oil spill disintegrates

SUSTAINABILITY

ZEENAT HANSROD Follow THE ship responsible for an oil spill in Mauritius is likely to break into two, worsening what is already an unmitigated ecological and economic disaster. Indigenous species are at risk of becoming extinct. Locals’ livelihoods are in danger. The island will take years to recover from the oil spill at Pointe d’Esny. The population in Mauritius is oscillating between anger and despair. Anger because Mauritians feel that this catastrophe could have been avoided, and despair because of the extent of the damage. Grown men are crying who can no longer recognise the place where they grew up.…

Aug

11

2020

By The African Mirror

Kenya’s famed wildebeest migration begins without foreign tourist crowds

SUSTAINABILITY

JACKSON NJEHIA NORMALLY, the magnificent plains of Kenya's Maasai Mara National Reserve are crowded with international tourists hoping to see a lion hunt during the annual wildebeest migration - but this year COVID-19 means Kenyans had it all to themselves. That's good news for animal watchers but bad for conservationists who rely on the funds to pay for rangers and protection. By June, Kenya had already lost 80 billion Kenyan shillings ($740 million)in tourism revenue, about half of last year's total, due to the coronavirus crisis. This weekend, thousands of mostly Kenyan visitors travelled to the park to witness the…