MODESTA TOCHI ALOZIE, Researcher at the Urban Insititute, University of Sheffield, University of Sheff DECADES of oil spills and gas flaring have transformed the Niger Delta into one of the most polluted places on Earth. About 300 oil spills occur in the region each year and in 2011, a spill at Shell’s Bonga oil fields released 40,000 barrels. Over 350 farming communities were affected, and 30,000 fishermen were forced to abandon their livelihoods. Although local people are supposed to be compensated for oil spills caused by technical failures, this rarely happens because of a flawed process for determining the cause…

KIM HARRISBERG HEATWAVES over the last century in sub-Saharan Africa have not been properly recorded, undermining early warning systems to save lives and prevent economic losses caused by soaring temperatures, a University of Oxford report said on Monday. Researchers found the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT), the world's biggest database of extreme weather events, includes data on just two African heatwaves since 1900, compared with dozens in recent decades in other global regions. A lack of expertise and poor governance on the issue, along with limited observational networks contributed to the shortfall, they said. "Both real-world observations and climate modelling show…

MENNA A. FAROUK AS coronavirus restrictions ease, business is rebounding in Cairo's cafes, restaurants and shops. In the evenings, the sounds of street vendors plying their wares blends with the honking of horns, as the city gets back to normal. But the evening revival may not last long. To try to hold onto dramatic improvements in air quality during the city's lockdown, the government now has proposed to permanently ban late-night shopping and dining, in an effort to keep cars at home and hold down electricity use. "It is mainly for environmental, economic and social reasons," Khaled Qassem, a spokesman for the…

MEGAN ROWLING EAST African nation Rwanda was one of the first countries to submit a stronger climate action plan to the United Nations this year - and it hopes that can serve as a basis for a "better, green COVID recovery", its environment minister said this week. The plan itself, published in May, does not mention the coronavirus pandemic. But Jeanne d'Arc Mujawamariya said the country was betting the measures it contains to drive a lower-carbon economy - in areas from agriculture to energy - will also make it more resilient to both climate and health crises. The problem, she…

KWASI GYAMFI ASIEDU ENVIRONMENTAL activists have sued Ghana's government to stop a proposed mining project in a protected national forest, which they say endangers their health and well-being, amid growing calls to increase nature reserves to combat climate change. The proposed mine in the Atewa Range Forest is part of a $2 billion deal signed with China, which will gain access to bauxite - used to make aluminium - in exchange for financing infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges in Ghana. Seven local advocacy groups and four citizens claim that mining in the forest violates their constitutional right to…

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…