SUSTAINABILITY - The African Mirror

Aug

27

2020

17 dead dolphins wash up on Mauritius beach near oil spill site

SUSTAINABILITY

GIULIA PARAVICINI SEVENTEEN dead dolphins washed up on Mauritius's shore on Wednesday, a government official told Reuters, a month after an oil spill from a Japanese ship that ran aground caused a major ecological disaster in the area. "The dead dolphins had several wounds and blood around their jaws, no trace of oil however. The ones that survived, around ten, seemed very fatigued and could barely swim," said Jasvin Sok Appadu from the fisheries ministry. The dead dolphins have been taken to the Albion Fisheries Research Centre for an autopsy, Appadu said. Results are expected on Wednesday night. A spokeswoman…

Aug

25

2020

By The African Mirror

Kenyan all-female conservation ranger unit patrols amid COVID-19

SUSTAINABILITY

NJERI MWANGI PURITY Amleset Lakara has spent the year capturing armed poachers, running from an aggressive buffalo, and relaxing around a campfire reading "A Day Before my Wedding" as she prepares for her own marriage this month. The 24-year-old works as part of an elite all-female ranger unit named "The Lionesses," who patrol a conservation area near Kenya's Amboseli National Park. The recruits are drawn from the Maasai community who live around the park. Sharon Nankinyi, another ranger, said the day she was chosen to enter the team was the best day of her life. "It's rare for a woman…

Aug

24

2020

By The African Mirror

Floods on record-high Lake Victoria expose need for water cooperation

SUSTAINABILITY

JUSTUS WANZALA WOMEN dashed around open kitchens dotted across the playground of Bubango Primary School, preparing to feed the hundreds of children who now call the school in western Kenya their home. About 400 families from Budalangi, in Busia County, have been living at the school since April, when the Nzoia River that flows from Kenya's western highlands into Lake Victoria burst its banks in the worst flooding the area has seen in decades. After more than a year of unusually heavy rainfall, over 800,000 Kenyans have been displaced by flooding, according to the government. The situation has been made worse by…

Aug

22

2020

By The African Mirror

Sierra Leoneans sue government for alleged environmental failings at diamond mine

SUSTAINABILITY

COOPER INVEEN SIERRA Leoneans living next to the country's largest diamond mine are taking their government to West Africa's regional court for failing to protect them from alleged environmental lapses by the company that runs it, a subsidiary of Octea Limited. The complaint, filed to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) court of justice, alleges that the government failed to act when residents of Koidu, the largest city in the diamond-rich Kono district, complained about water contamination and damage to their houses from blasting at the mine. It also said the government had failed to ensure that the…

Aug

21

2020

By The African Mirror

Japan ship deviated from shipping lane before Mauritius impact, data shows

SUSTAINABILITY

AARON SHELDRICK THE Japanese-owned bulk carrier that ran aground off Mauritius and spilled oil over pristine waters and fragile coral reefs diverted more than 100 kilometres from a regular shipping lane, data from a maritime analysis firm showed. The MV Wakashio, owned by Nagashiki Shipping and chartered by Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd, struck a coral reef on Mauritius's southeast coast on July 25 and later began leaking oil. Two of the ship's officers have since been arrested on charges of endangering safe navigation. The iron-ore carrier was using a well-travelled shipping lane that passes near Mauritius when the accident happened,…

Sep

15

2020

By The African Mirror

Women key to solving climate crisis, says Ugandan school striker

SUSTAINABILITY

SONIA ELKS STUDENT Hilda Flavia Nakabuye is at the forefront of Uganda's Fridays for Future strikes - but it was years until the 22-year-old realised her own family were victims of climate change. Storms and drought forced Nakabuye's family to sell their livestock and almost all their land a decade ago, and she was forced out of school for months over unpaid tuition fees. None of them understood why their luck had turned so bad. "We all didn't know it was because of climate change," Nakabuye told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone interview from the Ugandan capital, Kampala,…

Sep

03

2020

By The African Mirror

Long-missed pink flamingos return to Kenya’s Lake Nakuru

SUSTAINABILITY

EIGHT years ago, rising water levels in Kenya's Lake Nakuru drove away the clouds of pink coloured flamingos that were the park's biggest draw. Rangers say their disappearance triggered a drop in visitor numbers by for the Nakuru National Park. Now they're back. The return has rekindled hopes of a gradual rebound in an area heavily reliant on tourists for employment and revenues. On a recent visit, flocks of flamingos foraged for food in the lake's turquoise waters, while others flapped in a sine-wave formation above. A rhinoceros grazed nearby. "With the increase now of the number of flamingos we…

Sep

03

2020

By The African Mirror

Mauritius oil spill: how coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass could be affected

SUSTAINABILITY

SIVAJYODEE SANNASSY PILLY, PhD Candidate in Marine Ecology, Bangor University JOHN TURNER, Professor of Marine Biology and Head of School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University RONAN ROCHE, Research Fellow in Marine Science, Bangor University SOMETIMES bad things happen in the worst possible places – like the MV Wakashio running aground on shallow reefs off the south-east coast of Mauritius on July 25. The wreck of the bulk carrier ship began leaking oil in front of a nature reserve island (Ile aux Aigrettes), a couple of kilometres from a marine park (Blue Bay), and close to an internationally important wetland area…

Sep

30

2020

By The African Mirror

Beyond the pandemic – better governance for a green Africa

SUSTAINABILITY

ABDOULIE JANNEH COVID-19 has joined the climate emergency at a time when Africa is facing what Mo Ibrahim calls “a crisis in leadership and governance.” This crisis seems all the worse when we define governance as the delivery of goods and services that citizens legitimately expect their governments to deliver. Citizen’s expectations relate to the promotion and support of human rights and participation, safety and rule of law, socio-economic opportunities and human development. In view of the very mixed progress made so far in meeting these entirely reasonable expectations, the permanent question is how to apply Africa’s abundant wealth in…

Sep

28

2020

By The African Mirror

How Accra tackled complex challenges in an urban slum

SUSTAINABILITY

JESSICA KRITZ, Assistant Professor--Research Track, Georgetown University WHEN I first heard about the community of Old Fadama in Accra, Ghana, I recognised something. A Ghanaian Catholic sister who visited the green market weekly in that neighbourhood told me about it. She worried about a community of vulnerable migrant women known as “head porters” or kayayei, who earned a pittance transporting heavy items balanced on their heads. Old Fadama reminded me of Appalachia, the part of the US where I grew up in the late 1970s. Nearly everyone in my county lived below the poverty line. We learned to work together…