SUSTAINABILITY - The African Mirror

Nov

20

2025

By BRIAN MANTLANA and BASANDA XHANTI NONDLAZI

COP30: Africa needs funding to adapt to the climate crisis – what negotiators need to do to secure it

SUSTAINABILITY

SINCE it was set up in 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has focused mainly on mitigation. Mitigating the effects of climate change is all about transitioning away from fossil fuels to renewable energy, improving energy efficiency and setting up new forests to absorb greenhouse gas emissions. But this hasn’t worked; greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise. The impacts of climate change, such as drought and floods, are escalating in frequency and more intensity. The financial costs of paying for the damage caused by extreme weather events are spiralling out of control. These realities have meant…

Nov

19

2025

By SERAFINO AFONSO RUI MUCOVA

The three big reasons why Mozambique is not adapting to climate change and what needs to be done

SUSTAINABILITY

AROUND the world, societies are looking for ways to live with climate change. Adapting to a hotter and harsher future means scientists, governments, and communities must find ways to protect essential resources like land, homes, farms and water. Buildings need to stay cooler and withstand storms and floods, and crops need to survive more severe rains and droughts. Biologist and climate change scientist Serafino Afonso Rui Mucova studies how nature responds to human activity and changing weather in Mozambique, and how people can help ecosystems cope with climate change. He spoke with The Conversation Africa about what’s holding Mozambique back…

Nov

18

2025

By SETH ONYANGO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

“When harvests fail and rains delay” Emily Nderitu shows the world how to talk about climate change in Africa

SUSTAINABILITY

THE humid air of the Amazon hangs heavy as dusk settles over the sprawling city of Belem, a world away from the familiar heat of her native Kenya. Yet for Emily Wanja Nderitu, the setting feels familiar in another way, for it is once again a frontline in the global climate struggle, a place where stories must be told if justice is to be won. Nderitu, who works with Doc Society, a global organisation supporting independent storytellers, believes that Africa’s climate narrative must be reclaimed from the margins. “COP is an event. Climate is not an event,” she said with…

Nov

15

2025

By FADZAI CHIPATO

COP30: Zimbabwe’s forest and energy projects reveal the downside of carbon credits

SUSTAINABILITY

CARBON offsets are a way for companies or countries that pollute the air to “cancel out” some of their carbon emissions by funding projects that protect forests, plant trees, or provide clean energy – sometimes on the other side of the world. Polluting companies in the US, Europe, Asia or elsewhere can buy one carbon credit from a green project anywhere in exchange for emitting one metric tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2). But do these projects benefit the African countries that host them? Rural development researcher Fadzai Chipato studied two carbon offset projects in Zimbabwe. Her research found that these…

Nov

13

2025

By ALIX DIETZEL and KATHERINE FITZPATRICK

Five key issues at the UN climate summit in Brazil – and why they matter to you and the planet

SUSTAINABILITY

THE world’s most important climate summit – known this year as COP30 – has begun in the Amazonian port city of Belém, Brazil. It promises to be contentious: key countries haven’t submitted new climate plans, and negotiations are held up by disputes over who should pay for climate action. We attended a preliminary round of negotiations in June, which ended with very few concrete agreements. Many outcome documents were instead heavily caveated as “not agreed”, “open to revision”, or “without formal status”. Those fractious pre-summit talks followed a disappointing COP29 in Azerbaijan last year. This year, here are five key…

Nov

11

2025

By LAURA PEREIRA

Climate tipping points are close: scientists urge radical action before it’s too late

SUSTAINABILITY

New research has found that the world has reached the first of many Earth system tipping points. These will cause catastrophic harm unless humanity takes urgent action. A tipping point is a moment in the Earth’s climate system where even small changes can lead to significant, often irreversible consequences. Some of the most well-known global tipping points are melting ice sheets at the north and south poles, the dieback of the Amazon rainforest and the collapse of vital ocean currents. If these happen, food systems could break down and sea levels would rise rapidly. Tipping points also speed up global…

Nov

07

2025

By BONFACE ORUCHO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Farmers lend a hand in climate change resilience

SUSTAINABILITY

IT is mid-morning in Mbale, Vihiga County, Kenya, and the atmosphere is bustling with activity. Women are arranging bundles of sukuma wiki and tomatoes into crates while three men inspect the beehives that buzz softly at the farm's edge. Once a midsized solar pump is activated, it transports water via narrow tubes that wind between columns of vegetables. This is the Vihiga Mixed Farmers’ Cooperative, composed of 24 families overseeing 12 hectares of diverse crops and bee species. They cultivate vegetables, maintain beehives, and care for passion fruit vines that ascend the hills behind their houses. “We keep everything running…

Nov

06

2025

By KATIE REID; AOIFE DALY, and FLORENCIA PAZ LANDEIRA

Children and young people at climate talks: seen, photographed, but not allowed to decide anything

SUSTAINABILITY

CHILDREN and young adults are very much involved in campaigning against the climate change that older generations have caused. The global youth climate justice movement uses protests, strikes and court cases to block fossil fuel expansion. But do they have any say in what their governments do to address climate change, or a voice at the annual COP climate change conferences, where the world’s leaders make important climate decisions? Research by Florencia Paz Landeira, Alicia O'Sullivan, Aoife Daly and Katie Reid, law scholars for the Youth Climate Justice Project, discusses what needs to be done to give the young a…

Nov

05

2025

By DIOGO VERÍSSIMO and SALLY SINCLAIR

Why are so few environmental criminals on Interpol’s ‘most wanted’ list?

SUSTAINABILITY

ENVIRONMENTAL crime is big business, often listed among the world’s top five criminal activities, just behind counterfeiting and drug crime. So it would be reasonable to think it is a big priority for global law enforcement. But our new research suggests this is not the case. For each country, using a global list to track down wanted individuals, less than 2% of the crimes they were wanted for were environmental, on average. Interpol’s red notices are one of the few ways to understand international law enforcement priorities. When nations submit a red notice, these alerts Interpol’s 196 member nations of…

Nov

01

2025

By DECIDE MABUMBO

Climate crisis is a daily reality for many African communities: how to try and protect them

SUSTAINABILITY

FOR many African communities, the climate crisis is not a future scenario – it is a daily emergency. Irreversible losses, destroyed homes, failed harvests, vanishing ecosystems and lack of access to clean water are already happening. I’m a researcher in how to manage the risks of climate change and protect communities against climate disasters. I work with the International Water Management Institute, a non-profit organisation that works to improve water and land management to enhance food security, livelihoods and climate resilience. My research into drought-tolerant crops, efficient irrigation and community-based water management has shown how early investment in these water-smart…