SUSTAINABILITY - The African Mirror

Oct

29

2025

Surge in floating solar projects

SUSTAINABILITY

AFRICA is fast turning its dams, reservoirs and lagoons into electricity plants as floating solar power begins to take shape across the continent. Some projects have gone live as new construction goes on stream and other projects fill the pipeline, signalling a shift from prospects a few years ago to national energy strategies. In Nigeria, Mozambique, Ghana, Morocco and Seychelles, there are a handful of first-mover projects, which governments are banking on to bolster their share of renewable energy on the national grid. Renewable energy expert, George Obondi, told bird in a call that the technology is rapidly gaining traction…

Oct

27

2025

By PHILIPPES MBEVO FENDOUNG

Yaoundé is set to sizzle at 38°C by 2030: how green design could cool Cameroon’s capital

SUSTAINABILITY

YAOUNDÉ, the Cameroonian capital, is a vibrant, cosmopolitan city where green hills meet modern architecture, creating a harmonious blend of culture, history and urban dynamism. The city has expanded significantly over the years because of urbanisation – its population has grown from 59,000 in 1957 to nearly 4.1 million in 2020. Its expansion, however, has brought about a sharp decline in vegetation, turning the city into a collection of urban heat islands. A recent study says that Yaoundé will get hotter over the next five years. Yaoundé’s urban heat island phenomenon is magnified by the fact that poverty in the…

Oct

22

2025

By IFEYINWA IJEOMA OBIANYO

Nigeria needs 200,000km of durable new roads but it’s expensive: we tested plastic to make them stronger and cheaper

SUSTAINABILITY

NIGERIA doesn’t have enough roads, and it’s making life harder for people, especially in rural areas. The Nigerian government’s latest estimate is that the country needs another 200,000 kilometres of roads, and this will cost a whopping N18 trillion (US$12.2 billion). These new roads will help people get to schools, hospitals and markets, and boost the economy. But the high price of equipment, maintenance, labour and materials needed, like aggregates, bitumen (tar or asphalt) and cement, is putting the new roads out of reach. Rough terrain, environmental concerns and complicated road designs can make building roads more expensive too. For…

Oct

17

2025

By BENETT SIYABONGA MADONSELA

Indigenous knowledge systems can be useful tools in the G20’s climate change kit

SUSTAINABILITY

INDIGENOUS knowledge systems are bodies of knowledge that were developed and used by local communities for centuries. They shape how people understand their environment, solve problems, and live sustainably. Bennet Siyabonga Madonsela, environmental scientist and Indigenous knowledge systems researcher, explains how these systems can help the world adapt to climate change, and what South Africa, as the 2025 president of the G20 group of most powerful economies, should do to promote them. What are Indigenous knowledge systems? Indigenous knowledge systems are sets of knowledge that were developed long ago and passed down through the generations in various ways, including through…

Oct

09

2025

By ANNAH LAKE ZHU and AMADOU NDIAYE

Africa’s ‘great green wall’ is stalling: in Senegal very few planted areas show progress

SUSTAINABILITY

AFRICA’S Great Green Wall project began as an ambitious plan to build a 15-kilometre-wide band of trees across the north of Africa. The African Union launched the project in 2007 with plans for the trees to extend for 6,000 kilometres through 11 countries in the Sahel, restoring 100 million hectares of land from Senegal to Djibouti and Ethiopia. Its main aim was to prevent the Sahara Desert from advancing. But the Great Green Wall’s also been billed as a solution to climate change, poverty, and even extremism. Senegal has been one of the most active countries implementing the Great Green…

Oct

04

2025

By BHEKUMUZI DEAN BHEBHE

The politics of Africa’s Energy Bank: The Trojan horse on a risky path back to debt and dependency

SUSTAINABILITY

AFRICA Energy Week, the platform where governments and big business come together to discuss the pertinent agenda of electrification, industrialisation, and development for the continent, is currently underway in Cape Town. A few weeks ago, African leaders gathered in Addis Ababa for the Second Africa Climate Summit in September, and a bold and troubling idea is gaining momentum: the creation of an “African Energy Bank.” This idea is being fronted as a homegrown financing solution for the continent’s energy needs. Last year in September, the AEB was inaugurated. There were hopes that the bank would be launched in the first…

Oct

03

2025

By JESSICA KUTZ

Jane Goodall lived her childhood dream

SUSTAINABILITY

JANE Goodall, one of the most renowned woman scientists in the world, died at age 91 in Los Angeles, her namesake institute announced in a statement on Wednesday. Goodall became famous for her work studying the behaviours of chimpanzees, capturing the attention of institutions like the National Geographic Society, which funded her research and featured an iconic cover image of Goodall observing a group of chimpanzees in the jungle. She would go on to earn a PhD despite never having received a bachelor's degree. It was a childhood dream fulfilled. As she told Time in 2018: “When I was a…

Sep

27

2025

By BRITTANY KESSELMAN

Traditional food systems nourish communities and protect the environment: lessons from South Africa’s Amadiba

SUSTAINABILITY

THE global food system contributes to multiple planetary crises – and is vulnerable to them. Climate change, other ecological degradation and socio-economic inequality are all linked to food. Malnutrition and rising levels of diet-related diseases are also related to this food system, in which transnational food corporations pursue profits at the expense of human health and the environment. In recent years, various groups, including small-scale food producers, social movements, scholars and international agencies, have campaigned for a more socially just and environmentally sustainable global food system. This drives the movement for food sovereignty – the right to healthy and culturally…

Sep

20

2025

By The African Mirror

bird Interview: In Conversation with Mitchelle Mhaka on building a justice-centered climate movement

SUSTAINABILITY

On the 4th of December 2024, the Pretoria High Court delivered a ruling that reverberated far beyond South Africa’s borders. In what became known as the ‘Cancel Coal case’, the court struck down the government’s plan to procure 1,500 megawatts of new coal-fired power, declaring it unconstitutional and unlawful. The judgment marked the first time a South African court had stopped coal expansion on constitutional grounds, setting a precedent that youth-led movements could hold governments to account not only for environmental harms but also for the health, social and generational rights threatened by fossil fuels. At the heart of that…

Sep

18

2025

By LORENA PASQUINI; ALICE MCCLURE; ANNA TAYLOR; CHIPO PLAXEDES MUBAYA, and LULU VAN ROOYEN (nee PRETORIUS)

African cities aren’t doing enough to adapt to climate change: lessons from Durban and Harare

SUSTAINABILITY

WHEN record-breaking rains swept through the coastal city of Durban in South Africa in April 2022, the resulting floods destroyed roads, bridges and homes. Durban’s low-lying, poor neighbourhoods were hardest hit, with residents losing their homes and their lives. The scene would have felt familiar to residents of many other fast-growing African cities. Some, including Lagos, Cairo, Cape Town and Durban, have already faced the need to adapt to a changing climate and its intensifying hazards such as floods, droughts or intense heat. Cities need new ways to adapt to climate change. The current system of social, economic and political…