SUSTAINABILITY - The African Mirror

Aug

05

2025

By NEIL D’CRUZE; ANGIE ELWIN, and HERBERT NTULI

Communities near South Africa’s Kruger National Park prefer wildlife-friendly ways to earn a living over killing animals

SUSTAINABILITY

KRUGER National Park is a flagship South African conservation area home to lions, elephants, rhinos, and leopards. Tourists from all over the world flock to the park to see wildlife. But people living nearby deal with the daily realities of living close to dangerous animals that might eat their livestock or damage their crops. For these communities near the park, economic opportunities are limited. The area has high unemployment and poverty levels, which fuel illegal hunting. Trophy hunting, where relatively wealthy hunters pay to legally kill wild animals and keep parts of them as “trophies”, is not allowed inside the…

Aug

01

2025

By The African Mirror

A powerful new short film sheds light on a ‘David and Goliath’ battle to protect South Africa’s oceans

SUSTAINABILITY

A new South African short film ‘SPOILED’ has premiered at a high-level workshop in Cape Town this week. This marine-focused event unpacked the findings of the WILDTRUST-driven project, highlighting the “Environmental, Social and Economic Risks and Impacts of Offshore Oil and Gas in South Africa”. The ‘SPOILED’ film carries an urgent call to protect South Africa’s rich and irreplaceable marine heritage from the growing threat of offshore oil and gas exploration. It weaves together the stories of coastal communities, activists, scientists, and traditional fishers who are standing up to one of the greatest environmental and social threats facing the country’s…

Jul

30

2025

By CYPRIAN M. MOSTERT

Extreme weather affects mental health: what vulnerable women in Kenya told us

SUSTAINABILITY

CLIMATIC shocks and environmental changes are increasingly recognised as one of the greatest threats to human health in the 21st century. Extreme weather, such as heatwaves, tropical cyclones, heavy rainfall, floods, wildfires and droughts, can trigger mental and physical ill-health. Individuals living in poor settings and rural areas are likely to be worst hit by these climatic shocks, given that many experience limited access to water, food and healthcare. Most studies that have examined the association between climate change and worsening mental health outcomes have been done outside the continent of Africa. But there is an urgent need to enhance…

Jul

26

2025

By KATRINA KOSEC; AMANDA CLAYTON; AMANDA LEA ROBINSON and BONIFACE DULANI

Forest loss in Malawi: how having women at the table affected debates and decisions about solutions – research

SUSTAINABILITY

AROUND the world, climate change is being tackled, not just in parliaments and global summits, but also in villages and farming communities. In these local spaces, lives and livelihoods depend directly on natural resources, and decisions are often made in groups. Globally, including women in action against climate change is seen as crucial. Especially in rural agricultural settings, women bear a substantial burden from the warming planet. But there has been little research on whether simply having more women involved in climate action changes the decisions taken by communities to combat global warming – or whether it matters. We are…

Jul

24

2025

By PIERS FORSTER and DEBBIE ROSEN

Only 3 years left – new study warns the world is running out of time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change

SUSTAINABILITY

BAD climate news is everywhere. Africa is being hit particularly hard by climate change and extreme weather, impacting lives and livelihoods. We are living in a world that is warming at the fastest rate since records began. Yet, governments have been slow to act. The annual global climate change conference of the parties (COP30) is just months away. All of the 197 countries that belong to the United Nations were supposed to have submitted updated national climate plans to the UN by February this year. These plans outline how each country will cut its greenhouse gas emissions in line with…

Jul

23

2025

By MARIAN SELORM SAPAH

Ghana has a rare treasure, a crater made when a meteor hit Earth: why it needs to be protected

SUSTAINABILITY

IMPACT craters are formed when an object from space, such as a meteoroid, asteroid or comet, strikes the Earth at a very high velocity. This leaves an excavated circular hole on the Earth’s surface. It is a basic geological process that has shaped the planets from their formation to today. It creates landscapes and surface materials across our solar system. The moon is covered with them, as are planets like Mercury, Mars and Venus. On Earth, impacts have influenced the evolution of life and even provided valuable mineral and energy resources. However, very few of the impact craters on Earth…

Jul

18

2025

By LEANNE N. PHELPS and KRISTINA GUILD DOUGLASS

Africans survived 10,000 years of climate changes by adapting food systems – study offers lessons for modern times

SUSTAINABILITY

IMAGINE living in a place where a single drought, hurricane, or mudslide can wipe out your food supply. Across Africa, many communities do exactly that – navigate climate shocks like floods, heatwaves, and failed harvests. What’s often overlooked in the development policies to tackle these threats is a powerful source of insight: Africa’s own history. Around 14,700 to 5,500 years ago, much of Africa experienced wetter conditions – a time referred to as the African Humid Period. As wet conditions declined around 5,500 years ago, major social, cultural, and environmental changes ensued across the continent. We’re part of a multidisciplinary…

Jul

15

2025

By JABULANI SHABA

Zimbabwe’s lithium is in demand for making batteries: how to make sure benefits flow to the local economy

SUSTAINABILITY

ZIMBABWE has the largest lithium reserves on the African continent. Lithium has been mined since the colonial period in the 1950s. It’s a critical part of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that are essential for the electric vehicle industry. Globally, the lithium-ion battery market is worth US$78.9 billion and is likely to amount to US$349.6 billion by 2034. In 2021, there was a new lithium rush in Zimbabwe because of increased global demand for the mineral. Today, most of Zimbabwe’s lithium mines are owned by Chinese mining companies like Sinomine, Zhejiang Huayo Cobalt, Chengxin Lithium, Yahua and Canmax. Lithium-ion batteries aren’t made…

Jul

14

2025

By CYRILLE CHATELAIN

Africa’s plants: a database project has recorded 65,000 species – and is still growing

SUSTAINABILITY

THE African Plant Database lists 65,000 species of flowering plants, ferns and conifers found on the African continent and Madagascar. Since 2006, every plant species ever documented in Africa and Madagascar has been included in the massive online database, with about 200 new species added every year. Cyrille Chatelain is a curator at the Geneva Botanical Garden in Switzerland. He’s researched plants in Côte d'Ivoire, Madagascar and north Africa and manages the plant database. Here he explains its importance. What’s been built and why is it so special? The database was developed by the Geneva Botanical Garden in Switzerland –…

Jul

09

2025

By LESLEY GREEN; CECILIA YEJIDE OJEMAYE; JO BARNES; LESLIE PETRIK; NIKIWE SOLOMON and VANESSA FARR

Cape Town’s sewage treatment isn’t coping: scientists are worried about what the city is telling the public

SUSTAINABILITY

URBAN water bodies – rivers, lakes and oceans – are in trouble globally. Large sewage volumes damage the open environment, and new chemicals and pharmaceutical compounds don’t break down on their own. When they are released into the open environment, they build up in living tissues all along the food chain, bringing with them multiple health risks. The city of Cape Town, South Africa, is no exception. It has 300km of coastline along two bays and a peninsula, as well as multiple rivers and wetlands. The city discharges more than 40 megalitres of raw sewage directly into the Atlantic Ocean…