In the more than a quarter century since Shell Plc left Ogoniland in southern Nigeria, oil has continued to ooze from dormant wellheads and active pipelines, leaving the 386-square mile kingdom’s wetlands shimmering with a greasy rainbow sheen, its once-lush mangroves coated in crude, well-water smelling of benzene and farmlands charred and barren. 

Gabon claims it has preserved its natural environment with satellite imagery and environment-first policies – and some industry insiders agree.

Facing deadly drought, historic floods, and extreme weather events, African politicians, civil society, and business leaders will voice calls for urgent action.

Agriculture Minister Anxious Masuka has said at least 260,000 people are on the waiting list to be allocated farms.Masuka was speaking during a field day in Kwekwe, before putting unproductive farmers on notice.The senior government official confirmed that at least 304 whites are occupying farms in the country.

“We have taken 99% of land from former white farmers and we have 304 white farmers occupying farming land. We have now given them tenure documents and offer letters,” he said.“On the other hand nearly 300,000 black farmers are occupying both A1 and A2 farms.

The DRC has two main goals in selling oil blocks that overlap with the world’s second largest rainforest. Neither involves developing oil.

There are too many animals for the available water supply in the Gobi desert region. The situation worsens each year.

Main photo: Bolortuya Bekh-Ochir, right, and Jargalsuren Tungalagzaya fill a trough with water for a herd of goats in Mongolia's Gobi desert region (URANCHIMEG TSOGKHUU, GPJ MONGOLIA)

While the introduction to the framework acknowledges the urgency in climate science, it fails to recognise that we are living through climate extremes and their deleterious impacts. Moreover, the document does not mention upfront that we are one of 10 climate hotspots in the world, with a doubling in our average temperatures compared with the global average.

For almost three decades the ANC government failed to address the legacies of apartheid. We certainly do not expect it to rise to the challenge of ensuring a deep and transformative just transition, informed by climate justice.

The DRC’s plans to auction off drilling rights to oil and gas companies in the Congo Basin threatens global climate targets and undermines international climate summits.

Freetown, August 8, 2022 – Sierra Leone’s Parliament has passed two groundbreaking bills that transform communities’ ability to protect their land rights and the environment. The new legislation serves as a model for the rest of the world.

 

Passed by unanimous votes, the Customary Land Rights and National Land Commission Acts will, among other things:

Ignoring the plight of 20 million people in the Horn of Africa is a political choice.

The 20 million people struggling to survive a scorching drought in the Horn of Africa are victims not only of a climate crisis but of the failings of governments and humanitarians to heed the lessons from earlier disasters.

Erosion and tidal surges are threatening fishing communities in West Africa. As a result, many people are fleeing inland — losing their livelihoods. The sea has already encroached two meters into the country's interior.