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The Hands That Steal: Who Is Benefitting From Aid to the DRC?
A review by an anti-fraud taskforce has revealed massive corruption in the DRC involving employees of the UN and international NGOs. Lack of oversight on how aid to the DRC’s vulnerable populations is dispersed has allowed bribery to flourish in one of the world’s most mineral-rich and conflict-prone countries.
'The Last Straw': As Pandemic Rages, Oxfam Warns 12,000 Could Die Per Day From Hunger
Oxfam International warned Thursday that up to 12,000 people could die each day by the end of the year as a result of hunger linked to the coronavirus pandemic—a daily death toll surpassing the daily mortality rate from Covid-19 itself.
April saw the highest global daily mortality rate for Covid-19 thus far with just over 10,000 deaths per day.
Alarming new report finds we lost 45,000 square miles of tree cover in 2019. That’s an area the size of Nicaragua
Last year the world lost some 119,000 square kilometers (45,946 square miles) of tree cover – an area the size of Nicaragua – according to satellite data collated by the University of Maryland (UMD) released today by World Resources Institute (WRI). Almost a third of that loss – or an area the size of Switzerland – came from primary humid tropical forests, which house most of the planet’s plant and animal species and play an important role in climate regulation.
CONCERNS OVER FRACKING PLANS ON NAMIBIA-BOTSWANA BORDER
Reports suggesting that a Canadian oil and gas firm is planning to start hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in one of Africa’s most sensitive environmental areas along the Namibia-Botswana border have made environmentalists, civil society organisations and local communities apprehensive about the long term effects of the activity on the Okavango Delta, one of Africa’s last natural sanctuaries.
Botswana: Investigations Expose Land Overseer Hand
Maun — Investigations to establish the root cause of squatting in Maun have revealed that some land overseers were at the forefront of the problem, Kgosi Oleyo Ledimo has said.
Presenting on the role of bogosi in land administration during the ongoing orientation workshop for new land board members, Kgosi Ledimo expressed disappointment that some land overseers encouraged squatting.
The investigations were undertaken by tribal leaders following concerns expressed by Tawana Land Board about squatting last year.
Botswana embarks on land degradation neutrality
The Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism (MENT) through the Department of Forestry and Range Resources (DFRR) has embarked on a project to restore degraded land and soil in order to achieve land degradation neutrality (LDN) in Botswana.
Botswana: Married women gain right to own land
Revised Botswana Land Policy of 2019 now gives married women right to apply for land ownership, says President Masisi
For the first time married women in Botswana will be able to own land, the president of the Southern African country has announced.
“The Revised Botswana Land Policy of 2019 now gives married women the right to apply for land,” President Mokgweetsi Masisi tweeted Thursday, announcing the end of discriminatory treatment under older legislation.
Botswana Lives By AU's Malabo Declaration
The Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Edwin Dikoloti last week told Parliament that Botswana is making strides in living the Malabo Declaration.
Dikoloti was responding to a question from Member of Parliament for Jwaneng-Mabutsane, Mephato Reatile who had asked the Minister when government would sign the Malabo Declaration.
The Declaration is a set of concrete agriculture goals to be attained by 2025 that was adopted at the African Union (AU) Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea in June 2014 by Heads of State and Government.
Botswana grapples with shortage of serviced land and housing units
According to a 2017 research paper titled “An Assessment of Public-Private Partnerships in Land Servicing and Housing Delivery”, the pressure on municipal and central governments to allocate adequate attention and finance to house urban populations, especially the poor has been on the rise.
BDP to present land reform bill in parliament
Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) will in the upcoming meeting of parliament table a number of bills that are motivated by the party’s 2019 election manifesto, party Secretary General Mpho Balopi has said.
Since October elections the party has been subject of criticism from various quarters including political commentators that it has failed to walk its promise. Balopi has however told this publication this week that the party is initiating several reforms that speak to the party promises contained in the manifesto.