By Elvis Dumba Chinhoyi – The Municipality of Chinhoyi which is aiming to be accorded city status is being accused of polluting Manyame River, a tributary of the mighty Zambezi River, in a move seen by analysts as dealing itself a major blow in its quest to be elevated. The Mashonaland West Provincial Town is…
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) has approved the establishment of a €4 million Africa Circular Economy Facility to drive integration of the circular economy into African efforts to achieve nationally defined contribution (NDC) targets. The Facility (https://bit.ly/3voaQVl), a multi-donor trust fund, will operate over a period of 5-years and will receive…
On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA), the Ministers of Environment for South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe met on 13 April 2022 to discuss various issues related to the collaborative management of this important cross-border conservation area. The meeting was held virtually and attended by Honourable…
On Equatorial Guinea’s capital island of Malabo, agriculture ministers from across Africa are meeting this week to discuss solutions to the growing hunger crisis, at a conference convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The 32nd Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Africa (ARC32) opened with a call from the FAO Assistant…
Case studies across Africa demonstrate the positive impact that access to even the most basic mobile technology can offer smallholder farmers. This underscores the importance of driving inclusive access to digital technology, especially mobile-based, to help the continent’s farmers mitigate the impact of climate change. This assertion is championed by Vodacom, Vodafone, Safaricom, and the…
By Elvis Dumba Banket – It looked coincidental that on the day the country joined the rest of the world in commemorating World Health Day running under the theme ‘Our planet, our health ” which focuses on climate change, farmers in Mapinga and Banket were counting losses following heavy rains that fell on the day…
Yesterday, The Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) joined the rest of the world to mark World Health Day 2022. This year’s theme “Our planet: Our health” advocates for global attention on urgent actions needed to keep humans and the planet healthy and foster a movement to create societies focused on well-being. Climate change…
By Elvis Dumba Mutare – As the world prepares to meet in Sweden for Stockholm+50 on the 2nd and 3rd of June this year during the world environment week, calls have been made to accelerate the involvement of climate change crisis hard-hit communities such as children, women, and people with disabilities. The clarion call came…
Small farms and agricultural firms in Sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia are facing a billion-dollar cash black hole for climate change adaptation, a report says. Overall there is a gap of US$106 billion in available investment in agricultural small- and medium-sized enterprises (agri-SME) ranging from farms to rice millers and agricultural data firms, according to…
By Baboloki Semele Extending over 624 million hectares, forests in Africa covering 20.6 percent of the continent’s land area and 15.6 percent of the world’s forest cover underpin key sectors of many African countries, including energy, forestry, agriculture, tourism, and water, and support the livelihoods of millions of people. Forests are crucial at a continental…
By Ms. Fatouma Seid (FAO Representative in Ethiopia) Agriculture is a source of livelihood for over 80 percent of the population in Ethiopia. However, the sector has faced complex and overlapping threats over the past decade. Since 2019, the country has been responding to the worst desert locust invasion in over 25 years. Although the…
By Baboloki Semele Today, in the white and blue city in Kenya, Mombasa, African Forest Forum stakeholders are meeting via hybrid, a regional workshop to share information and experiences on challenges and opportunities in forest management for sustainable development in Africa in the context of climate change. Addressing the delegates, during the official opening, the…
Food and nutrition security in Africa is off track: In 2020, more than one in five people in Africa faced hunger—more than double the proportion of hungry people in any other region. In fact, the continent remains a net food importer at an annual cost of $43 billion. Food security in Africa demands urgent and serious…
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is playing a key role in the management of forests in line with its mandate as a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. This was revealed during the 2022 commemoration of International Day of Forests yesterday by Dr…
African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) Vice President Dr. Kevin Kariuki will lead a delegation to Egypt, the host country for this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference 2022, for exploratory talks on how the Bank and Egypt can collaborate to make COP27 a truly breakthrough event for people and planet. COP 27 is scheduled for November…
The African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) and the Bank’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) have approved a combined-equity investment of $20 million in the AfricaGoGreen Fund (https://bit.ly/3CwrGUW), a debt fund established to promote private investments in energy-efficient technologies and business models, with the objective of decarbonising African economies and accelerating the energy transition. These new…
By Baboloki Semele Forest management stakeholders are bracing themselves for an information-sharing workshop on challenges and opportunities for forest management in Africa slated for 28 March to 1 April 2022 in Mombasa, Kenya to be held under the theme “Strengthening management and use of forest ecosystems for sustainable development in Africa”. The project seeks to…
By Baboloki Semele Kenya, or rather Africa has scored a major win after countries directed the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to return all its key departments to Nairobi. Although UNEP is headquartered in Nairobi, African nations complained the Kenya office was just a shell because key departments are based in Europe, where their high-level…
By Plan International Governments must acknowledge the devastating injustice of the climate crisis faced by children, girls, and young women and the disproportionate impacts on their lives and make strong commitments to prioritize children and girls’ rights in climate adaptation, mitigation, and response. Despite being least responsible for this unfolding crisis, children bear the…
The African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) joined public and private sector actors in Nairobi this week to discuss the implementation of circular economy policies, and action plans in Africa. Highlights of the side event included news that Morocco plans to join the African Circular Economy Alliance. The side event on accelerating a just transition to a…
By Baboloki Semele President of Botswana, Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi has pleaded with the global community to incentivize conservation success instead of being punitive. Dr. Masisi said this yesterday as he addressed delegates at the two-day commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations Environment Programe held in the global hub for the environment, Nairobi,…
By Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association The 3rd of March is a day to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild animals and plants. World Wildlife Day has become the most important global annual event dedicated to wildlife. This year, the day is being celebrated under the theme, “Recovering key species for ecosystem restoration.” It is…
By Baboloki Semele Nairobi, Kenya: The 5th UN Environment Assembly concluded yesterday in Nairobi with 14 resolutions to strengthen actions for nature to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Assembly is made up of the 193 UN Member States and convenes every two years to advance global environmental governance. The world’s ministers for the…
By Baboloki Semele Nairobi, Kenya: Heads of State, Ministers of environment, and other representatives from 175 nations endorsed a historic resolution at the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) yesterday in Nairobi to End Plastic Pollution and forge an international legally binding agreement by 2024. The resolution addresses the full lifecycle of plastic, including its production, design,…
A new report on plastic pollution and migratory species was launched yesterday during the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA5) in Nairobi. The report, “Risk assessment of plastic pollution to migratory species in the Mekong and Ganga River Basins”, was prepared under the UN’s Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of…
The 6th European Union (EU)-African Union (AU) Summit, held on Thursday 17 and Friday 18 February 2022 in Brussels, ended with the adoption of a joint declaration on the Africa-Europe 2030 vision. Europe will implement a global investment strategy with at least 150 billion euros to support “projects wanted and carried by Africans, with priority…
A study released Feb. 14 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences claims that ethanol is likely a bigger contributor to global warming than gasoline, Reuters reported. The study contradicts previous findings by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) showing that ethanol and other biofuels are green. “Corn ethanol is not a climate-friendly fuel,” said…
The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and African Development Bank (AfDB) today handed over Weather Monitoring Equipment to the Meteorological Services Department. AfDB as the donor is working with UNOPS and the Government of Zimbabwe on the Post Cyclone Idai and Kenneth Emergency Recovery and Resistance Programme (PCIREP) which targets the districts of…
Due to severe drought, Turkey’s 2021-22 wheat production is down 2 million tonnes, to 16.25 million tonnes, according to a report from the Foreign Agricultural Service of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). Looking ahead to next year, rainfall levels from October to December were better compared to the same period a year ago. However,…
The Tanganda Tea Company Limited, a part of Chipinge’s history, continues to show how it has managed to not only last so long but grow to be Zimbabwe’s largest producer, packer, and distributor of Tea. As a people-centred business, Tanganda has been actively improving the lives of its employees and the community of Chipinge….
By Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) Wetlands provide numerous environmental, economic, and social services such as pollutant removal, wildlife habitat, groundwater recharge, and carbon sequestration.[1] They play a crucial role in climate change mitigation by trapping carbon thereby reducing greenhouse gases, a major contributor to global warming. Wetlands also help cities to adapt to climate…
By Sowell Chikwari Civil society organisations have raised concerns over the decimation of wetlands in urban peripheries owing to housing construction and agricultural activities as it negatively impacts the environmental ecosystem. The City of Harare is among the most affected cities in terms of the depletion of wetlands, a situation that has grossly affected the…
Developing agriculture remains Zimbabwe’s most direct route to reducing poverty, hunger, and malnutrition given that 67% of the population resides in rural areas and relies on smallholder farming as a source of livelihood. The transformation of agriculture entails developing a robust sector that has mainstreamed mechanisms of reducing the vulnerability of and maintaining and increasing…
Working with European farmers Farmers, who are the stewards of the land, must be an integral part of the solutions for the European food systems of the future. They possess intimate knowledge of the land from years of experience and cross-generational information and are well-positioned to disseminate this knowledge. For this and many other reasons,…
Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) comes as a farming model for a sustainable agricultural production system aimed at food security even during climatic calamities in eight countries, including Bangladesh. Officials said the D-8 grouping adopted a proposal on the introduction of the CSA model in the developing eight economies. Bangladesh had proposed the system in the D-8…
The first-ever Middle East and North Africa Climate Week (MENACW) 2022, is set to take place from 28 February to 3 March 2022 at the Dubai Exhibition Centre in Dubai, UN Climate change news has recently informed. This planned in-person meeting kicks off the Regional Climate Weeks in 2022 and a new era of cooperation…
People in Beitbridge West are appealing for urgent assistance from well-wishers since their livelihoods were destroyed by incessant rains that hit the area recently. Taking the appeal to various social media networking sites, Godfrey “Chief” Koti, an influential media personality who hails from the area thanked various stakeholders who have come on board with the…
Staff Reporter The City of Harare has noted with great concern that a number of people are cultivating maize on wetlands in different parts of the city. Against this background, the Harare City Council has warned that among other punitive measures, Harare-based residents who temper with wetlands are required to pay a fine of 25…
By Joyce Mukucha The United Nations (UN) Secretary General António Guterres has urged countries across the globe to “commit to making 2022 a year of recovery for everyone.” In his message for the New Year , the UN chief called upon everyone to make recovery “for people, planet and prosperity” as the resolution for the…
By Dr. Richard Munang As we close the year 2021, I have been thinking of the most important aspect to talk about. It was a hard nut to crack, but I settled on one word “ATTITUDE”. We need an urgent imperative, which I call a change in attitude perspective—an attitude perspective on seeing things. We…
By Calvin Manika Timothy Ncube, 18, sits under a baobab tree at their homestead in Lukosi village, Hwange. Despite being a rainy season, they have not received enough rains to commence farming in earnest. Timothy thinks that seasons have changed and the climate is no longer favourable to them to rely on subsistence farming for…
Dr. Anxious Masuka, the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development commissioned the Chivi Water Supply Rehabilitation Works as part of efforts by the Second Republic to accelerate rural development for the attainment of Vision 2030. The rehabilitation of Chivi Water Supply is part of a wider programme to help ease water challenges…
In Ngangu Village, one of the epicentres of Cyclone Idai destruction in Chimanimani District, scores of people are still nursing the physical, emotional, and psychological wounds of the environmental catastrophe that hit their community. Shamiso Makwambeni (not real name) recounted how on the fateful night of 15 March 2019, after what appeared a normal day,…
The ministry of local government today received a donation of vehicles procured by the African Development Bank AfDB under the Post Cyclone Idai Emergency Recovery and Resilience Project (PCIREP) . The donation of 8 Crane Trucks and 2 Nissan NP300 Pick Up trucks is meant to enhance disaster preparedness and response in Manicaland Province as…
By Joyce Mukucha The United Nations (UN) Women has recently announced that next year’s theme for the International Women’s Day(IWD) “Equality today for a sustainable tomorrow,” a theme which recognizes efforts being made by women and girls around the globe in mitigating climate change as well as building resilient lives and livelihoods. The theme for…
