Guinea’s giant Souapiti dam is displacing and impoverishing thousands
A flawed resettlement process is robbing villagers of their homes and livelihoods to the pave way for the construction of the Souapiti dam in Guinea.
Mike Mwenda
Contributor
All articles - 4
In the midst of coronavirus poachers seize the chance to kill rhinos in Africa
Poachers in Africa are encroaching on wildlife land and killing rhinos in travel hot spots now devoid of visitors due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Coronavirus in Africa, Zambia and others torn between fragile economies and healthcare systems
The coronavirus in Africa could completely overwhelm healthcare systems neglected for years. Yet Zambia has refrained from imposing the type of far-reaching lockdown seen in nations such as South Africa.
Tim the elephant dies in Kenya: Africa loses one of its last giant tuskers
One of Africa’s last and largest “tuskers”, Tim the elephant, died from natural causes after roaming Amboseli National Park for five decades and surviving multiple life-threatening attacks.
Tech giants sued over child labour, deaths and injuries in cobalt mining in the DRC
Apple, Dell, Microsoft and Tesla are among the tech companies named in a lawsuit brought in the US by the families of children killed and maimed in cobalt mining activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Zambia cancels plans to build open-pit Kangaluwi copper mine in a national park
The Zambian government has announced that construction of the open-pit Kangaluwi copper mine in Lower Zambezi National Park won’t proceed, following strong backlash against the project’s prior approval.
Tanzania to build Stiegler’s Gorge dam in a wildlife reserve and Unesco site
President Magufuli in unmovable in going ahead with the Stiegler’s Gorge dam despite conservationists’ warnings of the damage it will cause the Selous Game Reserve’s ecosystem and wildlife.
The drought in Zambia is causing starvation, a power crisis and threatening the Victoria Falls
An estimated 2.3 million people in Zambia are on the brink of starvation, threatened by a severe drought caused by dwindling rainfall, which its president Edgar Lungu has explicitly linked to climate change, though some scientists add that we should be cautious to make this connection. The catastrophe has also curbed hydropower at the Kariba Dam, affecting over 81
Southern African states threaten to quit CITES over restrictions on the ivory trade
Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe are home to the world’s largest African elephant population and have put forward a motion for the right to sell ivory acquired through natural deaths, confiscations and culling under certain conditions. Zambia, on its part, has proposed being allowed to sell its raw ivory and permit trade in hunting trophies for non-commercial
Yacouba Sawadogo, the African farmer who stopped the desert
Reforestation and soil conservation. This is how Yacouba Sawadogo, a simple farmer, and his family solved the desertification crisis in his village.