The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
>> US publications like The Washington Post and National Geographic are increasing their offerings of "green' content, hoping to attract readers and advertising revenues from manufacturers and retailers who are suddenly walking the earth-friendly path. The National Geographic Society has also rolled out a new site: Green.National Geographic.com. That site …
Low-elevation coastal zones (leczs) are areas at an elevation of 10 metres or less above sea level. Although leczs account for just 2 per cent of the world's total land area, they contain about 634 million people: 10 per cent of the global population. About 75 per cent of people …
spores of a new variety of black stem rust may reach India from Uganda and hit most of the wheat crop soon. The alarm was raised by the international crop protection body Global Rust Initiative (gri) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre, better known by its Spanish acronym …
why are humans the only primates without fur? The answer, new research suggests, could be the rampant practice of infanticide among stone-age women, who killed their furry children and reared only those born
Broadband connectivity is still poor in Africa. Since global optical fibre broadband infrastructure has not yet been introduced here, people in eastern and southern Africa cannot afford to make international calls. The Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Programme (rcip) supported by the World Bank, seeks to improve international connectivity in Africa. …
Chad, with its very limited supply of natural resources, is being strained due to the deluge of Sudanese refugees into camps along Chad's border with Darfur since 2004. The first sign that we are entering a dead zone is the carcass of a camel, gathering flies and red dust. Since …
a recent study has revealed that trees are in significant decline in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. The desert ranks among the most extreme deserts, with average annual rainfall being less than 30 mm. However, the region has widespread dry river valleys called wadis. The researchers monitored Acacia tortilis and …
Zimbabwe has announced plans for culling and contraception to slow down rampant elephant population growth. The announcement comes close to a recent incident in which a rogue elephant trampled to death a British woman and her daughter in the Hwange national park in northwest Zimbabwe. The country's elephant population is …
The death toll from a meningitis epidemic in Burkina Faso rose to 432 in the third week of March with 4,958 people affected by the disease. Seven other West African countries
Harare has announced it will discontinue support to new black commercial farmers when the next summer season commences. The decision comes in the face of an economic meltdown. According to a statement issued by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono, the decision came after the government discovered a significant …
Decisions that affect how people use land are among the most fraught that any enlightened society has to grapple with. Two claims that typically come out on the short end of the land-use debate are the claims of indigenous people and claims for non-human species. Sometimes claims for indigenous people …
A trail of dna has helped investigators trace the biggest ever consignment of contraband ivory seized in Singapore in June 2002 to Savannah elephants in Zambia. Scientists extracted dna from 37 tusks recovered from the shipment and compared this data with a continent-wide map showing genetic differences and similarities between …
Chimpanzees in West Africa may have used stone tools to crack nuts 4,300 years ago, says a recent study. Archaeologists Julio Mercader and Christophe Boesch published their study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Vol 104, No 7), which claims that prehistoric chimpanzees in West Africa …
>> The African Network of Environmental Journalists has received US $480,000 in funding from the European Commission to enable it to organise six regional workshops on environmental governance. >> Simon Michaels, an Australian kayaker, set off across Bass Strait to raise awareness about a proposed pulp mill in Tasmania. He …
A drought-tolerant maize seed has been launched to boost food security in African countries. The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture have taken up the programme in 11 African countries that are the most maize-dependent and drought-affected areas. The researchers aim to generate …
a new form of stem rust, a fungal disease of wheat, which has jumped from eastern Africa to Yemen, may affect the Indian wheat population in the next four years. Scientists are concerned but the good news is that some Indian varieties have been identified, which are resistant to the …
A virulent wheat disease now threatens the world's wheat crops. According to reports of various international agricultural research centres, this stem rust, known as ug99, has already spread from Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda over the Red Sea to the Arabian Peninsula. Studies of wind patterns in the region have led …
Botswana's autochthonous Bushmen (or the San people) have won legal rights to return to their ancestral homeland in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, after the High Court of Botswana ruled against their eviction by the government. Following the eviction, the Bushmen had been living in resettlement camps just outside the …
A new pact signed in Nairobi recently by the Great Lakes countries of Africa aims to protect and assist the displaced in the region. This is the first legally binding regional instrument specifically dealing with internally displaced persons. The pact signed by the three lake countries
