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 …
> People are using over 20 per cent more natural resources each year than can be regenerated. The ecological footprint of humankind is increasing. This overdraft will not last long. Carry on stomping In 1999, the Earth had 11.4 billion hectares of productive land and sea space, that is about …
ENERGY MINE Let's assume you have nothing to do with the demand or supply of energy. But one morning you wake up and feel an urge to find out about the strategic importance of the port of Djibouti in West Africa to Eritrea. Suppose you get curious about the presence …
Malaria is back with a bang in East Africa. Its latest victim is Kenya, where the epidemic has killed at least 294 people since June 2002. According to estimates, more than 158,000 cases of the disease have been reported in the country's western highlands. The large number of malaria-related deaths …
climate change is triggering widespread outbreaks of diseases among wildlife along with spreading tropical diseases in human habitations previously unaffected by them. These were the findings of a comprehensive two-year study conducted by National Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (nceas), a California-based research institute. The study is the first …
Under siege • 38 per cent of Africa's coastal ecosystems are threatened by development-related activities. Population densities reach 500-1,000 inhabitants per square km along the Nile delta • Almost 25 per cent of Canada's and about 55 per cent of the USpopulations live in coastal areas. The US coastal population …
UPDATE Beached! Non-government organisations get the sinking feeling that the wssd will deliver nothing, after the final preparatory meeting in Bali comes to no good "M r Annan, the Earth Summit is sinking,' alarmed civil society groups wrote to un Secretary General Kofi Annan, after the final preparatory meeting to …
An illegal wildlife trade racket has been unearthed in Africa. In January 2002, four lowland gorillas from the zoological garden at Nigeria's University of Ibadan were transferred to Taiping Zoo in Malaysia. Now, the secretariat of the global Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (cites) is probing into the alleged …
the recently concluded World Food Summit at Rome was a sorry affair. The aim was to review the progress made since the food summit in 1996 when the world had jointly resolved to halve the number of malnourished to 400 million by 2015. But the report card is shameful. The …
>> By 2007, one-half of the world's population will live in urban areas compared to little more than one-third in 1972. By the end of 2002 some 70 per cent of the world's urban population will be living in Africa, Asia or Latin America >> 1,200 million more people in …
the South African government seems to be in reverse gear in context of their environmental policies. While countries the world over are increasingly prohibiting the use of thin plastics, South Africa has modified its proposed ban on polythene bags by reducing their thickness from 80 microns to 30 microns. Reducing …
Africa is reeling under a double whammy. As if the erratic weather pattern that has led to a widespread famine was not enough, corruption and mismanagement has compounded the people's misery. Two seasons of crops have been devastated, first by flood and then by drought. The continent is grappling with …
Zambia and Kenya are set to lock horns over ivory trade at the next Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (cites) meeting scheduled for November 2002. While a proposal to lift the international ban on ivory trade has been put forth by the Zambian government, Kenya is likely to …
Mystery Fish A tiny submarine craft will track the elusive coelacanth, a curious looking fish that has been swimming the seas for an astonishing 400 million years. Believed to be extinct for 70 million years, a coelacanth was trapped by a trawler in 1938 off the South African coast. Later, …
THIS much-awaited report highlights the plight of the poor in these countries. The disparity between haves and have-nots have been documented in detail. The statistics are well highlighted. Take for example the painful fact that approximately 40 per cent of the population in India, Lesotho, Gambia, Tanzania, and several countries …
Killer Crocs Humans encroach and animals pay the price. Officials recently killed four crocodiles blamed for killing at least 40 people. Following an intense outcry from villagers, the Ugandan Wildlife Authority (uwa) was forced to send a four-man patrol team armed with semi-automatic rifles to hunt down the reptiles. According …
God's Garden For the first time in tropical Africa, a government is planning to create a 52 square mile park to safeguard the region's floral beauty. This park on the remote Kitulo Plateau, to be added to the country's 12 existing national parks, will house rare orchids, wild flowers, unique …
global warming is unquestionably responsible for causing numerous adverse environmental changes, but it is certainly not to be blamed for the recent upsurge of malaria cases in East African highlands. This claim was recently made by researchers from the uk -based Oxford University. According to them, drug resistance or the …
With an aim to root out corruption, Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi has banned allocation of public land to individuals. Environmental groups have welcomed the ban but expressed scepticism about its effective implementation as that would affect a key channel of cash ahead of the forthcoming general elections. Earlier, in …
Humans worldwide began wearing jewellery at the same time as groups started meeting up, say researchers from the University of Arizona in Tucson, usa . The finding counters the idea that
