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 …
Compulsory control of alien plants by landowners will be one of the major provisions of the Conservation of Agricultural Resources Act of South Africa. "The act will soon be passed,' says Mary Metcalfe official of the Gauteng Agriculture and Environment. Estimates of the us government indicate that 1.7 per cent …
More than half of the total African penguin population, which was on the verge of dying, were saved due to the efforts of thousands of people. The penguins of the Dassen Island and the Robben Island, had faced a threat of extinction when oil from a sunken ship had leaked …
This year, South African forests could face fires which will be twice as fierce as the usual ones, indicates a field experiment, which was supported by the National Aeronautical and Space Administration ( nasa ). During the experiment, thickness of the smoke plumes were measured, movements of large plumes were …
A family of eight elephants was donated by South Africa to Angola. This has been done to revive Angola's Quicama National Park. Many more animals will be transferred to the park in the near future. The park is devoid of animals due to widespread poaching and destruction of the region's …
South Africa and Namibia have rejected an offer of the us to provide financial assistance for purchasing anti- aids drugs. A total of us $1 billion was offered by the us Export-Import Bank to 24 sub-Saharan countries in annual loans. Bank officials said that till now none of the countries …
under the aegis of the United Nations, an international agreement was signed by eight countries to develop globally uniform environmental regulations for motor vehicles. The agreement, pending for the past two years, is expected to "harmonise' the world's automobile standards. According to an announcement made by the United Nations Economic …
there is no end to human wants and an evergreen tree is the latest prey of this. Prunus africana, a tree found only in Africa, may become extinct within 5-10 years. The tree is being cut down by the poachers just for its bark, which provides the best natural cure …
A conservation row is brewing up in KwaZulu Natal because a mining company has approached the government to set up a coal mine on the border of the Umfolozi Game Reserve. According to Peter Hartley, a conservation officer, a coal mine on the border of the reserve would prove to …
The year 1999 registered the highest number of disasters since the last 10 years. The trend for the last decade shows that the Asian continent is most frequently hit by disasters. In 1999, nearly 40 per cent of the total disasters took place in Asia. Africa has also seen a …
the high cost of drugs to fight hiv/aids in developing countries was a recurring theme at the 13th International aids conference held in Durban, South Africa, in the second week of July. The official opening ceremony was preceded by a protest march of several thousand people organised by the Treatment …
don corleone was probably the most popular citizen in the us when Hollywood made the film The Godfather . He used to make people offers they couldn't refuse. If they did they wound up dead. In the case of Africa, the local people and the government have been made an …
The South African government has severely criticised an offer of Pfizer Incorporation, a pharmaceutical company, to supply a powerful and expensive drug called Diflucan free of cost. Diflucan is used to treat a deadly AIDS-related infection. According to government officials, the offer is too restrictive to be of much benefit …
Toxic waste from the Thor Chemicals' mercury processing plant is contaminating the groundwater in KwaZulu-Natal, according to the environment justice networking forum (EJNF) of South Africa. The plant treats and stores toxic waste imported from developed countries in Europe and elsewhere. The state department of environmental affairs and tourism took …
Recent findings show that Africa is home not to one, as was common knowledge, but two species of elephants. For many years, some zoologists have suspected that this might be the case, as African elephants tend to be stockier than the savannah elephants and also have straighter tusks and rounder …
A White Paper for Sustainable Coastal Development was released by Valli Moosa, the environment minister of South Africa recently. The document emphasises the importance of considering all aspects of the coast together while taking decisions about them and aims to establish a balance between the developed, rural and wilderness coastal …
a reconstruction of climate using lake sediments suggests that African climate in previous centuries was much lethal than in the last 30 years. "Those centuries saw huge swings in African rainfall. The fluctuations seem to be tied to variations in the radiative output of the Sun,' says Dirk Verschuren of …
The government has launched an investigation to determine the cause that led to the release of radioactive waste into the Crocodile River from the Pelindaba nuclear facility. The move was triggered by reports that the facility had released more than the stipulated amount of radioactive liquid into the river last …
Chief David Syankusule is one of the 57,000 Tonga people from Zambia and Zimabwe who had to make way for the construction of the Kariba Dam in the late 1950s. "The colonial government decided they were going to build a dam irrespective of whether we accepted it or not,' he …
aids has long been considered primarily a men's disease. But late last year, the United Nations reported for the first time that more women than men were infected with the aids virus in Africa, the site of the vast majority of such infections in the world. Of the 22.3 million …
almost four million litres of used engine oil seeped into the soil and contaminated the groundwater besides polluting the air in KwaZulu-Natal during the second half of last year. This is according to estimates made by the Rose Foundation, a private company that collects and recycles used lubricating oil around …
