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 …
The BASIC quartet — Brazil, South Africa, India and China — have sent out the message that agreeing on the second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol is “the central priority “for the yearend climate change meet at Durban, South Africa. At the recent BASIC ministerial meet at Inhotim in …
The eighth BASIC Ministerial Meeting on climate change took place in Inhotim, Minas Gerais, Brazil on 26-27 August 2011. The representatives of the four BASIC countries namely, Brazil, South Africa, India and China met to coordinate their perspectives on key negotiation and implementation issues. Ministers stressed the importance of ensuring …
The Madhya Pradesh forest department’s wildlife wing, in association with the Wildlife Institute of India, is close to introducing the extinct cheetah at Palpur Kuno wildlife sanctuary in Sheopur district. The last Asiatic cheetahs were seen in this part of the world in the middle of the previous century. This …
Climate change appears to be forcing many of the world's creatures to migrate to more favourable locales up to three times faster than previously believed, a study said on August 18. Researchers compiled past studies on species migration and combined them into a meta-analysis that showed a clear trend toward …
South Africa’s advertising watchdog ordered oil giant Shell on July 13 to withdraw its claims in newspapers about its use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to explore gas in the Karoo, a semi-desert wilderness. The Advertising Standards Authority described the adverts as “misleading”. Activist body Treasure the Karoo Action Group …
Jairam Ramesh's removal as Environment Minister creates uncertainties for domestic environment policy and the deadlocked global climate talks. WHATEVER one may think of its overall impact, the recent Cabinet reshuffle was not exactly a damp squib. Its single most important component was Jairam Ramesh's replacement as the Minister of State …
This paper explores some of the emerging issues that cities in the developing world confront as they begin to develop plans and strategies to adapt to the effects of global climate change. The emphasis is on low-income populations, both those now settled in cities and those still to migrate from …
Plans to build two new hotels in South Africa's flagship Kruger National Park have sparked a racial fight rekindling the country's troubled apartheid past. South Africa National Parks (SANParks) wants to construct the four-star safari lodges inside Kruger to attract new visitors who are willing to spend a little more …
South Africa's advertising watchdog criticized oil giant Shell on Wednesday for newspaper claims about its use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to explore for gas in the Karoo, a semi-desert wilderness. The Advertising Standards Authority described the adverts as "unsubstantiated" and "misleading" and ordered them to be withdrawn. The Treasure …
Kenya's state-run National Safety Authority is set to approve importation of genetically modified maize into the country for the first time to mitigate a looming shortage, its head said on Wednesday. The Kenyan government last week forecast a shortfall in the supply of maize, a staple in east Africa's biggest …
Disclosure is now at the heart of the misappropriation debate—and the centrepiece of vexed international efforts to hammer out a treaty to protect the last major resources of developing nations. Talks in the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) last month on protecting genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural …
South Africa is all set to kick off its preparations for the year-end UN climate change conference at Durban. Environment ministers from countries representing the entire spectrum of interests in the climate process will be meeting in Berlin for the Petersberg Climate Dialogue. The first major ministerial meeting, since the …
The effort to ensure long-term financing to address climate change is expected to be a key issue at the year-end UN climate conference to be held at Durban in South Africa. At Cancun, it was agreed that a climate fund would be set up and South Africa would like to …
JAIPUR: Member of Parliament and chairman of the Parliamentary Forum for HIV/AIDS Oscar Fernandes on Monday said that around 40% of the people living with HIV/AIDS are less than 15-year-old in the state. State legislators and experts on AIDS expressing their concern during the seminar held at the Birla Auditorium, …
As the world prepares to mark 30 years of AIDS (the infection was first reported on June 5, 1981), it has a lot to cheer about the progress made towards reversal of the epidemic.Much of this progress happened over the last decade, with the global rate of new HIV infections …
The International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics has released 735 highly-nutritious and drought-tolerant crop varieties developed using germplasm and breeding materials in 78 countries, including Andhra Pradesh in India, significantly contributing to increased income and better nutrition of resource-poor people in the dry land tropics. In Anantapur, where over …
By 2050, humanity could devour an estimated 140 billion tons of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass per year – three times its current appetite – unless the economic growth rate is “decoupled” from the rate of natural resource consumption, warns a report from the United Nations Environment Programme. Developed …
In a boost to Indian efforts at obtaining a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) group on Thursday for the first time called for
