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 …
Male crocodiles of the Nile river could face extinction due to an invasive plant. The trifid weed has invaded the shoreline-nesting habitat for the crocodiles at Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, the largest estuarine system in Africa. The fibrous roots of the weed cause some nesting crocodiles to abandon their …
A South African company continues to sell Chlordane, a toxic pesticide that is banned worldwide. The South African chemical industry stopped selling the pesticide in March 2000. But Gulf Chemicals, a KwaZulu-Natal-based company, continues to manufacture the pesticide, with the approval of Etienne Wolmarans, registrar of the country's department of …
Divers recently filmed a coelacanth fish in St Lucia marine protected area of South Africa. Coelacanths were thought to be extinct for a long time but six of them were spotted in St Lucia last year (see Down To Earth, Vol 9, No 16, January 15, p12). Pieter Venter, one …
The government of Zimbabwe has given permission to cattle grazers to reside inside the Gonarezhou National Park. Environmentalists fear that this will result in large-scale poaching in the park, which is home to many endangered species of animals. The grazers have already started moving into the park. The permission comes …
The residents of Aloes area of Port Elizabeth city, South Africa, will no longer live in the vicinity of a hazardous medical waste incinerator and one of country's largest waste sites. For years the incinerator and the waste site were polluting the area, thanks to the apartheid government. "The pollution …
Residents of Zamdela town in the Sasolburg province of South Africa are fighting against air pollution. Under the apartheid rule, many petrochemical plants and oil refineries located in Zamdela were not disclosing information regarding their pollutant emissions. But now the situation is changing. With the help of environmental organisations, the …
in the face of mounting pressure, pharmaceutical manufacturers have abandoned their challenge against the South African Government over the pricing of aids medication. After more than 24 hours of final negotiations, the pharmaceutical companies and the South African Government reached agreement. The withdrawal paves the way to the production and …
The world's largest gold refinery, the Rand, located in South Africa will soon become the most ecofriendly one across the globe. The refinery is the first in the world to be awarded a certificate by the International Organisation for Standardisation (iso) . "The iso 14001 certificate recognises our adherence to …
sewage and industrial wastewater have been treated and reused in India for agriculture for well over 100 years, and in industries for the last 30-40 years. In spite of this reuse, there is a great untapped potential if some other options are also considered. Groundwater recharge with freshwater, for instance, …
with a confused leadership providing no able direction, frustration and alarm is growing at the rampant spread of aids throughout South Africa. And the announcement by five of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies offering to slash prices of hiv drugs in developing countries has done little to mitigate the suffering. …
When Mozambique fought a war of independence in 1975, its elephant population was over 60,000. When the war ended in 1992, there were only 15,000 left. The story is the same in many African nations
Conservationists welcomed a 20-year jail term handed to an elephant poacher, saying stiff sentences were needed to protect the continent's endangered wildlife. "We can only applaud the fact the court has handed down a harsh sentence... we welcome any deterrent to would-be poachers,' Sarah Scarth, director of the South African …
while climate change negotiations hogged media reports in international environmental negotiations, another global meeting in the same month quietly held its own and bore many fruitful results for its participants. On its 20th anniversary, the sixth conference of parties ( cop -6) to the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild …
Imagine yourself enjoying the exhilaration of an African safari in the comforts of your living room. With a state-of-the-art Internet facility, it is now possible for animal lovers to view live the wild inmates of Africa's four famous natural reserves, including the Kruger National Park. To put it simply, a
saudi arabia has banned the import of beef from South Africa because of concerns over "mad cow' disease, despite assurances from South Africa that its beef is safe, reported the daily Asharq al-Awsat . The South African government says the country has never been affected by the disease, which came …
About 100 of the world's remaining mountain gorillas have been killed as a result of the protracted civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, say conservationists. Poachers have slaughtered the gorillas for meat in the Kahusi Beiga National Park near the Rwandan border. The forest director says that the …
Sosobala Mbatha, South Africa's most famous traditional healer, will share his knowledge of Zulu indigenous medicine with his counterparts in the us . Mbatha has been invited to New York by American Traditional Healers for a series of meetings during which they hope to pool information. "By collaborating with other …
About 5,000 protestors demonstrated outside a game merchant's ranch in South Africa, demanding the release of 14 baby elephants. The owner of these elephants had been reprimanded by the court last year for cruel treatment to the animals. The protestors had gathered in response to a television programme which had …
it is estimated that of the 2.5 billion people at risk of contracting malaria today, there are one billion people who are actually carrying malarial parasites. Two million to three million of them die each year. The death toll could rise to eight million a year due to the spread …
The concept of joint implementation as a way to implement climate change mitigation projects in another country has been controversial ever since its inception. Developing countries have raised numerous issues at the project-specific technical level, and broader concerns having to do with equity and burden sharing. This paper summarizes the …
