By Fidelis Zvomuya
 

Frank Chauke from Makakavhule Village returns home after fetching water from 5 kms away. / Fidelis Zvomuya

BEITBRIDGE, Zimbabwe, Mar 15 (IPS) – Chapita Ramovha remembers the days when the Limpopo River lapped at the foot of his village in south Zimbabwe. He says that back then residents of Makakavhule village had to build [...]

By Ignatius Banda

Women in rural Zimbabwe are coming up with solutions to water shortages aggravated by climate change. / Ignatius Banda/IPS

PLUMTREE, Zimbabwe, Mar 2 (IPS) – Beauty Moyo’s desire for access to water has finally been met. The rains that fell in the past week after a long dry patch have awakened this small-holder [...]

By Lee Middleton

Zothe, the school caretaker at Three Crowns Rural School in Lady Frere District oversees the feeding of the bio-digester. / David Oldfield/IPS

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Mar 1 (IPS) – Tucked against the rolling hills of South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, a small rural school has been turning its kitchen scraps, and [...]

By Badylon Kawanda Bakiman*

Forest elephants in the Mbeli River, Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, Congo. Central African countries are developing strategies against climate change. / Thomas Breuer/Wikicommons

KIKWIT, DR Congo, Mar 1 (IPS) – Governments and civil society organisations in Central Africa are slowly developing strategies in response to global warming. But specialists say the steps being [...]

By IPS Correspondents*

A woman weeds a sesame crop field in South Sudan's Eastern Equatoria state / Charlton Doki/IPS

MBARARA, Uganda, Feb 29 (IPS) – The United Nations’ 56th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) opened Monday in New York, with the empowerment of rural women high on a list of priorities [...]

By Fulgence Zamblé

There is a ban on exporting Pterocarpus erinaceus but various traders continue to export it. / Marko Schmidt/Wikkicommons

ABIDJAN, Feb 24 (IPS) – Environmental groups in Côte d'Ivoire say the illegal logging and sale of wood from the African gum tree is exposing the north of the country to the encroaching desert. The [...]

By Thalif Deen

Three years of deployment of naval fleets by some of the major powers has failed to stamp out the modestly-equipped, ransom-seeking pirates. / Surface Warrior/CC By 2.0

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 21 (IPS) – The international community has failed to grapple with the real underlying political and economic issues facing the troubled East African [...]

By Cam McGrath
CAIRO, Feb 4 (IPS) – The illegal trade in ivory continues in Egypt, with ivory products sold openly in local tourist markets by traders who operate with impunity, a new study by the conservation group Traffic has found.

The report, published in the group’s journal, suggests that while the volume of elephant ivory seen [...]

By Brahima Ouédraogo

Low rainfall is having disastrous effects on wildlife in W Regional Park, which stretches across Burkina Faso, Benin and Niger. / Nicolas Barbier/Wikicommons

OUAGADOUGOU, Feb 2 (IPS) – The story of a pair of buffalo aggressively prowling the edges of a village in eastern Burkina Faso is a warning sign of severe water [...]

By Kristin Palitza

A Moringa tree in fruit, near Sprokieswoud in Namiba. Moringa leaves are dubbed a "super food". / Hans Hillewaert/Wikkicommons

CAPE TOWN, Jan 25 (IPS) – When a food crisis hits the continent, African countries tend to look to the international donor community to mobilise aid. But a fast-growing, drought- resistant tree with [...]

By Peter Kahare

A crocodile carcass on Lake Kamnarok. In the distance cows graze on the lake bed. / Peter Kahare

RIFT VALLEY, Kenya,, Jan 17 (IPS) – Several years ago, Lakes Kamnarok and Ol Bollosat in Kenya were vibrant water bodies that supported and shaped the ecosystems around them. But today they are shells of [...]

By Busani Bafana
VICTORIA FALLS, Jan 10 (IPS) – Picking spots for cattle to graze could reverse desertification and even do its bit to retard climate change, new experiments in Zimbabwe have shown. It’s what is coming to be called the Brown Revolution.

Planned grazing of livestock is helping restore formally degraded lands close to Zimbabwe's Victoria [...]

By Ngala Killian Chimtom

BPA-free baby bottle. / Photostock

YAOUNDÉ, Jan 6 (IPS) – Maya Stella, a restaurant manager in the capital of Cameroon, no longer uses plastic to wrap the corn-fufu that she sells to her customers. She now uses banana or plantain leaves instead, because these are "natural and it is our African [...]

By Reem Abbas

Thirty villages of the Manasir people were flooded during construction of the Merowe Dam. / David Haberlah/CC BY 2.0

KHARTOUM, Jan 2 (IPS) – The multi-billion dollar Merowe Dam on the Nile River more than doubled Sudan's electricity supply, but its environmental impacts still remain unknown to the public and to the communities [...]

By David Njagi

Many waste collectors at the Dandora dump on the outskirts of Nairobi are unaware of the dangers posed by medical waste. / David Njagi/IPS

NAIROBI, Dec 28 (IPS) – For Collins Otieno, the onset of a new day ushers in mixed fortunes that can either earn him some money or expose him [...]