New UN report synthesises national climate plans from 146 countries in advance of Paris An unprecedented world-wide effort is underway to combat climate change, building confidence that nations can cost effectively meet their stated objective of keeping a global temperature rise to under 2 degree C. A new report today, assessing the collective impact of over 140 national climate action ...

Lead poisoning is entirely preventable yet the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates childhood lead exposure to contribute to about 600 000 new cases of children with intellectual disabilities every year. As the world marks the third international lead poisoning prevention week, the WHO and civil society groups aim to raise awareness about lead poisoning and urge further action to eliminate ...

China has decided to end its decades-long one-child policy, the state-run Xinhua news agency reports. Couples will now be allowed to have two children, it said, citing a statement from the Communist Party. The controversial policy was introduced nationally in 1979, to slow the population growth rate. It is estimated to have prevented about 400 million births. However concerns at ...

Following the success of its 2012 and 2014 bidding rounds, the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy of Equatorial Guinea has announced it will launch a new bidding round for all remaining deep and ultra-deepwater blocks in 2016. Two operators have confirmed they will further explore prospects in Equatorial Guinea in 2016: RoyalGate Energy will drill Block Z and Brazil’s ...

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has received recommendations for reaching an ambitious regional target of 48% renewable energy generation by 2027. The Caribbean Sustainable Energy Roadmap and Strategy (C-SERMS) Baseline Report and Assessment, released on Wednesday, October 28, 2015 by the Worldwatch Institute, also suggests a 33% reduction in the region’s energy intensity. Achieving these sustainable energy goals would result in a 46% ...

Consumers can’t buy safe products because labels lack information about lead levels A new study on lead in decorative paints in Côte d’Ivoire released on Tuesday by Jeunes Volontaires Pour L’Environnement Cote d’Ivoire, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Abidjan, finds that more than half of the paints analysed have high lead levels and that little has changed since a ...

Nigeria has initiated moves to protect the environment and restore ozone layer to pre-industrial age level, with the commencement of amendment on the national ozone layer protection regulations and demonstration project for disposal of unwanted Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) in the country. The proposed changes in the National Environmental (Ozone Layer Protection) Regulations (S.I.32 of 2009) will be a mandatory requirements for consumption and disposal of ODS ...

On Friday, 30. October 2015, 10:00 a.m. CET, the UN Climate Change Secretariat will present the synthesis report on the aggregate effect of intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) at a press conference in Berlin, Germany. INDCs are national climate action plans which have been submitted by governments ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris (30 November to 11 ...

Six of Africa’s 11 vulture species – the continent’s largest and most recognisable birds of prey – are now at a higher risk of extinction, according to the latest assessment of birds for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, carried out by BirdLife International – an IUCN Red List partner. The main causes of the drop in African vulture ...

Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has commended Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for playing a pivotal role in spurring controversial former Group Managing Director of the Lagos State Water Corporation (LSWC), Shayo Holloway, to resign his post. The group urged the governor to go beyond merely accepting the resignation of Holloway by probing the management of the agency since ...