During the 2016 Opening for Signature of the Paris Agreement, held at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 22 April, 175 Parties (174 countries and the European Union) signed the Agreement, and 15 States deposited instruments of ratification. Of the 175 Parties which participated in the Ceremony, 31 participated at the level of Head of State, two participated at ...

The controversy surrounding the construction of the $3.5 billion super highway has deepened as the Cross River State Government has dared the Federal Government, claiming ownership of its forest. Consequently, the state government despite the stop work order by the Federal Government and protests from impacted communities, national and international organisations including the British government pending the completion of an ...

As cabinet approves sweeping economic reforms, prince Mohammed bin Salman says Saudi Arabia will reduce reliance on hydrocarbons Saudi Arabia’s cabinet approved Vision 2030 on Monday, a package of economic reforms designed to reduce dependence on oil revenues. Under the proposal, the Middle Eastern kingdom will float part of national oil firm Saudi Aramco on the stock exchange and diversify ...

Civil society organisations (CSOs) based in Adamawa State in North East Nigeria have urged the Federal Government to dialogue with the Cameroonian government on how the two countries could mutually benefit from the River Benue. Rising from a three-day capacity building workshop that ended 22 April, the CSOs, in a communique, lamented that the construction of the Lagdo Dam on ...

The Grauer’s gorilla, the world’s largest primate, has been a source of continual worry for conservationists for more than two decades. Longstanding conflict in the deep jungles of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo left experts with no choice but to guess at how that gorilla subspecies may be faring. Now, with tensions abating somewhat, researchers finally have an updated gorilla head count — one ...

Increasing numbers of American voters think global warming is happening, and many say the issue will influence how they vote in November, according to a nationally-representative survey (Climate Change in the American Mind) conducted last month by the Yale Programme on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Centre for Climate Change Communication Voters who say global warming is happening – now at 73% – have increased 7% ...

On the 25th April the complaints panel of the RSPO (Round table on Sustainable Palm Oil) issued a preliminary “Stop work order” to Plantaciones de Pucallpa, one of its Peruvian members, whose operations are affecting the territory of the Shipibo community of Santa Clara de Uchunya in the Ucayali region of the Peruvian Amazon. The order was issued after the community ...

The Federal Government of Nigeria has been asked to declare Shikira, a small rural mining community in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, a national emergency zone. The Abuja-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), Connected Development (CODE), made the call in a statement released on Tuesday, urging the trio of President Muhammadu Buhari, Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives ...

As world leaders and ministers lined up in their droves to sign the landmark Paris Climate Change Agreement in New York last Friday, a group of senior UN officials slipped out for a few minutes in the sunshine into a very special place for a small but unique event. The group, including UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson; the President of the ...

“Solar Impulse is breaking through self-imposed barriers of possibility. We did not think before that it would be possible to traverse long distances with zero emissions in any flying vehicle. The fact that the two pilots have proven that this is possible, the fact that they are up in the air again and finishing the around the world flight they ...