Prominent research and development agencies have formed an intra – African collaboration in an effort to fund, conduct and facilitate research projects that will effectively target the continent’s shared challenges in the area of maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH). Estimates show that more than half of the global maternal deaths and more than three-quarters of neonatal deaths occur in ...

As the global economy moves towards implementation of its new climate goals, the world’s largest purchasing organisations are using their buying clout to drive down emissions across their supply chains. A report prepared by CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) titled: “The Missing link: Harnessing the power of purchasing for a sustainable future” and written in partnership with BSR and the Carbon ...

Mayardit FM in South Sudan runs entirely on solar power. Some of the engineers from the station recently traveled to the UK to share their skills and knowledge with the wider radio community, at Radio TechCon. Ann Charles of Internews reports about the station and the experience of the engineers at the conference “Solar has worked very well in Turalei,” said Issa Kassimu, ...

As part of Germany’s G20 Presidency, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is advancing the ‘GreenInvest’ dialogue platform in order to engage developing countries in the mainstreaming and mobilisation of green finance. A first consultation of developing countries under the GreenInvest platform was held in Singapore on 9 and 10 January 2017 with participants from some 25 ...

That the Federal Government hiked the import duty on tobacco is no doubt cheery news. The wider implication of the policy, announced by Finance Minister, Ms. Kemi Adeosun, is that imported tobacco products flooding the country would no longer be cheap and, on the long run, not easily accessible to the class of society that the tobacco industry wants to ...

Corporate climate action is crucial to help governments achieve their central objective under the Paris Climate Change Agreement, which is to limit the global average temperature rise to as close as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Microsoft has developed what is considered a trail-blazing emission reduction scheme which is exemplary for other companies. The innovation was showcased at the UN ...

The rise in prices of cooking gas and kerosene is creating a demand for charcoal, whose price is likewise escalating – a development that translates to an increase in the felling of trees, a raw material for charcoal. The negativity in the use of charcoal surmounts the temporal alternative it serves in cooking. Felling of trees for production of charcoal ...

The Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons of Equatorial Guinea announced on Monday, 23 January that it has submitted its interest to join the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 2017. Gabriel Mbaga Obiang, Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons, reportedly travelled to Vienna on January 20 to meet with OPEC officials and present the Government of Equatorial Guinea’s offer to ...

Senegal’s Abdoulaye Bathily is the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) candidate hoping to take over from Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma when she steps down as Chairperson of the African Union Commission later this month. Bathily, who was at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP22) last November in Marrakech, Morocco, unveils his “Project for the African Union” Meet the AU Chairperson candidate – Abdoulaye Bathily, whose campaign slogan ...

Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in this treatise published in Gulf News, describes the next two years as key in cementing global response to climate change In 2015, close to 200 countries – backed by cities, regions, businesses and citizens – agreed to work together towards a low carbon, safer and ...