Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) has been protected from oil and gas drilling for decades. Recently, however, the Trump administration announced their plan to open up the ANWR’s 1.6 million-acre coastal plain to oil and gas exploration. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 contained a provision allowing oil and gas drilling in ...

Hundreds of Indian school children were on the streets on Friday, September 27, 2019 in a fresh wave of rallies and events demanding action by political leaders on the climate crisis. Climate strike in India The recent wave of protests has been in response to Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg’s call for mass protests. Students in the Indian capital ...

President Muhammadu Buhari has given some insights into the severe climate challenges confronting the country, saying “Nigeria is a neighbour to the Sahara Desert, Lake Chad is shrinking while population is exploding.” President Muhammadu Buhari with youth representatives and some government officials during the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA74), in New York The President stated this ...

The significance of sanitation to safeguard human health is undisputable, it is essential for human dignity, health and well-being. Curbing open defecation: A school toilet for girls Open defecation, which has become a daily occurrence in many parts of Nigeria, is not only a practice that infringes on human dignity, but that which in addition has severe consequences on people’s ...

More than half of the tree species that only grow in Europe are at risk of going extinct, according to a study published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on Friday, September 27, 2019. Over half of the trees that grow only in Europe are at a risk of going extinct. Photo credit: UNDP Cambodia/Chansok Lay/Oddar Meanchey ...

On July 3, the High-Level Panel of Experts of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) released its much-anticipated report on agroecology in Rome. The report signals the continuing shift in emphasis in the UN agency’s approach to agricultural development. Agroecology As outgoing FAO Director General Jose Graziano da Silva has indicated, “We need to promote a transformative change in the ...

The demand to publish frequently in peer-reviewed journals is putting unnecessary pressure on early career researchers trying to make breakthroughs, academicians say. Delegates at the 7th Heidelberg Laureate Forum Julie Williamson, a lecturer in Human Computer Interaction at the UK’s Glasgow University, told the 7th Heidelberg Laureate Forum (September 23 to 27, 2019) in Heidelberg, Germany, that there is the need to ...

In the past decade, the relationship between Africa and China has boomed, ranging from foreign aid and investment to extraction-for-repayment. The latter is a process of indirect payment of debt whereby China extracts natural resources equivalent to the amount owed by the debtor countries at prices set by obscure negotiations in which China invariably has the upper hand. Air pollution ...

On Tuesday, September 24, 2019, a delegation of young environmentalists, advocates and professionals met with the Minister of State for Environment, Sharon Ikeazor, to discuss pertinent issues relating to the youth and environment, and how to bridge the gap between the ministry and young environmental sustainability advocates. Youth representatives with the Minister of State for Environment, Sharon Ikeazor (in blue) ...

On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Jayathma Wickramanayake, the UN Youth Envoy, has reassured young people in Nigeria of the United Nations commitment to step up youth actions. Jayathma Wickramanayake, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth She made this known on Wednesday, September 25, 2019 at the Office of the Secretary-General Envoy on ...