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Every day, Evelyn Nimusiima’s family uses at least three 20-litre jerry cans of water for domestic purposes. Yet, the last time they planted a tree in their village of Rwenshanku, Bubaare parish in Uganda’s southwestern district of Mbarara was four years ago. And, due to severe land shortage, they have extended their crop garden into a nearby wetland. For a ...

The Federal Government said in Abuja on Thursday, July 2, 2015 that its Intended Nationally-Determined Contributions (INDCs) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) would be submitted in September. Dr Samuel Adejuwon, the Director, Climate Change Department, Federal Ministry of Environment, who made this disclosure, said that Nigeria was taking its time to develop solid INDCs that would help address the ...

China formally committed to halting the rise in its greenhouse gas emissions within the next 15 years on Tuesday (June 30, 2015), in a much anticipated strategy to help build a U.N. climate deal in 2015. The world’s top greenhouse gas emitter said it would invest more in clean energy and plant more carbon-absorbing forests as part of the plan. ...

Together with 886 citizens, Dutch non-governmental organisation (NGO), Urgenda, on Wednesday June 24, 2015 won a climate liability case against the Dutch state. The plaintiffs argued that the Dutch state neglects its duty of care towards its current and future citizens by not reducing CO2 emissions quickly enough to avoid catastrophic climate change. They asked the judge to order the government to reduce its ...

Extremely high level of air pollution in the Chilean capital of Santiago has forced authorities to declare a state of environmental emergency in the Santiago metropolitan area for Monday, June 22 2015, the country’s environment ministry said in a statement. The emergency measures, which will force more than 900 industries to temporarily shut down and about 40 percent of the capital’s 1.7 ...

The House of Representatives Committee on Environment has indicted the Federal Ministry of Environment over the execution of the contract to procure 750,000 units of Clean Cookstoves and 18,000 units of Wonder Bags valued at N9,287,250,000. According to a report produced by its Ad-Hoc Committee to investigate allegations of irregularities in the procurement, execution and delivery of the contract made by ...

His Holiness Pope Francis on Thursday June 18, 2015 released his much-anticipated encyclical, commanding the faithful to take action to protect our planet and solve climate change now. The Pope’s message calls on all of us to stop abusing the Earth’s resources and make the sacrifices necessary to combat climate change – before it’s too late. Throughout his encyclical, Pope Francis ...

Due to ‘disappointing yields and poor quality cotton fiber,” the country of Burkina Faso in West Africa is ditching Monsanto’s genetically modified cotton Jeune Afrique reports that Interprofessional Cotton in Burkina Faso has decided to phase out the use of Monsanto’s GMO cotton seeds over the next three years. This is a group of cotton farmers, banks, research institutions, private stakeholders and the government. ...

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) presents this Memorandum to President Muhammadu Buhari as well as policy makers and law makers at the National Assembly for a sustainable Nigeria. The document identifies several priority areas as cardinal to meeting citizens welfare, while presenting some indicators in which the present government’s success will equally be measured. Energy Access and Off-Grid Options ...

A huge cloud of uncertainty is hanging over the much-vaunted Nigerian REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) Programme following the arrest a couple of days ago in Calabar, Cross River State of long-serving and erstwhile chairman of the Cross River State Forestry Commission (CRSFC), Mr Odigha Odigha. He has since been released on bail. Feelers indicate that new Cross River ...