Sustainable Devpt

The percentage of land owned by women is disproportionately small considering their crucial contribution to agriculture and especially the food security of households and communities. The existing gender inequality in access to and control over natural resources is regarded as an obstacle to their sustainable management and to sustainable development in general. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates that ...

A prototype floating school in Lagos has been nominated for the Designs of the Year prize 2014. The Floating School in Makoko, a poverty-stricken coastal community in Lagos, Nigeria, is the pilot project
in a planned water-top development that could transform the deprived area. Completed in about five months, the solar-powered building has three storeys – a recreation area, an enclosed ...

The marked decline in Shell’s global profits in 2013 compared with previous years and the imposition of a N1.8 trillion fine on the company for the December 2011 spill in the Bonga Deep Offshore Oil field are twin indicators that the company’s days of impunity are over, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has said. Shell had ...

MINT is a neologism referring to the economies of Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey. The term was originally coined by Fidelity, a Boston-based asset management firm, and was popularised by Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs, who predicted that the MINT countries that would be the world’s economic giants in the next decade. These four countries are also on the Next Eleven countries list. Before coming up with MINT, O’Neill, in 2001, had predicted the rise ...

Louis Verchot is normally an optimist, but even he is doubtful: “It’s been four years since the debate on measuring, reporting and verifying (MRV) carbon emissions started and yet we still see disagreements on how to make decisions.” Verchot, a research director at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), is referring to the meeting that never was. Earlier this ...

The amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere reached a new record high in 2012, continuing an upward and accelerating trend which is driving climate change and will shape the future of our planet for hundreds and thousands of years. A GHG is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse ...

The surge in African elephant poaching and illegal ivory trade has become increasingly worrisome. The African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) is currently listed as Vulnerable on The IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Red List of Threatened Species, with population estimates of around 500,000. According to a recent report from IUCN and its partners, the number of elephants killed has ...

A team of nature conservation groups has embarked on an initiative designed to improve livelihood and habitats of migratory birds in the Sahel areas of Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Mauritania. Tagged “Living on the Edge Project (LOTE),” the project is funded by the Dutch Nationale Postcode Loterij, an independent lottery that sets aside two-third of its profits for charities ...

Global challenges constitute an alarming indicator that calls for reflection on how best to utilise, preserve and conserve natural resources, towards ensuring a sustainable lifestyle, sustainable growth, sustainable economy and sustainable development. In the new millennium, attention is being paid to environmental protection so that future generations can also benefit from the bounty of nature. The new slogan of the ...

The impact of oil extraction is severe on the environment and threatens sources of livelihoods, sustainable development activists have said. At a gathering held last week in Port Harcourt, River State, at the instance of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), participants declared that offshore oil exploration and exploitation in Nigeria is a major contributor to climate ...