International: Africa
Is 'frugal innovation' Africa's ticket to green development?
16 Apr 2021
Cash-short Africa will need "frugal innovation" based on simple, local solutions to deal with serious and growing problems, from climate change to a surging youth population and a lack of jobs, African entrepreneurs and officials say.
Zimbabwean teen leads fight for climate
7 Apr 2021
Zimbabwean teenager Nkosilathi Nyathi has introduced solar power to his school and his now campaigning globally to fight climate change.
Oil pipeline tests the climate commitment of international banks
24 Mar 2021
Plans by Total to exploit and export Ugandan oil through a 1443 kilometre pipeline traversing east Africa to the Tanzanian coast are hanging in the balance as investors are under growing pressure to move away from fossil fuels.
Changing rainfall could mean more locusts
18 Nov 2020
Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and South Sudan are trying to contain the worst locust invasion in more than 70 years.
KENYA CALL: My land is now owned by lions
29 Jun 2020
PARSOLOI KUPAI'S home, situated on the edge of Ol Kinyei conservancy near the Maasai Mara game reserve, is no different from any other Maasai homestead – oval-shaped huts with an almost flat roof and walls plastered with a mixture of water, mud and cow dung.
Congo drilling could release vast amount of CO2
2 Mar 2020
Drilling in one of the greatest carbon sinks on the planet could release greenhouse gases equivalent to Japan’s annual emissions.
Africa poised to lead way in global green revolution
12 Nov 2019
Africa is poised to lead the world’s cleanest economic revolution by using renewable energy sources to power a massive spread of urbanisation, says a new report.
Amazonians knew tricks of saving forests
27 Aug 2019
The Amazon’s trees, soils and mysterious earthworks tell the story of the millions who lived there before European arrival and suggest a way of life that can sustain large populations while still conserving biodiversity.
No pot of gold for locals as China mines Sierra Leone
26 Aug 2019
Like many African countries, Sierra Leone has courted foreign companies which pay governments big fees for mining rights, while locals often feel they have no say nor benefit.
China Oil threatens major African nature reserve
7 Aug 2019
One of the largest nature reserves on continental Africa might soon be destroyed by the China National Petroleum Corporation in the name of oil exploration.
Ethiopia gets busy and plants 350 million trees in one day
2 Aug 2019
Ethiopia has set a new world mark by planting more than 350 million trees in just one day.
Cattle out, camels in as farms forced to fight climate change
15 Jul 2019
Farmers are switching from cattle to camels as some parts of Africa are getting hotter and drier.
Drought forces Namibia to sell wild animals to highest bidder
18 Jun 2019
Drought-hit Namibia has authorised the sale of at least 1000 wild animals – including elephants and giraffes – to limit loss of life and to raise money for conservation.
African city heat set to grow intolerably
13 Jun 2019
The entire African continent faces lethal weather conditions for many of its people.
South Africa signs carbon tax into law
29 May 2019
In a first for a developing country, South Africa will put a price on pollution, but campaigners say it is not high enough.
How the lion lost its mojo
2 Apr 2019
The legacy of colonial hunting has made the king of beasts genetically feebler and more vulnerable.
Energy and oil majors turn to rural Africa
19 Mar 2019
Armed with solar panels, lanterns and mini-grids, European energy giants hope to capture the data of hundreds of millions of new, increasingly wealthy customers in rural Africa.
South Africa set to introduce carbon tax
22 Feb 2019
South Africa is on course to put a price on carbon pollution, after the National Assembly this week passed a long-awaited Carbon Tax Bill.
E-car demand fuels rise in Congo child labour
7 Nov 2018
Demand for electric vehicles is fuelling a rise in child labour in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, experts said this week, urging companies to take action as the industry expands.
Dreaded tsetse flies wilt in Africa’s growing heat
5 Nov 2018
Global warming might have done one good thing for the Zambezi Valley: it may have done for the tsetse flies, with conditions soon too hot for them to breed there any longer.
New tree named ... in time for its headstone
18 Sep 2018
A tree species discovered in Cameroon nearly 70 years ago has been named -just in time to etch that name on its headstone.
Rich countries pushing dirty energy in Africa
25 Jul 2018
WEALTHY governments have been accused of promoting fossil fuel development in Africa at the expense of clean energy.
South Africa sets draft climate laws
19 Jun 2018
South Africa will set carbon targets for each sector of the economy every five years, under a draft climate law out for public consultation.
Giant baobabs die suddenly after thousands of years
14 Jun 2018
Climate change is the suspect in the abrupt deaths in the past decade of some of Africa’s 2500-year-old baobab trees.
DRASTIC PLASTIC: Kenya grounds the flying toilet
27 Apr 2018
KENYA'S tough plastics laws appear to be working. Waterways are clearer, the food chain is less contaminated – and there are fewer “flying toilets”.
Six rangers die in gorilla sanctuary ambush
12 Apr 2018
Six rangers have been ambushed and killed in a Democratic Republic of the Congo park that is home to silverback gorillas.
How Cape Town did what California couldn't do
4 Apr 2018
A six-car police convoy skidded to a halt outside a Cape Town house where a trickle of hose water splashed on to a flower.
MONSTER ON THE MOVE: The Sahara desert is getting bigger
3 Apr 2018
The Sahara dessert is getting bigger, turning green vegetation dry and soil once used for farming into barren ground in areas that can least afford to lose it.
UN forest project doing more harm than good
16 Mar 2018
The harm a UN forest project in Africa is doing to local people is greater than the good it is managing to achieve for them, researchers say.
Illegal cocoa farming destroys African forests
24 Jan 2018
Côte d’Ivoire’s brown gold has gradually destroyed the country’s national parks and protected forests.
Victory for forests as nations vow to stop death by chocolate
10 Nov 2017
Ghana and the Ivory Coast are formulating plans to immediately put a stop to all new deforestation after an investigation found that the cocoa industry was destroying their rainforests.
Morocco to invest millions in solar projects
4 Oct 2017
Morocco is getting ready to launch a €200 million ($NZ326m) programme to spark investment in solar power projects in the agricultural sector by 2021.
Chocolate industry drives rainforest disaster in Africa
15 Sep 2017
The world’s chocolate industry is driving deforestation on a devastating scale in West Africa.
Kenya gets tough on plastic bags: four years or $40,000
29 Aug 2017
Kenyans producing, selling or even using plastic bags will risk imprisonment of up to four years or fines of $40,000.
Kenya’s disappearing glaciers spread violence below
3 Aug 2017
Those who rely on Mount Kenya’s glaciers for water have turned against one another as the rivers fed by the mountain dry up.
South Korean decision to close all coal-fired power plants by 2040 sounds alarm for Australian exports
Wed 19 Nov 2025
Decision announced at Cop30 climate conference signposts risks for Australia’s reliance on fossil fuel exports, analysts say.
Trump is said to propose opening California coast to oil drilling
Fri 14 Nov 2025
Gov. Gavin Newsom, a chief critic of the president and an opponent of oil exploration in the Pacific, called the proposal “dead on arrival.”
China’s carbon plateau: A turning point or a temporary pause?
Wed 19 Nov 2025
For a quarter century, China has been the dominant driver of rising global carbon emissions. Its rapid industrialisation, swelling electricity demand, and unprecedented construction boom have shaped the world’s carbon trajectory more than any other country.
A crucial system of ocean currents may be on course to collapse. This country just declared it a national security threat
Mon 17 Nov 2025
As evidence mounts these currents could be on course for collapse, Iceland’s government has made the unusual move of designating the risk a national security threat.
Scotland's first wind farm 'supercharged' after upgrade
11 Nov 2025
Scotland's first commercial wind farm will be able to deliver five times more clean power than before after being upgraded.
The hidden dangers in Canada’s oil and gas ambitions
Tue 18 Nov 2025
Premier of Alberta Danielle Smith thinks global demand for oil will grow to 2050, perhaps beyond, and the Alberta industry will be viable for a hundred years.
South Korean growers sue state power utility, blaming climate change for crop damage
Mon 17 Nov 2025
Five South Korean farmers recently sued the state utility Korea Electric Power Corporation and its power-generating subsidiaries, alleging that their reliance on coal and other fossil fuels has accelerated climate change and damaged their crops.
Mystery heatwave warms Pacific Ocean to new record
21 Oct 2025
The waters of the north Pacific have had their warmest summer on record, according to BBC analysis of a mysterious marine heatwave that has confounded climate scientists.
Scientists discovered something alarming seeping out from beneath the ocean around Antarctica
13 Oct 2025
Planet-heating methane is escaping from cracks in the Antarctic seabed as the region warms, with new seeps being discovered at an “astonishing rate".
Ecuador’s voters protect rights of nature, reject proposal to rewrite constitution
Wed 19 Nov 2025
Ecuadorians handed their Trump-allied president a resounding defeat, choosing to maintain their “ecological constitution” and rejecting an attempt to allow foreign military bases in the country.
Brazil releases draft text and letter to accelerate COP30 climate negotiations
Wed 19 Nov 2025
With a direct letter sent to nations and a draft text released Tuesday, host country Brazil is shifting the U.N. climate conference into a higher gear.
