By AFP
Malaysia’s last surviving male Sumatran rhino died Monday, wildlife officials said, leaving behind only one female in the country and pushing the critically-endangered species closer to extinction.
Once found as far away as eastern India and throughout Malaysia, the Sumatran rhino has been almost wiped out, with fewer than 80 left, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Only a handful of the creatures remain in the wilds of Indonesia. Read more…
By Aly Abich For Citizen Digital
Fishermen in Rachuonyo North, Homa Bay County have been against using illegal fishing gear in Lake Victoria.
Rachuonyo North Sub-County officer in charge of fishery services George Omondi said use of illegal fishing equipment has led to a decline of fish in Lake Victoria, on the Kenyan side.
Mr Omondi said fishermen caught using the banned equipment risk arrest and prosecution.
”Many fishermen in the region are still using illegal gear which is against the law despite being sensitized on the required fishing gear to be used in waters of Lake Victoria,” he said. Read more…
By ELIZABETH MERAB
Dirty money and mobile phones pose a great risk to your health, researchers have warned.
Money, especially low denomination currencies, the scientists say, are causing more diarrheal diseases among Kenyans who are being exposed to food borne germs in hotels and other food joints
The study carried, out among 395 food handlers in 15 different types of outlets in Nairobi County, by Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri), and US Army Medical Research Unit — Kenya show that because they are rarely cleaned, money and mobile phones act as reservoirs of germs that cause food poisoning. Read more…
By VOA for Citizen digital
Authorities in western Congo say at least 30 people are dead and another 200 are missing after a boat sank on a lake.
Simon Mboo Wemba, the mayor of Inongo, told The Associated Press on Sunday night that many of those aboard the boat that sank on Lake Mai-Ndombe were teachers.
The mayor says they had traveled to collect their salaries by boat because roads in the region are so poor. Read more…
By JAMES ANYANZWA
East African countries lack the institutional capacity to implement policies on clean and environment friendly technologies, which is stifling sustainable growth of green economies across the region, according to a new report by UK-based research firm Chatham House.
The report, released last week and titled An Inclusive Circular Economy: Priorities for Developing Countries, shows that although Rwanda and Kenya have imposed total bans on plastic bags in an attempt to reduce pollution, there are still a large number of plastic bags being smuggled into the countries.
The two countries have also failed to give retailers, manufacturers and consumers cheap and good-quality alternatives to plastic bags…Read More>>
By JOHN MUTUA
High cost of medicine and related equipment is a major hindrance to achievement of universal healthcare, experts have warned.
Mission for Essential Drugs and Supplies (MEDS) Managing Director Jane Masiga said while there is need to adopt the latest technology in treating patients, most healthcare providers have shunned the equipment due to high costs.
“Taxing simple products such as gloves makes healthcare expensive. The government can assist in lowering costs of access by relooking at the tax regime on non-pharmaceutical products,” Dr Masiga said last week. She added that there is need for more funding by the government to ensure public hospitals purchase the latest equipment…Read more>>
ByThe EastAfrican
A long-running battle between the government of Tanzania and the country’s largest gold mining company, Acacia Mining Plc, came to ahead this past week – with dire consequences for the many interests involved.
Though it all began with the laudable aim of fighting against fraud in Tanzania’s fertile mining industry and sealing the loopholes through which the East African nation loses revenue, there can be no denying that its outcomes have been less than positive.
The Tanzanian government had initially accused Acacia Mining of a series of wrongdoings, including tax evasion, breach of environmental regulations, money laundering and corruption, sending the company’s stock at the London Stock Exchange into a tailspin…Read more>>
Related articles; https://africasustainabilitymatters.com/sustainable-mining/
Story by East Africa
In 1985, then United Nations secretary general Boutros Boutros-Ghali reminded the world that the next war in the Middle East would be fought over water, not politics.
In 2003, he tweaked this warning, saying in this century, water will be more important than oil. That statement has overtime been interpolated to the effect that the Third World War will be fought over water as climate change, growing populations and migration exert more pressure on water resources.
Being from Egypt, the late Boutros-Ghali might as well have been talking about the rising tensions then over the use of the Nile waters, estimated to contribute 90 per cent of Egypt’s fresh water supply and 95 per cent of its livelihoods, pitting his native country against Sudan and Ethiopia.
So intense were the disputes surrounding the developments along the Nile that when Ethiopia announced in 2011 that it was building a 6,430 Megawatt dam, the Grand Renaissance, on the Blue Nile, Egypt’s first reaction was to threaten war.
In 2013, Egypt’s then-president, Mohamed Morsi equated the Nile waters to the life fluid, warning that diminishing the flow by one drop would mean “our blood is the alternative.”
Six years later, the war drums from in Ethiopia and Egypt have gone quiet and the $4 billion Grand Renaissance Dam is 70 per cent complete.
The dispute now is over how long it should take to be filled up, with Egypt asking for a maximum of 15 years in order to avoid drastically low levels of water flowing downstream. Ethiopia has suggested three years.
Egypt’s fears arise from three factors. One, of the world’s longest rivers, the Nile has the weakest flow (84 cubic kilometers) compared with 5,518 cubic km for the Amazon and 1,250 cubic kms for the Congo River.
Two, with most of its water dependent on the Ethiopian highlands and the river passing through a desert, high evaporation rates make its level quite variable, sometimes by as much as eight metres in Sudan.
Three, Egypt is projected to become water scarce in six years with water consumption of 87 cubic km per year.
Much of the credit in calming the tension over the Nile waters goes to Ethiopia’s new Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy who was elected last year and quickly signed a three-way agreement with Egypt and Sudan to hold talks every six months to discuss reasonable timelines for the filling up of the Renaissance Dam.
The unheralded behind-the-scenes work, however, has been done under the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), which with the World Bank’s support, has established a structured way of co-operation among countries in the sustainable use of trans-boundary water resources.
The initiative brings together 10 Nile Basin countries — Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda (Eritrea participates as an observer) — with its programmes being adopted as national policies by members.
“Through research we have given more reliable information on the benefits of co-operation and the potential impact of projects. This has helped create trust and minimized grounds for conflict,” said William Rex, the programme manager of the World Bank’s Cooperation in International Waters in Africa.
The programme assists riparian governments in sub-Saharan Africa to address constraints to sustainable joint management and development of water resources.
NBI is funded through the Nile Basin Trust Fund whose seed capital—$140 million—was committed by donors in 2001 to facilitate co-operation on Nile matters including institutions, research and investments.
The NBI model is being replicated in finding lasting solutions to the sustainable sharing of water along the Zambezi, Niger, Okavango, Senegal and Volta rivers besides working with the Inter Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) and the South African Development Community on the framework for sharing of ground water.
“Our focus through sharing of information, data and research, especially on flood prediction, is on how to increase the pie by looking at the services with the maximum impact for all riparian countries rather than what volume each country gets as was the case with the controversial agreements,” Mr Rex said.
Three agreements have overtime, come to define how the Nile Waters are shared.
Agreements
Colonial agreements made by Britain in 1902 and 1929, and a bilateral treaty between Egypt and Sudan in 1959 gave Cairo the bulk of the Nile waters.
The latter gave Egypt three quarters of the waters (55.5 billion cubic meters) against a quarter for Sudan or 18.5 billion cubic meters.
The agreements, especially the colonial ones, are contested mostly in East Africa where independent governments say they should not be bound by them. The 1959 agreement is contested by Ethiopia, which, despite supplying 85 per cent of the Nile waters, was not a party to it.
Already, NBI is fronting the Rusumo Falls Hydroelectric Dam which is shared between Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania as an example of what can be achieved with co-operation on use of trans-boundary resources.
The 80 Megawatts generated from the dam will be shared equally between the three countries despite its feeder, River Kagera, not passing through Burundi.
Conceived a decade ago, the $469 million project is funded by the World Bank ($340 million towards generation infrastructure) and the Africa Development Bank ($128.6 million for the transmission lines).
It will be run by the Rusumo Power Company, a joint venture between the three governments when it is completed in 2020. It also has a $711,000 livelihood restoration programme where 161 households affected by the project will be supported to start sustainable agriculture, livestock keeping and off-farm businesses.
There is also $15 million to be shared equally between communities in the three countries for general development.
Rusumo is one of $2 billion in investments enabled through NBI. Others are the now operational 100 Megawatt interconnection that has enabled power from Ethiopia to be sold to Sudan benefiting 1.4 million households.
Another, the $403 million regional interconnection to power electricity trade between Burundi, DR Congo, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda is ongoing with construction of 1,500 kilometres of transmission lines and base stations underway.
Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan are expected to jointly implement the Eastern Nile Watershed Management Programme which aims to increase soil water retention through appropriate farming methods, control of erosion through terracing and afforestation and water harvesting by households.
NBI is now however caught up in a dispute between Kenya and Tanzania over construction of two dams across the Mara River, the ecosystem that feeds the wildebeest migration, one of the Seven Wonders of the New World.
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By Daily Nation
Many conservationists on Thursday reacted with anger over Botswana’s decision to lift its blanket ban on hunting, describing it as a “horrifying” move, though others backed the idea.
The southern Africa nation announced on Wednesday it would overturn the hunting ban introduced in 2014 to reverse a decline in the population of elephants and other wildlife.
Gaborone’s then-president Ian Khama, a keen environmentalist who stood down last year, introduced a prohibition on hunting in 2014.
Lawmakers from the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) have been lobbying to overturn the ban, saying wild animal numbers have become unmanageable in some areas.
‘HORRIFYING’
Much of the controversy has focused on elephant hunting, as landlocked Botswana has the largest elephant population in Africa, with more than 135,000 roaming freely in its unfenced parks and wide open spaces.
The London-based Humane Society International said, “the horrifying decision… will send shock waves throughout the conservation world”.
“Resuming… hunting is not only morally questionable and flies in the face of all international efforts to protect these giants, but it will also likely damage Botswana’s hugely valuable tourism industry.
“We implore Botswana’s government to think again.”
An official at the Botswana environment ministry confirmed to AFP on Thursday that the blanket ban was being lifted — not just on elephant hunting.
“It is all other animals, but we will specify in a press conference today which exact animals will be listed for hunting. Some animals are endangered so we can’t hunt them,” she said.
POLITICS
President Mokgweetsi Masisi took over from Mr Khama last year and a public review began five months later, with reports suggesting growing political friction between the two.
“This is a political move and not in the best interests of conservation in Botswana,” Jason Bell of the US-based International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said.
“Elephants are being used as political scapegoats, but at a huge cost.
“Hunting will do nothing to alleviate human-elephant conflict. One has to question what the real reasons are.”
LIVELIHOODS
But Botswanan groups welcomed the move, saying it would help local communities as trophy hunters pay large sums to shoot an animal.
“We are very happy that hunting will be back,” Amos Mabuku, chairman of the Chobe Enclave Conservation Trust, told AFP.
“The people were the ones who had been bearing the brunt of co-existing with these animals — we have lost brothers, we have lost our crops, we have lost our cattle due to this.
“Livelihoods are dependent on the revenue from trophy hunting… controllable hunting, not poaching.”
The WWF said that its policy was that “in certain limited and rigorously controlled cases… scientific evidence has shown that trophy hunting can be an effective conservation tool as part of a broad mix of strategies”.
MANY ELEPHANTS
Some experts say the number of elephants in Botswana, renowned as a luxury safari destination, has almost tripled over the last 30 years, and that the population could now be over 160,000.
The environment ministry said in a statement Wednesday that a cabinet committee review found that “high levels of human-elephant conflict and the consequent impact on livelihoods was increasing.
“Predators appear to have increased and were causing a lot of damage as they killed livestock in large number,” it added.
“The general consensus from those consulted was that the hunting ban should be lifted,” it said, vowing that hunting would be re-started “in an orderly and ethical manner.”
Lifting the hunting ban could be a popular move with rural voters ahead of an election due in October.
Many of Botswana’s elephants roam across borders into Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
All four countries have called for a global ban on elephant ivory trade to be relaxed due to the growing number of animals in some regions.
Original article by Daily Nation
Story by Thomson Reuters
Developing ocean-based resources in areas such as fisheries, aquaculture, coastal tourism, transport and ports, mining and energy, could generate U.S. $20.8 billion a year for the 220 million people of the western Indian Ocean region, according to a recent report. But coastal and marine ecosystems will have to be preserved, and the adverse effects of climate change combatted if this potential is to be realized.
Since the launch of the United Nations Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Goal 14 on the conservation and sustainable use of the marine environment, the oceans have become a key priority of many high-level discussions.
For example, Kenya’s Blue Economy Conference, hosted in November last year, served as a catalyst for international, regional and local cooperation on the sustainable development of the region’s oceans. At this event, participants discussed how best to make use of marine resources to improve human wellbeing and social equity, while maintaining and conserving healthy ecosystems.
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