February 27
Cameroon: Benefits of Using Cleaner Cooking Fuels Are Blunted in Urban Areas Where Outdoor Air Is Polluted
Household air pollution from cooking, heating and lighting with fuels like wood, charcoal and kerosene poses a substantial global health problem. Read more »
February 26
East Africa: Rare Megamouth Shark Found in East Africa for the First Time - Why So Little Is Known About It
A rarely seen megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) was recently spotted in east Africa for the very first time. It was recorded in a market in Zanzibar, where it was being sold… Read more »
February 22
Africa: Expert Shares 5 Ways Africa's Coastal Residents Predict Floods
In the Lapai Gwari community of Niger state, north central Nigeria, elders predict the weather by observing a large stone in the Chachanga River. The LapanGwagwan stone serves as a… Read more »
South Africa: Kalahari Weaver Birds Lay Bigger Eggs When They Have Female Helpers to Feed Nestlings
Tswalu Kalahari Reserve is a protected nature reserve at the southern edge of the Kalahari desert in South Africa's Northern Cape province. It's an arid area with high daytime… Read more »
February 16
Africa: Extraction of Raw Materials Could Rise 60 Percent By 2060 - and Making Mining 'Greener' Won't Stop the Damage
The United Nations' flagship Global Resources Outlook report is the portrait of a juggernaut. Due to be published later this month by the UN's International Resource Panel, it… Read more »
February 15
Ghana: New Vehicle Tax Aims to Tackle Pollution - Expert Unpacks How It'll Work and Suggests Reforms
Ghana has introduced an annual carbon levy on vehicles and industrial emissions. It's only the third African country to introduce an explicit carbon tax, after South Africa and… Read more »
Southern Africa: Rhinos Can't Sweat, Making Them Vulnerable to Overheating - Global Warming Could Wipe Them Out in Southern Africa
Southern Africa is home to 22,137 of the world's 23,432 white and black African rhinos. But they're facing grave threats because of a warming planet. Now, the first study of how… Read more »
February 13
Africa: The World's Coral Reefs Are Bigger Than We Thought - but It Took Satellites, Snorkels and Machine Learning to See Them
The world's coral reefs are close to 25% larger than we thought. By using satellite images, machine learning and on-ground knowledge from a global network of people living and… Read more »
February 12
Africa: Migrating Animals Face Collapsing Numbers - Major New UN Report
The world's travelling animals - marine turtles, whales, sharks, elephants, reptiles, wild cats, birds, and even insects - have entered a period of sharp decline, new research has… Read more »
February 05
Africa: How Bats 'Leapfrog' Their Way Home At Night - New Research
A silent ballet takes place above our heads at night as Britain's bat populations leave their roosts to forage for food. Although their initial movement away from roosts is fairly… Read more »
February 08
Nigeria: Nigeria's Street Food - Tasty but Toxic? Expert Shares Advice to Make It Safer
In the lively streets of Nigeria's cities, where delicious street food is a daily delight, a wide variety of food can be bought and consumed instantly. From the sizzling suya snack… Read more »
February 06
Africa: Microplastics Found in Nile River's Tilapia Fish - New Study
The Nile is one of the world's most famous rivers. It's also Africa's most important freshwater system. About 300 million people live in the 11 countries it flows through. Many… Read more »
February 04
Madagascar: Giant Tortoises Have Returned 600 Years After Being Wiped Out
A six-year-old project to return giant tortoises to the wild in Madagascar could result in thousands of the 350kg megaherbivores re-populating the island for the first time in 600… Read more »
January 29
Africa: That Sharp, Green Smell of Freshly Cut Grass? It's a Plant's Cry for Help - and It May Work As a Less Toxic Pesticide for Farmers
Have you ever wondered about that sharp, green note that hits your nose when you mow the lawn or cut flower stems? Those are green leaf volatiles, or GLVs: easily evaporated oils… Read more »
January 31
Africa: Oil Firms Forced to Consider Full Climate Effects of New Drilling, Following Landmark Norwegian Court Ruling
Norway's district court in Oslo recently made a decision on fossil fuels that deserves the attention of every person concerned about climate change. Read more »
South Africa: Wetlands Are Superheroes - Expert Sets Out How They Protect People and Places
In the past, wetlands were often seen as undesirable landscapes - waterlogged areas that were difficult to navigate, impossible to build on or farm, and a source of pests such as… Read more »
January 30
Nigeria: Nigeria's Plastic Ban - Why It's Good and How It Can Work
Two weeks into January 2024, Nigerian authorities took steps to curb environmental degradation caused by plastic pollution in the country. Read more »
January 28
North Africa: Banksias Are Iconic Australian Plants, but Their Ancestors Actually Came From North Africa
Few plants conjure up the Australian bush better than banksias, whose beautiful flowers are irresistible to honeyeater birds, small marsupials and nature lovers. Read more »
Malawi: El Niño - Malawi's Harvest of Maize - Its Staple Food - May Fall By 22.5 Percent This Year
Maize is the preferred staple of most of southern Africa. In Malawi it supplies two-thirds of national calorie intake. Nine out of 10 farming households produce maize and devote… Read more »
January 25
Africa: Africa's Savannah Elephants - Small 'Fortress' Parks Aren't the Answer - They Need Room to Roam
Africa is home to about 410,000 savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana), most of them living in southern Africa. Over 290,000 elephants (70%) are spread across 103 protected areas… Read more »
January 15
Africa: First Polar Bear to Die of Bird Flu - What Are the Implications?
Climate change is a threat to polar bear's survival. Now they have a new deadly challenge facing them: bird flu. It was recently confirmed that a polar bear from northern Alaska… Read more »
January 22
Africa: Tiny Water-Walking Bugs Provide Scientists With Insights On How Microplastics Are Pushed Underwater
Microplastics are tiny plastic particles that can cause big problems when they enter the water supply. One way my fluid dynamics lab explores microplastic movement is by studying… Read more »
January 23
South Africa: Albatrosses Are Threatened With Extinction - and Climate Change Could Put Their Nesting Sites At Risk
The wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) is the world's largest flying bird, with a wingspan reaching an incredible 3.5 metres. These birds are oceanic nomads: they spend most of… Read more »
January 22
South Africa: South Africa's Agulhas Long-Billed Lark - Adapting and Surviving Despite Farming Taking Over Their Nesting Grounds
The Agulhas long-billed lark (Certhilauda brevirostris) is only found in South Africa. It builds nests on the ground mainly in Renosterveld fynbos, a type of vegetation filled with… Read more »
January 21
Congo-Kinshasa: Congo's Blackwater Ruki River Is a Major Transporter of Forest Carbon - New Study
The Congo Basin of central Africa is well known for its network of rivers that drain a variety of landscapes, from dense tropical forests to more arid and wooded savannas. Among… Read more »