August 12
Ethiopia: Ethiopia's Deadly Landslides Are Caused By Both Nature and Man - a Geophysicist Explains
As many as 300 people were killed in landslides triggered by higher than normal rainfall in south-western Ethiopia in July 2024. More than 15,000 were also forced to leave their… Read more »
August 11
Africa: Raising Revenue From Land - What African Cities Might Learn From Hong Kong's Unique Land-Lease System
Land prices across many African cities are soaring. This is because land is a city's key asset. As urbanisation progresses, demand for land will rise, and therefore so will land… Read more »
June 03
Africa: Nearly 25% of Land in Africa Has Been Damaged - What's to Blame, and What Can Be Done
Land degradation is a huge issue across the continent of Africa. One of its biggest drivers is biological invasions. This is when invasive species (species that aren't naturally… Read more »
February 13
South Africa: 17 Million South Africans Live On Communal Land - New Study of a Rural Valley Offers Insights On How to Manage It
The Tyhume River, flowing from the forested Amathole Mountains in South Africa's Eastern Cape province, gives its name to a valley of 20 villages on communal land. Much of the land… Read more »
February 05
South Africa: Thirty Years of Rural Health Research - South Africa's Agincourt Studies Offer Unique Insights
In 1992 a group of academics from the University of the Witwatersrand introduced a health and socio-demographic surveillance system in remote, rural South Africa to track and… Read more »
September 21, 2023
South Africa: Zulu Land Dispute Highlights Insecure Land Tenure
The recent fallout between the Zulu king, Misuzulu, and his now late traditional prime minister, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, over the running of the Ingonyama Trust highlights a… Read more »
September 04, 2023
South Africa: Govt Has Been Buying Land and Leasing It to Black Farmers. Why It's Gone Wrong and How to Fix It
The progress with South Africa's land reform programme has not been properly monitored. This has resulted in an incorrect understanding of the real progress made to correct the… Read more »
June 18, 2023
Ghana: Customary Land Governance Holds in Ghana but Times Are Changing and Not for the Better
Ghana went into colonisation with two broad types of customary land arrangement. In one, a traditional leader was the custodian of the land and gave his followers equitable access… Read more »
February 01, 2023
Zambia: Direct Support to Small Scale Farmers Reduces Poverty - What Zambia Is Doing Right
Over half of Zambia's population lived below the national poverty line in 2015. In rural areas, where 89% of households are engaged in agriculture, the poverty rate was even… Read more »
January 15, 2023
South Africa: Farming in South Africa - 6 Things That Need Urgent Attention in 2023
South Africa's agriculture remains an important sector of the economy and holds great potential to reduce poverty. It's also central to the political economy of the country, as… Read more »
January 11, 2023
Africa: Mountain Environments Are Key to Biodiversity - but the Threats to Them Are Being Ignored #AfricaClimateCrisis
Mountains are home to more than 85% of the world's amphibian, bird and mammal species. Lowland slopes are rich in animal and plant species. And rugged, high-elevation environments,… Read more »
January 09, 2023
South Africa: The South African Government Has Been Buying Farmland for Black Farmers. It's Not Gone Well
When the African National Congress came to power in South Africa in 1994, an expressed priority was land reform. This was to address the fact that black farmers had been excluded… Read more »
December 16, 2022
South Africa: Land Is a Heated Issue - the Print Media Are Presenting Only One Side of the Story
The land question was at the heart of the South African national liberation struggle. The 1913 Natives Land Act restricted black people from owning and occupying parts of the… Read more »
November 20, 2022
Nigeria: Treatment of Wastewater in Oil Fields Is Failing, Raising the Risk of Health Hazards #AfricaClimateCrisis
People need both clean, safe water and sustainable energy. That means both resources must be properly managed. But when it comes to the oil and gas industries, there's a problem. Read more »
November 02, 2022
Nigeria: Nigeria's Deadly Conflicts Over Water and Grazing Pasture Are Escalating - Here's Why
Violence in the Sahel is escalating, killing more than 11,000 people in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso since 2012. Such conflict has emerged for a number of reasons, including… Read more »
October 20, 2022
Kenya: Kenya's Samburu Warriors Still Practise a Rock Art Tradition That Tells Their Stories
The Samburu people in northern Kenya's Marsabit county are pastoralists. They migrate from place to place in search of pasture and water for their cattle, goats, sheep and camels.… Read more »
October 17, 2022
South Africa: Land Reform Is Failing. Ignoring The Realities Of Rural Life Plays A Part
There is widespread agreement that land reform in South Africa has failed to deliver the changes many hoped it would. Racially based dislocation and land dispossession were central… Read more »