Combating Desertification and Drought

Q&A: “The Sahel Should Already Have Been Green”

By IPS Correspondents
For 'newTree-nouvelarbre', a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that works largely in Burkina Faso, good fences don't only make good neighbours - they also make a line of attack against land degradation.

WEST AFRICA: Shared River Basins, Common Problems

By Ousseini Issa
Nigeria and Niger, in West Africa, are neighbouring states. But the two countries have more than a border in common; they are also share a number of river basins that are under threat, and the responsibility for conserving them.
Credit:

Q&A: "Species Are Moving Southwards"

By IPS Correspondents
For South African author Leonie Joubert, global warming is a grass roots issue - literally.
Hama Arba Diallo Credit: UNCCD

Q&A: Water Is a Right, Not Business

By Hama Arba Diallo
Water is not the stuff of business, it is a basic human right. Hama Arba Diallo, outgoing executive secretary of the Convention of the United Nations to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), is convinced that the United Nations is about to formally recognise this principle, possibly by 2008.
A massive dust cloud heads east over the Atlantic Ocean from the West Coast of Africa on Feb. 26, 2000. Credit: NASA

ENVIRONMENT: Around the Globe, Farmers Losing Ground

By IPS Correspondents
In 1938, Walter Lowdermilk, a senior official in the Soil Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, traveled abroad to look at lands that had been cultivated for thousands of years, seeking to learn how these older civilisations had coped with soil erosion.

TOGO: Trees Disappearing, Even as Some Believe the Supply “Will Never End”

By Noël Kokou Tadégnon
In the southern Togolese village of Yoto Kopé, Akoua Amouzouvi and several other women emerge from the bush with bowls of charcoal balanced on their heads - hands and faces smeared with black dust.
Henri Girard of AZN/Green Earth Credit: Henri Girard

Q&A: "After the Initial Warnings About Desertification, We Could Have Done More"

By IPS Correspondents
Years of working in West Africa have given agricultural technician Henri Girard many insights into what is needed to halt land degradation in the region.

COTE D’IVOIRE: Forests Sacred No More

By IPS Correspondents
In Côte d'Ivoire, the importance of a forest can go far beyond its environmental significance, as critical as this may be. Certain wooded areas are viewed as sacred.

Q&A: “People Often Cannot Avoid Putting at Risk the Natural Resource Base Upon Which They Depend”

By IPS Correspondents
With the World Day to Combat Desertification set to take place shortly (Jun. 17), efforts are gearing up to highlight the threats posed by land degradation in much of Africa - as well as initiatives to safeguard against desertification.

ENVIRONMENT-RWANDA: Unhappy Ending of a Welcome Return

By Aimable Twahirwa
The return in 1996 of over a million Rwandans who had fled their country in the wake of genocide two years earlier, fearing persecution at the hands of Tutsi rebels who took control of Rwanda, was greeted with relief in many quarters.

G8: Poverty Reduction and Climate Change Inextricably Linked, Say Activists

By Moyiga Nduru
In the final hours before this week's Group of Eight (G8) summit gets underway in Germany, activists have underscored the need for progress with both climate change and poverty alleviation - key items on the meeting's agenda - for there to be real improvement in Africa's living conditions.

ENVIRONMENT-BURUNDI: Urban Waste Becomes Urban Fuel

By IPS Correspondents
Several months ago, residents of the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, were struggling with disposal of household waste. The Municipal Technical Services (Services techniques municipaux, SETEMU) weren't able to deal with all the refuse - and health conditions in the city were deteriorating.

ENVIRONMENT: Learning to Live With the Mekong’s Floods

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
A Vietnamese academic has developed a small following over the past two years for his views about the waters that inundate the Mekong delta. The seminars he attends ends with participants wanting to know more.

ENVIRONMENT: China – New Promoter of Mega Dams

By IPS Correspondents
China is emerging as a new backer of massive dam projects around the globe, giving rise to fears for pristine natural resources and the cultural heritage of river peoples.

ENVIRONMENT-CUBA: Guantanamo’s Two-Faced Climate

By Patricia Grogg
Nature is hard to pin down in Guantánamo. The salty and eroded soils and infrequent rains in the south mark a clear contrast with the lush green of the northern coast of Cuba's eastern-most province.

Q&A: “Farmers Are ‘Doubting Thomases’. What They’ve Not Seen, They Don’t Believe”

By IPS Correspondents
More than two decades of work in the agricultural sector have taught Grégoire Comlan Houngnibo that it's not a lack of technology which is preventing Africa from solving problems of poor soil and food insecurity - but rather lack of political will.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Plans Against Desertification. But What of Funds?

By IPS Correspondents
For many, the Central African Republic (CAR) is associated with political instability - a legacy of multiple coups - while others may see the country in terms of environmental riches, notably its population of lowland gorillas. Less immediate, perhaps, are thoughts of desertification, even though vast tracts of CAR land are facing degradation.

ENVIRONMENT-CHAD: Plastic Bags Convenient, Ubiquitous, Stifling

By IPS Correspondents
You see them in roads, public squares and dump sites. Even more are unearthed when road building operations get underway in Chad's capital, N'Djamena, making plastic bags one of the biggest sources of pollution in the city.

COTE D’IVOIRE: New Farms, New Lives – At an Environmental Cost

By Aly Ouattara
For Katienéfoha Yéo, two decades of cotton farming that resulted in nothing but debt were enough to get him on the road, out of Tanikaha in northern Côte d'Ivoire to Sarala in the west.

Q&A: In Benin, “People Exploit What They Want, As They Want”

By IPS Correspondents
For many people, the importing of tomatoes is probably not a topic of great fascination. But then, they're not Sylvestre Fandohan.

POLITICS-MALI: A Presidential Election That Breaks With Tradition

By Almahady Cissé
When Malians queue to cast ballots in presidential elections Sunday, they will be participating in a poll with a difference: for the first time ever, a woman will be amongst the candidates voters have to choose between.
« Previous Page — Next Page »
*#*