As with many multi-country projects geared at managing shared natural resources in Africa, the Transaqua Project has its fair share of interested parties, each with their own agenda. The project involves 12 countries and is aimed at replenishing the waters of Lake Chad, a resource that’s central to the livelihoods of over 30 million people. Nidhi Nagabhatla and Ramazan Caner Sayan highlight tactics used by various stakeholders to promote or block the project, and the way non-state actors - private companies in particular - have shaped how water resources are controlled.

If all goes according to plan, South Africans are scheduled to go to the polls, late October, to choose their local government representatives across the nation. It’ll be the sixth such election since the end of apartheid in 1994. But, what goes into determining who they’ll vote for? Leila Patel and Yolanda Sadie unpack new research that provides the answers.

Nontobeko Mtshali

Education Editor

Lake Chad captured from Diffa, Niger. GettyImages

How the private sector is shaping the future of Lake Chad and the Congo Basin

Nidhi Nagabhatla, United Nations University; Ramazan Caner Sayan, Cranfield University

Where natural resources are shared, in addition to the states, regional and international organisations also have a role to play in steering who gets what.

Residents in a Cape Town suburb queue to vote during previous municipal elections in South Africa. Foto24/Gallo Images/Getty Images

We studied why South Africans vote the way they do. This is what we found

Leila Patel, University of Johannesburg; Yolanda Sadie, University of Johannesburg

Concerns about socioeconomic well-being were the main reason why people voted for a certain political party.

Health + Medicine

Blunting the impact of poor social conditions in South Africa will have big health benefits

Ebrahim Samodien, South African Medical Research Council

Harsh socio-environmental factors, especially when they happen in the early years of a child’s life, can establish a developmental “biology of misfortune".

The G7’s vaccine pledge: donating 1 billion doses to end the pandemic is far too little – viewpoint

Michael Jennings, SOAS, University of London

Upwards of 60% of the world needs to be vaccinated to suppress COVID-19 – even with an extra billion doses, that target looks very far away.

From our international editions

The surface of Venus is cracked and moves like ice floating on the ocean – likely due to tectonic activity

Paul K. Byrne, North Carolina State University

Researchers used decades-old radar data and found that some low-lying areas of Venus' crust are moving and jostling. This evidence is some of the strongest yet of tectonic activity on Venus.

Iran election: what Ebrahim Raisi’s victory will mean for his country – and the rest of the world

Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, SOAS, University of London

Real change will come from the streets, not the ballot box.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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