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In South Africa, the state has failed to deliver cleaner and more reliable energy, efficient transport infrastructure and greater security. The private sector has filled some of the gaps – but that’s not in everyone’s interests. Lawrence Hamilton argues that this trend is unlikely to change under the envisaged new national coalition government.
Almost one quarter of Africa’s land has been damaged. The main drivers have been mining, floods, drought, fire, deforestation and invasive plants. Invasive plants are particularly damaging because they use up water resources and squeeze out indigenous vegetation. Environmental scientist Mlungele Nsikani shares insights into this threat and what can be done about it.
The restoration of land is one of the key themes for world environment day, celebrated tomorrow. In this newsletter we’ve included several other articles from our archives that might be of interest.
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Thabo Leshilo
Politics + Society
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Lawrence Hamilton, University of the Witwatersrand
Solutions driven by the private sector are only for those who can pay, and also end up driving public priorities.
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Mlungele M. Nsikani, South African National Biodiversity Institute
More than 700 million hectares of land in Africa has been degraded by human activity. Everyone can get involved in restoring the ecology.
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Helga Dickow, University of Freiburg
Chadians are bracing themselves for more years of authoritarian rule.
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Constance McDermott, University of Oxford; Eric Kumeh Mensah, University of Oxford; Mark Hirons, University of Oxford
The carbon stored by forests can be bought by polluting companies to offset their emissions. This can displace communities who depend on natural forests for their livelihoods.
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Caitlin Blaser Mapitsa, University of the Witwatersrand
A massive new nature reserve has just been declared in South Africa’s Drakensberg mountain range. It’s good news for communities, landowners, the land and local wildlife.
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Lars Laestadius, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; Chris Reij, World Resources Institute; Dennis Garrity, Center for International Forestry Research – World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF)
Africa’s Great Green Wall must immediately speed up to meet the needs of people along the edges of the Sahara Desert.
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Anja Gassner, Center for International Forestry Research – World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF); Philip Dobie, Center for International Forestry Research – World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF); Robert Nasi, Centre for International Forestry Research
A changing climate threatens the balance that communities in drylands have created.
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Bradley Hiller, University of Cambridge
Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, South Sudan and Uganda are investigating whether deep groundwater bores could support drought stricken communities. Could a networked approach help?
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Hamond Motsi, Stellenbosch University
Sweet sorghum has multipurpose post-harvest uses. It can produce grains, animal feed and sugary juice, making it unique among crops.
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Karl Hughes, Center for International Forestry Research – World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF)
Regreening Africa works directly with 500,000 households to restore one million hectares of agricultural land.
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From our international editions
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Jose Yong, Northumbria University, Newcastle
Human culture has changed too fast for evolution to keep up.
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Christopher K. Tong, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Beijing’s cyber operations are largely conducted in the shadows. But a recent leak has shed light on how the state is working with private companies to target online activism.
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Eloise Stevens, The Conversation
Find out everything you ever wanted to know about how and why chameleons change colour in The Conversation’s Curious Kids podcast.
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Robert Brose, Dublin City University
Analysis of two major cosmic blasts deepens the mystery of where the universe’s ‘heavy’ elements come from.
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Would you like to republish any of these articles?
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It’s free to republish, here are the guidelines.
Contact us on africa-republish@theconversation.com in case you need assistance.
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