To those who live here, it’s like a little piece of heaven, boasting pink flamingos, white beaches and blue ocean waters. Yet this stretch of South Africa’s west coast has also become a battleground, pitching mining firms against environmentalists fearful that one of nature’s last wild treasures is being bulldozed away. Diamonds, zircon and other minerals have…
Category: Climate & Environment
South African Mines Turn to Renewables Amid Energy Crisis
South Africa, one of the continent’s most industrialized nations, is facing the worst electricity blackouts in its history. One of South Africa’s biggest industries — mining — is turning to solar power to keep operations running when power requirements fall short. Linda Givetash reports from Johannesburg.
Long winter: South Africans struggle with rolling blackouts
JOHANNESBURG – Unable to switch on lights or heaters, cook dinner or charge their phones, South Africans are spending their mid-winter evenings plunged in darkness and low-tech living. Power outages, known here as load shedding, intensified late last month after strikes erupted at the nation’s monopoly energy provider Eskom, leaving coal plants unable to operate…
South African entrepreneur transforms plastic waste into playgrounds
JOHANNESBURG — Despite global efforts to curb plastic use, sub-Saharan Africa is predicted to see a sixfold increase by 2060, says the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In South Africa, one man is trying to make a difference by creating jobs and transforming plastic waste into outdoor furniture and playgrounds.
Africa’s response to climate change
Persistent Drought in Ethiopia an Example of Climate Change, Experts Say GODE, ETHIOPIA — Drought is not new to the Horn of Africa, but experts say the record one killing crops and cattle across Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia has underscored the increasing frequency of drought due to climate change. In Ethiopia, the U.N.’s World Food…
Climate change robbing Ethiopia’s pastoralists of traditional livelihood
GODE, ETHIOPIA — The persistent drought drying out the Horn of Africa is a reflection of severe weather intensified by climate change. For Ethiopia’s pastoralists who have seen more than a million livestock perish, it is a signal their way of life cannot be sustained by the next generation. Camera: Michele Spatari
Drought prompts over 600,000 school dropouts in Ethiopia
GODE, ETHIOPIA — Drought has displaced hundreds of thousands of families and forced more than 600,000 Ethiopian children to leave school. Aid group Save the Children has built centers near displacement camps so children can continue their education. Linda Givetash reports from Gode, Ethiopia. Camera: Michele Spatari
KZN flood victims struggle with despair
DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA — Wielding shovels, mallets and machetes, they worked for four hours to try to shift the muddy debris, hoping that vehicles could at last get through. In vain: A pick-up truck, stuck on the wrong side of the gigantic mound, was still unable to pass. Inhabitants of KwaNdengezi, a township west of Durban,…
South Africa declares national disaster after deadly floods
JOHANNESBURG — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a state of disaster late Monday following deadly floods in the country’s eastern KwaZulu-Natal province. Record floods have left more than 440 people dead, an estimated 40,000 people homeless and damaged critical infrastructure and hundreds of schools. Recovery of South Africa Flood Victims Hampered by Rains DURBAN, SOUTH…
Australian wildfires declared among the ‘worst wildlife disasters in modern history’
Nearly 3 billion animals were affected by Australia’s worst wildfire season that burned from last July through March, scientists announced Tuesday — a figure almost three times higher than original estimates. The report released Tuesday and commissioned by the World Wide Fund for Nature Australia said more than 46 million acres were scorched. An estimate in January said…
Preventing the next pandemic will cost $22.2 billion a year, scientists say
As the world grapples with the toll of the coronavirus pandemic, scientists are warning the funding needed to prevent the next zoonotic disease outbreak is severely lacking — leaving everyone vulnerable. The price tag for protecting and monitoring pristine forests and wildlife trade where diseases emerge is an estimated $22.2 billion to $30.7 billion, according to the report in…
It’s not poachers killing elephants in Botswana. That worries conservationists.
Botswana’s elephants are literally dropping dead. Hundreds of elephant carcasses have been found scattered across a remote, narrow region of the north — and poaching isn’t to blame. The mystery has dragged on for months, and experts say the slow response to the deaths has shed light on deeper issues in the country’s relationship with the prized creatures….
After the coronavirus, China moves to kick its exotic meat habit
Ou Yang is having a hard time finding snake to eat. “A very famous restaurant specialized in cooking snakes in my city already stopped providing such dishes,” Ou told NBC News from Foshan, in southern China, where snake has long been regarded as a delicacy. “They are all banned now.” As the world struggles to…
A plague amid a pandemic: East Africa, West Asia combat locust outbreak
When the skies darkened suddenly over Michael Gatiba’s 10-acre farm in Nakuru County, Kenya, what came pouring down stunned him: millions of desert locusts. “It was like a storm,” Gatiba, 45, said by telephone. “It was like hail. They covered everywhere. Even there was no sun.” That was three months ago. Although Gatiba said he was lucky…
Young female climate activists face hateful abuse online. This is how they cope.
The consequences of rising temperatures for the planet and ecosystems are becoming increasingly apparent, yet less noticed is the vile backlash and abuse being thrown at the young green activists who have successfully pushed the climate agenda into the mainstream. NBC News has spoken to three young climate activists, all female, and their families who now find…
Climate activist group Extinction Rebellion overturns London protest ban
LONDON — The eco-protest group Extinction Rebellion won a bid against London’s Metropolitan Police on Wednesday over the imposition of a city-wide ban against the group’s series of demonstrations last month. The high court ruled that the blanket ban police issued on Oct. 14 to 18 was unlawful, a decision protesters are celebrating. “It is a victory,” Tobias Garnett,…
Extinction Rebellion’s activists leverage disruption, arrests for climate action
LONDON — Wielding a megaphone to rally protesters blocking a major road outside Parliament last month, Dr. Bing Jones was arrested for the fourth time since joining the eco-protest group Extinction Rebellion. The arrests haven’t deterred him, however — in fact, Jones is now keen to adopt an even more disruptive approach. “I will get…
The Women Behind Two Genius Green Energy Solutions
Inna Braverman understands the consequences of polluting energy sources. Born in Ukraine in 1986, she stopped breathing and nearly died when the Chernobyl nuclear plant exploded two weeks after she was born. “I grew up with a feeling I got a second chance at life, so I should do something good with it,” says Braverman,…
The Amazon is still on fire. Conservation groups blame illegal logging and criminal networks.
As the Amazon continues to burn in a record fire season, experts say the problem is rooted in illegal logging and criminal networks exploiting the forests for its natural resources and agricultural potential. “The government doesn’t have any governance over what is going on,” Ane Alencar, science director for the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM),…
Teen girls strike for global action on climate change
LAUSANNE, Switzerland — It was the floodwaters brushing her jawline that convinced Theresa Sebastian it was time to get serious about climate change. The teen from Ireland was in Kerala, India, for a family wedding last summer when the region experienced 40 percent higher-than-average rainfall. More than 480 people died in the torrential rains that swept away…