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1.	Lesotho: Pay at the tap: Pre-paid water meters put the poor at risk
	Author: Christian Johannessen, Geneva	Date Written: 15 May 2008
	Primary Category: Ecology	Document Origin: Media release - World Council of Churches
	Secondary Category: Southern Region	Source URL: http://www.oikoumene.org
	Key Words: Lesotho, water meters, South Africa
	Summary & Comment: Devices that restrict consumers to only use water that they have paid for in advance are being promoted as a way to fund better water infrastructure. This problematic approach endangers the poorest of the poor’s access to an indispensable necessity of life, according to church leaders. AB
2.	Sudan: Chinese companies contract with government to heighten Blue Nile dam
	Author: staff	Date Written: 2 May 2008
	Primary Category: Ecology	Document Origin: China Digital Times
	Secondary Category: Sudan	Source URL: http://chinadigitaltimes.net
	Key Words: Sudan, China, Blue Nile, dam,
	Summary & Comment: Sudan has contracted with two Chinese companies to raise the height of Sudan’s Roseires Dam. The Roseires Dam supplies more than 70 percent of Sudan’s hydropower. China has been criticized for ignoring Darfur, human rights abuses, and the environmental consequences arising from Sudan’s dam projects. Heightening Roseires Dam will double the electric . . . [expand]
3.	Sustainability as a smokescreen - new Friends of the Earth Europe report
	Author: Friends of the Earth	Date Written: 26 April 2008
	Primary Category: Ecology	Document Origin: Friends of the Earth: Europe
	Secondary Category: Africa General	Source URL: http://www.foeeurope.org
	Key Words: biofuels, agriculture, food security
	Summary & Comment: Certification alone cannot guarantee that agrofuels are being produced sustainably. Creating sustainable levels of demand is the only way of guaranteeing sustainable production. The discussion of biofuels in South America may be helpful in the African context. Attempts to use certification schemes to reduce widespread environmental and social probl . . . [expand]
4.	Scramble to dam the Congo keeps Africans in the dark
	Author: Terri Hathaway	Date Written: 23 April 2008
	Primary Category: Ecology	Document Origin: Panafrican Press Association
	Secondary Category: Resource Extraction	Source URL: http://newsletterappa.over-blog.com
	Key Words: Democratic Republic of Congo, hydropower, Congo River, Grand Inga Project
	Summary & Comment: The proposal by the World Energy Council for the world’s largest hydropower installation on the Congo River called the Grand Inga project raises questions on who will benefit from this development? Electricity for who? Will the story be similar to the developments of Inga 1 and Inga 2? AB
5.	Zimbabwe: New food security tool first for the region
	Author: IRIN, Johannesburg	Date Written: 23 April 2008
	Primary Category: Ecology	Document Origin: IRIN News
	Secondary Category: Zimbabwe	Source URL: http://www.irinnews.org
	Key Words: Zimbabwe, food security, IPC,
	Summary & Comment: Zimbabwe will be the first country in Southern Africa to adopt a new food security analysis tool developed in Somalia in 2004. Work with this analytical tool has also begun in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and North and South Sudan. AB
6.	Madagascar: Despite odds, country saves more trees
	Author: IRIN, Port Louis	Date Written: 22 April 2008
	Primary Category: Ecology	Document Origin: IRIN News
	Secondary Category: Southern Region	Source URL: http://www.irinnews.org
	Key Words: Madagascar, forestry, climate change
	Summary & Comment: A good news story from Madagascar. Despite a demand for more agricultural land, poverty-stricken Madagascar has managed to reduce deforestation by almost half, environment groups say. AB
7.	Botswana: Water for tourists in the Kalahari, but not for Bushmen
	Author: various	Date Written: 21 April 2008
	Primary Category: Ecology	Document Origin: Survival International
	Secondary Category: Resource Extraction	Source URL: http://www.survival-international.org
	Key Words: Botswana, water, tourists, Kalahari, Bushmen,
	Summary & Comment: The government has invited Afro Ventures Botswana and the Safari Adventure Company to tender for concessions to run tourist lodges at three sites in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. One is very close to the Bushman community of Molapo. Several boreholes have already been sunk in the reserve in preparation for Gem Diamonds’ $2.2 billion diamond mi . . . [expand]

News from Additional Sources

Pambazuka News :Environment

1. Africa: New Book: Climate Change and Agriculture in Africa
   This landmark book encompasses a comprehensive quantitative analysis and assessment of the extent of potential economic impacts of future climate change, and value of adaptation measures in Africa for different zones, regions, countries and farm type...
2. Africa: China's Environmental Footprint
   Along with its economic presence, China has rapidly expanded its environmental footprint in Africa. An important objective of China's Africa strategy is to extract natural resources which have so far not been accessible. Such resources are often loca...
3. Nigeria: Shell faces legal action over pollution
   Shell-headquarters in the Netherlands is held liable by Friends of the Earth Netherlands/Nigeria and four Nigerians, for the massive damage that oil spills are causing to villages in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. Last Friday, Dutch lawyers representing...
4. Nigeria: Shell demands N375bn to end gas flaring
   Shell says it requires an additional $3 billion (N375 billion) and the resolution of the Niger Delta crisis to be able to end gas flaring in the country, insisting that it will be unable to meet the December 2008 deadline due to insecurity in the oil...
5. Sudanese: Climate scientist receives prestigious award
   A Sudanese climate researcher has been honoured by the UN Environment Programme in recognition of her work on climate change and adaptation in conflict-stricken Darfur. Balgis Osman-Elasha, a senior researcher at Sudan's Higher Council for Environmen...

IPS Inter Press Service - Africa

1. TRADE-AFRICA: EPA Threatens to Tear Apart Oldest Customs Union
   GENEVA, May 17 (IPS) - The fate of the world’s oldest customs union, the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), is hanging in the balance as a result of the economic partnership agreements that most SACU countries have signed with the European Union (EU).
2. TRADE-MALAWI: Aid Will Not Be Conditional Upon Signing of EPAs
   LILONGWE, May 16 (IPS) - The European Commission (EC) has assured Malawi that the country will continue receiving cooperation aid even if it does not sign an economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the European Union.
3. HEALTH: World Bank Shifting Gears on AIDS in Africa
   WASHINGTON, May 15 (IPS) - The World Bank says it is recalibrating its financing for anti-AIDS efforts in Africa, which shoulders more than two-thirds of the world's HIV/AIDS burden.
4. TRADE: Zimbabwe Is the Fly in the New FTA Broth
   HARARE, May 15 (IPS) - With an electoral crisis, world-record inflation and a collapsing economy blighted by a brain drain and a generally restive population, Zimbabwe could prove to be southern Africa’s ‘‘problem child’’ as the region seeks to link its economies in a new free trade area (FTA).
5. TRADE-MALAWI: Turmoil as Tobacco Prices Fluctuate
   LILONGWE, May 15 (IPS) - Malawi’s tobacco industry has been in turmoil after wildly fluctuating prices led protesting farmers to force the closure of the auction floors.