Bush-meat trade is threatening a possible depletion of Africa's great apes, the world's leading chimpanzee and gorilla conservationist, Jane Goodall, has warned. She said that although governments on the continent have agreed to the protection of the primates, corruption and commercial interests involving logging companies are making conservation efforts futile.

Birds that migrate long distances have adapted to the world's changing climate in unexpected ways, a study shows. As the planet warms, and spring arrives earlier in Europe, birds are being forced to change their migration patterns. It had been thought that birds travelling long distances from Africa to Europe would be unable to adapt.

Lee Jasper, an advisor on race and policing matters to London Mayor Ken Livingstone, questioned why "premium secondments" were not directly offered to officers from within the diaspora. The recruitments - jointly funded by the United Kingdom and Jamaican Governments, together with the local private sector - are intended to speed up the modernisation of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.

Africa's abundant natural resources hold the key to poverty eradication on the continent, but only if they are used carefully and managed creatively to improve people's living standards, according to a new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Shouldn't water be a human right, not a commodity? Join us at this year's Whose Rules Rule conference, to discuss the issues, get your questions answered and take action, Saturday 8 July 2-5.30pm Friends Meeting House, Euston Road, London

Nigeria has handed over thirty villages to Cameroon in accordance with the International Court of Justice judgement. The National Boundary Commission has briefed the President about the current activities of the body. Prince Ajibola also told President Obasanjo that “a peaceful environment prevails in the area”, and progress in the demarcation of the land boundary, the maritime section and the confidence – building measures being implemented.

The International Development Research Centre and TrustAfrica have established an Investment Climate and Business Environment (ICBE) Research Fund, which will make available up to US$2.8 million through various initiatives and rounds of funding for researchers in private sector development based in African universities, business schools, and independent research institutions.

This paper critically analyses the issue of water and sanitation, and explores progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. The paper states that while globally, about 83 percent of population have access to water in 2002, there are significant regional disparities in progress towards the MDG goal of halving, by 2015, the proportion of population without safe access to water and sanitation. The paper also questions whether increased access equals sustainable access.

The website of EXODUS-KUTOKA NETWORK is up on the net! Kenyan Catholic Parishes working in slums and informal settlements in Nairobi have compiled the work being done by different parishes. In addition, they have compiled many studies, information and papers on the situation of the slums and slum dwellers, as well as the campaigns against forced evictions and the upgrading of slums.

In an historic agreement France and Cameroon have signed the first ever debt-for-nature swap. The agreement signed by France and Cameroon will see US$25 million spent on protecting the African state's tropical forests, part of the world's second largest rainforest, dwarfed only by the Amazon. It also requires Cameroon to earmark further funds for education, health and infrastructure.

Conservationists called for urgent action to protect Africa's fragile environment on Saturday 24 June, saying it was crucial to many people's survival. Endorsed by 350 scientists, policy makers and environmentalists, the "Madagascar Declaration" said Africa's natural wealth had so far failed to improve the lives of most people on the world's poorest continent.

Creeping desertification affects every fifth inhabitant in the world, and it might force some 60 million to migrate from sub-Saharan Africa to northern Africa and Europe by 2020, according to experts. The merciless transformation of arable and habitable land to desert drew the focus at a conference (Jun. 19-21) in Tunis in which some 400 scientists and policy-makers from the world's parched regions participated.

Following recent drought in northern Burundi, which adversely affected the region's vegetation cover, the government has drawn a plan of action to combat desertification. The plan, whose date of implementation was not disclosed, seeks the rehabilitation of agriculture and the sustainable management of degraded land with the aim of reducing drought-linked food insecurity.

The Climate Change Adaptation in Africa Research and Capacity Development Programme (CCAA) is launching a first call for concept notes for CCAA start-up activities that contribute to the objectives of the programme.
Deadline for applications: 15 July 2006

Up to 20,000 villagers, resident in areas in and around 330,000 hectares of land endowed with commercial tree species, are to benefit from revenue generated through community forest projects at Ncumcara, near Rundu, following legalisation.

As the World Day to Combat Desertification was commemorated over the weekend, the United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, in a message said current trends suggest that by 2020, some 60 million people would be displaced because of desert conditions. It is projected that these people could move from desert areas of sub-Saharan Africa towards North Africa and Europe.

Swaziland says global warming is the key culprit in encroaching desertification, which is causing habitable areas and croplands to disappear and exacerbating the impoverished country's food security crisis, rather than looking closer to home for the reasons.

More than 23,000 people have fled their homes in southern Ethiopia following clashes triggered by disputes over land ownership between neighbouring ethnic groups in the area, according to Oxfam. The fighting, which pits the Guji community against the Borena erupted about two weeks ago in the territory between the towns of Yabello and Finchewa, some 400 km south of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

The Mail and Guardian newspaper reports that about 200 displaced white farmers from Mashonaland West province have turned down an offer of farms by the government, saying there was no guarantee the government would not in future turn back on the offer and evict them again.

Farm dwellers from Impendle occupied the offices of the Regional Land Claims Commission. They arrived to meet government officials to discuss their concerns, and on finding that no one had taken their request for a meeting seriously elected to stage a sit-in until the relevant officials arrived to meet them.