As the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) held its 14th Annual General Meeting at the Lekki Conservation Centre in Lagos, its president, Chief Philip Asiodu has noted that the country is still faced with "accelerating environmental degradation."

Bill Gates is to donate at least $25-million to research into whether GM food can provide 840-million malnourished people with extra vitamins and micro-nutrients. But the first move by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest private philanthropic organisation, into controversial food biotechnology for developing countries has been criticised by development groups which said the research was "scientifically unnecessary".

The Constitutional Court on Tuesday returned the land and mineral rights currently owned by Alexkor, the state diamond company, to a community forcibly removed from the land in the 1920s. In a unanimous judgement, the Constitutional Court largely confirmed an order handed down earlier this year by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) that the Richtersveld community had been removed from their land under racist laws and practices, and were therefore entitled to have it, and the mineral rights, returned to their exclusive use and benefit. "These practices were racially discriminatory because they were based upon the faulty, albeit unexpressed, premise that because of the Richtersveld community's race and lack of civilisation, they had lost all rights in the land upon annexation," the SCA had said.

This collection of essays presents 15 case studies of African countries whose recent past has been shaped by conflict. Its exploration of the potential for reconciliation and justice reveals the experiences of communities and nations that are struggling to build a peaceful, prosperous future. It is essential reading for students of development, politics and history, and for the general reader who wants to know more about current affairs in Africa.

The research agenda of the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food will be launched at a special scientific conference that will bring together several hundred scientists with development stakeholders to present and debate key issues around increasing water productivity in agriculture and the impacts on poverty alleviation and on food, health and environmental security in the program's benchmark basins.

Ruling party parliamentarians have been accused of following in the paths of Kenya and Zimbabwe, by apportioning land to Government leaders. "You're helping people who are in a better category to help themselves rather than helping the poor," parliament heard.

Alarmed by the dwindling numbers of its rare species of fish, locally known as chambo, the Malawi government has formulated a 10-year plan to restore the fish in Lake Malawi, and its largest outlet, Shire River.

"Landmines, or anti-personnel mines as they are sometimes called, are a scourge on the post-World War II landscape where they have completely changed the nature of warfare. In the second half of the twentieth century and beyond, landmines have been a lucrative commodity and have been planted in conflict zones throughout Africa, Asia, the former Soviet bloc and the Middle East." To subscribe or unsubscribe email [email protected]

Ethiopian wildlife experts have appealed for more support to help crack down on ivory smugglers after returning 37 seized elephant tusks to Kenya. Mohamed Abdi, from the Ethiopian Wildlife and Conservation Organisation, told IRIN the country needed more support to combat poachers and smugglers.

A fire has devastated vast tracts of Zimbabwe's Matopos National Park and is threatening many of its wild animals. Reports say that three-quarters of the central part of the 43,000 hectare park has been engulfed by a raging fire that has forced hundreds of wild animals to flee the flames.

As a result of privatisation, water has ceased to be a public good that is accessible and affordable to all South Africans. The collective impact of water privatisation on the majority of South Africans has been devastating. Water is a natural resource that, by its very nature, must be collectively owned and enjoyed.

In celebrating its 40th anniversary, the College of African Wildlife Management, Mweka, is organising an International Symposium to be held on 10th to 12th December 2003. The Symposium is titled "Conservation In Crisis: Experiences and Prospects for Saving Africa's Natural Resources".

Chad, one of the world's poorest countries, joined the ranks of oil producers this week with the inauguration of a $3.7bn (?3.2bn, £2.2bn) project tied to a pioneering scheme for tracking how oil money is spent.

The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) hereby invites applications for the above-mentioned international vacancy with its emergency and reintegration programme in Angola. In 1996, DRC began a programme assisting IDPs in the province of Uige. A peace-agreement was signed in April 2002 between the government and the rebel forces UNITA, which lead to the end of the civil war in Angola. The peace has allowed DRC to expand the operation to new geographical areas and co-operation has been begun with several new donors.

Water wars are unlikely to be fought in Southern Africa, but as the region anxiously awaits the return of summer rains to accompany the new planting season, the current ongoing food security crisis has put new pressure on nations to manage their shared water resources. "Water usage has to be controlled by treaty between countries, and controlled by water policy within countries, or there won't be equitable distribution,” hydrologist Samuel Kunene of Swaziland's Ministry of Natural Resources told IPS.

The meteoric rise of transboundary approaches is due to several factors, including the need to better manage shared resources; the drive for economic growth through regional integration and development; the need to promote peace and security; and more external factors such as globalization and the agendas of international donors and organisations. However, there are numerous concerns arising from these initiatives ranging from community marginalisation to inter-state inequity in the distribution of benefits, according to this paper by the World Conservation Union.

Plans by the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) to disconnect water services to all towns owing it money could trigger widespread outbreaks of disease, which the health ministry may not have the capacity to control, warned Zimbabwe's Directorate of Disease Prevention and Control. The directorate, part of the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, said there was a danger of diseases spreading to neighbouring countries and blossoming into regional epidemics as people moved from one country to another.

Taking on board the World Bank’s advice to introduce a "credible threat of cutting service" the Johannesburg City Council has been cutting off citizens who cannot afford to be consumers. Several poor communities across Johannesburg, with the active assistance of the Anti Privatisation Forum, have launched Operation Vulamanzi in which the ‘control’ measures such as trickler systems, re-routed water piping and pre-paid meters have been by-passed by community residents in order to retain access to water. ANC politicians have publicly labelled community residents resisting water and electricity privatisation, ‘criminals’ and ‘anarchists’.

Dozens have been killed and an estimated 4,000 have been displaced as a result of youths from the Ijaw and Itsekeri ethnic groups fighting in Warri, an oil-rich city in the Niger Delta.

Landlocked Burkina Faso has launched a ten-year plan to combat desertification and land erosion through district-focused reforestation programmes that would also help local people generate income from the trees.