A desperate plea from a 'Bushman' girl holding out in Botswana's Central Kalahari Game Reserve has been received by Survival International. The letter was handed to an Italian tourist visiting the reserve, who passed it to Survival. In the letter the unnamed girl says, 'Tell other countries [about our plight] so that if we die they will know there were people in this area... Margaret Nasha [minister in charge of the relocation] has sentenced us to death because of water... The government of Botswana forced Basarwa (Bushmen) from Central Kalahari Game Reserve to new villages... some people of Gugama (village) we refused to move... Help us with food and water.'

Five Southern African countries have launched a bid to be allowed to sell ivory, despite a ban intended to protect elephants. They are seeking permission to sell 80 tonnes of ivory, arguing that their game parks have too many elephants and are not at risk of extinction.

Botswana on Tuesday became the first beneficiary of a new "diamond relief fund" aimed at reducing poverty in the poorest gem producing countries. The fund was launched as the diamond industry's top traders and polishers opened a world conference on Monday in Antwerp, Belgium.

A TV story and a briefing paper released by WWF underscores the controversy behind the European Union's policy to buy fishing rights from developing countries, such as Angola. According to the conservation organization, this allows the EU's heavily subsidised fleets to operate in, and profit from, other countries' waters, as they have already fished out Europe's own stocks.

Burkina Faso is benefiting from a total of 2,100 dams in low-lying areas of the country to harvest rain run-off for use during the cropping season and provide fishery resources for local people.

The coastal regions of West Africa are among the most threatened by land-based pollution such as untreated sewage discharge, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) reported on Thursday.

An illegal trade in ivory driven by large, unregulated domestic markets in several Asian and African countries exists today although a ban on international trade in ivory has been in force since 1989, according to a series of analytical reports based on data from the Elephant Trade Information System.

The communities of South Durban are not convinced that a new coal fired incinerator won't affect their health and have unanimously rejected Mondi's proposed development.

The government of Mozambique will receive WWF's Gift to the Earth Award for its decisions to create the Quirimbas and Bazaruto National Parks.

Salvage workers are resuming the pumping of oil from the ship that went aground off the east coast of South Africa in mid-September. The Jolly Rubino, a freighter carrying hazardous chemicals, is still aground near the St Lucia Wetlands reserve - a designated World Heritage site.

Zambia is importing black rhinos from South Africa for restocking in its game parks where the species had been poached into extinction. The Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) says 25 black rhinos have been bought from South African National Parks for translocation into the Luangwa North National Park in eastern Zambia.

Africa's largest development project, a 650-mile, £2.8bn oil pipeline between Chad and Cameroon, is being criticised for damaging the interests of the poor - the people it was supposed to help. Embarrassed World Bank officials have already admitted that the notoriously corrupt Chad government has spent the first £10m of grant money it received from the consortium on arms for its security forces rather than on the educational and development projects for which the money was intended.

The possible sale of 11 "orphan" elephants from Swaziland's Hlane Royal Game Reserve to US zoos has led to a threat of a tourism boycott by a leading US animal rights group.

Prevented from hunting dwindling stocks of wildlife in their desert homelands, Gulf Arabs are increasingly setting their sights on the big game and birds of South Africa's veld.

High swells have continued to frustrate efforts to pump oil from the grounded Jolly Rubino and could delay the process right up to the weekend, salvors Smit Marine reported. The Rubino is grounded near the sensitive St Lucia wetland area.

A group of US conservationists has received permission from the government of the Central African Republic (CAR) to organise an anti-poaching militia to patrol 155,000 square km of wilderness in the eastern region of the country, National Geographic Adventure magazine reported on Tuesday.

The Ba Gashai tribe, part of the bigger Ba-Phalaborwa people, may keep a valuable private game reserve across seven adjoining farms near Phalaborwa in the Limpopo Province, awarded to them as part of government's land restitution programme, the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday.

Rwanda and the DR Congo will soon have the parks along their common borders controlled under the same management to promote conservation of wildlife, tourism and peace.

A safe, clean, reliable water supply is the mantra of development agencies. But how reliable are water supply services for poor people in the developing world today? How has domestic water supply changed since the 1960s? This study looks at the long-term trends in access to and use of water.

The 1990 World Summit for Children pledged to provide universal access to safe water by the end of the century. Why then do 2.2 million people still die each year from preventable diseases associated with a lack of safe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene?