The 10 African nations that share the waters of the Nile have been meeting this week in Uganda to discuss how the river's precious resources should be distributed. A number of countries, including Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya are calling for the water to be shared more evenly. But according to a treaty signed between Britain and Egypt in 1929, no country can undertake any project that would reduce the volume of water reaching Egypt. Egypt has reportedly said that any effort to alter the terms of the colonial treaty would be regarded as an act of war.

On Thursday 4th March 2004 at 12:45pm learners and educators at the Settlers Primary School, Merebank, as well as local residents were gassed out yet again, according to the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA). This occurred after a huge toxic release from the Engen refinery, from all stacks. The flare was visible from 10 kilometres away, near the city centre. Numerous complaints were logged at the eThekwini Emergency Services, as well as the SDCEA offices. On arrival at the scene, SDCEA members saw numerous casualties, including educators; learners and local residents treated by local paramedics (KZN Emergency Rescue Services).

Elderly people in three North-Rift districts have launched an environmental conservation programme. Through the support from the Kenya Elderly People Organisation (Kepo) and the Eldoret-based Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, the elderly are expected to keep themselves busy by being involved in environmental conservation matters. "The elderly people from Uasin Gishu, North Nandi and South Nandi districts have formed the Mwangaza Elders Community based organisation to achieve this goal," said Mr David Koros, an official from the rights group.

A new initiative to restore the Nairobi Dam and its waters back to health has been launched. The project, called the Nairobi Dam Trust Initiative, aims to raise up to $600,000 to clean up the reservoir so that it can be again an important source of clean and healthy drinking water as well as a magnet for water sports enthusiasts, fishermen, picnickers and bountiful bird life.

It happens at night, under cover of darkness. Thieves move into the mangrove swamps and creeks of Nigeria's southern Niger Delta region, homing in on the oil pipelines that criss-cross the area. They puncture the lines or open their valves, siphoning off crude and refined oil into barges or trucks. "Bunkering" - as this method of stealing oil is known - is taking a toll on local communities and the environment. After puncturing pipelines to steal oil, the thieves tend to leave them leaking. The resultant spills have proved detrimental for vast expanses of forests and farmlands in the Niger Delta - and have also led to fires.

"As a human rights organisation, the National Society for Human Rights fully supports in principle, expropriation of private property, including land, in the public interest. NSHR also strongly opposes all unfair dismissals or unfair labour practices and unlawful evictions committed by both private and public entities. Nevertheless, by the same principle, NSHR also questions the motive and reason the Government has given for the sudden and expedient move to expropriate certain white-owned commercial farms in this country."

Kenya urged African countries last Thursday to stick by a 15-year global ban on the ivory trade, which it says has saved the elephant population across the continent from further decimation. The ivory trade was prohibited worldwide in 1989 after the African elephant population halved to 600,000 in just over a decade. "Even a limited reopening of the trade would signal to the consumer that it was, once again, acceptable to buy, sell, and wear ivory and would stimulate global demand and raise the prices," said Kenyan Vice President Moody Awori.

Presidents from across Africa gathered for an extraordinary summit of the African Union to discuss issues of water, agriculture and defence, deemed crucial to the development of the world's poorest continent. "There cannot be any development unless we have a general environment of peace, security and stability," AU Chairman and Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano told the summit. Alpha Oumar Konare, the former president of Mali who is now chairman of the AU Commission, told delegates the continent needs "an African standby force (ASF) that can be operational and respond rapidly to any crisis."

Inadequate policies on land use are to blame for the widespread environmental degradation in Africa, a Cabinet minister has said. Dr Newton Kulundu, of Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife, said uncontrolled economic activities and unplanned infrastructure development have continued unabated resulting in the degradation of nature.

"There is a moratorium on new land reform projects – you can apply but your project will not be considered for at least two years.” During last year landless people in the Western Cape have had to swallow these words. The lack of funds has meant that land reform has stood still in the Western Cape; only two- to three-year-old projects are proceeding. And Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel’s Budget for this year has brought no respite.

"Our country has an enormous potential when it comes to water resources. If we develop these resources properly, they should allow us to try and get beyond food self-sufficiency," says Mali’s President, Amadou Toumani Toure. He was speaking at an international water conference that took place in the capital, Bamako, towards the end of last month. But despite this optimism, the difficulties of meeting Mali’s water needs should not be underestimated. Mali has 10 million inhabitants, 65 percent of whom fall under the poverty line threshold.

All around the world, communities are planning activities around World Water Week to celebrate Earth's most valuable resource: water. Communities are organising to promote water conservation, watershed restoration and universal access to clean and affordable water in the face of a number of threats such as pollution, privatization of municipal water and sewage systems, water cut-offs to families, groundwater mining and bottled water operations. Read the rest of this email from the Water for All Listserve by clicking on the link below.

Residents in the western town of Bouar, the Central African Republic (CAR), have appealed to the government to help them access safe water in order to contain typhoid, which has been spreading there since December 2003 when the state water utility halted services. State-owned Radio Centrafrique reported on Tuesday that the Bouar residents had asked the government to help them dig wells and equip them with water pumps.

The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) has welcomed a decision by Johannesburg Water (JW) to grant access to three 'confidential' documents, after having refused to do so since April 2003. However, the FXI said it was deeply concerned that JW continues to refuse to release other documents relating to its activities. The Institute will continue with legal action which it has instituted, with researcher Ebrahim Harvey, against Johannesburg Water to secure the release of the remaining documents. Harvey sought the documents to enable him to complete a Master's Degree at the University of the Witwatersrand on the impact of Johannesburg's Igoli 2002 plan on the delivery of water (which led to the formation of JW as a corporate entity). The plan has been controversial as it fuelled the commercialisation of services such as water and electricity, leading to the disconnection of many poor residents when they could not afford the rising costs of these services.

A report that argues global warming is a greater threat to world security than terrorism and predicts a warming future where "disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life," may sound like it came from a radical environmental group - but it didn't. Unless you consider the Pentagon a radical environmental group. The report, submitted last fall, but only recently released to the media, looked specifically at what would happen if the world's climate were to abruptly shift, rather than change at a constant pace, as most people naturally assume it would do.

Despite criticisms in some quarters, the Presidency and state governors has justified the Federal Government's move to accept white Zimbabwean farmers in Nigeria. The government described the proposed investment as "a positive move in the effort to move Nigeria from peasant to mechanised commercial agriculture." The government's position was disclosed after the presidential committee on the proposed investment of Southern African farmers in Nigeria rose from its second meeting in Abuja.

Government has announced plans to expropriate commercial farms, in an effort to speed up land reform. Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab, making the announcement on NBC radio and television, said farmers who lost their farms would be justly compensated as provided for in the Namibian Constitution. Gurirab said delays in implementing land reform, brought about by the "cumbersome" willing-seller, willing-buyer process left expropriation as the only other way Government would meet the "high public demand for agricultural land".

The ongoing destruction of the Mau catchment area is threatening the survival of over three million people, a lobby has said. The group said if the destruction was not checked, tourism activities in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve and the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem would also suffer. The Indigenous Peoples Land Commission said the livelihood of the Maasai and Ogiek communities, who depend on these resources, was also in jeopardy.

Finding ways to get African farmers better access to lucrative American and European markets topped the agenda as leaders and senior officials from 20 African countries met in Rwanda. Members of the New Partnership for Africa Development, or Nepad, worked to hammer out a common position on how to convince the United States and European countries to reduce or eliminate the massive agricultural subsidies they give their farmers, Claver Gatete, a senior Nepad official, told The Associated Press.

The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) has deplored "additional gross instances" of the ongoing erosion of the rule of law in the country, as evident from the renewed attacks on the judiciary by high-ranking Government and ruling party leaders. The NSHR said firebrand SWAPO National Assembly MP Petrus Iilonga questioned the loyalty and patriotism of the country’s judiciary. Among other things, Iilonga accused judges of defending criminality and hatred for the ruling SWAPO party.