Zambian police recently arrested 39 people protesting against the rape and strangling to death of four young girls in the last one year. The 39 men and women, who are members of the Non-Governmental Organisations' Coordinating Committee (NGOCC), were charged with unlawful assembly and later appeared in court.

Sub-Saharan countries are incurring losses of up to two billion dollars per year through reduced production caused by animal diseases, Ethiopia's Agriculture Minister Mulatu Teshome has warned.

18 to 20 March sees the final meeting of the "Kimberley process" - a series of high level meetings that are seeking to put an end to the trade in "blood" diamonds, illegally mined diamonds that are used to bankroll civil war and atrocity in Africa.

Rapid industrialization in Nigeria during the 1970's saw the establishment of car assembly plants, breweries and distilleries,detergent and cement manufacturing,textile and paper mills, food and beverage processing factories. This sudden rise in national wealth was not accompanied by careful planning in respect of environmental impacts. In Nigeria, despite warnings from non-governmental organisations, international multilateral agencies and researchers, the rate of industrialization continues to outstrip initiatives to manage and protect the environment. Atmospheric pollution in Nigeria is manifested chiefly by the flaring of gas at the oil company flow stations in the Niger Delta, by rampant unchecked emissions from manufacturing, automobiles and generating set exhausts, by open solid waste incineration and from slash and burn agriculture. Air quality degrading substances of major concern in Nigeria include sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, nitrogen oxide, cement kiln dust and other particulate matter and heavy metals. The contributors to this new publication focus on various aspects of air pollution within their own fields of expertise. The perspectives range from ecological sustainability and coastal pollution to urban degradation and law enforcement. The contributors address the institutional failure to identify sources of air pollution,monitor the levels and impacts of pollutants and enforce environmental legislation and suggest ways of creating awareness of the effects of air pollution and improving upon ecological efficiency in industrial production.

As part of the process in the preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, national reporting templates for governments and stakeholders to conduct a review of progress in the national commitments in Agenda 21 are being placed on the Earth Summit 2002 website. Two new National Review Templates are now online - Demographic Dynamics - Agenda 21, Chapter 5, and Promoting Health - Agenda 21, Chapter 6.

After more than a century of no known primate extinctions, scientists recently confirmed the disappearance of a subspecies of a West African monkey. The loss of this monkey, known as Miss Waldron's red colobus, may be a harbinger of future losses of our closest evolutionary relatives.

This paper presents an assessment and analysis of poverty and livelihood issues pertaining to mountain people and communities. It takes account of the global context, based on available sources of information, but is also rooted in the practical experiences of working to improve the lives of people living in poor, isolated mountain communities. The dominant perspective comes out of the experience of communities struggling to improve their livelihood opportunities.

The State of the Environment report for Uganda 2000/2001 has said that Uganda's high economic growth may not be sustainable, and comes at the expense of the environment. The report released recently by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) said that although the economy of Uganda is growing fast every year, this growth may not be sustainable.

The Rural Development Services Network has withdrawn from the World Summit on Sustainable Development secretariat, insisting that the political independence of civil society is being undermined.

Upon the first indications of HIV/AIDS in 1986, the government of Senegal moved to confront the epidemic, galvanizing community groups, working with religious leaders, and introducing AIDS prevention in the school curriculum in primary and secondary schools. Communication campaigns also reached people by radio, in mosques, and at the markets. Parents and other adults were encouraged to speak to their children about HIV/AIDS. As a result, HIV prevalence among pregnant women has remained under 2%, with no upward trend. In addition, condom use has risen among young men. Today, only about 10% say they do not use condoms with casual partners.

Wired features an article introducing some of the political issues around digital copyright. "Two treaties taking effect this [year could] expand the reach of controversial American legislation designed to regulate the Internet."

The African Conservation Foundation (ACF) is a UK Registered Not For Profit foundation, primarily concerned with education in Africa in the areas of environment and conservation. It's aims are to promote education and knowledge about conservation in Africa.

The RSA's Forum for Environmental and Sustainable Development Awards has published A guide to good practice: organising and sponsoring environment and sustainable development awards. The guide will help to implement effective award schemes and ensure worthwhile investment of time and money in their management.

The Botswana government this week left Gana and Gwi Bushmen families in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve to cope without water in the desert. The government cut off water supplies to the remaining Bushmen communities in its latest attempt to force them off their ancestral lands. Many of the 700 Bushmen still living in the reserve at the start of this month have now been forced to leave.

Non-government organisations in francophone Africa are protesting against the revised Bangui Agreement, a new law to be administered by the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI). It is scheduled to come into force on 28 February 2002. This agreement, signed by OAPI’s 15 member states in February 1999, introduces -- for the first time ever -- a regime of intellectual property rights on seeds in francophone Africa. The Bangui Agreement was revised without any consultation with or participation of farmers, even though they will be seriously affected by the new law. The agreement restricts the rights of farmers to save seeds from their harvests and imposes a system of royalty payments on commercial planting material.

One day, a giant wave traveling at 124 mph across open water could crash into Sydney harbor, wipe out the beaches of California, or plow across the golf courses of northeast Scotland. Mega-tsunamis have happened with greater frequency than modern science would like to believe, and no coastline in the world is safe, said Canadian geologist-geographer Edward Bryant.

Conservation Legislation in South Africa is comprehensive and decrees that many activities require Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and Integrated Environmental Management controls. Mountains are not seen as a separate category of land over which specific legislation would apply. Recently new unrelated legislation has created legislative loopholes that allow the indiscriminate construction of roads into the Cape's important mountain catchments for the use of recreational vehicles for tourism.

What could be more uniquely human than the desire to understand how our minds evolved? Much of the story of evolution is entirely unknown. The results of a new study suggest that some of what scientists thought they knew may require revision.

The campaign group Global Witness has called on the Angolan government to introduce greater transparency and accountability over its oil accounts to end the alleged "full-scale embezzlement" of oil revenues.

Sebastian Chuwa, an environmentalist who has long been active in implementing educational and tree-planting programs for sustainable development on Mt. Kilimanjaro, has received the "Spirit of the Land" award during Olympic ceremonies in Salt Lake City, USA. This award, presented by the Salt Lake Olympic Committee, was given to 10 US and 5 international recipients for their work in promoting environmental educational efforts during the year 2001.