A US $7.1 million conservation project in Tana River District, eastern Kenya, has stalled after the lead financier opposed the displacement of some 600 families planned under the scheme.

To draw up a political statement and plan of action that will move the world towards sustainable development, delegates from around the world are meeting at the United Nations, clarifying their hopes and dreams for the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development.

Thousands of dead fish and marine animals have washed up onto the Kenyan and Somali coastlines in the past week, probably poisoned by an off-season bloom of toxic algae, wildlife experts said Thursday.

The health of an ecosystem depends on the variety of species that inhabit it, suggests new research from the University of Maryland. The researchers say the discovery could revolutionize how scientists look at the effects of species extinction.

The government of Botswana has threatened to cut off water and other essential services to the Basarwa (Khoisan) still living in the central Kalahari Game Reserve(CKGR), the BBC reports. The government, since 1996, has been trying to persuade the Basarwa
remaining in the reserve to move to relocation camps hundreds of
kilometres away. The authorities' initial argument was that their removal
would allow better wildlife conservation. That has since changed to stress that better services can be provided to the estimated 600-700 Basarwa in the CKGR if they move out of the reserve.

Kenya’s ecosystems are on the edge – unable to continue providing water, plant materials and other basic human needs to its burgeoning population. Forests remain on less than two percent of Kenya’s land, under protected status as a national resource. In a country plagued by drought, the forests are critical for water conservation. They are also home to indigenous peoples that live by hunting game and gathering food plants, herbs, and honey within the forests.

An astonishing development is changing one of Africa's most remarkable land marks beyond recognition. The ice cap on Mt Kilimanjaro, one of the few places in the world where ice and snow can be seen on the Equator, is expected to disappear in the next 12 years. Staff writer Mildred Ngesa and photographer Blasto Ogindo recently visited the mountain on a fact finding mission.

UGANDA has the largest sanctuary for migratory birds from Europe and South Africa, a researcher has said.

If the peace process in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is to have any chance of success, it must confront the issue of natural resource extraction in a serious and explicit manner, says the international aid charity, Oxfam, in a briefing document issued on Tuesday.

What do trees have to do with music? SoundWood, an innovative program of Fauna and Flora International, is working to educate members of the musical instrument industry, musicians, and the general public about the critical link between trees and music.

Elephant poaching has resumed in Kenya, senior Kenya Wildlife Service officials admit. At the same time, government officials say that the Kenya Wildlife Service, responsible for managing the country's wildlife, is in the red and is relying on government handouts to operate.

More than 1,000 elephant tusks stolen by poachers have been recovered in the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam, police have said.

The asbestosis case against the British mining company, Cape PLC, may have been won but the battle against asbestos pollution carries on. There are huge asbestos mine dumps around the country, with 82 in the Northern Cape alone.

Two hefty asteroids passed close to Earth last Wednesday. At least five are more set to swing near by January's end, but none are dinosaur-killers, scientists who track them said. One of Wednesday's close-approaching asteroids measured between .6 and 1.8 miles in diameter, a big enough space rock to cause catastrophe if it collided with Earth. But asteroid 7341 1991 VK got no closer than 7 million miles, nearly 24 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon.

Environmental groups have welcomed the EU’s failure to secure a fisheries agreement with Senegal. WWF calls this a ‘positive sign’ that developing countries are becoming more prudent in weighing short-term economic gains against protecting their natural resources. WWF argue that while the EU aims to alleviate poverty in the
developing world its own heavily subsidised fleets have pushed small-scale local fisher folk to the side and damaged fragile ecosystems.

The Institute of Race Relations has published a special issue of its journal, 'Race & Class', dedicated to black novelist and anti-colonial activist and thinker Jan Carew. Best known for his seminal novel 'Black Midas', Carew was also a founding father of Britain's Black Power Movement, publishing and editing the paper 'Magnet'. The 'Gentle Revolutionary' includes articles, essays and tributes from those who have been influenced by Carew's contribution to movements in Africa, the Caribbean, Canada, the US and Europe. Dennis Brutus, Roy Heath, Ken Ramchand, Cecil Foster, Frank Birbalsingh, Clinton Cox, Nancy Singham and others underline Guyanese-born Carew's unique contributions -to creating an indigenous Caribbean literature, in the construction of black identity in Canada and in chronicling the history of pre-Colombian America.

Youths from the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) party have destroyed hundreds of copies of the independent "The Daily News" in the town of Masvingo during a demonstration against alleged misinformation by the paper.

A few years ago, two paleontologists discovered in Madagascar a tiny jaw fragment that could upend the current theory of when and where the ancestors of marsupial and placental mammals arose. Senior online editor Kate Wong later traveled with the researchers as they looked for additional fossils. This week, she describes her experiences in the field and shares photos of the strange animals that inhabit the island today.

In an historic land claim case, the Regional Land Claims Commission in South Africa has returned nearly 700 hectares of prime land to the Getrudsburg community. The residents were forcibly removed from their community nearly 40 years ago.

"The world needs a global war on poverty and environmental degradation that is as aggressive and well funded as the war on terrorism," recommends the Worldwatch Institute in its annual State of the World report released Thursday.