The United Nations climate talks focused on 'Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries' risk moving towards 'carbon colonialism', Friends of the Earth International campaigners warned. The inclusion of forests in carbon markets would allow rich countries to buy their way out of greenhouse gas emission reductions and threaten local communities who could be expelled from their forests.

The relationship between development, trade and climate change has come under the spotlight as leaders seek practical ways to move rapidly towards a low-carbon world economy. Experts from Africa, the Caribbean, Pacific and Indian Ocean are examining key issues in order to suggest steps that policy-makers can take to start the process of adapting their economies to climate change.

International Rivers announces the availability of a new guide for concerned groups and dam-affected communities: The New Great Walls: a Guide to China’s Overseas Dam Industry.

Chinese companies and financiers are key to hundreds of new dams around the world, particularly in Southeast Asia and Africa, but also in countries like Pakistan and Albania. With Chinese dam companies and financial institutions now outpacing their competitors overseas, We hope this guide will provide helpful tools for engaging with the Chinese dam industry on issues of social and environmental responsibility. With this guide, we address the question: what can communities impacted by these projects do to protect their rights, and advocate for rivers targeted for dams built by China?

* A pdf of the guide can be downloaded for free at internationalrivers.org. Hard copies may be ordered free of charge by contacting Nicole Brewer, [email][email protected].

Nigeria and South Africa are the main emitters of greenhouse gases in Africa, accounting for almost 90% of the emissions in the continent, environmental experts have said. "Nigeria produces almost 45% of the greenhouse gas emissions in Africa from its gas flaring by oil firms in the Niger Delta while South Africa produces as much from industrial pollution," said Stefan Cramer.

Environmental experts warn gas flaring by the Nigerian oil industry in the southern Delta region causes acid rain, respiratory infections, skins diseases and land degradation in dozens of local communities, but some environmentalists defend the country’s right to continue flaring.

The European Union has reached a new agreement aimed at preventing import of illegal timber from Africa, but environmental campaigners believe bolder action is needed to curb deforestation across the globe. Under a deal reached with Ghana Sep. 3, the EU has undertaken to establish border controls to prevent unlicensed wood from the West African state entering the Union's 27 countries.

Angola overtook Nigeria this year as Africa’s largest, and the world’s eighth largest, oil producer—a combination of Angola’s surge in growth and Nigeria’s decline in production following rebel attacks on its oilfields. Angola is now producing over 1.9 million barrels per day (bpd) of high-quality crude oil from onshore and near-shore fields, up from 900,000 bpd in 2002 and from 500,000 bpd in 1993.

Chinese dam companies and financial institutions are outpacing their competitors in overseas dam contracts. China's overseas dam industry is building hundreds of dams around the world, particularly in Southeast Asia and Africa, but also in countries like Pakistan and Albania. What can communities impacted by these projects do to protect their rights and advocate for rivers targeted for dams built by China? This new guide provides useful information for groups concerned about dam projects in which Chinese companies and financiers are involved, including:

Ghana would need over US $1.4 billion to combat climate change if bad environmental practices persists, a senior official of the West African country's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said. William Abaidoo, Public Relations Officer of the agency said climate change has been fast becoming a global problem, which devastates the planet earth.

Research predicts that vast amounts of land in East Africa will be converted from grasslands to ploughed fields over the next 40 years, as wetter conditions caused by climate change attract crop farmers to grazing grounds. "The transformation of natural ecosystems into croplands will be the biggest contributor to global warming in East Africa," says Pius Yanda, director of the Institute of Resource Assessment at Dar es Salaam University in Tanzania.

Sudan's former north-south foes have agreed on an administration for the disputed oil-producing Abyei region, where clashes this year had threatened to derail a 2005 peace deal, officials said on Friday. Clashes in Abyei in May killed scores and drove 50,000 from their homes. Abyei is home to oil wells that have fuelled an economic boom in Sudan, Africa's biggest country.

Despite a series of stalled talks in New York, Morocco remains committed to the process of negotiations with the Polisario, in pursuit of a lasting solution to the dispute over Western Sahara. That was the message conveyed by King Mohammed VI in a royal address last Wednesday (July 30th) in Fez. "The relentless efforts of our bold diplomacy have resulted in substantial positive development," said the king.

A Nigerian court has denied bail to the suspected leader of the main militant group in the oil-producing Niger Delta, defence lawyers said on Friday. Henry Okah is believed to be the leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), whose campaign of sabotage against Africa's biggest oil industry has cut output by a fifth, helping to push up global energy prices.

University of KwaZulu-Natal vice-chancellor Malegapuru Makgoba is expected to deliver an edict that the Centre for Civil Society will close on December 31.

The reason given by dean Donal McCracken to a sceptical School of Development Studies (where the centre is housed) is that staff do not have "permanent" funding. But neither do most of the university's research units, and there is money in centre reserves for at least a couple of years, plus ongoing donor support for many of our projects.

Hence this "execution" will be doggedly resisted in the Memorial Tower Building, because UKZN still has many staff and students who remember the struggle for non-racial democracy and don't mind speaking out to challenge misguided decisions.

In the West African nation of Burkina Faso, millions of trees are planted every year to reverse desertification. However the growing socio-economic needs of local populations pose a constant threat to these efforts. "People have built homes, marketplaces, places of worship, full cities within our national reserves," said Salifou Sawadogo, Burkina Faso's minister of the environment in an interview with IPS.

The telecommunications sector is becoming a new gold rush where large white-owned companies pocket the wealth and leave nothing for the masses, says the chairman of the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa). The lowest rungs of society would be alienated if the regulator did not actively demand a greater role for black people in the industry, said chairman Paris Mashile. That is why Icasa would insist new licences for scarce spectrum went to companies that were 51% black-owned.

All outstanding land claims in the country will be settled by 2011, says South Africa's Acting Chief Land Claims Commissioner Blessing Mphela. Addressing a quarterly media briefing in Limpopo on Wednesday about the progress made so far in land restitution, he said that since the commission on restitution of land rights was established in 1994, a total of 74 808 out of 79 696 claims have been settled.

As the Zimbabwean government and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) prepare to enter power-sharing talks, Amnesty International called on both parties to ensure there are no pardons for those who committed human rights violations in the post-election period. “There can be no lasting political solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe without addressing past human rights violations. While human rights violations must end immediately, investigations must be carried out and alleged perpetrators brought to justice,” said Amnesty International.

The scientific evidence is now overwhelming: climate change is a serious global threat and it demands an urgent global response. It currently affects and will affect basic elements of life for people around the world – access to water, food and livestock production, health and the environment. Hundreds of people could suffer hunger, water shortages and coastal flooding as the world warms.

Climate change has a profound effect on food security in Africa, as increasing temperatures and shifting rain patterns reduce access to food across the continent. This transpired at a conference on global warming and climate change July 21-July 24 in Cape Town, South Africa. The discussion was organised by South Africa’s Fynbos Foundation, which aims to realise investment in the media, publishing, arts and culture sectors, and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University in the United States.