The world is failing impoverished kids. Although the rate of extreme poverty is declining worldwide, children are disproportionately impacted, according to two new reports. The number of people living in extreme poverty ― or on less than $1.90 a day ― has declined, per a report the World Bank released Sunday. In 2013, the year with the latest comprehensive data,… Read more »
Over the last few years, I’ve gotten to know a determined cast of characters in academia aiming to identify paths to a good Anthropocene — Anthropocene being the closest thing there is to common shorthand for this span of human-dominated planetary history unfolding around us. One such researcher is Elena M. Bennett, an ecosystem ecologist and geographer at McGill University…. Read more »
With an arid climate, one of the lowest GDPs per capita in the world and a recent history of political upheaval, it is perhaps remarkable that most of Burkina Faso’s capital has access to piped water. The Office National de l’Eau et de l’Assainissement (ONEA), the utility in charge of water and wastewater services in the capital Ouagadougou and other… Read more »
Straddling the borders of Chad, Niger and Cameroon in West Africa, Lake Chad has been a source of freshwater for irrigation projects in each of these countries. Maps drawn from a series of satellite images show a dramatic decrease in the size of the lake over the past 30 years. Since 1963, the lake has shrunk to nearly a twentieth… Read more »
Chad has sent some 2,000 troops to neighboring Niger to help the fight against Boko Haram following last week’s terrorist attacks by the Takfiri militants in the Nigerien town of Bosso. The “heavily armed” soldiers will “search everywhere for Boko Haram,” a military source said Wednesday. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Tuesday that some 50,000… Read more »
Anger with the ANC continues to grow, as students in South Africa stage nation-wide protests against a planned tuition hike. Protesters are calling for free tuition, and are putting pressure on the mining industry to help fund it. South Africa is facing increasing instability as student protests sweep across the country, leading to violent clashes with police. The unrest began… Read more »
Nearly half of all children in sub-Saharan Africa are living in extreme poverty, according to a joint Unicef-World Bank report released on Tuesday, with figures showing that almost 385 million children worldwide survive on less than $1.90 (£1.50) a day, the World Bank international poverty line. Extreme poverty leads to stunted development, limited future productivity as adults, and intergenerational transmission… Read more »
When thinking of the situation and all the problems Africa has to deal with chemical warfare usually doesn’t come to mind. Unfortunately it seams there is once again another step further they can take to make the place they live in an even more unpleasant place to live. If these supposed rumors turn out to be true there can be huge repercussions from humanitarian groups… Read more »
In its short, seven-year insurgency, Boko Haram has emerged as one of the most ruthless and deadly radical militant groups on the planet. But the 20,000 people killed in the recent clashes in northeastern Nigeria could be dwarfed by the number of childrenfacing death through malnutrition in areas affected by the fighting, the UN has warned. Nowhere else in the… Read more »
“We have decided to delay the elections to avoid locking out a huge number of people – most of them young voters,” Kabila told reporters in Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar Es Salaam. “As many as 10 million unregistered voters could miss out on the chance to vote if we proceed with the elections.” Congo has not had a peaceful transition… Read more »